The CEO's Rose

Ryan’s POV

Vivian was officially moving in with him.

Ryan was so happy that he almost had no idea what to do with himself. Making his way up to her apartment, he could not help but whistle a happy tune. Perhaps with a bit of convincing from him, Vivian would be willing to give her apartment a ’proper’ goodbye. There were a few places that he would like to do it in one last time. His heart rate picking up in anticipation Ryan sped up, suddenly desperate to get to Vivian as soon as possible.

Maybe he could convince her to do one last round in the bathroom, or maybe the kitchen floor. Maybe they could test how sturdy the kitchen table was. Perhaps she would not mind a bit of rug burn, smiling to himself. Ryan made it to Vivian’s front door, then he stopped, his smile fading.

How strange.

The last time he had checked, Vivian’s door did not have little markings on it. In fact even the frame looked scratched up. Had she already tried to move some heavy stuff out and had accidentally damaged it? Frowning, Ryan knocked on the door. His eyebrows raising when he did not hear her calling out from the inside. What? He was certain that she had already arrived, since the lights were on.

Had they been on while she had been at the penthouse with him? Had she really forgotten to switch them off?

He was about to turn back and go look for her at the school, but then he decided to give her a call. Maybe she really was inside and all that he needed to do was to alert her of his presence so that she would let him in. Taking out his phone, Ryan dialed Vivian’s number. It rang once before the call immediately cut off. The billionaire stilled at that.

He had not only heard the sound through his phone, but also through Vivian’s front door.

His eyes narrowing, Ryan felt a sense of unease creep up on him.

First it was the scratched up door. Now her phone was ringing inside but he could not hear her moving around. When he tried to call her again. The call did not go through and Ryan found himself staring at the door intently.

Vivian was very particular about her things. If he barged in there for no good reason then she was going to be very upset with him. But if something was wrong and he did not do anything, Ryan would never be able to forgive himself if he just left.

Promising himself that if it made her mad he would buy the most expensive door possible to replace hers. Ryan stepped back, took a deep breath, and then with a mighty kick, he took the door right off its hinges, wood splintering as the barrier collapsed.

Walking into Vivian’s apartment, Ryan had a moment of panic, thinking that he had overreacted and Vivian was going to be very mad.

But then he took in the mess of the place and his heart began thundering.

"Vivian? Sweetheart, where are you?" He barely took two more steps when he noticed her feet on the floor, the rest of her body hidden by the couch.

"Vivian!" Thinking that she had fallen he ran over to where she lay, only to freeze when her entire body came into view.

She was not alone. Crouched next to her, one hand on her throat, the other holding her phone was her ex-boyfriend...Bryce.

***

There were times in life when a person saw something incredibly horrifying, and all reasonable thought just fled the scene.

That was currently happening for Ryan Terrell.

The moment he saw his Vivian laying there motionless, her monster of an ex crouched over her. One word rose up from within the depths of his mind, and it governed his every action as he moved.

’Protect,’ His soul screamed as he threw his phone directly at Bryce, the man yelping as he got to his feet, moving away from Vivian’s prone form as he held a hand to his mouth where the phone had landed.

"You’ll pay for that," He hissed, licking at the blood running from his lower lip. He seemed to be gearing up to say more. But Ryan cast one more look at his Vivian( his far too still Vivian, and decided that the time for words was long over). Not letting him say anything else, he threw himself at the other man, tackling him, and pushing him away from the still motionless Vivian.

There was a very big chance that she was an awful word that started with the letter ’d’, but Ryan chose not to focus on that. Instead he cleared his mind and focused on only one thing... protect, protect, protect...

That was all that he was thinking when his fist connected with Bryce’s jaw, and he felt the bones there pop. The other man might have screamed, but Ryan did not hear him. He was far too busy tenderizing his torso with left hooks and right hooks.

The sport of boxing was a noble one.

It required respect, and discipline, knowing when to stop. But in that moment, Ryan Terrell was not a boxer.

He was a man whose Vivian was not moving, a man who would do everything in his power to protect her. So he punched, yes, that was a given. But he also kicked, bit, scratched, head-butted, and even buried a fallen screwdriver into the other man’s side. There was blood, so much blood. But it was not enough.

Bryce had dared to touch Vivian Rose...she was not moving, yet Bryce still was...that had to be remedied.

Coward that he was, he tried to run, to put distance between them. But Ryan needed him close, and so he kept him close, his fists making sure that the man never got too far.

Left hook, right hook, jab, bob and weave, a clean cut across the cheek, blood going everywhere, body shot, ribs groaning, kick to the shin, more cries of pain. Ryan did not give the other man a chance to gather himself. No opportunities to breathe, no chances to run. He just brought the pain and did not stop.

How dare he?! How dare he?!

Ryan laid into the other man with intent to kill, not caring as the skin across his knuckles broke. Completely unbothered when the now wheezing man coughed up teeth alongside his blood. It would have been so easy to keep going. But one single thought cut through all of Ryan’s rage and reminded him why he was attacking in the first place.

Vivian!

Chest heaving, Ryan stopped his assault on the now fallen Bryce. Noticing for the first time that he had been crying all along. Staring down at the bloody mess that used to be Bryce, Ryan kicked him one more time, then he stumbled back to the other side of the couch.

Suddenly unable to walk the rest of the way despite not having taken any serious hits, he fell to his knees and crawled. His hands leaving bloody palm prints on Vivian’s floor. Most of if Bryce’s but some coming from the glass embedding itself into his palms. He barely even noticed, his focus on getting to Vivian.

When he reached her, Ryan hesitated. He had fought so hard to protect her, but what if...what if... She was so still, was he too late?

Had she been breathing her last while he had been just outside, wasting time?

Raising a trembling, bloody hand, Ryan put his fingers against her neck. He had never been one to beg, but as he searched for a pulse, he found one word leaving his mouth over and over again.

"Please, please, please..."

"...don’t leave me,"