The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 253

Chapter 227: The News

Caleb POV

“We have two plainclothes guards at the gate and one patrolling the perimeter during school hours,” I replied.

“Double it,” Bella said instantly. “I want one guard dedicated entirely to Tom’s classroom area. What about the estate?”

“The treeline coverage has been increased, and we added motion sensors along the back fence where he was found,” I explained.

“Good. Have we contacted the school administration yet?”

“Not yet. I wanted to coordinate the message with you first.”

“I will handle the school communication plan myself,” she said, her voice sharp and efficient.

I leaned forward, trying to offer her some semblance of peace. “Bella, you can calm down. He is gone. He is arrested and sitting in a cell right now.”

Bella’s eyes locked onto mine, turning entirely to flint. The professional veneer dropped, replaced by a fierce, uncompromising maternal rage.

“You won’t school me on when to calm down, Caleb,” she said, her voice vibrating with a dangerous, quiet intensity. “I don’t care if he is behind concrete walls or a thousand miles away. My kids will be protected. I will not sit back and rely on a broken system or a cell door to keep them safe.”

I sat back, completely silenced by the raw power in her voice. She was entirely right.

By the end of the hour, we had a revised protocol, a solid legal strategy, and a school communication plan.

Bella stood up to leave. She walked to the door, placed her hand on the handle, and then paused. She did not turn around to face me.

“You were trying to protect me,” she said quietly.

“Yes,” I answered.

–

“I know.” A beat passed in the quiet office. “Don’t do it that way again.”

“I won’t,” I said.

She left, and I sat in my office for a long time afterward, thinking about all the ways I was still learning what it meant to love her correctly.

Third person pov

Interlude: Incident Report on Friday

The rain was hitting the windshield of the transport van in heavy, blinding sheets. Inside the secure rear cage, Marcus Webb pressed his forehead against the cold steel mesh.

13

Chapter 227 The News

His shoulder, deeply bruised and wrapped in a tight medical bandage from where Bella had struck him with the iron skillet, throbbed with a relentless, blinding pain.

But his mind was clear Clearer than it had been in months.

They think they can lock me away, Webb thought, his eyes tracking the dark, empty highway outside. They think Caleb Black can buy the law to hide what he’s doing to her. I’m the only one who can save her.

Suddenly, Webb let out a choked, ragged gasp. He collapsed off the metal bench, slamming his body hard against the floor of the van. He began to kick his legs wildly, letting out wet, suffocating gurgles.

“Hey! What’s going on back there?” Officer Davis called out from the passenger seat, twisting around to look through the plexiglass partition.

“He’s having a seizure!” Officer Martinez yelled, tapping the brakes as the van hydroplaned slightly. “Pull over, Davis! Check his tongue, he’s choking!”

た

The van screeched to a halt on the muddy shoulder of the highway. Davis unbuckled, threw open the heavy side door, and stepped into the rainy night. He pulled his keys, unlocked the heavy cage door, and leaned inside, reaching for Webb’s twitching shoulder. “Inmate Webb! Look at me.”

In a split second, the seizure stopped.

Webb’s good hand shot out like a coiled spring. He didn’t grab the guard-he grabbed the heavy, foot-long Maglite flashlight hooked to Davis’s tactical vest. With a desperate, animalistic scream, Webb ripped the flashlight free and swung it upward with all his might.

CRACK.

The heavy aluminum casing caught Davis squarely across the temple. The officer dropped instantly, his knees buckling as he collapsed into the mud.

“Davis?!” Martinez shouted from the driver’s seat, his hand flying to his holster as he tried to unbuckle his seatbelt in the cramped cabin.

Webb didn’t give him the chance. Lunging out of the cage over Davis’s unconscious body, Webb threw his entire weight against the driver’s side door, slamming it shut before Martinez could get his legs out. Webb didn’t try to fight the second cop-he scrambled backward into the dark, pouring rain, tumbling down the steep, grassy embankment into the blackness of the woods.

ľ

By the time Martinez got out of the van with his weapon drawn, firing two blind shots into the trees, Marcus Webb was gone.

He was bleeding, he was freezing, and he was completely free. And he knew exactly which way was home.

The cold rain soaked through Webb’s thin jacket within seconds, but the freezing water only fueled his manic energy.

Every step down the steep, muddy incline sent a fresh wave of agony through his injured shoulder, but he welcomed the pain. It was a physical reminder of why he had to move faster. In his mind, Bella was waiting for him, trapped inside Caleb’s heavily guarded fortress.

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