Rose and Thorns

Chapter 6

Jazmine

Victor!

Why is he here?

How is it even remotely possible?

Shouldn't he be dead?

How could I dig my own grave by accepting to stay here?

I shouldn’t have blindly believed that he was dead.

I should have escaped while I still had a chance.

Now I will be stuck here with this bastard forever.

And Miguel, he had a better chance at life by running away from here but now that’s impossible.

He will turn out to be a vile monster just like his father.

Jazmine froze rooted to the ground as her fear consumed her to the fullest. The guards carried Victor towards his room while Ricardo stood in the middle of the hall with the biggest smile on his face. His men one by one came to wish him for successfully bringing back their young boss.

“I told you, Victor is invincible and he cannot die from a car crash..” His voice was followed by the loud and cheerful hoots of his men but his words made no sense to Jazmine.

How can someone be so invincible as to not die from a car crash? It wasn’t just a car crash. His car was struck by a f*****g missile, thrown down a hill, and burnt down to ash.  

He was a mere human being, not god to escape that kind of an attack for freaking out loud, but Jazmine was too stunned to speak a word. 

She wanted to pull out her hair and scream out in frustration. She never saw this coming and was over confidently believing that Victor was never coming back. If she could turn back time, she would never stay here a minute longer and would make a run for life with her son.

However, it was too late for that now.

Emilia and her brother, Esteban stood there with a similar kind of expression on their faces, thunderstruck from Victor’s unexpected return. Nevertheless, Esteban was fast enough to recover from his shocked state and joined the other men in congratulating his boss.

“Boss, we are all very happy to see Victor, safe and sound..” He shook his hands with Ricardo to which he only nodded his head coldly.

“Victor is still recovering and till he returns back to his normal self, I want the mansion to be protected twenty-four seven. I don’t want any intruders and visitors inside the estate. And most importantly no one outside the mansion should know about Victor’s return yet..”

“Yes, boss..” His men said in chorus.

“Tonight there will be a feast for you, my men. Enjoy the night but keep your eyes and ears open at all times..” Ricardo began to stride towards his office but made a quick stop near Jazmine.

“I told you, I would bring him back..” His eyes danced with tormenting amusement.

Jazmine stood there breathing ruggedly, trying to figure out if she was in the middle of the worst nightmare of her life but the chill that never ceased to run down her spine confirmed that she was not.

This was happening for real.

That scoundrel husband of hers was really back.

Without another word, Ricardo walked up the stairs and disappeared into his room. Jazmine couldn’t stand the sight of those men celebrating the horrific demon’s return. She turned on her heels and left the place with hurried steps. Her legs stopped only when she reached her son’s room. She couldn’t bring herself to be in the room where that monster slept.

“Momma..” Miguel’s feeble voice pulled her out of her mental and emotional delirium.

“Yes, baby?” She crouched down to his level and held his arms on both sides.

“I am scared..” He whispered with his eyes welling up with big fat tears. Touching him, she realized the little guy was shaking like a leaf.

“Why honey?” Pushing aside her own fear, she cooed to her baby boy.

Miguel’s lips trembled as he tried to tell his mom, “You told father is never coming back but he is here. I’m scared that he will hurt us again, momma..”

Jazmine felt like a hundred arrows being aimed at her heart and piercing through her already damaged heart. That wrenched son of a b***h has managed to plant such insecurity into this young soul just with his return. She didn’t want to imagine what else could be in store for them once he was back to normal.

“Migu, look at Momma.” She forced him to look into her eyes, “I promise you, I will never let him touch a hair on your head..” She kissed his head and put him in his bed. She stayed the whole afternoon in Miguel’s room and helped him take a short nap. Even though he was sleeping, his face held a panic-stricken expression. 

She regretted her decision of staying back but what’s happened has happened. She didn’t want to cry over spilled milk and instead had to be strong for her son. She had to act fast if she had to save her son and herself from that scumbag. He would wake up anytime and turn her life upside down once again.

She knew she couldn’t run away from him. She had tried that so many times before and failed at it miserably each time but there was one thing that she had never tried before.

Killing Victor.

She never thought she would be capable of killing another life but circumstances were pushing her to the limits. That man was no human who deserved to live. If she doesn’t jump at the opportunity to kill him first, he would kill her slow and tortuously. Since he was unconscious, she found it to be the only chance left to execute her plans.

Her mind was chaotic and turmoiled. Jazmine kept scheming plans after plans to kill Victor until she felt her son stir awake next to her on the bed.

“Miguel, go to Aunt Sarah and get ready for the dinner. Momma has got something important to do. I’ll join you soon. Okay?”

“Okay, Momma..” She kissed his cheek and watched him walk out.

She was once again immersed in her dark thoughts of killing her own husband. How ironic, she thought. They had pledged to take care of one another till death do them apart but here she was plotting his death with her own hands. 

When the sky became dark with grey clouds, Jazmine stood near the large window in Miguel’s room from where she could see the whole estate. She watched men and women drinking, dancing, and partying. The light music was loud enough to be heard even from a distance, which was to her convenience.

