Rose and Thorns

Chapter 9

Jazmine

She kept her gaze fixed on her son who was playing with a toy car that she had secretly bought for him. One of the wheels was coming out from excessive usage yet the boy seemed happy to play with it.

How much she wished Miguel had a normal life like the other kids in the village. She wanted him to attend school, graduate, meet girls and lead a simple life but those things would always be her dream and nothing more.

Miguel’s life was pre-programmed by his father and grandfather. He would grow up to be just like his father one day, complicated and undecipherable.

Jazmine knew that Victor grew up without a mother’s love and care, after she died in an airplane crash along with his twin brother. She always believed if Victor had a mother, he might have been a better person today. But seeing her son’s life being altered right in front of her, she knew it didn’t matter if the men of this family were brought up by their moms or not, they would anyway turn out to be cold-blooded murderers one day. Maybe Victor too was an innocent child once, who was turned into this heartless and destructive beast by his father and forefathers.

Will Miguel also treat his woman the same way his father does?

Will another woman also have to undergo the same fate as her?

Tortured and beaten?

Those thoughts alone were enough to ruin her heart with fright and agitation.

Day by day, she was losing her hope of bringing up Miguel into a good human being. It felt like she was slowly losing the most important battle of her life.

Jazmine was startled out of her pining when the door was hurled open suddenly. She was so much preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn’t realize when Miguel had left the room.

When she looked up, she saw Victor standing there with his face and hands covered in blood. The red stains had camouflaged in his black dress shirt flawlessly, making them look like mere drops of sweat. With his blazing red eyes and heaving chest, he looked nothing less than a cheetah who had run several miles to kill its prey. 

For a fraction of a second, his smoky eyes met with her exotic hazel ones before he snapped away and walked into the bathroom without bothering to close it behind him.

 ‘Whom did he kill today?’ She wondered and kept staring at his reflection on the huge mirror. The deep frown on his thick eyebrows and the tight skin around his lips as he tried to tame his emotions, didn’t go unseen by her.

He looked mad for some reason. It wasn’t the first time Jazmine was seeing him angry like this but this was the first time she witnessing him trying to control it. She noticed that he was vigorously trying to get rid of the bloodstains from his hands, keeping them under the running water.

She didn’t know how long she stood there gawking at him like that. He was acting very weird lately. Everything about him seemed different from the day he returned. It had been more than a couple of weeks already and he hadn’t approached or bothered her at nights as he did before, which was very unusual of Victor. Jazmine dismissed it, thinking it was because he was injured and probably still recovering.

After several times splashing water on his bloodied face, he lifted his head up, and once again her eyes met with Victor’s, this time on the mirror. He leaned on to the sink with both his hands holding the rim of the sink.

There was something different about his eyes, which she couldn’t quite understand. Victor’s usually void eyes were now flooded with these unfamiliar emotions that she had never seen before.

Was it guilt?

Regret?

Helplessness? 

What was it? And if so, why?

Did Victor really have such things called feelings?

She thought she was definitely imagining the impossible. As much as she knew from the years she had spent with Victor, he was an animal who could never feel or express any human emotions, at least not guilt and remorse for killing a fellow human being.

She peeled her eyes to look away, which went back to him once more as if they functioned according to their own. She couldn’t overlook the fact that his eyes were trying to tell her something.

‘Psst! Seriously?’ 

They hadn’t had a proper conversation as a couple even for once since they got married, then from when did they start talking with their eyes? She mocked herself for being so ridiculous.

When she saw a small jerk of his eyebrow in a questioning manner at her, she averted her gaze. Before her eyes could betray her anymore, she left the room hurriedly.

Upon reaching the dining hall, Jazmine let out a huge sigh that she didn’t know was stuck in her chest. Her eyes fell upon Sarah who was helping Miguel onto his high chair.  He was happily chatting with Jayda’s daughter, Lucy.

“Jazmine..” Sarah waved at her hand.

Smiling back at her, Jazmine made her way to the chair which she usually took. She ruffled Miguel’s hair lovingly and he shot back a sweet smile at her before he went back to talking with Lucy. They were joined by the others in the house and soon the hall was engulfed in pin-drop silence.

Jasmine and Sarah paused their conversation when they watched Victor coming down the stairs looking fresh, probably after a shower and dressed casually in his tracks and a black T-shirt. He dragged out a chair, the one next to Jazmine. Though, Victor always sat next to her, this time for some reason his action seemed to gain her attention completely.  

She saw him fill his bowl with his favorite Sanchocho stew and the plate with rice, avocado and Arepa just like he did always. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary happening and he was being his usual self yet Jazmine found something uncommon with the man.

