As summer crept up I took care of Dylan daily until Rosalind wanted me to live with her.

Rosalind and Leroy had me tell Dylan I'll have to live with her because the rent was more than she could afford. She had also escaped her parents' hold and with Leroy's help, found a job and place to rent. I was quite surprised when she asked for me to live with her.

I told Dylan I want to live with my sister before our marriage. I saw the fear and desperation in his eyes.

"When Judy is better we should meet again, as a family and as past partners in crime," I said to him, holding the side of his cheek that wasn't burned.

"Promise you'll be back."

"I promise."

I told Ruby and Calvin I'd be on the telephone if anything and to update me on Dylan's status. He still mainly sat on his bed reading or writing. There was obvious tension in the de Winter house, especially with Vaughn, so I left quickly.

The night I moved in I told Rosalind the whole truth, with Dylan, Hughes, and Judy.

Rosalind hated Dylan. She found him despicable and wouldn't believe why I was engaged to him although I kept repeating he was not only a kidnapper but Dylan.

When Dylan was nearly healed, or so I heard on the telephone from Ruby, I visited the house in November. Summer had passed with me "working" or so I told Dylan. 

Now I looked different, I had no makeup but lipstick and wore simple dresses, and never wore gloves although I still wore heels. I worked as a secretary for an acting company, through my strings of being Rose Blackwood, soon to be de Winter.

I was sick of my job so I returned, eager to see Dylan's smile as always.

"Hello? Dylan!" I called out in the empty hallway.

They hadn't hired a new butler for the time yet, so Irene was the housekeeper and always seemed tired.

"Dylan is in his office," she said to me.

"Already?" I asked, as he left most things pertaining to Blanche to Vaughn. "Where's Vaughn?"

"At Judy's residence," Irene answered.

Interesting.

I ran up and knocked on the study.

"It's Rose," I called out.

"Come in."

I opened the door, and he hadn't healed at all. His skin was now burnt dark brown and it seemed like he had skin discoloration until you saw the texture of rough leather on his left side of the face and neck, stretching down to under his shirt.

"Good evening, does it feel fine to wear a shirt now?" I asked.

"It's fine." He smiled. "How is living with Rosalind?"

"It's fun, everyday we both have news about our job. The actress I work with is always telling fun stories, such as rumors about Scarlett Carroll." I laughed. "They weren't pleasant stories either."

"And what do you want to do?"

"Pardon?" Dylan never asked me that. I thought he'd announce the engagement as soon as he could, in fact.

"Do you want to leave the de Winter?"

"What?"

Dylan chuckled before speaking. "You know, Vaughn outsmarted me again. He always does, doesn't he? I didn't even know he was a bastard son that Austen had. My cousin. Auguste even chose him after he graduated to be our lawyer. Now he's taken liberty to plan to sue me, along with Blanche. All he needs is you. I'm sure you'll hear from him soon."

"Me? As a witness?"

"Yes." Dylan took a fountain pen and swirled it in his other hand. "If you do, I'll miss you. Dont let me hold you back, I'll take my punishment as I should."

No.

Was this true? Why am I trembling and not from happiness but fear of losing him? He wasn't even afraid himself, or so he looked.

"I don't—I don't want you to leave." I didn't know what I was saying. Where was my anger when I found Blanche? "I will decline Vaughn if he asks me to."

"Why?"

"You know why!" I shouted.

"I love you, but if this face makes you feel inclined to help me, please don't." He turned away, breaking eye contact.

"Don't what? I want this. I want us engaged. I want to be married, even. I want—I want to believe you've repented and you're a changed man, even if it's not true," I sobbed.

Please don't let this be true.

All these calls, these updates, had they made me really pity him or love him? Was it due to the fact I had began living without him that I couldn't imagine never seeing him?

"I've committed a crime," he exclaimed.

"I'll testify for you, Dylan. Calvin will too! He thinks you were innocent," I said quickly, wiping my tears.

"Rose, please don't cry," Dylan begged.