Jazmine’s eyes scanned the entire estate as if she was doing a headcount of everyone present there. Ricardo was seated at the head of the table watching his men having a great time. Emilia and Esteban were next to him, sipping their drink.

Sarah was intently looking at one of Victor’s men. It was clear as crystal that she had a thing for the guy, who didn’t want to acknowledge her feelings, fearing his heartless boss.

Jazmine thought Sarah was stupid to the core to think of another man when her evil brother had promised her to the Russian mafia leader. Women in such powerful families had no chance at love. Their fate was doomed even before their birth but Sarah was an exceptionally lucky one since Jazmine was going to do her a favor by killing her brother.

When she was sure that everyone she knew was at the lawn, she walked away from the window and reached for her closet. Smirking to herself she pulled out her stiletto knife from her thigh which she always had for her security purpose. It was passed on to her from her late father and she was glad that she was going to put it to use.

Drawing out the bottle which Sarah had given her, she dipped the knife into it to coat it with the poison. She tucked it back under her dress and made her way into their bedroom, where Victor was lying unconscious.

Two guards were put on duty outside the room and no one was allowed to enter the room without Ricardo’s permission. But it was a good thing that she was Victor’s wife because the men bowed to her and opened the door as soon as they saw her.

Smiling satisfactorily, she walked inside and closed the door behind her softly.  Without making a sound, she went closer to the bed where he lay motionlessly. His existence sure was an eyesore for Jazmine and his presence could boil the blood in her veins to a few degrees celsius.

Looking carefully at his half-naked body, she wondered how much a person could change over a few weeks’ time.

He looked pale compared to his previously tanned skin.

He had become thinner than she remembered him. It looked like he had lost his tough muscles on his arms and chest that he had built from vigorous training.

His features looked soft, even angelic when he slept like this. His face was totally devoid of his signature beastly looks, emanating a completely different aura from him.

For a second there she wanted to abandon her plan of killing him but then she reminded herself that he was the same person who had raped and tortured her a million times before. His brutal hands had beaten her, burnt her, broken her bones and scarred her with knife marks.  So, if she doesn’t kill him now, she would die miserably at his hands.

‘Angel? Him?’ She chuckled to herself, ‘He is no angel. He is a sick bastard and a psychopath who wouldn’t hesitate to torture me for the remaining days of his life. Kill him when you have the chance, Jazmine..’ She said in self-motivation.

Her hatred for Victor was deep to her bones and she could never come to forgive him even if he was at his death bed.

Pushing her doubts aside, she carefully made it to the edge of the bed.

“You look so vulnerable to me right now, Victor. You completely are at my mercy and I wish you were awake to see this but never mind. The world will now know that the great and invincible Victor was killed by a woman. Can you believe it?" She laughed and she sounded like a crazy woman to her own ears. 

The next moment, she climbed on the bed and locked his hip between her legs. "May you land in hell for all the sins you have committed.” 

With a bloodcurdling scream, she raised her hands which held the knife together and brought it down to his chest with an unimaginable force. But before the tip of the knife could pierce any deeper into his skin, Victor’s eyes snapped open and she was thrown ass flat on the mattress harshly. 

Even in such a crucial moment, it didn’t go unnoticed by Jazmine that his eyes were a shade darker than usual and she thought it was because they were clouded by fury.

Her eyes grew bigger in plain shock as she watched him rip the IV needle from his veins carelessly and hover over her. His hand involuntarily went up in the air to hit his attacker but his hand fell limp to his side when his eyes landed on the most delicate looking woman he had ever seen. Moreover, his heart almost stopped beating the moment he realized that she was his brother’s wife.

‘Why? Why would his wife want to end him?’

When he was pretending to be in a coma, he felt a strong presence around him. His inner voice kept begging him to open his eyes and look around but he remembered Ricardo’s words.

‘You need to make everyone believe that you were wounded badly..’

From the woman’s resonant voice, he took her to be a trained assassin who was after his brother’s life but not even in his wildest dream did he imagine a slender woman like her would want to kill him, who was now trapped under him, throwing murderous daggers like a tigress.

Jazmine braced herself for the hit by closing her eyes shut but it never came. Instead, Victor’s calloused palm firmly encircled her neck, putting all his body weight on it and making it difficult for her to breathe. His other hand was useless in a sling that wrapped his left shoulders and the whole of his arm. 

When she opened her eyes, his coal-black orbs stared back at her. He seemed furious yet that usual deathly glint was absent in those eyes.

Jazmine wasn’t ready to give up on her last chance at killing this vicious bastard. By killing him, she would do justice to all the lives that were to suffer because of this scumbag. With all the might in her, she pushed herself on her elbow and launched her other hand to aim the knife at the pulse of his neck. But once again, right before the impact, he blocked her hand in his vice-like grip.

If not for his naturally quick stimulus, he would have begun to bleed profusely from a damaged jugular and died within minutes. He certainly had underestimated her. She was dangerous to be around.

