Chapter 21 Romeo #2
"Then prove it." He pulls out a file from his desk drawer and slides it across to me. "These are Edgar Beauregard's business holdings, his political connections, other information you can use. His vulnerabilities. If you're going to go to war with him, you need to know your enemy."
I pick up the file and flip through it quickly—real estate developments, investment portfolios, political donations, all the pieces of Edgar's empire laid out in meticulous detail. "You've been researching him."
He leans back in his chair. "I'm not happy about this, Romeo. I think you're making a mistake. But you're my son, and I'm not going to let Edgar Beauregard destroy you without a fight."
The words are as close to support as I'm going to get from him, and I take them for what they are. "I need your people," I say flatly. "I need access to all our resources, our connections. If I'm going to do this right, if I'm going to handle it the way you want—I need support."
"You'll have it." He stands up, walks around the desk, and extends his hand.
When I shake it, his grip is firm and businesslike, the gesture of two men entering into an agreement rather than a father and son reconciling.
"But understand this, Romeo—if you fail, if you bring down law enforcement on this family, if you create problems that I have to clean up—there won't be a second chance. You'll be on your own. Permanently."
"I understand."
"Good." He releases my hand and walks back to his desk. "Now get out of here. You have work to do."
—
When I get back to the apartment, it's late afternoon. The light coming through the windows is golden and warm, making everything look softer and gentler, less dangerous than it actually is. Savannah is sitting on the couch, and she looks up when I come in. I can see the anxiety in her face, and all I want is to wipe it away. To make her life everything she’s ever wanted.
"How did it go?" she asks quietly.
I cross the room and sit down next to her, close enough that I can feel the warmth of her body but not touching.
Respecting the boundary she set last night, even though every instinct I have is screaming at me to pull her into my arms and never let go.
"My father agreed to back me," I say. "Conditionally.
He wants proof that I can handle the situation without creating more problems for the family. "
"And can you?" There's no judgment in her voice, just genuine curiosity—a need to know if I'm capable of what I'm promising.
"Yes." I meet her eyes, and I let her see the certainty there, let her see that I'm not just making empty promises.
"Luca's helping me build a case against Whitmore—evidence of embezzlement, fraud, connections to money laundering.
Within a week, maybe less, we'll have enough to make him drop the assault charges and disappear from your life permanently. "
"You're going to destroy him." It's not a question.
"Yes."
She's quiet for a long moment, and I can see her processing what it means that I'm willing to ruin someone's life to protect her, to protect us. "And my father?"
"We're preparing for the possibility that he escalates. But my father thinks he'll back off once he sees that I’m not backing down." I pause. "He's a businessman, Savannah. He's not going to risk his empire over this. Not if we give him a way out that lets him save face."
"So you're going to negotiate with him."
"If that's what it takes." I shift slightly closer, and she doesn't pull away.
I take that as permission to continue. "I know you want to fight your own battles.
I know you want agency in your own life.
But right now, the best way I can protect you—the best way I can protect our child—is to handle this the way I know how.
Strategically, without putting you in more danger than you're already in.
I'm going to use every resource I have. Every connection.
Every piece of leverage. I'm going to be ruthless and calculating, and exactly what my father trained me to be.
Because that's what it takes to keep you safe. "
"And after?" She bites her lip, looking directly at me. "After you've destroyed Thad and negotiated with my father and handled all the threats—what then? Do you go back to being that man permanently? Do you become your father?"
It's the same question I've been asking myself, the same fear that's been growing in the back of my mind since I walked out of Dante's office.
"I don't know," I admit. "I don't know if I can be both—the man who's ruthless enough to protect you and the man who's gentle enough to love you the way you need to be loved.
I don't know if those two things can exist in the same person. "
"They have to,” she whispers. "Because I need both, Romeo. I need you to be strong enough to protect us, but I also need you to be vulnerable enough to let me in. I need you to figure out how to be both."
"I'm trying." My voice is rough, and I can feel all the emotion weighing me down, as if years of feeling nothing have coalesced into a boulder crushing me. "I'm trying to be what you need. But I don't know if I know how."
She reaches out and takes my hand. It's the first time she's touched me since last night, and the feeling of her skin against mine makes something in my chest loosen. "Promise me you'll try."
“That’s an easy promise to make. It's going to be over soon, Savannah. I promise. If you'll just trust me."
She looks at me, and I can see her wanting to do just that—to believe that I can do this, and that I can also be the man she needs. “I’ll try, too,” she whispers.
I know it’s the best she can give me right now. And I have to try to prove to her that I’m worthy of more.