CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

ROSE'S POV

She heard Anna before she saw her, bent over the toilet as she was. Her friend sighed and came to rub her back as she hacked and gasped. Nothing came out again and she eventually sat back down.

"Have you slept?" Anna asked sympathetically and she shook her head. Her friend limited her opinion about that to a sigh, raising her up with a "Come on, time for bed."

Weak and listless, she let herself be pulled up from the floor. Her knees cramped as soon as she stood up and she bent over with a gasp of pain. Her friend just pursed her lips and rubbed her back in sympathy. Neither of them said anything else as she led her to lay down on the bed.

She looked at the bed in despair. As much as she didn't want to sleep, she knew she needed it. After Anna had sprung her from the party, she'd been despondent and sick. Even with the room heater on, tremors still racked her body.

Her friend sat beside her and put the back of her hand on her forehead. "Rose," she groaned in a low voice but she turned to her side. They'd had this argument throughout the night. She wasn't going to the hospital because she wasn't sick, at least not physically.

"At least take an ibuprofen or something, please." she remained silent. 

Eventually, Anna sighed and stood up. She assumed she'd finally left until the blanket shielding her was removed and a wet cloth was placed on her forehead. Her teeth shattered at the change in temperature but she didn't say anything.

"Do you want to talk about it?" her friend asked and she shook her head. What was there to talk about? Talking was the last thing she needed, especially after the disaster yesterday's own had been.

She shook her head. She wasn't going to think about it. But the floodgates were already open. As if in a trance, she saw herself causing a scene, Laurent taking her out and her father's announcement. If that was all, she could have dealt with it, made lemonades with the fucking lemons life kept throwing at her, but of course there was more. 

As soon as her father had left, every other person had descended on her and her fiancé. Her lips wanted to twitch at the thought, but she just couldn't summon the energy. It had taken the interference of her father's bull dogs to get them out safely and then they had driven around. She had a lot of regrets about last night. If she hadn't caused a scene, If she hadn't given in to hysterics, perhaps she'd have realized something was wrong and jumped out of the car. But she hadn't.

She'd basically laughed throughout the trip. Even their companions had exchanged glances a time or two. By the time they packed the car in her father's house, it had been too late. Some of the beasts had rough handled her inside the house, but even that assault paled in respect to what had come after.

It wasn't a lie, I didn't lie."

Those words would forever haunt her until the day of her death. She hadn't stuck around to hear more, because of course they had to be messing with her. 

She couldn't count the number of times she'd been told that she was just like her father. Her father, Wendell Blackwell. They were only joking, that had to be it. She ignored the other voice niggling with doubt. The voice that reminded her of that Biology class years ago when she'd realized that she wasn't a match with her father, the lies people told when she asked about her mother, the fact that she'd not just been protected, she'd been suppressed. 

But that didn't make any difference. Her father was lying, Laurent had gotten to him so deeply. She wouldn't be manipulated, she wouldn't.

A wet gasp escaped her lips though. She fought it back. 

I am Rose Blackwell, only child of Wendell Blackwell, she just needed to believe that. Her trembling was just the cold, her teeth was chattering from the cold, her eyes were only releasing tears in order to warm her. She was Rose Wendell, that was who she was.

ANNA'S POV

Anna perched on the hotel chair and tried not to wring her hands. To say she was worried would be an understatement. Rose was headed to a catatonic state-if she wasn't there already- and she had no idea what to do to help.

She'd had to ditch the guy she'd been on a date with when she received Rose's phone call. The calmness and coldness in her voice was her first hint.

She put her head in her hands. This was all her fault. If she hadn't insisted she went to the stupid party, if she hadn't gotten desperate for outside communication and gotten a man from grindr, if she had just followed her to the party. The if's could fill an ocean.

She had an idea of what had happened because someone had streamed a video online before it had been shut down. The fact that she knew about what happened was the issue. When her friend was being ushered out, she'd seen her face and she'd been angry, not cold, not blank, not who she was at the moment.

Which meant there was more. Rose had been in walking distance from her house when she'd called with a payphone. She'd picked her up at the side of the road. Her hair was scattered and she wasn't on shoes, and she'd been walking by the side of the highway. Anger didn't cause that. It couldn't even have been fury, and she knew this wasn't about the asshole she had a crush on.

She'd spent the past few days in a slump because of her Dad, not Laurent. Anna had always seen their relationship as excessive, but it had worked for them, until it hadn't. It couldn't be about the announcement, that was probably a result of Laurent. Rose was a near carbon copy of her father so it wasn't that.

The sound of her phone ringing startled her from her thoughts and she quickly silenced the ringer, glancing at her friend's motionless form. She hoped she was sleeping, but she wouldn't bet herself on it. 

She looked at the number and went to take the call outside. 

"Anna," the vaguely familiar voice breathed over the phone and she looked at the screen again.

"Who is it?" she asked, suspiciously.

"Is Rose there?" came the next question and she suddenly knew who was on the other line.

"You… how dare…," she stuttered, preparing to hang up.

"Please don't hang up," the desperation in his voice gave her pause, and to her regret, she found herself curious.

"What is it?" she asked again, and he sighed.

"Thanks," he breathed. "Is Rose with you? We've been trying to get a hold of her since last night, please tell me you've seen her."

"I've seen her," she answered after a long pause. The guy was clearly worried, no need to extend his torment further.

She heard his sharp inhale of breath and his muttered, 'Her friend has seen her.'

She heard Rose's father next, 'Good, let's go. You're driving,' the man said with a rush and she had o rush in.

"Hold up," she snapped, moving farther away from the room. "I didn't say she was with me."

"And now you just did," Laurent's voice was sharp and impatient. "Where are you guys?"

She had to take a minute to breath. "You asshole. What makes you think I'll answer you?"

He sighed as if she was the problem. "Anna,"

She hung up. There, let them find her by sorcery. The bastard.

She went back inside and saw Rose in the same position with tears on her cheeks. She sighed and went into the bathroom to freshen up.

By the time the knock came, she knew.