Chapter 107: Roses
Carmen
"We’re in this together!" I snapped, only to break into a cough the next second, the irritation hitting my throat hard. It annoyed me even more when he was already at my side before I could recover, holding out a cup of water like he had been expecting it.
He offered it and I took it.
I sipped slowly, letting it ease the dryness, about to speak again—but he didn’t let me.
"...Did I say we weren’t?" he asked.
I turned to glare at him, saying the truth he clearly didn’t have the guts to admit.
"You think they’ll get to me, and you’d rather keep your carefully made plans to yourself," I told him.
He just looked at me.
Didn’t deny it.
Didn’t even try.
He took the cup from me after I was done and walked over to place it at the far end of the room, where the table had been set. Calm. Unbothered. Like none of this mattered as much as it did.
There was a small smile on his face when he turned back.
Hands slipping into his pants as he walked toward me again, his steps slow, deliberate. He was tall—he knew it. Menacing too, and he leaned into that more when he was displeased.
Black shirt. Black pants.
The shirt was open just enough to leave the tattoos on his neck visible, sleeves rolled up to show the ones on his arms. Like he wanted me to see them. Like he wanted to remind me of exactly who he was.
His eyes leveled on me, sharp.
A grin spread across his face as he spoke again, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Not even a little.
"You will have your laptop and phone," he said. "Along with your contacts. Martin already helped with that."
He kept going.
"...You can manage your businesses from here. And once you can be moved, you’ll be moved to the estate."
He was talking more than usual.
Explaining more than usual.
"They will work in shifts," he continued. "You’ll know all their faces. They’ve been properly vetted. As much as I can."
There was the slightest pause before he added,
"As long as the hospital is not bombed, you should be fine."
That part... even he didn’t sound completely unbothered saying it.
Bombing wasn’t beyond what our enemies could do. I knew that. Still, it was hard to believe they would go as far as blowing up a hospital filled with people just trying to get better.
"You’re really not going to tell me what’s going on?" I asked again.
He didn’t answer that.
Not really.
"It’s been a week," he said instead.
I stilled.
"A lot has happened."
The words didn’t fully register until he made them.
"At a point, the doctors weren’t sure you were going to make it."
Everything I had been about to say disappeared.
Just like that.
That fact settled right in my chest, heavy and suffocating.
I could have died.
No... I came very close to dying.
"You clearly still want to play nice, Carmen," he continued, his tone shifting into something almost sarcastic. "You don’t want to get your hands dirty... that’s fine."
I didn’t interrupt.
"If you’d rather be a martyr, that’s fine with me," he added. "But I have no intention of putting my life in danger in whatsoever manner."
I looked at him, already knowing the answer, but I asked anyway.
"...So what are you going to do?"
He was already shaking his head.
"...Whatever I have to."
He met my gaze, steady.
I frowned, irritation building.
It wasn’t just what he said—it was what it meant.
If he was making moves without informing me, then this wasn’t a partnership.
Not really.
It was something else.
Something where he controlled everything, and I was just being carried along with it.
Was I grateful he got me my father’s shares instead of Bianca?
Yes.
But it wasn’t out of kindness.
And I was getting tired of it.
The way he spoke. The way he acted. The way everything about him carried that quiet, constant condescension.
More than anything, it worried me.
No matter what I did, Nico always had some sort of leverage over me.
Always.
"If you’re going to be like that," I said, "then I guess I’ll make my own plans."
That was enough.
I saw it instantly.
Fury.
It flared in his eyes as he looked at me, and when he spoke, it was like I was a child—not a grown woman.
"Are you going to do something stupid again?"
The jab hit exactly where it was meant to.
I felt it, sharp and immediate, but I forced myself to stay calm, even as I balled my fists beneath the covers.
"I’ll do whatever I want with my businesses," I said. "We’re partners, remember? You’re not my lord or my father."
The smile I gave him stiffened almost immediately.
Because he moved.
Lowering himself until his face was close to mine, his hands gripping the railing of the bed tightly on either side.
Too close.
Close enough that I could smell him.
And his eyes...
There was no humor left in them.
"You mean the father that chose his eighteen-year-old son over you," he said quietly, "simply because you’re a woman?"
My jaw tightened.
It took everything in me not to explode right then and there.
"...I gave those businesses to you," he went on. "I have half as much stake in them as you do."
I let out a scoff.
"...You’re the one who tied up your other half while playing it safe. This one is mine."
I held his gaze, daring him to argue.
And then—
My breath hitched.
His hands moved.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Sliding up my chest and settling around my neck.
My heart started racing instantly, the machines beside me reacting before I could even process it. The steady beeping went off rhythm, louder, faster.
His fingers wrapped around my throat.
Not enough to stop me from breathing.
But enough.
Enough to make it clear.
Fear hit me then.
Cold. Sharp. Real.
I stared into his blue eyes, and the truth settled in without resistance.
Nico could kill me.
He could kill me and make me disappear.
And right now, he was making sure I understood that.
"...For someone confined to a bed, you really do know how to mouth off," he sneered, tightening his grip just a little more.
I didn’t move.
Couldn’t.
"I like it," he added. "But don’t test me, Carmen."
Then he let go.
Just like that.
His hands dropped away, like nothing had happened, as he straightened his shirt with calm precision and turned to leave.
By the time he reached the door, he didn’t even look back.
"Next time I visit," he said casually, "I’ll bring roses."
