"disciplining a very naughty little princess" -Berlin
"Shut up everyone, Here are the car keys," the professor said dangling them in front of Nairobi's face."Rio and Nairobi get dressed to go to the museum, you have to leave soon"
"Wait, you're sending me to the city? Send me with a real man, not a schoolboy," Nairobi whined, apologetically yet playfully wincing at Rio.
"Nairobi shut up you're lucky you get to leave, I'm stuck with these lot" I laughed as she slapped my back playfully.
"Come on send me with Helsinki at least?"
"Helsinki prefers to play with the XY chromosomes Nairobi" I giggled.
"Helsinki your gay" she screamed running up to hug him. I had thought it was obvious. "I've never had a gay friend, this is amazing!"
"Hey professor," I said throwing a scrunched-up ball of paper at his face. "Wasn't the love birds supposed to go?"
he ignored my question turning to Rio and explaining what he would have to do. "Check the angles, and lenses of the security cameras and compare them to my sketches from my past trips," As he sent them both off to change, I stared down at the floor drumming my fingers on the table.
"Wasn't I supposed to go with Rio?" Tokyo asked, breaking the silence.
He turned away saying "I changed my mind"
Something was wrong...
"Why? There's no reason for me to not go," she said.
"It's nothing, I just changed my mind" he shrugged snapping his book down on the desk.
"Stop with the bullshit professor there's something wrong, just tell her for god's sake, she'll find out sooner or later," I interjected, rolling my eyes.
"Did I do something, Have I caused a problem, what did I do?" she questioned.
"It's your mother" he sighed as I felt my stomach drop.
"How?" she whispered as the tears brimmed up in her eyes.
"From a heart attack, I'm so sorry Tokyo"
I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and rubbed her back supportively.
"Yesterday night," he said, "I didn't want you to to the museum in case you tried to find her and say your last goodbye" he whispered.
"I'll stay with Tokyo, Athens can go," Nairobi said affirmatively. I've never been good with emotions and consolation, everything I've ever done is an act.
She shook off my arms staring glassy-eyed at the professor "I have no reason to say goodbye, the woman tried to sell me out to the police, and from that day on she wasn't my mother" she muttered snatching the keys off the table and walking out the room.
꧁__________꧂
The door swung open exhibiting a dispirited Berlin, slumping down on a chair. His hair was ruffled and his mysterious brown eyes were clouded, dark thoughts storming around in his mind like a thunderstorm. He pulled a cigarette to his lips before staring down at us all. "Do any of you smoke?"
A woman sobbing beside me, shook her hand, as he twitched the lighter off and shoved it back into his pocket. "Fine, I don't want to be held responsible for harming any of your young lungs"
"Do you all feel comfortable, altogether, not knowing the terrors, the shots, the blood, the operations? I must come here more often, away from all the complexities down below," he said as his hands trembled.
Something had happened that had fucked him up in some way, I just didn't know what.
"Tonight, I called a friend," he said as his voice started to quiver. He looked as if he was about to cry, If I wasn't on the verge of tears myself I would have gloated in his face.
"And I told him about how difficult it had started to become preserving order and equanimity, I told him... That I had to do something very bad... That I had to kill someone"
Adriana craned her neck around staring aghast at Berlin's face. I held my calm facade trying not to break like the others. It hasn't even been the second day and I was starting to lose my mind.
"I told him that I gave him the order to kill... A woman, The thing is, in my world without putting a dead body on the table, nobody respects you, I did what I had to do."
"And you see when I told him the news, it almost felt like I could feel his despondency through the phone. His wretchedness, his emotional storm erupting inside of him. I could feel it. I could feel it all"
"He hasn't been here, he's never met the woman in his entire life, Monica Gaztambide was her name" He paused dramatically trying to catch his breath, shoving his tears back down his throat, as I felt the sobs rise in the back of my neck.
I wanted to throw up, I had seen blood, spit, sweat, and tears and I felt nothing more than to just throw up all the horrors, I had seen.
I had seen death before, I had experienced the pain and I've seen the blood and all the anxiety it does to you, but I was stuck in this cage and I was feeling the walls caving in. I couldn't take all this shit anymore.
"For a moment, it felt magnificent to experience what he was feeling, to share his emotions. To feel those kinds of feelings... that affliction, that repentance but no... those things just don't move me the way other things do"
"It's dreadful, Isn't it?" he said smoothing his hands over his face as I sobbed into my knees. All I wanted was to go home, to get out, I would even be willing to jump off the roof if it meant that during the last few seconds of my life, I could feel the sun on my skin and the wind whistling through my hair.