Generally, Victor never hesitated to misbehave or insult Jazmine in front of everyone but so far nothing as such had happened. He was quiet and most importantly hadn’t punished her for trying to kill him. The Victor before the accident would have broken her hand for pulling such a stunt and that alone kept her thinking what was wrong with him.

“Momma, I want water..” With the befuddled state she was in, she totally missed hearing her son’s voice and when she was out of her trance, she observed Victor pouring water into a glass and stretching his hand across her to hand it over to Miguel.

What shocked her, even more, was the sweet smile that appeared on his lips when Miguel uttered a low, ‘Thank you, father..’

Jazmine remained frozen and stupefied. She had never thought she would get to see something like this in her life. Victor’s smiles that she remembered were always sinister and scary, never pleasant and charming like the one he flashed a few seconds ago.

She didn’t realize she was staring at him with an open mouth until he cleared his throat and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“N-Nothing..”

Did the missile hit his head or something?

Did the monster inside him suddenly disappear when he was almost killed in the attack?

If the monster that resided within him had really disappeared then she had no intention to bring it back by staring at him or reminding him of anything.

When Jazmine looked away from him, almost everyone around the dining table had a similar expression plastered on their faces, clearly astounded by his smile, including Miguel and Lucy. She threw a probing look at Sarah who shook her head clueless to Victor’s sudden strangeness.

As if he hadn’t done that, Victor went back to eating, ignoring all the eyes on him. He knew he shouldn’t have done that but how could he not have, seeing Miguel being so respectable for his age. For the past few days, he had been noticing the kid. As far as he had seen him, he was very sweet and kind to the other kids of his age. He was brilliant and witty but he wondered what his father did to him to make him look so gloomy and horrified in front of him.

Every time he saw the little boy, he would often forget that he has a reputation of his brother’s to keep up. The child made him let down his guard and that wasn’t something Ricardo would appreciate.

“Victor, how are you feeling now?” Breaking the silence in the hall, Jayda asked from across the table. She never missed a chance to talk to him, even though he never paid any interest to her.

“Good..” He responded with a groan, not bothering to offer her even a glance.

From the day he was back, this woman had been pestering him with her constant attention, which only heightened his doubts that she had feelings that were considered beyond normal for a married woman with a child.

Even Victor’s wife, Jazmine wasn’t so concerned about his return. Of course, she wouldn’t when she wanted him dead, he added mentally but seriously that is what he expected from everyone, to leave him alone instead of prying about the past and making him nervous.  

Jazmine glared at Jayda with a disgusted grimace on her face. She didn’t understand how someone could love a psychotic being like Victor when she was married to the most humble man like Marcello. As much as she knew, Jayda was blessed with a beautiful family, a caring husband, and a cute daughter but she was ruining it all by drowning in alcohol just because Victor didn’t marry her.

Marcello was Victor’s accounting head and managed records of all his transactions and deals. Even though he was linked to their dirty business, Marcello never got involved in killing anyone. What would Jazmine not do to be with a man like him? She thought but immediately chided herself and stopped herself from thinking further.

 In fact, Jayda should consider herself lucky that Victor didn’t choose her but here she was trying to hit on the most loathsome human being in the world. Maybe this is why it’s said the grass is greener on the other side. You don’t know what the other person is suffering until you are in their place.

After dinner, Jazmine patiently waited for Miguel to say goodnight to Lucy. He never talked to anyone when his father was around and now that Victor had retired to his room, the little guy was back to being chirpy and all smiles. He loved to play with Lucy who was just a couple of years older than him. They were so close to each other, like siblings from different mothers and if she was not Jayda’s daughter, Jazmine would have loved her even more than she did now.

She often thought how Jayda could be the mother to such a well-behaved and sweet child but it wasn’t a miracle, after all, Jayda never did anything for Lucy other than giving birth to her. It was Jayda’s mother who took care of the little girl.

“I’m so happy to see Victor again..” Jazmine didn't know when Jayda came to stand near her. She was accompanied by her aunt, Emilia.

“What difference does it make to you, Jayda?” Jazmine inquired, her expression serious as she kept an eye on the kids who were running around. “No matter if he is back or not, he wouldn’t give a damn about you. Then what are you so happy about?” She looked at Jayda with a taunt in her eyes.

Even though she hated Victor so much, Jasmine didn’t like it when Jayda, a married woman was trying to grab her husband's attention. Not because she was jealous or something, but she felt bad for Jayda’s husband for having to undergo such humiliation.