For Jazmine, it was too soon to accept her failure. Screaming and howling on top of her lungs, she flailed her hands in an attempt to stab him anywhere this time but he was still as powerful as the day she married him. With her dagger-like nails, she scratched the skin on his cheeks, arms and chest.

Biting back the stinging pain, he twisted her wrist in such a way that the knife in her hold fell down and she screamed in pain.

“Give me one good reason why I should not kill you?” His voice sounded, even more, deeper to Jazmine, making her swallow loudly.

Before she could try with her assassination attempts, the door was thrown open by the guards who obviously had heard the commotion that was happening between the couple. They rushed near them and struggled to pull Jazmine away, who looked like an angry elephant on a rampage.

“Let me kill him.. Leave me you motherfuckers. Let me go..” She screeched as the two men dragged her out of the bed. Her loud wails overpowered the blaring music being played outside and soon enough everyone came running towards their room.

Ricardo's eyes were throwing deadly daggers at her, which immediately shut her up. Everyone behind him was shocked to see Victor standing tall and spectacularly magnificent.

‘Wasn’t he in an induced coma?” Was everyone’s first thought. Then their eyes traveled to Jazmine who was looking like a prisoner being taken away by the guards.

“Take her away..” Ricardo’s sharp command cut through the thick silence that briefly existed inside the room.

“Leave me.. I said leave me..” Jazmine forcefully shrugged out of their grip on her hands. She stopped and looked back to shoot one last glare at Victor, which clearly said, ‘I will f*****g kill you. If not now, someday..’. Then she turned on her heels and stormed out of the room.

“You may all leave now..” Ricardo ordered brusquely making his men and others scramble out in terror.

“Victor..” Ricardo made a beeline to check upon his son.

“Isn’t she Victor’s wife?” He asked, still flabbergasted by what he had witnessed a few minutes ago. He continued when his father bobbed his head in confirmation. “I thought my life was at stake only outside this mansion but I didn’t know that it was at risk even within the confines of this room..”

“Is Ricardo’s son scared of a mad woman?” Ricardo asked him, quirking his thick brow.

“Father, let me warn you that even demons take cover when a woman is mad and that woman..” Victor pointed towards the door through which Jazmine recently stormed out, “..is definitely more than just mad. She is on a f*****g revenge mission..” 

He could only wonder what his brother had done to his wife for her to act so vehemently.

He had met only a few women in his life. The first one being his mom, who was benevolent and wouldn’t even hurt a fly. Then his grandmother, who wasn’t much different from his mom. And there were some of his female friends who were kind and good-hearted. So, he had without forethought, believed that women were noble and magnanimous creatures. The worst of the kind he had seen up to this day was Abigail but now she seemed nothing in front of this heartless woman.

“I told you, they weren’t a normal couple..” His father answered confusing him even more.

“To the extent of killing each other?” He asked but there was no response from his father. He knew there never will be. He didn't understand how he was going to adapt to this treacherous lifestyle where people killed one another living under the same roof  

Since everyone now knew that Victor was awake, Ricardo asked him to be present in the breakfast hall the next morning. By the time Victor walked down the staircase, everyone was already present there including his father.

“Ahh, there you come. Take a seat, Victor.” Ricardo pointed his hand at the huge chair next to him. Victor’s eyes flicked to Jazmine who was seated nearby, with her son on her thighs.

He didn’t want to mind her, but that was impossible from her blinding eyes that shone with a lethal hunger to kill. Fortunately, she turned her attention back to her son and continued doing whatever she was at.

Inhaling a huge breath, Victor sat beside her. A sudden thought disturbed his mind. ‘What if she had a knife and stabbed me at my abdominal aorta? God, this woman is crazy and she is capable of anything..’ He wasn’t ashamed to admit to himself that he was scared of a woman because he never believed women are inferior to men in any way, at least this woman, in particular, wasn’t.

Vigilantly Victor began to eat his meal but he was stunned when Jazmine's honey-sweet words spilled out of her lips. She spoke in a soft voice to her son, which he didn’t know she could. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the mother and son interact in Spanish. She looked like a completely different person to him, causing him to wonder if this was the same woman who tried to kill him hours ago.

He turned his eyes at the little boy and that was the first time, he was seeing Victor’s son so closely. The moment Miguel noticed that his father was eyeing him strangely, he put his head down and remained totally still.

Victor didn’t understand how the child could be so cold and unaffectionate to his own father. However, what else could he expect from a child that was brought up by a killer woman like Jazmine? He didn’t want to prejudice anyone but he hated her guts. 

Whatever his brother might have done to her but no one had the right to take away someone’s life, not unless you are a god. His heart was filled with abhorrence towards her for having the guts to kill someone, not to mention his twin brother. He made a mental note that the woman was dangerous to unimaginable levels and he had to be careful around her.

A/N:

Hello dear readers!!

I hope you liked this chapter. It was a monumental encounter for Jazmine and Victor (Alan), isn’t it? Hahaha

Anyways, leave your comments and feedback for a faster update. And thanks for the lovely ones who are encouraging me with your regular comments. Love you guys.

Please share this story with your friends if you liked it.

~SwaRam~