"I'm bothering you all with my nonsense, you have to excuse me"
"Miss Carillo," he said, as my tear-stained face shot up, my cold blue eyes staring at Berlin's face.
"Miss Carillo" he repeated, as I tried to stop my chest from heaving.
"You're having a mental breakdown aren't you?"
"She's just a bit stressed she'll be fine," Adriana said rubbing her hand on my back. All I needed right now was a hug, a warm cup of coffee and a book. But popping down to the gift store didn't seem like an option for me.
"Sure it will pass, come with me," he said extending out his arm.
"Miss Carillo, give me your hand" he ordered as I apprehensively grabbed his arm, feeling the nerves suddenly stop jittering around inside me. He calmed me down to some extent.
He wrapped an arm around my waist leading me out of the room as the woman behind me cried stifled sobs into their arms. He pushed me into an office as I collapsed down into a chair and wailed into the armrest.
"I can't do this shit anymore Berlin, I haven't slept, I haven't eaten, I haven't seen the light since Arturo got shot, and I keep seeing blood everywhere I go, it's like it's burned into my eyes" I sobbed as he sat down in front of me.
"Have you not been following the sleep schedule?" he asked as I shook my head reaching over for a tissue.
"The last time I slept was for 2 hours on the first day, every time after that I keep hearing the shots and seeing the blood all over the walls every time I close my eyes. I see the people again, their sombre faces just staring up at me, I can't walk by the mirrors anymore because they keep standing behind me just watching me like ghosts"
"Wait who's following you?" he asked staring at me with bewildered eyes.
"Everyone who I had to kill, never once in my entire life have I felt any compunction for doing bad things because they were bad people and they deserved it but now every time I go anywhere they follow me like a storm cloud. Their voices keep twisting into my mind and sometimes I have to look twice at people because I think they're back from the dead," I said choking on my tears.
"You need rest and some food that's it," he said nodding reassuringly. "It's just a hallucination it happens when you don't sleep for a long period of time"
"Now Every time you have your sleeping break, you can go to my office and sleep on the couch, and you will eat your meals with me," he said wiping away my tears.
"Is there anything you need, medicine, music, a book, I know you like reading when you're stressed?"
I shook my head as he wrapped his arm around me. "You spoil me too much, Berlin"
"Don't get used to it, it's temporary. Come sit, we can rest in here for a bit" he smiled as we comfortably leaned against each, trying to squish together on the small sofa.
He brushed the hair out of my face as I smiled wrapping my arms around him. "What's your name?" I asked.
"I thought you said a rule between us was no personal questions?"
"The chances of us getting out of here are slim and if I'm going to die, it would help to find you again in the next life if I knew your real name" I laughed as he stared at my face fiercely.
"You are going to get out here alive even if I have to risk my own life to save yours, I want you to explore the world, write all the books you want to write and settle down in a big house but remain a widow forever" he chuckled breaking the serious conversation.
"My name is Andres De Follonssa," he said proudly.
"Andres" I whispered watching the way the word curled through my tongue. The name suited him, it felt stalwart and controlling but most of all, sexy.
"Well then if I'm going to die for you, at least you have to tell me your name" he laughed.
"My name is Maria De La Rosa, it's a basic name I know, I prefer my middle name better," I said honestly.
"Well, then what's your middle name?"
"Belle, like the princess" I grinned.
"Well, then my little princess, when we are alone together in the solitude of each other we call each other by our real names, it's an order from leader to hostage"
"How about your past? How did the princess end up in the underworld, your story makes you seem more like Persephone than Belle"
I sighed curling my arms around Berlin's waist. "It was right after I got my degree. I scraped together some money after working summer jobs all year. Then I moved to Athens, the land of egalitarianism"
"During the first year, I had lost all my money to tuition fees, rent, and food. I were near to being evicted so I did what I least expected myself to do. I turned to this gang who sold in the streets behind my block, and it became a thing somehow. Every day I would wake up and do transfers all over Athens to secure simple money every time I needed it."
