Chapter 27 Rome
ROME
Act as if it is impossible to fail.
—Rome’s favorite fortune cookie fortune
Lexie barely waits for Dillan to walk through my parents’ door before dragging her by the arm up to Lucky’s old bedroom.
Guess she didn’t appreciate the drop-and-dump text message Dillan pulled, outing herself as Theia DeLaurentiis, then ignoring her phone as we drove here.
Pretty sure Lucky didn’t either, considering the look on his face.
“Seriously? She wrote the book?” he asks, a look somewhere between shock, awe, and annoyance front and center. “Like all the sexy shit too?”
I shake my head and brush by him. “Don’t talk about Dillan and sexy shit in the same sentence, dickhead.”
“Dude, have you read it? It’s hot. And now finding out it’s Dillan . . .”
“Watch it, brother,” I warn, and the fucker smiles as Dad walks in, a beer in his hand and a grin on his face.
You’d never know the power our father has in this city if you haven’t experienced it first-hand.
He doesn’t flaunt it. But if you know, then you know to fear him. Everyone outside our family does.
“Go say hello to your mother and grandmother. Your sister isn’t making it, and Maddox is still out of the country, so it’s just you two and the girls tonight,” he warns with a smile, letting us know all Mom and Nonna’s attention will be focused on us and the women we’ve finally brought into the family over the past few months.
We all knew the rules growing up. You didn’t bring a girl home unless she was the girl.
Mom didn’t want to meet any twats, not that she’d ever call them that.
At least not in front of us. And now that three out of her four kids are happily married, and I’ve basically announced to the world that I’m off the market, I think she has visions of way too many grandbabies running around her house dancing through her head. “You ready for this weekend, Rome?”
“I was ready a year ago. Now I’m fucking amped. You coming?” I ask Lucky and him.
“We’ll be there,” Dad confirms, looking from Lucky to me. “You know your mother can’t bring herself to watch you fight, but Lucky and I are driving up tomorrow.”
Lucky looks up the curved staircase, like he’s worried Lexie’s never letting Dillan come back down before he disappears up there after them.
“So . . . The bigger question seems to be will Dillan be there?” Dad asks as he lifts a beer to his lips. Fuck, I miss beer. “Since she wasn’t at the press conference.”
“She’s coming. She hates this kind of crowd and all the media attention that comes with it though.
It’s why she skipped the press conference.
There was no need for her to be there.” I shrug, not wanting to say anything that makes my girl sound weak but wanting her protected when I can’t be the one doing it.
“I already asked Ryker if he’d keep an eye on her, but—”
“You don’t even have to ask. I was already planning on staying by her side. I think her father and Asher are coming up too. Not sure Dillan knows that yet though.”
“Good,” I murmur as we walk into the kitchen, and the smell of tomatoes, onion, garlic, and basil makes my mouth water.
Mom stops in front of me and kisses my cheek. “Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes, and I’ve got grilled chicken and fresh lemon and garlic broccolini for you.”
“Thanks, Ma.”
I sneak past her and over to Nonna, who’s stirring the sauce.
I swear, half my memories of my great grandmother are of her in front of this stove with that wooden spoon in her hand.
Her stark-white hair is up in a tight bun, and her black-and-white checkered apron never changes.
“My principe.” She smiles and cups my cheek in her hands, a mischievous spark in her sapphire-blue eyes.
“Where’s the newest Beneventi principessa? ”
And damn if those words coming from her mouth don’t crack my heart wide open.
“She’s upstairs with Lexie talking about something,” I tell her, unsure she’s ready for my family to know her secret just yet, and Nonna’s grin grows.
“Are they talking babies?” she asks hopefully, and I laugh.
My older brother and sister have already started pumping out kids, but I have a feeling they’re going to have to wait a bit for Lucky and me to add any to the mix. “I don’t think so, Nonna.”
She shrugs. “A woman can only hope. You and your principessa will have beautiful babies one day. Two boys and one girl. I know it in my old bones.”
I drop a kiss to the top of her head, hoping one day she’s right.
“You know anything else in those old bones, Nonna?” I ask as she holds the sauce covered spoon up to my lips.
“One more thing.” She looks up at me, her tiny stature making even Dillan look tall, and winks. “You’re going to win this weekend.”
Acar picks us up the next day to make the two-hour drive from Kroydon Hills to New York City, and Dillan is asleep within minutes of us leaving the house. Not surprising. She spent most of the night up and writing last night after dinner.
Not that she kept me up. But sleeping with her in my arms has become as necessary as fucking breathing.
And not having her there—yeah, that’s not going to work for me.
She doesn’t know it yet, but we’re going to talk about that once the fights over and I’ve lifted the championship belt because there’s no longer any part of us that isn’t real.
And no part of me is willing to let her go.
Not back to her own place or her own life. Not when she’s quickly become my life.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I adjust to pull it out without waking Dillan up.
Liv
I’m at the hotel and checked us all in.
Rome
Anyone else from the team there yet?
Liv
No. Remember what I said. No comment is your friend for now. Do not discuss the tape. Don’t answer questions about it. Everything goes through me. I speak for you.
