Entangled (Entangled Trilogy #1) (24 page)

“Roza,” he gasps, his expression
filled with love and affection. He really is the one I’m meant to
be with. Is it too late to turn back? I couldn’t move a single
muscle. Both he and I were glued to where we were standing. If this
was some other type of breakup, then either I would go running up
to him or most likely, he would come running up to me, but this was
not the case here.

“Ro—,” Adrian started, but he cut
himself off, knowing it would do neither of us any good. Instead,
he shook his head before coming over to me, bending down on one
knee, holding up the red rose he had in his hands and looked up at
me with a small smile.

“Roza, will you take me back?
Please?” Adrian asked me, holding up the small rose. Now, how could
I say no? Instead of breaking up with him like that, maybe I
should’ve just written him a letter. He writes love letters to me
all the time so I could’ve just written him a break-up letter.
Preferably something that goes like this:

Dear Adrian,

I did some research and found a
new place for you to transfer to. It’s called Dumpsville.
Population: YOU. Oh, and it’s not me, it’s you. I hope you
understand your mistakes.

Your ex,

Rosemarie.

“Adrian, I’m sorry that I did
that. I promise you that I’ll explain everything I did after you
forgive me. Please?” I tell him, squatting down so that I was in
the same position as him. I put my hand over his, smiling and he
grinned from ear to ear. He put the rose down on the round and got
up and I followed him as well.

“Roza, love, how could I not
forgive you?” he asks me. I can’t believe I doubted our
relationship. Adrian was my meant to be, not some jerk like James.
I hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go. But there was still
something bothering me. Why did he forgive me so easily? No guy
would ever do that. Especially if their girlfriend cheated on them
with their enemy or something.

“Thank you so much,” I whisper and
he holds me closer. I’ve never felt any happier, but you know what
they say. Love is nothing if it isn’t pain. My happiness didn’t
last very long; not until someone came up behind us and cleared
their throat loudly, making their message clear: Can you two not do
this right now?

“You guys seem so in love and I
hate to interrupt you guys, but there’s something even more
important than this,” Elliot tells us, his eyes filled with concern
and fear.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, detaching
myself from Adrian while my cheeks turned a scarlet red, but I
ignored it. Apparently, this is more significant.

“When was the last time you spoke
to Maddie?” he asks me slowly as if he was talking to a
five-year-old instead of a sixteen-year-old and that gets Adrian’s
attention really quickly. I could feel how afraid he is right now,
afraid of something bad happening to her which I highly doubted. I
tried not to cringe at the fact that I could feel what Adrian
feels, literally.

“That night in the hospital. Why?”
I ask again, frowning slightly. Elliot eyes widen with fear and he
mutters something under his breath which I couldn’t really
understand with him and Adrian freaking out besides me.

“Elliot, what’s wrong?” Adrian
queries and Elliot goes rigid all over. This is absolutely
positively not good. “Elliot,” Adrian requests in a sinister
way.

“Oh, it’s nothing, really. It’s
just, Maddie’s missing and she can’t be found,” Elliot laughed
lightly as edginess infused his voice. He scratches the back of his
neck and that doesn’t really mean a good thing.

“WHAT?!” Adrian screamed and I
froze where I was, panic beginning to kick in. Maddie, my
intelligent, amazing, beautiful blonde friend is missing, as in,
nowhere to be seen. I could see Adrian and Elliot look over at me
as if I was their savior now, but I was the last person they should
be turning to for help.

I did something out of instinct,
my body moving while my mind stayed dormant. I ran upstairs to my
room, Adrian and Elliot shadowing behind me. I threw open the door
and ran over to my bed. I searched for a letter, any letter that my
secret admirer probably put there, but there wasn’t any. I tried my
best not to break down; I need to stay strong.