“We grew up together, you like it or not Jazmine I mean more than just a friend to Victor..” Jayda shot back raising her chin high.

This was what Jayda often said to Jazmine whenever she felt insulted by her. Jazmine didn’t understand what it meant but she was sure it was worthless trying to know deeper about it. First of all, Victor had no friends and Jayda definitely meant nothing to him as claimed by her.

Jazmine smirked, “Do you have an idea how crazy you sound right now for saying that? I really don’t care Jayda, whether you are more than a friend to him or not. But let me tell you how miserable you are to ignore your husband for someone who can never be yours..”  

Jayda angrily opened her mouth to say something but Lucy came running and began to tug at her dress, “Momma, I am feeling sleepy. Can we go now?”

“Shut up now Lucy..” Jayda poured out all her anger on the little girl before pushing her out of her way and stomping towards her room.

Jazmine immediately felt sorry for Lucy who started weeping silently. “Momma, can Lucy sleep in our room tonight?” Miguel asked seeing his friend in tears.

“I don’t know honey, if her momma will allow that..” She replied uncertainly. Of course, she wouldn’t mind another kid sleeping with them in their room but Jayda was always so unpredictable and she might raise unnecessary trouble if she came to know about it.

“Aunt Jazmine, my momma wouldn't even know about it. She would be drinking the portion that makes her fall asleep..” Lucy whispered in her soft tone. 

Jazmine’s heart ached for the girl for having to see her mother getting addicted to alcohol. She surely didn't deserve a parent like Jayda. 

“Alright, let’s go and sleep then..” She led the kids up to the first floor which was strictly only for the family members. Except for the head servants, not even Emilia and Esteban were allowed to come there. Lucy was an exception as she was Miguel’s only best friend.

When Jazmine opened her bedroom, she got another blow for the day seeing Victor lying on the bed with his arm thrown over his forehead. After she had tried to stab him, no tried to kill him, she had been sleeping in Miguel’s room since she didn't want to be anywhere around him. She thought after he recovered, he would eventually go back to sleeping in his private bedroom which was attached to his study.

Before the accident, Victor would never spend the night in this room. He only came here to have s*x with Jazmine, after which he would leave her alone. On days when he didn’t come to her, he would bring other women to his private room which Jazmine wasn’t oblivious to.

Sensing the presence around him, Victor opened his eyes slowly. It wasn’t easy for him to sleep the whole night with a woman lurking in the mansion trying to murder him any minute. Since that day, he had become a light sleeper and stayed vigilant throughout the nights.

However, when he saw Jazmine holding the hands of those two kids, he knew she wasn’t here to kill him tonight. Maybe she was here to sleep. Being the gentleman he was, he wanted to walk out of the room but his father’s words kept echoing in his head.

‘I don’t care what you will do but under no circumstance, Jazmine should suspect that you are not her husband.’

Turning his back to her, he went back to pretending to sleep.

“Let’s go to Miguel’s room, okay?” Jazmine suggested and walked towards Miguel’s room which was adjacent to hers.

“Can we all fit on this small bed, Aunt Jazmine?” Lucy asked looking at the extremely small but comfortable bed.

“No sweetheart but it’s alright, you two can sleep on it..” She stated and began to prepare the bed. Then she helped them onto it. She stayed there until they fell asleep, after which she turned on the night lamps and left the room.

She was hesitating to go back to her room however, she did and when she walked in, she noticed Victor shift on the bed alertly and scanning her from head to toes, his eyes lingering on both her hands for a few seconds prior to closing his eyes.

‘Was he scared of her?’ It made her extremely proud to have caused that effect on him. Even if she couldn’t kill him, she had at least left that lasting fear in his heart.

She was glad that he was only going to sleep and taking that as a respite she climbed into the covers. She tried to close her eyes and forced herself to fall asleep but with Victor being next to her, it was becoming so difficult for her to even breathe properly. She had spent four years of her life in this room and had a child with this man but right now it felt so unlikely for her to lay next to him. She felt as if she was sleeping with a stranger. 

Was it because they never slept together? She questioned herself.

There wasn’t a single sound from Victor and she was very grateful to the meds that had sedated him so soon. She wouldn’t want to think about being around him if he was awake.

From the past few days, he had learned that Jazmine always preferred to sleep in Miguel’s room. Though he was happy about her not sleeping on the same bed with him, it only made him wonder what kind of life his brother was leading to not sleep with his wife.

But why was she here tonight all of a sudden?

Was she here with another plan to kill him?

Maybe she would execute her plan when he fell asleep and that disturbing thought caused him to turn away from her and keep his eyes wide open.

