43. Juliette
JULIETTE
“ D o you hate me for being part of them?” I ask.
My voice is quiet, but it might as well be a scream in the stillness of the woods.
“Do you hate me for who I am?” he replies.
Somewhere between our confessions of love and the moments after, we sunk to the ground. I’m curled up in his lap and he’s holding me tight, his fingers dancing along my spine like the boulder of truth isn’t about to come crashing through our bodies and rip us both apart.
I press my face to the crook of his neck, my breath shaky as I bite back the feeling of dread that’s curling through me with every second we stay out here, staring at the stars.
Eventually the night will end, and our weighted confessions will disappear along with it.
“Never.”
“It’s okay to care about people,” he says after a long pause. “Even when they hurt us. Even when they turn into strangers.”
His voice is love and threaded with a type of understanding that I’m not even sure I have when it comes to the way I’m feeling.
I hum, but my throat is too tight to speak.
“I’ll stop,” he continues. “The tagging. I won’t do them about your family anymore.”
That makes me look up, something rattling loose in my chest. “Thank you. Why were you doing them in the first place?”
“Because my father’s dying…and he wants revenge before he goes.” He kisses the top of my head.
Relief pours through me. I had been heavy with the weight of not telling him what I had learned. “You know?”
“ You know?”
I swallow. “Yeah, Bevie told me.”
He nods like he gets it. “Because she’s friends with Frederick. Right.”
I frown. “What? I don’t think Bevie even knows Freddy like that. They never really talked when I was a kid.”
Roman’s eyes narrow, and he leans back slightly so he can look me in the eye. “Beverly. The woman who came to see me, right?”
“Short, a little mean, and a scowl on her face like she has a grudge against the world?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s her.”
His brow furrows. “She definitely knows Frederick.”
Rosebrook isn’t exactly a sprawling city, it’s just big enough to pretend we don’t all live on top of each other, and Frederick’s always been around in the background.
Before he went halfway up Marcus Montgomery’s ass, he was a regular fixture at my family’s gatherings, and at one time in my life I had thought him and my dad were friends.
“Huh. Makes sense, I guess.”
“I never wanted to hurt you,” Roman says, his voice low.
His jaw’s tight, eyes locked on me with that steady, weighted gaze of his that always makes me feel like he’s staring into my soul.
He loves me.
“I know,” I reply. Because I do.
“More than anyone else,” he continues. “Your happiness is…” His throat bobs as he swallows. “It’s all that matters.”
“Don’t say that,” I whisper, even though my heart beats faster at his words. “I don’t want to be put above your sister. Above your family.”
His arms tighten around me, his chin dipping to rest against the top of my head. “Brooke’s taken care of now, and my mom…” He exhales sharply. “My mom made her choices a long time ago.”
My chest aches at his words, but I don’t really have anything I can say to make it better.
Truthfully, the idea of someone hurting him as much as she has makes it hard for me to find space in my heart to think of her fondly.
But she still made him, so I hold on to that kernel of gratitude and hope she can find her way back.
“Do you trust Frederick?” he asks, his tone taking on a sharper cadence.
I chew on the inside of my cheek. “I guess so. Why?”
Roman’s hand slides up my back, settling at the nape of my neck, and I relax into his lap, my head resting on his shoulder. His thumb rubs a slow, soothing circle, but his body is stiff; coiled tight beneath the otherwise steady touch.
He doesn’t answer me right away.
“Roman,” I say softly, pulling back just enough to look up at him.
He’s gazing into the distance like he’s not even here.
“Trouble,” I try again. “Why?”
That gets his attention, and his gaze flickers across my face like he’s memorizing it.
“All I can think about is what happens next,” he admits. “After we leave this spot, and you go back to your corner and I’m forced into mine. What this looks like if we stay.”
Something twists sharply behind my ribs.
He brushes his fingers along my cheek, his voice barely above a whisper now.
“What if we didn’t?”
I blink. “Didn’t what?”
“Didn’t stay.”
I stare at him, the weight of his words sinking in like I’m stuck in quicksand.
“Juliette…” He leans in, presses his forehead to mine. “Run away with me.”
My heart stumbles and then surges, kicking against my bones in a violent rhythm. “What?”
His hands frame my face, pulling me in until he can press his lips to mine. Once. Twice. Sweet, chaste kisses, but they taste of desperation.
“Run away with me,” he repeats.
The words strike like lightning this time, reverberating in the space between us like thunder.
“None of this matters without you,” he says. “I don’t give a fuck about any of it. Not the money. Not the name. I only want you .”
I can barely breathe.
My brain’s short-circuiting, flinging images at me of possible scenarios that are too fast to catch.
Roman’s hand in mine as we disappear into the night.
An empty bedroom. My mother’s stiff, stern silence.
My brothers pacing the halls, sending me varying levels of angry and sarcastic messages.
Felicity sitting next to Alex, or maybe even Paxton, waiting for a reply I’ll never send.
I don’t even realize I’ve gone still until Roman’s thumb brushes across my cheek again.
Running away with him would mean ripping out the roots I’ve spent my whole life pretending were planted by me.
But maybe they’ve never been roots at all. Maybe they’ve been chains disguised as comfort.
“Say something,” he whispers.
“I’d lose everyone,” I reply. “If we do this… If we run. I’d lose everyone.”
He blows out a steady breath, warm against my skin.
“Maybe not forever,” he says. “Frederick said something to me once, about how he could help us if we asked. And Beverly…I think she’d help too, don’t you?”
“I hope you know, Juliette, that I am always on your side.”
Hope, dangerous and sharp, hits me in my sternum.
“We don’t have to disappear for good. Maybe it’s just for now. Just long enough for things to quiet down. If I leave, I lose the empire.”
I suck in a breath, my eyes widening.
“That could be the answer. Once there’s no Montgomery fortune to my name, and Frederick’s dispersed the inheritance back into the town, who cares if I come back? Would your dad?”
My throat tightens, forehead creasing as I think about what he says. “I don’t know… Maybe?”
“You’d still be you. Still Juliette. You’d just be her…somewhere else for a little bit. Somewhere we get to choose. Free .”
He cups my cheek and I lean into his touch like it’s the only thing keeping me steady.
Somewhere we get to choose. Free.
How long have I ached for that?
“Could we really come back someday?” I whisper.
His jaw tenses. “I can’t promise that. But I promise I won’t stop trying. And we’d be different. Stronger.”
A pregnant pause.
“Together.”
The light dims after he says it, reality creeping in like it always does. “But your father…”
“I don’t care about him.” His voice is adamant. His tone is sure. But I don’t believe it for a second.
I shake my head. “What if you lose him? What if I take you from time you’ll never get back?”
He presses a finger to my lips.
“I’m choosing you,” he says. “ Please . Let me choose you.”
I want to. God, I want to. But fear clutches at my ribs.
“Don’t let the what-ifs ruin our happy ending, Juliette.” He smooths the crease between my brows, his touch like a promise. “Don’t let the bad thing win.”
And that does it. There’s a steady ache in my chest, spreading outward and wrapping me in its heady claws. It’s heartbreak mixed with hope, and that’s a devastating cocktail.
“You’re sure Freddy will help?” I ask.
He nods.
I twist in his arms until he’s cradling me, and I lift my hand up, pressing it to his cheek. His gaze is open, and full, and everything . I see our future in his eyes.
“My only love sprung from my only hate,” I murmur, caressing his face.
His gaze flickers, and I let my thumb trail down to his jaw. His stubble scrapes against my skin.
“Okay, Trouble,” I whisper. “Let’s climb the walls they built for us, and get our happy ending.”