The Blossom of Rose

49 • Brave

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Dante asks for the millionth time. He's sitting behind the computer at his desk with the headset on. I hooked up my phone to it so he can confirm if the call is coming from the prison and so he can hear what's being said too.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I rub my sweaty palms on my thighs, sitting opposite him on one of the chairs.

I stand. I sit. I stand. I pace around the room.

"Rose, you know you don't have to do this. You don't need to prove anything," Calla adds from her place on the couch. I shake my head at her.

"What time does he usually ring?" Dante queries adjusting the headset and watching my movements.

"4:04," I respond checking the ticking time. I've got about a minute left. My stomach bubbles in rancid nausea that claws away at my sanity.

Why am I doing this again? Oh right, to prove I'm not a scared little girl. Only I am. I'm more scared than I've ever been. I have more at stake now, Luca and our baby. He may think he's indestructible but he's human. He can die.

The phone blares in my hand and I look at Dante. He nods his head, confirming that it's coming from Valley State Prison. Before I can overthink anything, I inhale a deep breath and answer the call.

"Hello," I say. I practised that word so many times to make sure it didn't sound as weak as I feel.

"Rosalie, my dear," he chirps sarcastically through the phone in his deep, vicious voice, "been a very long time, hasn't it?"

This is the first time he and I have spoken in 6 years.

Chills race up and down my spine and my mind starts to blare alarms. Those same alarms went off whenever I was in his presence.

"Ricardo," I breathe out his name and splinters stick to my throat, "what do you want?"

My legs start to weaken and I carefully sit down in the chair. Dante eyes me in heavy concern and I wave him off, indicating that I'm okay.

"I just want to catch up with you. Can't a father speak to his daughter for the first time in years?" He tries to keep his calm but I hear his cruelty inching its way in.

"You're not my father," I correct him and curse the slight waver in my voice. Thankfully, he didn't pick up on it otherwise he definitely would've made a cruel remark about it. 

He sighs, "I'm trying to be nice here, Rosalie, and there are a lot of things you've done over the months you've been back that have infuriated me."

There it is. His fury.

My hands start to shake slightly and I need to find my remedy. Usually, I would use the bracelet but it's on the same hand so I cradle my baby bump instead. A warmth evades my chest when I feel the baby move so he's snuggling up to my hand.

"Pedro Garcia and Andre Blanchet. Two good men that are dead because of you," he continues with a venomous bite in his tone.

"You can think what you want about them but I know what they did to me and I knew their true intentions," I reply, pushing back the memories swarming my mind from either of them.

"And now, you're in a relationship with fucking Luca Armani," he snarls, "but, don't worry, we can fix that. None of it matters because you're not married to him."

Something ignites in me when I hear the name of the man I love coming from his lips. It's like a phoenix as it soars its fire through every millilitre of blood in my veins.

"You don't have a right over my life. You never did. I choose to be with him and I'm going to stay with him," I state indefinitely but that doesn't put out the fire in my heart from when he said Luca's name. He has more to say about him. I know it.