"But our engagement—our wedding!" I sobbed through my fingers. It was all going to end before it began, this dream of being with Dylan. Again.

"If I am not seized I will buy an engagement ring, then formally propose," he whispered. "We can flee the place, to a state where no de Winters are."

I wanted that. Hearing it materialized the image in my mind. We could run away, me in a plain white dress and marriage certificate. I didn't even need the wedding.

"Can you drive?" I asked. 

"Of course..." Dylan said in a way I didn't really believe.

"Well, we can leave when it's fall. I'm sure Rosalind will understand."

"No, I must atone." Dylan stood up. "I never truly atoned, have I?"

"You saved me from the boiling water!" I said.

"Frankly, I didn't even know water was inside. Or boiling water, at least." Dylan sighed. "I wish we could just drive and go far away."

"Next time I return make sure you practiced driving and can drive me." Somehow I felt as though he was disappearing. "Promise?"

"Promise."

He stood up and leaned close. I saw the features Dylan was under the burns and didn't feel scared at all as his face came closer and we kissed. His lips weren't burnt and I missed them.

It got deeper and then he drew back.

"Choose what your heart really wants. Don't pity me," he whispered next to my ear.

"Yes."

But I was lying.

***

A few days after work, as Dylan had expected, I saw a slim man dressed up turn the corner as I was doing to the flat Rosalind and I lived in. He stepped on something and I jumped before turning and seeing him.

"Vaughn," I whispered.

His face was grim as he made his way to me.

"Rose, listen, Judy has decided to sue Dylan. He won't get any of the money he wanted. All I need is for you—"

"—To testify as a witness," I finished his sentence. "Don't do it!"

"What?" Vaughn looked flabbergasted. "Dylan lied to us! From the very beginning!"

"And he's been punished. Do you see his face and burns? You should pity him, he's got no one!" I exclaimed.

Vaughn laughed sarcastically. "Oh, now you want to save him. Are you going to marry him? Honestly?" He shook his head as he muttered. "Well, I'd be damned."

"I'm sorry to Judy, and to you, too. I know you were blackmailed with your parents," I plead.

"So why won't you join us?" Vaughn shouted.

He was genuinely angry. It was the first time I saw him with an open expression as he usually hid his feelings.

"Why are you standing with that bastard? Is it because he chose to burn himself?"

"He didn't choose to!" I argued. Vaughn scoffed.

"Oh, you really don't know anything now, do you? You're so nice, being by Dylan's side when he has no one, ignoring the sins he's committed and how a woman suffered in his hands for you!" he spat.

Yes.

But I couldn't tell Vaughn I was being swayed so easily. That Dylan was the first man to love me, not for my body or connections or as Rosemarie Blackwood.

He liked me despite my flaws.

"I won't do it," I said. "This is my decision."

Vaughn broke out in crude laughter.

"Really? Really! You think Dylan is a wonderful man, don't you? That he will marry you and you'll be his wife. Just like the first wife of Auguste and Claribel and even Scarlett, think! You women are really cursed. You'll know one day. There's no happy ending for you."

He scoffed again before he left, stepping into the shadows again and I stood there, shivering.

I returned home to Rosalind and the warmth of our flat, the small furniture and colorful decors. I will miss this. I fell down, holding back tears and Rosalind came and immediately saw how sick I probably looked.

"What's wrong?" she asked, letting me lean on her shoulders and rest on the couch.

"You know everything I told you everything, about Dylan locking Judy up?" I looked into her eyes, always ready to listen to my troubles. "Do you think I should testify against Dylan?"

She knew the whole story, but her answer was swift.

"Yes. He's committed a crime! Poor Judy, poor Hughes, too. He's evil, can't you see!" Rosemarie sounded just like everyone.

I thought of the story my father told me with the twin princesses who loved the same man. The mean princess stole the prince at the last minute but learned he wasn't who he seemed and suffered in their marriage. The other twin ended up marrying a safe and kind man.

It was although our father told my sister and I to be careful with marriage. My sister was happy out there so in that case, would I be unhappy?