"But then after a while, they all got sent to jail so it was back to being broke. So I did the next worst thing. I sold my body out to the world. I was youthful and in good shape and people didn't see a lot of girls that looked like me in Athens, so they admired me. They tipped heavily and despite coming home and feeling like filth every day I was afloat. I moved into a permanent house and was finally not having to worry about making ends meet"
"Then I met him. The man who fucked up my life. I was doing excellent, my job wasn't ethically right but I did what I had to survive all until he came along. He knew I was intelligent, but I was an innocent girl, and he manipulated me. He forced me to do things I didn't want to do. He made me do his dirty work and I obliged being the stupid person I was back then"
"And when I finally connected the dots he threatened to kill me. All the evidence pointed right to me and even if I pleaded not guilty to the judge I would still be facing a lengthy sentence so I did what had to, I killed him."
"I loved him, I thought he was my other half, my prince sent down from heaven but what I thought was love was a lie. He never loved me, so I left Athens, packed up my money and got a humble job in Italy. I volunteered at orphanages, and every day I used to make up stories to read to the kids there, it felt nice to be finally doing something right again"
"I felt free that the past no longer defined me. I was doing so well until that day when another guy I used to deliver weed to reached out to me.
A one-time job, just like this heist, the vaults of the Bank of England"
"And I considered the odds, but of course when a mystery is too great you can't say no, so I said yes. I packed up my life and went down another path spiralling down into the murky world below. I stole from the vaults and then I kept doing shit like that again and again and again. I was addicted I couldn't stop because I just wanted to feel that adrenaline high. Then suddenly one day you become the most wanted woman in the world and you think how the fuck did I get here?
"I'm not proud of anything I've done, but it's not I can press the rewind button and be a normal girl again so that's it I guess. I don't think there's anything more to say,"
He nodded silently staring into my blue eyes. "Did your parents never say anything?" he asked as a bitter smile rested on my face.
"Technically I'm like you, my parents were criminals as well but they died at the doors of a bank before I could even walk so I never knew them. After they died I moved in with my uncle and aunt who tried to bend me back into line, but I guess once you break you can never fully be perfect again," I said shrugging.
"That's enough of my sob story, shit hit the fan and I'm paying for my actions. But how about you Andres De Follonssa, how did fate bring you into my arms?"
"Where to start, where to start" he chuckled as I leaned my head on his shoulder.
"It started out small, stealing colouring pencils from my peers because I couldn't afford my own, tricking the lunch ladies so I didn't have to pay for my meals, lying my way out of detentions, little things that start to pile up until it gets so big it turns into a boulder waiting to crush you."
"Then I started to do more extreme things just to see what was my limit, how far could I go without being caught? Turns out very far. I started to steal money from my friends so I could buy myself dinner, taking people's bikes so I could ride around town with my little brother and then when I hit high school, I was blown away"
"Drugs, weed, cigarettes everywhere, a feasting ground for thieves so I stole those all as well, by then I was a master of my trade, and the money started piling to the mountains when I started stealing weed and selling it to people on my block. I was doing exceptionally well, my mother was never home, always out somewhere doing whatever she did to sober herself up, so most of the time it was just me and my brother."
"He was the clever one, the one who made the rational decisions and tried to make me stop but I was on a roll and I made the stupid mistake of tangling his weak heart into the life I had gotten myself into. He was a smart man, and he kept himself up in the waters for my sake so that he could keep an eye on his reckless brother, he was a greater man than I could have ever been."
"And then just like you, I woke up one day to see my face all over the news and having that boulder crush me into pieces, 27 heists really fucks with your brain, and now look at me, an emotionless piece of shit," he said a tear rolling down his cheek
"Hey, your not a piece of shit Andres, you've given my life meaning, and we all make mistakes, you can't grill yourself for choices you made when you were young, I would have never met you if you hadn't wanted those colouring pencils many years ago," I said watching him give me a watery smile.
"I've just dumped my whole life story on you Athens, my apologies"
"Berlin trust me, it may not be the perfect princess stories I enjoy reading so much but it's from you and that's what makes me love it"
"Anyways princess enough of the story-telling you need sleep, I'm right here if you need anything," he said stroking my hair affectionately.
"What would I do without you?"
"The thought scares me, you screwing around with someone who isn't me, makes me want to pulverise every man in the world" he laughed.
"Someone's jealous, but trust me it's an amazing look on you" I winked.
"Shush, we can talk later you need to sleep"
"I have a feeling you'd do anything rather than have me sleep beside you right now" I teased
"Well personally I have many things we could do right now in mind," he said hoisting my leg over his body. "however your needs are greater than my desires, and the quicker you rest the quicker we can play," he shrugged kissing every freckle splattered across my nose.
