“You little BITCH! You really asked for it this time” said Damien Merin while smashing his crystal glass of scotch against little Rose’s forehead. The pain burst from the area to the point where her vision started blurring. She could feel hot warm liquid mixed with the alcohol dripping down her face. The hit sent her sprawling across the room and smash into the nearest wall. Her blood smeared against the pristine white wall and from the corner of her eyes, she could see that the maid in charge of cleaning the living room grimace ever so slightly at her. ‘She’s probably annoyed at the idea of getting my blood off of that wall again’ thought 12 years old Rose to herself as she kept her attention on the blonde haired women who stood straight against the opposing wall, looking at her with cold unfeeling eyes. Another blow came in from the front of her face when her dad punched her right into her mouth, this made her head voice back against the wall, and blood start pouring out from her mouth as well. The disoriented her, but as her eyes refocused, she saw through the corner of the gold encrusted door, the eyes of her 14 year old brother. Their gaze locked with each other and they stared into each other’s eyes as her father started approaching her in order to drag her toward the fireplace and away from the wall. It was his preferred choice of place to indulge into torturing her after all. But despite everything gaze never broke off. As one stared with cowardice and despair, the other stared with cold indifference. Then finally when the sound of her father taking out one of the iron sticks from near the fireplace. 12 year old Rose, flashed a bright cruel smile towards 14 year old Steven Merin who couldn’t do anything but stare from behind the doors in worry...

“Miss, sir Merin is asking you to the dinning room for breakfast” the voice of an unfamiliar man awoke Rose from her nightmare. Still agitated by the horrific memories she just had to re-live, Rose painfully opened her eyes and scowled when she saw the face at another one of her father’s goons standing right beside her bed. “Who gave you the fucking permission to enter my room?!” Said Rose angrily.

Her tantrums weren’t surprising in the least at the Merin household, it caused her last 3 bodyguards to quit out of stress or even life threatening injury once. Of course Alexander was warned beforehand about the young miss Merin by the rest of the staff member. “Miss, it was your father who urged me to come and fetch you for breakfast,” said Alexander calmly. Rose looked at him unhappily. “Next time you barge into my room without MY permission, I will personally see it fit that your family disappears from the face of the earth, you may respond to my fathers orders, but you should know that he won’t save you from me” Rose said viciously.

It seemed that explained why this job offer paid so much and had such strange requirements, thought Alexander. “With all due respect, if you did your research young lady, you would’ve known that I don’t have any family members that are currently alive,” Alexander said curtly.

Taken aback, it took Rose a few minutes to recompose herself before saying “You guys aren’t important enough for me to do a background check. There were 3 more bodyguards before you, and I made even the most resilient one leave, don’t think of yourself too highly.”

This made Alexander smirk inside his head. “I wouldn’t dare,” he said quietly as he watched the young mistress heading towards her ridiculously enormous bathroom. ‘Seems like guarding this annoying little brat would be quite eventful,’ he thought to himself as the bathroom door smashed shut.

After smashing the door closed behind her, Rose let out a long sigh. After the circumstances which forced her last bodyguard to quit the job, she didn’t think anyone else would apply for the position anytime soon. It seemed to her that this job as her personal bodyguard, wasn’t worth the risk of suffering from a full body paralysis and the extermination of their loved ones, no matter how much this job paid. Only fools would apply for this position. One thing was for sure: that fool standing outside her bedroom was courting death.

Rose wasn’t personally proud of her vicious actions, but this was a vicious world. As long as people like her father were alive and in power, there wouldn’t be any place for any type of kindness nor weakness. No matter what, she had to get out of this golden cage.But running away from a man who owned the world isn’t exactly easy. What’s worse is that the public opinion on her father was very favorable... unlike hers.

Still, Rose had no choice. She knew that the more she stayed, the less human she felt. The only thing that kept her feeling ‘ALIVE’ were her powder. She quickly felt around her sink and detached a small compact bundle wrapped in plastic. This was it. This was what made her forget about this cruel world. It had been a while she slept, and if it wasn’t for the fact that there was some sleeping powder mixed into her food she wouldn't have slept last night.

Rose ripped the bag open, eager to get away from her terrible memories and took a huge sniff. Immediately, she felt much lighter already. Ironically enough, heroine was the only thing that kept her sane. She rubbed a bit of the powder on her nose and took another sniff. Instantly it made her feel even better with each passing second.

Rose laid down on the bathroom floor for a long time. She laid there and thought about happier times when her grandfather was still alive. She sat there and thought about how he taught her how to play the piano. The first notes she made, the first keys she played, the first song she performed... he was the only men she trusted... until he left her too.

It seemed as if no one wanted to stick around her for long. Everyone left eventually. She was told that her birth mother left her when she was young. She was the product of one of the affairs of her father. Not that she cared much at this point. Things like that weren’t even close enough to affect her anymore.

She took another sniff and this time that really knocked her off her thoughts for good. She didn’t like being left alone to her thoughts, in fact she hated it. Her inner demons were too scary for her. Just when she was about to rub more powder onto her nose, loud knocking sounds came from her bathroom’s door.

KNOCK KNOCK

Followed by an irritating deep voice. “Miss, we really need to leave for breakfast.” But Rose was far too gone to pay him any attention. So, she just ignored him and kept on riding her high. But that didn’t stop the man outside, in contrary, her lack of acknowledgment of him only fueled his knocking until he was full fledged banging on the door.

BANG BANG BANG

“Miss! If you don’t say anything, I will have to break the door down!”

And that’s when Rose finally snapped out of it. ‘Oh shit,’ she thought.