Fallen Rose (Beauty and the Beast Trilogy #3) - Amelia Wilde

Chapter One

Haley

The dark presses in like a hand over my mouth, but I have to breathe.

Have to get out of this blood-soaked nightmare echoing with drowned breaths. With tortured gasps. With the sound of Leo trying to breathe while his lungs fill with blood.

The dream is fading fast. But everything feels wrong. I feel less like I fell asleep and more like I was put here against my will. Wake up, wake up, wake up.

My hand connects with something soft. Let it be Leo’s shirt. Where is he, where is he?

There’s nothing solid underneath. I push it away and it becomes a blanket thrown away from my body. A flutter of air as it flies away from me.

I’m on a bed, but it’s not his bed.

Trapped by the sheets. My limbs are sluggish but not as useless as they were in the dream. I push my hair back from my face with numb hands. Both legs over the side of the bed. I could go back to sleep, which is fucked up, honestly. I’ve been sleeping for a long time. That’s all I know. My eyes burn. Even my shins feel weird. There’s a pounding in my head.

And this is not Leo’s room.

It’s lovely. Airy and pastel. Mint green and white. Accents in emerald. Every piece of furniture has been meticulously placed. An elegant chair by the window. A padded bench at the foot of the bed. A matching dresser with a round mirror. I can see myself in it.

I look rumpled. Confused. Terrified. Because I should be.

This is Caroline’s house.

It has a scent to it I recognize. I can’t name it but I know it. I’ve smelled it before. Something rich and luxurious and utterly fake. How the hell did I get here? My mind struggles against black emptiness. I shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t want me here. Not when I’ve been with Leo. Not when she tried to have him killed. Not when I stayed. I stomp through my memories like I’m retracing my steps for a lost set of keys.

I can figure it out later. For now, I have to get out.

On unsteady legs, I rush for the door. The last time I was here, I was at a party I didn’t belong at in a borrowed dress. Now I’m twisted in Leo’s shirt and my leggings. A tank top underneath. I don’t have socks, and I don’t have my shoes, but I don’t care.

The doorknob turns under my hand. Solid wood swings toward me, forcing me back into the room.

Caroline breezes in.

If I didn’t know what happened to her, I’d never have noticed the tense set to her shoulders. Everything else about her is polished. Perfect. Constantine. She’s wearing a loungewear set with a blue cashmere wrap and an expression of pure concern.

I freeze in the middle of the floor. The scent was her perfume. It’s light and expensive and everywhere.

It makes me sick.

The wrap whispers on her clothes as she reaches for me. I’m too frozen to stop her. Cool, small hands on the sides of my face.

“Haley, darling, we’ve been so worried.” Bile surges to the back of my throat at the sound of darling in her mouth. And she’s not done speaking. One of her thumbs idly strokes my cheekbone. “I heard what Leo Morelli forced you to do to save your father. I’m so sorry you didn’t think you could come to me. Don’t worry, sweetheart, you’re safe now. He can’t steal you away again. You’re under my protection now.”

Her hands slip down to my shoulders.

It’s too much and I wrench myself away. There’s nowhere to go, not really, but I can at least take a big step back. Caroline’s eyes stay big and round and concerned. “He didn’t force me to do anything. You brought me here. I didn’t want to come.”

The corners of her mouth turn down, and she shakes her head a little. “Sweetheart—”

“I’m not your sweetheart.” My skin prickles, going cold with Caroline’s presence. She’d be so pissed if I threw up on her nice carpet. “I want to go home. I want to see my father.”

She clucks her tongue. “You will. Of course you will. And you won’t have to worry anymore. I’m going to take care of everything. Aunt Caroline is here now.”

Caroline steps forward, taking up the space I took back. I should run. I should shove her out of the way and run. But instead my muscles lock down tight, freezing one by one from