I will put you through even more
agony than this. You think all of this is painful? Wait ‘til you
see what I’m planning for you. I faintly remember those lines from
the previous letter. Is this what he had in mind? I tried to ignore
the pain I felt, the lump forming in my throat, my heart
contracting with an emptiness I didn’t know I was feeling. My eyes
couldn’t even cry anymore. Why is this happening to me?

“Shhh, shhh, it’ll all be better,
Roza. We’ll get her back, I promise,” Adrian tried to tell me
convincingly, but it felt more as if he was trying to convince
himself more than me.

“Adrian, do you really believe
that?” I asked in a small voice when he wrapped his arms around my
waist.

“Seriously, I don’t know,” Adrian
told me, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Why not? What could’ve happened
to her? I want Maddie back. No, I want my old life back. I want to
go back to normal again, Adrian. Can’t you do that for me? You told
me you’d make everything better. Please, Adrian,” I begged, the
tears falling carelessly from my eyes. Would you look at that? I
can cry after all.

“Roza, we—,” Adrian started, but I
cut him off again, not wanting to hear those encouraging words of
his. He always tries to sugarcoat everything, but it doesn’t always
work. Well, that was a lie; most of the times, it
worked.

“No, Adrian. We can’t get through
this together. I want my old life back. I want to be normal,
Adrian,” I snap as he tries to pull me to him, but I refuse to give
in. Look at what I have to go through every time I give
in.

He pulled me to his chest while I
pounded my tiny fists in his chest like a little child. He seemed
unfazed by all of this so I kept going and going until I felt weak
and tired.

“It’s okay, Roza. Go to sleep,”
Adrian told me comfortingly and I felt my eyelids grow heavier. I
tried to protest, but my objection perishes on my tongue. I obeyed
him, as usual, and drifted off into the darkness, wanting
relaxation. Wanting my best friend back. Wanting my old life back.
Wanting to be normal.

* * * * *

The sound of voices in the
background jarred me awake. One thing was for sure though, my best
friend was still nowhere to be seen and it was up to me to find
her. Oh, Maddie, please be alright, wherever you are, my heart
silently entreated.

“
It just doesn’t work that way,
Elliot. If it were that easy, don’t you think I would’ve told her?
It just doesn’t work that way,” Adrian groaned in frustration and
Elliot looked equally exasperated.

“
Why not? My sister has to go
through all of this pain just for a stupid little curse, man. Make
it better; you’re her soul mate,” Elliot spat, his voice filled
with loathing when he said soul mate.

“
I can’t make it better. I’m not
the only one. Remember, there is supposed to be three? Do you
remember what happened last time I told her fifty years ago?”
Adrian asked.

“Yeah, she died, I know . . . but
still, we can at least try,” Elliot suggested and Adrian shook his
head.

“I don’t think I’m ready to lose
her again. I can’t tell her,” Adrian says as his voice breaks in
the end.

“Can’t tell me what? That you
purposely kidnapped Maddie so you could get back together with me?”
I asked incredulously, getting off the bed rapidly and going over
to Adrian; my expression was absolute anger. He did all of this?
Why do I keep going back to this devil?

“No, Roza, that’s not what we were
talking about,” he spluttered, shaking his head again.

“Of course not,” I scoffed and ran
out the door, out of my bedroom and all the way downstairs when I
heard a loud noise. I went into the living room to inspect the
noise, but nothing was there.

Absolutely nothing.

I frowned and kept searching,
going deeper into the already dim-lighted house until I felt
someone’s arm snake around my waist and pull me back. I tried to
scream, but my captor was faster than me, turning me around to face
him and he brought his mouth down to mine with a familiar
placidness. I instantly melted into the kiss, but Adrian quickly
pulled away.

“Roza, I didn’t mean it—,” Adrian
started but he was cut off by the loud noise that came from . . .
my room. I instantly got away from him, ignoring the hurt in his
eyes, and dashed up to my room. I don’t have the time to worry
about him or anything. He’s not my top priority; Maddie is. A smile
spread across my face as I saw what was there. On my bed was a
letter, the letter I was waiting for.