He let out fake snores just to make her believe he was asleep and see what she was up to, but to his relief, nothing like that happened. However, he couldn't sleep more than a wink that night and before the first light of dawn broke into the room, he got up and walked into the bathroom to get freshened up.

When Jazmine woke up, an impeccably dressed Victor came into her view. She didn’t open her eyes. What if his messed up brain came up with ideas to trouble her seeing her awake and so she pretended to be asleep?

Through her partially closed eyelid, she watched him standing in front of the vanity mirror, combing his hair back and trying to be extremely noiseless which again was totally unexpected coming from him.  She tried to still her eyeballs as soon as she sensed his eyes on her.

Before going out of the room, he turned back to look at Jazmine, who was sleeping so peacefully. She looked so tranquil and serene while sleeping. Nothing about her reminded him about the woman who had attempted to kill him a few days back. With a heavy sigh, he turned off the lights in the room and left her to sleep.

As soon as the door closed, Jazmine sat up on the bed, “What the hell did just happen?” She muttered, feeling completely amazed.

Did he turn off the lights so that I could sleep undisturbed?

Or is he trying to burn down the room behind him? Probably that’s what he is trying to do.

She jumped onto her feet and ran out to check just in case he was lighting her alive but she sighed, relieved when she didn’t find him anywhere in the vicinity.

After that happened, Jazmine was being very silent for the whole day. Her mind couldn’t stop thinking about the series of events that happened earlier. She kept asking herself what he was up to. She wondering why he hadn’t forced himself upon her after he returned, not that she was longing for him to but it also didn’t mean her mind could stop asking that question again and again.

The way he smiled at Miguel, it was probably the first time he had smiled at his boy so lovingly. She desperately wished to know what was going inside his head.

From the looks on Jazmine’s face, Sarah knew that she was in the middle of an emotional typhoon, probably because of her asshole brother and she was ready to do anything to make her feel better.

“Jazmine, are you okay?” She asked placing her hand on her shoulder softly and that managed to pull Jazmine out of her daze.

“Huh? Ohh yeah, I am.. fine” She nodded, “I just happened to see Victor covered in blood yesterday and was wondering whom he had killed..”

Sarah's eyes grew larger on hearing that before she quickly recovered from the shock. She tried to decide if she should tell Jazmine or not but eventually did, “Uhmm, I guess Victor did not kill anyone..”

“What? How do you know?” Jazmine shot her a suspicious look.

“It was Nikolai whom he shot..” Sarah let down her masked expression and let Jazmine see the worry in her eyes that she had for Nikolai. She couldn’t explain in words how scared she was when she saw his arm bleeding profusely the last night she visited him.

“Are you sure about it, Sarah? Did Nikolai tell you that?”

“Of course he wouldn’t tell me anything against Victor. He never would but who else other than Victor had the guts to shoot Nikolai?" 

She was right. Being the second in command to Victor, Nikolai was a very strong and influential man. The only two human beings to whom he would willingly submit would be Victor and Ricardo. 

Jazmine sighed and reached out to hold her hand, “I’m so sorry for what he did to Nikolai..”

“Why are you apologizing for him, Jazmine? I know he must have had a reason for doing that..”

Jazmine frowned when she heard her defending her brother. 

“No. The only reason I can think of is that Victor has lost his mind for doing something like that."

"Calm down Jazmine. They are gangsters and we might never understand why they do what they do.." 

"Is Nikolai okay now?" Jasmine asked guiltily. She knew how much Sarah loved him and what she must be feeling right now. 

"Yeah.. He is fine.." She blushed when she remembered how he let her stay with him while the doctor tended to his bullet wound. 

As much as Jazmine loved to watch her happy, she was scared for her life. Sarah was the only friend she had and she didn't want Victor to kill her when he knew of her feelings for Nikolai. 

"Sarah, you do know that you are already engaged, right?" She decided to burst Sarah's bubble by reminding her of the harsh reality. 

"Did you really have to remind me of that right now?" Sarah asked in a bored tone but deep inside she was so scared to think about the consequences of her actions. 

"I just want to warn you about how cruel and merciless your brother can be when he feels betrayed.." 

Sarah tried to resist the panic waves rising in her veins and got up, "I will see you later Jazmine.."  

Sighing to herself in frustration, Jazmine closed her eyes. The image of Victor's bloodied face from the previous evening kept replaying in her head, which was a constant reminder of who he really was.

A cruel bastard.

A psychotic beast who fed on other’s pain and fear.

Yes, that’s what he really was and he could ever be.