The Story of Blood and Roses

"You tried to strangle me! I think that is considered as an attempt to murder."

"I knew what I was doing. You needed to calm down and were in need of a sedative. I improvised with what I had." He offered me an unconvincing shrug.

"Calm me down by strangling me?" I hissed, controlling my rising voice. "I could have died!" I seethed. The images were clear in my head, my body, pale and lifeless, lying alone in an open casket. The funeral was commencing, but there was not a single person attending. It was a sad thought that I pushed into the darkest corners of my mind.

"Yes, I calmed you down. A near-death experience is known to make a person concentrate on better things than trivial emotions. If you have not noticed yet, you are calm and don't want to kill me."

"You would not have died," he assured me. I was not assured.

"How can you be so sure?" I argued, leaning forward, the strength returning to my limbs.

"I have enough experience in induced strangulation to know when to stop." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Strangulation is a common kink, Mia. A lot of my partners enjoyed being held down and used." His eye flickered towards Daisy before meeting mine again. "The lack of oxygen in your brain can cause you to create an alternate consciousness. It also produces a euphoric sense which is quite addictive."

"I would have thought that you gained your experience by strangling people you interrogated. You seemed to enjoy torturing people if I remember correctly," I sneered, not willing to lose the opportunity.

"I do have experience with asphyxiating people at interrogations, but I usually just try to scare them. And I will retort that subtle jab of yours at a later date."

"No, I want to hear you now!" I demanded. Damn it if I had to wait for the explanation.

"Not in front of her," he said sternly, but in his eyes, I saw a sort of vulnerability that I had never seen before.

"Oh, she knows everything already. Probably even better than me-"

"So, you should be asking her all the questions. You don't fucking need me to tell you why I did what I did, Mia," he snapped.

"Oh, yeah... I don't need you, Anthony. But I want to hear you say it. I won't pretend that I understand why you did any of what you did. Why try to kill me on a later date when you could have done it in the beginning?" I let the calmness wash over me, keeping my anger inside, giving him no openings to evade the answer.

"You were my only chance at securing dominance over the Russian market without going through Luke." Had I expected him to say anything else? No. Had I wished that he had shown an ounce of emotion in how he said it? Given me an indication that he had somehow actually liked me? Yes. I would have loved that. It would have soothed the cut on my pride. I would never overcome how disgraced I was when I had fallen into his trap.

"And what did you promise them in exchange?" I asked. It felt nice to be on the interrogating end: to make him have a taste of his own medicine.

His stare was penetrating. I held my ground, giving him no room to analyze my question.

"They wanted you taken care of. You were the sacrificial lamb, so to speak. They would get rid of you, and I would get to further the power of my empire. I was winning anyway, and you would have been a nuisance if I let you live after Luke was overthrown."

"So, you took the opportunity and disposed off of me?" His head snapped up towards me at that. In his glare, I found surprise. The slight widening of his eyes at the question gave him away.

"That was not something I planned or intended to do. If I wanted to overthrow Luke, I had to pretend that you didn't matter. Do you think you would have been as lucky as to get out of the situation alive if he had known that you were my little lover? They would have killed you without a second thought!"

"And that is exactly what you wanted right?" I exclaimed. "I was lucky, you say? I was hopeless and I thought that I had been abandoned. I did not want to believe that everything that I went through with you was all a big joke. I got the joke, I tried to end it, you know!"

"I do," it was nothing more than a whisper.

"I was not lucky while I was in there, Anthony, having those men touch me. I was trained to be able to withstand disgrace and objectification, but I never expected that you would stand by and watch someone touch what you proudly thought was yours," I scoffed. "Is that not what you said when I was sitting with Armando? Why not let him touch me, too. I wanted it: his touch," I taunted.

What I would give to get a rise out of him.

"You didn't want it. You just wanted to make me jealous."