Next to it was a red rose, the
flower separated from the stem. I gulped, trying to tell myself
that the rose didn’t symbolize me in any way. I picked up the
letter while Adrian stood in front of me, giving me privacy, making
sure he didn’t see the letter.

Angel,

Love, I thought you were going to
be harder than this, but I was clearly wrong. It was very easy to
hit your weak spot, sweetheart. Those letters you were getting,
those weren’t me, I swear. Those were from someone who really
“loves” you. This is the first time I will be doing this, love. I
see you’ve gotten the news about Maddie. She’s with me, safe and
sound, but not for long. You see, she’s here for a reason: to be my
bait for . . . you. I could’ve just gotten directly to you, but
this is humorous this way. I need you to come to me. I will let her
go if you promise to be mine. I’ll explain this more once I see you
in Riverside Park soon. You’ll know when I’m there. You’ve built a
strong connection with me. You know, for an indestructible angel,
you’re very corruptible. You’re not as strong as you’re supposed to
be. Angels are strong, bold and rave, but you are none of those.
Instead, you are a disgrace to the angels. Anyways, can’t wait to
see you.

P.S: If you don’t understand
anything about the whole angel thing, feel free to ask you soul
mate, Adrian.

Love,

James.

* * * * *

The letter dropped from my hand as
I tried to control the tears that were falling sketchily from my
face. James had her? Why? If he wanted me so desperately, he
could’ve just come directly to me. The room felt as if it was
spinning. I felt as if my whole world was spiraling. I couldn’t
take it any longer, but the darkness came and swept me off my feet,
saving me from all of this trouble.

CHAPTER 25

REVELATIONS

“
Well . . . okay then. Let’s talk
about our Christmas wishes. You first,” he said tensely, looking
straight ahead, clearly not induced by my reply, but still
unwavering to alter the topic of our conversation onto something
else. If we were actually even having a conversation.

I smiled at his attempt at trying
to make small talk. Due to the dim lighting of the glum, freezing
night, I couldn’t really make out his features as we rocketed past
numerous streetlights. If I examined his face closely, which I did,
I can see the auburn curls carelessly falling onto his forehead. He
smiled, clearly sensing how admiringly I was watching him. My
cheeks unexpectedly felt very warm, despite the subzero temperature
outside, but I answered him at last, letting my gaze slip back to
the road.

“
All I want for Christmas is to be
able to spend the whole day with you. What about you?” I countered.
My wish was probably thoughtless and very common, but at the
moment, I didn’t really mind much.

“
Well, all I want for Christmas is
you. Nothing else; just you,” he said, turning slightly to face me,
smiling away. Even then, I couldn’t really see his face which
frustrated me even more. I turned to face him and the last thing I
remember seeing was his dimpled smile as a car zoomed past us and
the pair of bright, unnervingly blue-green eyes staring straight
into mine, trying to read me.

And that is when it all came
crashing down at that precise second when a car, deliberately,
collided into ours and both cars went skidding across the slippery
road, hitting a nearby tree.

Both cars skidded to a halt and I
fell out from my side because I was so stupid that I didn’t even
buckle up. I guess it is true what they say. Avoid the worst, put
safety first. I was unable to avoid the worst. My head came in
contact with the rock solid pavement and all I could see for a few
moments were dancing stars, all holding hands, probably playing
Ring-Around-The-Rosie. Shuddering, I tried to move my hand, only to
encounter even more pain as it coursed through my body and sent
more than necessary amount of blood flow to my brain. I could even
smell the coppery fluid and taste the metallic flavor. For some
reason, the accident seemed very premeditated to me.

This isn’t happening again, not to
me. I don’t want this to happen to me. I’ve been through this
vision several times. I don’t want to have this as my nightmare.
Desperate for a different vision, I willed myself to think of
James, only to get another stupid, yet helpful, vision thrown my
way. Again, I couldn’t do anything, but stay dormant.