𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃 (𝟏𝟖+)

Thirty

I blinked, "Blue roses?"

She grinned, widely, like a child, "Yes! They represent mystery, though I like them because they're so rare that you can't find them just anywhere."

I chuckled and placed my lips on hers, "All right. I'll make sure you get a whole garden of them."

I never had the time to fulfill my promise to her. Because a few days after that, Milo got to her and... and I never saw her again.

"Celine," I felt my lungs collapsing, "who are the flowers from?"

Eyes narrowed, she turned around, "Uh, I'm not sure. I thought they were from Nina."

Celine stood up from the chair and approached them. Picking the thick bunch of flowers. She turned it around a few times, pushed a few of the roses to the side.

"Ah, bingo," she announced as she pulled out a small card from the bouquet. She placed the flowers back in their original place and returned with the piece of paper.

I was disappointed to find no writing on it. It was in a deep shade of red, and as I turned the card around, I felt as if the time had stopped.

A small black fox was drawn on the other side of the card.

I felt blood run cold in my veins. Body unmoving, mind frozen, blank. I shuddered at the sudden feeling of rage and despair.

"Eli, what's wrong?" Celine's voice brought me back to reality. My eyes snapped to hers as I crumbled the piece of paper and threw it to the ground, jaw clenched and knuckles turned white.

Who the fuck was sick enough to play these mind games?

And who the fuck knew all of these details?

Unless.

No. My mind immediately told me not to go there. If there were a slight chance of Freya being alive, I would've found her by now. She would've been by my side long ago.

My attention returned to Celine, "The roses... I promised Freya that I'd give her a whole garden of blue roses. And the fox on the card... that was what I used to call."

I was surprised at the amount of indifference I showed in my tone and my face, because it was definitely not how I was feeling. On the inside, I wanted to die, but to track the motherfucker who did this before I got buried next to Freya.

Celine's shock and terror made me chuckle. She was disgusted, "Who the hell would think this was appropriate to gift you?"

I blinked, "Tell Sebastian that I want security footage of last night, whoever did this, I want them found by tonight."

Celine stepped back, "I'll do that... but please," the plea in her voice was anything but pleasant, "don't fall back down the rabbit hole. I can't go through that again."

I swallowed harshly, nodding my head, "Don't worry."

Celine didn't believe me, not for a second, but she was aware that talking to me at my current state was pointless.

She walked out of the door, and I tried my best not to snap.

Sebastian called me shortly after. He was as pissed as expected and decided to pay our little friend Milo a visit.

My brother left for the States the same day.

From the day we caught him, we prevented him from dying. He was of course chained in an underground establishment owned by Sebastian. For the past five years, I tortured him in any way I possibly could think of. Then, Sebastian would bring in his doctors, who made sure he wouldn't die. I did it over and over again, and I was going to continue doing it until his last, pathetic dying breath.