Billionaire's Captive Complete Trilogy - Stasia Black Page 0,144
with the roses, remember?”
He leans in to kiss me. When our lips part, he presents me with a perfect red rose. “Your rose with thorns.”
I grasp the stem. My cheeks are sore from smiling so hard. This love story isn’t perfect, but it’s ours. And that sorta makes it perfect.
I bring the bloom to my face and inhale. “There. That scent. My mother’s perfume, my past and future all rolled into one. It’s beautiful.”
“It is,” Logan says, but he’s looking at me. My heart swells.
“I love you, Logan Wulfe.”
He smiles, that rakish carefree grin that I love so much. “I love you, t—” he starts to say but then his expression suddenly changes. “Daphne,” he rasps, fear etched into the lines on his brow, around his eyes. He reaches out to touch my face, but I beat him to it.
Something wet is trickling from my nose.
I frown. What on ear— My fingers are red when they come away. Blood drips on my palm. Oh shit. The bottom drops out and suddenly I’m sinking, sinking—
Logan rips his white dress shirt and hands me a makeshift handkerchief to press to my nose. His big hand covers my forehead.
“No fever. Just a nosebleed?” His eyebrows pinch together but he doesn’t look too concerned.
“It’s not just a nosebleed,” I close my eyes, wishing I could stop time. No, no no no.
It’s not fair. Not when I just found him. Not when we just found this, here together.
“Then what? Daphne, what’s happening? My gods, I need to call an ambulance.” He starts to rise and I catch his arm. I’m weak, so much weaker than him, but he stills at my butterfly light touch.
“No, Logan. No ambulance. Just...stay with me. One minute longer.” I throw my arms around him, wishing I could go back to that perfect moment, that single second when I had it all before the gods stripped it all away.
“Daphne, please,” Logan eases me back. “Talk to me. What’s going on? Are you sick?”
“I’m sick, Logan. I’ve always been sick. The disease is in my blood.”
Horrified awareness dawns on his face as I swallow and pronounce my death sentence.
“I have Battleman’s. And it’s back.”
Beauty and the Rose
One
Daphne
I can’t believe we’ve come this far.
Logan clasps my hand as we walk through his flourishing rose-filled labyrinth to a fountain at the center I’ve never seen before.
It’s springtime and I swear I’ve never appreciated the world sprouting new life with such fresh eyes before. Logan’s hand isn’t enough contact for me, though. I grasp his arm and giggle as we head toward the stone benches beside the sun-dappled fountain.
“I’ve never been so happy in my whole life,” I sigh and lean my head against Logan’s shoulder. His heat seeps into me and prickles rise on my skin. I’m so attuned to him. I never knew two people could be so in sync.
He bows towards me, his large hand finding my cheek and easing my face towards his. Our lips meet, gently at first, then with greater intensity. My nipples rise and arousal trickles through me.
I sigh into his mouth, “Logan.” A prayer. A plea.
He wraps his arm around me and squeezes me tight—but not too tight. “I was so terrified I’d lose you.” His voice is thick.
I press close, my chest grazing his as I lift my hands to his face. “You’ll never lose me, Logan Wulfe. Nothing on this earth can part us.”
I go up on my tiptoes to kiss him again, but right before our lips can make contact, out of nowhere—
“Wha—?” I cry out as the rosebush to my left suddenly shoots out a viney thorn branch that wraps around my neck.
Another shoots out and wraps around my torso, pinning my arms to my chest.
Before I know what’s happening, I’m being yanked violently backwards away from Logan.
The thorns pierce my flesh and I scream in pain as I fly through the air.
Logan’s mouth drops open and he lunges, reaching for me. I can see him fighting to get to me, but it’s like there’s an invisible barrier between us. And I know deep in my bones this is one battle he can’t fight for me in spite of his incredible strength.
I reach for him, but more thorny branches pierce my skin.
“Please,” I scream. “Not again!”
But I’m smothered as I’m yanked into the labyrinthine bushes and then swallowed up by the ground.
Buried alive.
I wake with a jolt, wanting to scream. There’s pain, everywhere in my body.