"Sounds like a plan"
That night I slept better than I had my whole life. Having Berlin there was a great help because every time I woke up gasping for air he was there to lull me back to sleep with his comforting words.
I woke a few hours later, rubbing my eyes and reaching over to wrap my arms around Berlin. But he wasn't there. I sighed wistfully feeling my arms curl around the air before I jumped off the sofa reaching down to the small note resting on the oak desk.
꧁_________꧂
Dear Athens,
Sorry for leaving you alone, I was needed downstairs, however, when fate decides to bring us together again, know that I will never leave your side even if the world was crumbling before our eyes. A great writer once said "I love you and I will love you until I die and if there's life after that I will love you then" and believe me when I say every word of that quote is true. Until then Mi Amor
Your handsome beast, Berlin
P.S I can't stop thinking about you
꧁_________꧂
I laughed folding the corners of the paper and sliding it into my pocket.
The man spoiled me.
The way he stroked my hair when he wanted me to calm down, or kissed each freckle on my face before I slept, or when he stared at me with those big brown eyes when I did something to make him angry or the lazy smirk he had plastered on his face when I tried to flirt with him. Or the way he could read my face with small things I did which hardly anyone would notice. He paid attention to the small details, it was an upside to dating a perfectionist.
He could tell I was telling the truth when I bit my lip. He could tell I was genuinely happy when dimples popped up on the sides of my cheeks. He could tell I was sad when I blinked too much trying to hold back my tears. He could tell that I was angry when I balled up my fists and gritted my teeth.I was open in aspects for him, he read me like a book.
I paced around the office, lounging upside down on the chair as the door sprung open revealing a grinning Berlin.
"Missed me already" I smirked.
"You have no idea"
He sat down beside me, dropping his gun down on the floor and sliding it under the sofa.
"I missed you so much you know, I couldn't get your face out of my head, even though it would be considered a sin if I did," he said as I sat down on his lap.
"I didn't think about you once, you know" I teased rubbing a hand over his thigh.
"And why so?" he questioned pushing me off his lap and onto the seat beside him.
"I don't know maybe you're just not special enough to me," I said fluttering my eyelashes at him.
His smile dropped as he aggressively grabbed my wrists and forced me up against the wall.
"I have a feeling you're lying Belle," he said digging his nails into my wrists.
"I don't think I'm lying Andres," I said winking up at his angry face. A vein in his neck was clenched and you could see the fire burning behind his eyes. Flirty Berlin was a lovely sight but angry Berlin was much more heavenly.
He suddenly dropped my wrists and pulled both hands around my neck watching me gasp for air. "Until you say you dreamed about me every second of every hour I won't let go"
I tried to twist my neck away from his grip until he dug his fingers deeper into my flesh. "And what if I don't" I gasped.
"Well then, I won't let go" he shrugged.
"Fine Andres, I did dream about you every second, now please let me go your hurting me" I heaved as he let go of my neck.
I felt my knees drop to the floor as he pulled a water bottle out of his pocket and handed it to me. "Someone is needy for love today" I panted massaging my sore neck. As he sent me a happy, apologetic glare.
"How's everything downstairs?" I asked watching as his smile dropped and the skin around his eyes folded into creases. "It isn't the most delightful way to pass the hours but then your there making it all the more tolerable" he grinned.
"Oh and then how's Arturo, is he fine after surgery?"
"The bitch is holding up the best he can, but it surprises me you ask about another man before the prince in front of you"
I chuckled holding his hand in mine. "Well, then Andres how are you?"
"Well now that you mention it, I'm doing okay, the money is printing and we are all still alive so I don't think it can get any better than that I suppose"
"Hey, I know what can make you feel better" I smirked.
"I might need to hear the plan before I can go through with it Miss De La Rosa"
"Well how about we pop open a nice bottle of wine, eat some food, talk a bit," I said.
"Not exactly what I had in mind but sounds lovely neither the less" he smiled.
"Well, What exactly did you have in mind?" I asked pretending to be clueless.
"disciplining a very naughty little princess"
Here's the 6th chapter, I especially enjoyed writing this, If you liked the chapter please vote and comment, they mean a lot to me, thank you for reading up until this point as well, If you have any requests of something you want to see in this book please comment your ideas. I love you all, you guys are amazing.
Love Roza 🌹