Rome
Gotcha, boss.
Liv
Be serious, Rome. You’ve worked hard to get here. Don’t let anything fuck it up now.
A separate message appears from an unknown number.
Unknown
You should have paid me when you had the chance. You’ll both be sorry now.
What the actual fuck?
Rome
Who is this?
Unknown
Your worst nightmare.
Rome
Original.
What do you want?
Unknown
I want what you owe me.
I look over at Dillan sleeping peacefully against me. Her head resting on my shoulder and her hands tucked between us. She’s safe and she’s here and I’m bored with this conversation.
Rome
If you think I owe you something take it up with my management company.
Unknown
Why would I do that when I can hit you back where it hurts.
Hit me back?
Does that mean I hit them first.
Who the fuck is this?
Rome
Do you know who I am?
Unknown
Yeah, Titan, I do. I know who your girlfriend is too, and unless you want the world to know, you’re going to throw the fight.
I’m going to what?
No way.
Rome
Is this a fucking joke?
Unknown
Does this look like a joke?
A picture of Dillan holding A Crown of Stars and Ruin at Hopeless Romantics fills my screen.
Unknown
That little girlfriend of yours seems hell bent on keeping this a secret. Seems like she’s been keeping a lot of secrets. You might have turned out to be a more difficult target than I anticipated, Titan. Seems like she’s a fuck ton easier to attack.
Rome
I swear to god if you so much as touch a hair on her head I will end you.
Unknown
You’d have to find me first. Besides, that’s not my style. I’m not into the touching as much as the destroying. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to dismantle and destroy someone’s life. Especially when things like therapist’s record are so easily accessible if you have the right skillset.
And Rome. . . Fear not. My skillset is perfect.
Rome
What. Do. You. Want?
Unknown
You’re going to throw the fight. You’ll do it in the first thirty seconds of the third round.
Not a minute sooner or later. Make sure it’s the first thirty seconds of round three, Rome.
We wouldn’t want sweet, fragile, Dillan to have all of her secrets exposed for the world to see, now would we?
That book of hers has become a phenomenon.
I can only imagine how many people would find everything about it and her fascinating.
This piece of shit has me by the balls and he knows it.
Rome
Fine.
Unknown
I knew you’d be reasonable when you saw your options.
This mother fucker is never going to see me coming, but I’m going to come.
I shoot off my own text.
Rome
Liv – I need your help.
I’m whisked directly from the car to the suite to meet with Liv, Hudson, and the Crucible team while Dillan goes with our things upstairs to the suite. A decision I’m pretty fucking sure my cousin disagrees with, based on the way she’s looking at me now.
“What the fuck did they mean I should have paid them when I had the chance?” I roar in Liv’s room as I pace around the damn floor. “No one has tried to blackmail me.”
“Well . . .” Liv shifts on her feet, and I stop on a motherfucking dime, my head lifting as the room goes utterly silent.
“Olivia,” Hudson says, void of all emotion.
“My team vets everything. It’s how it’s been for years. If it’s not a credible threat, we don’t bring it to you. I’m not the first agent to handle issues this way. I trained under the owner of the agency, and this is what’s done,” she says, looking between Hud and me.
“What wasn’t a credible threat?” I ask slowly, my fury growing.
She crosses her arms over her chest, holding her ground. “Do you have any idea how many paternity emails we get a year just for the Crucible fighters alone? Add in my Kings players, and I’m not even sure you could count that high, Rome.”
“Might not be the best time to be throwing insults, Liv. They threatened Dillan. Credible or not, they threatened her,” I say calmly with as much controlled rage as I can manage. “Now what the fuck did you do?”
“They wanted money in exchange for taking down the sex tape. But paying someone off after it’s been posted is pointless.
” She pulls up something on her phone and hands it to me.
“It’s out there. People have seen it. Shared it.
Downloaded it. The damage was done, and I controlled the cost to you.
I wasn’t about to let you pay them off and still be asked about this for the next ten years of your life, Rome. ”
I skim the email exchange that went down, and that’s basically word for fucking word what happened.
“So what does this mean?” I ask, knowing if I don’t get this handled, Dillan is going to be the one to pay the damn price. And there’s no way in fucking hell I’m letting that happen. “Can we track them now? Figure out who’s doing this? Take them down?”
Olivia stares at me, a mix of confusion and pity on her face.
“What?” I demand. “Tell me how the fuck to handle this. It’s what I’m paying you for. You’re supposed to be the best. Fucking act like it and handle this.”
Liv bristles, but I don’t care.
Not when someone is ready to attack Dillan over me.
Not when she’s just starting to find her footing.
I won’t be the reason she loses any ground she’s gained.
“Well, you better figure it out because I’ve got a press conference in two goddamned hours,” I growl at her like this is her fault.
It’s not, but she’s the one getting the brunt of my anger because I have no other place to direct it but at myself.
I’m the one who forced Dillan into this.
I’m the one who blackmailed her into pretending to be my girlfriend.
And now karma is being a fucking whore and coming back to haunt me .
. . because now I’m the one being blackmailed.