“You took her man,” Pia cried out.
“He was never hers, to begin with,” I got out through gritted teeth. “He’s fucking mine. And you two both seem clueless to the fact that he doesn’t want to have jack shit to do with either of you. So you better just give up now, before you’ve embarrassed yourself further.”
The guard gripped me tighter and I wrestled uselessly against his rough touch.
“And if you think you won’t get punished for this,” I went on darkly. “You’re fucking stupid, Pia. As soon as Thorn gets back and realizes what you’ve done to me, you’ll be in deep shit.”
“We’ll see,” she said cockily, smirking at me. “I’ve been at his side for longer, you bitch. You have no idea what we’ve been through together.”
She opened her mouth to go on, but I cut her off, saying, “Actually, don’t waste your breath, because I don’t give a shit. If Thorn wants to tell me that’s fine, but I don’t want to hear another lie from your lips ever again. So just fucking save it for someone that actually gives a damn.”
“My, my,” Pia smirked at me. “Looks like the little bitch does have a spine after all! Maybe I’ll start walking all over you in shorter heels now.”
“Don’t care either way,” I told her darkly. “Because I have the only thing you’ve ever wanted, and you’re never getting it back.”
We stared at each other with obvious contempt flowing freely between us. Of course, Thorn had to choose that moment to walk into the room, the tension growing as the guard loosened his grip of my arms.
“What the fuck’s going on here?” Thorn growled, and I twisted out of the guard’s reach, glaring at him over my shoulder.
Thorn strode right up to the guard first, grabbing his head and slamming him headfirst into the wall. The man groaned and rubbed his forehead as Thorn let go of him, grabbing him by the nape of his neck and growling a warning I didn’t hear into his ear. Next, he approached us, reaching out for me to join him. I cowered under his arm and he held me close as he turned his wrath on Pia.
“Don’t think I won’t punish you again,” he told her angrily. “And if last night wasn’t a good enough lesson, trust me, I have plenty of other things I can throw at you to make you obey me.”
She looked sheepish as he kissed the top of my head tenderly.
“I don’t care who you sleep with, Pia,” Thorn went on. “The guards do as I tell them despite your little fucking bribes. And if you don’t fucking stop, I’m going to tear you apart piece by piece. And I’m going to fucking enjoy you collapsing to a pile of nothing. You got that? I don’t want you to ever so much as say a bad word to my woman. Nod if you understand.”
She didn’t dare look at me, though I could tell she was desperate to do it, her eyes dancing over Thorn’s features. She nodded swiftly, without saying a word.
“Good,” Thorn ground out. “Now move the fuck out of our way.”
She stepped aside, and Thorn led me out through the door and towards the rose garden I’d come to know so well. It was still a place of secrets, of unspoken stories that he would eventually reveal to me. But it was no longer frightening, the thorns and brambles of the bushes not scaring me anymore. Now it seemed more like a place of refuge, perhaps just as Thorn had intended.
He didn’t stop walking once we were standing among the roses. He kept on going until we were at the edge of the cliff, and sat down on the rocks, his feet dangling above the precipice. He reached out to me, and I stared at him with surprise, my heart beating impossibly fast.
“What if I fall?” I whispered fear setting into my bones.
“I’ll catch you,” he said simply, and I took his hand, sitting on the edge with him.
My foot caught on a rock and several pebbles tumbled down into the ocean. The view was incredible, the smell of the sea overwhelming in my nose. It was the freest I had felt since I’d been with him, even compared to my second trip to London. My mind was suddenly clear. There were no thoughts of Amber, no worries about Pia or Carina. There were just the two of us, and I leaned against Thorn as we stared at the water below us.
“I hope you’re prepared for the life ahead of you,” Thorn told me softly. “Things are going to change for you very soon.”
I stared at his chiseled, handsome profile with my heart pounding.
“What do you mean?” I finally dared ask.
“You’ll start traveling with me,” he told me. “Instead of Pia. You’ll be my partner in everything. Parties, social gatherings, charities, every trip I go on, you’ll be with me. Unless it’s impossible, you will always be by my side. Would you like that, Rose?”