The Story of Blood and Roses

"Make you jealous?" I raised a brow in challenge. "I have no reason to do any such thing, Anthony. We both pretended to be doing our job, right? I feel no sense of possession over you that will stimulate me to make you jealous. I can touch whomsoever I want."

"You do enjoy lying to yourself, don't you?" His jaw clenched as he fought the anger. "I would have saved you if I could," he hissed. I realized that the anger was directed towards himself. "All my comments inside the warehouse was that you could live longer. If I had told them that I knew your father and his plans, that would be the end of you. You weren't important enough for him to keep alive. I, on the other hand, could have just told him everything and walked out without a scratch."

"Thank you for reminding me that you knew my father."

"He was a scumbag. Thank god I killed him. He deserved it after what he did with Melody," he said offhandedly. "What?" he asked, amused when he caught my wide-eyed stare. "The woman taught me everything she knew. I built my strength on those and created my own style. Your mother shaped me, Mia." Somehow, that pissed me off.

"Why did you let her die, then?" He shook his head, refusing what allegation, I did not know.

"I was supposed to be on sniping duty, not letting anyone get in. I completed that and tracked down my father like I had promised myself. I had to kill him, it was about my pride. I never break my promises." I might have burst out in laughter. He stared at me incredulously. It must have been a long time since he had seen me laugh. Moreover, I didn't think that he expected me to react in the way I did. I was a bit surprised by the boisterous expression myself.

"Yes, you did promise not to sell me out to the highest bidder." I rolled my eyes and stifled another burst of laughter.

"What do I say to make you believe that I did not sell you out?" he seemed on the brink of his wit.

"You can't," I retorted stubbornly.

"I had asked for backup from your organization before they took you in and tied you down. I didn't tell them that you were there. They thought that you were dead; that I had killed you. They send in Jacob and his little merry crew because they were going to take out Luke. Jacob's team was chosen because I knew that he would be the person to save you. I lowered all the electromagnetic shields so that they could locate you."

I blinked, feeling at a loss.

"Do you know where they found you, Mia?" his eyes were wild, his voice low and haunting. "They were trying to bury your body behind the warehouse when Jacob came in. I had been long gone by then. I couldn't turn back and ruin your chances. I did not know that you were dead, I hoped you were not," he corrected immediately. "I hacked into that watch of yours and listened to the doctor announce that you were dead," he whispered. "I tried my fucking best to get to you, see you for one last time, but Jacob. I didn't even know where he took your body. I searched every morgue in the city and outside, and I couldn't find you. I thought... I thought... I couldn't even honor you in your death."

"Do you really want me to forgive you because you had it all planned out? All you had to do was tell me what was happening and we would have found another way!" I panted. I was on my knees, the sheets clenched in my fists. "All you needed to do was tell me, dammit!"

"Calm down-" I heard Daisy say.

"Leave!" I screamed. "I will not kill him, don't worry. I have a score to settle with him. He won't die without telling me why he did the things that he did," I sneered, not looking away from the man in question.

"You need to calm down!"

"Yes, because strangling me worked out so well for him!"

"If you don't stop, you know what might happen." The thought was sobering. Imagining the pain returning made me stop in my tracks. I flinched as I tried to erase the memory from my brain.

"What will happen?" inquired the bastard. The clueless man did not know a thing.

"Did you know that if you cut off the flow of oxygen to the brain, it not only slows down the heart to calm the body but sometimes leads to erratic beating of the heart. The heart rate can speed up in an attempt to provide more oxygen to the brain and collapse. I could have had a heart failure. I could have gone into a coma, for fuck's sake!"

"I know how long to hold! I know all of this," he growled.

"Of course you don't." I bit back.

"A person who is at risk of having a heart attack or has shown symptoms of heart disease is at higher risk of a heart fail in case there is a lack of oxygen inside the body for a considerable period of time." Daisy's words made me shudder. Yes, the lack of oxygen had made me see things clearly and made me concentrate, but it could have gone bad. There was always a chance.

"I don't understand how that pertains to our situation," he said, bewildered.

"Why do you think I was sitting on a sidewalk while I should have been running to save my ass from Armando's people?" Sarcasm was my weapon.

"What are you implying?" the urgency in his voice was comforting.

"I tried to kill myself when things got bad. The fluid that was supposed to kill me, didn't work, but screwed me up."

"You-" yes, he realized. He had done the calculation in his brain.

"Yes!" I snapped.

"Daisy, please leave. I need to speak to him privately."