"I'd set the world on fire, including myself, if it meant saving her."
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Power. It is a word easy to spell, but hard to master. It is humanity's biggest desire, and everyone wants to know what it feels like to be the most powerful person in the...
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I lay in bed with my husband, my fingers lazily drawing circles over his chest. Outwardly, I was calm, but my mind was a chaotic storm of thoughts about my mother. Meeting her last night had been a shock that left me reeling, but it also brought a wave of bittersweet relief she was alive. She was safe and for a few beautiful moments, she had been mine again.
But then she vanished, leaving me more devastated than before. How was I supposed to find her now? What did she mean when she said she just wanted to see me one last time? Was she really in some kind of deep trouble? Now that the raw, shaking emotion of the alleyway had settled, I could finally think clearly, but the clarity only brought more questions.
Jimin- What's going on in that beautiful head of yours?
His voice was husky with sleep, soft and vibrating against my side. It was past eight we had slept in a little longer than usual. The morning light was struggling to filter through the heavy blindfolds on the windows, casting the room in a warm, private glow. We only had a few minutes before the day would pull us in a thousand directions, so for now, we were just taking this moment for ourselves.
Suhani- At the time of our kids' birth... do you remember someone left pink roses for me? I thought they were poisonous, but you said they weren't. You never told me who sent them.
I felt him shift slightly, his fingers brushing over the pulse point on my neck, his touch light but observant.
Jimin- Why are you suddenly asking about that? Is it because of last night?
Suhani- Don't you think it's strange? After so long, I received those same flowers again last night from that little girl. Who sent them, Jimin? You know, don't you?
I held my breath. Jimin didn't know I had actually spoken to my mother yet, but Scott had briefed him on the girl and the bouquet. I needed to know what he was hiding.
Suhani- Tell me if you know anything. I know it's all interlinked. It was my mother who sent those pink roses, wasn't it?
Jimin looked at me in silence for a long moment before sighing deeply. He turned his gaze to the mirrored ceiling, staring at our reflection as if searching for the right words.
Jimin- I didn't want to stress you out during your pregnancy, Senòrita. That's why I kept it from you. A man named Duke Beckham and his team were hired to stalk you and eventually, to kill you. They tried multiple times. That day at Ayla's baby shower when you were chased? That was them.
Suhani- How did you know it was them?
Jimin- Because I caught him. And he confessed everything to me before I ended him.
I looked at him in silence. It wasn't the violence that surprised me. I knew who my husband was but the fact that he had carried this weight alone for an entire year.
