ROME
Chapter fifty-one
Once my sisters and mother disappear upstairs, I slam Rain’s cap to his chest and move past the terrarium to open the backdoor.
“Baby,” he pleads.
The still night looms beyond the white picket fence as furious steps carry me down the stone staircase onto the grass.
My heart aches as I fist my hair and turn around to face him, throwing my arms out.
“I thought you were dead.” I’d meant to shout it, scream it, even, but it came out quiet and pained.
Removing his suit jacket, he throws it to the stairs and stops a few meters before me, hands sliding into his pockets. “I had to change phones. I guess I’ve become paranoid that Smith can find my number and track it to your phone, then track it here.”
“Where the fuck were you?” I scream through my teeth.
The reappearing moonlight highlights his set jaw before disappearing and darkening his tense features.
“The officer who arrested me for beating your father has been in communication with Smith. After I forced my father into conceding, Blade and I went to see the officer—Graham—to decipher his communication point.”
My stomach dips. “Did Smith know you were there?”
“I can’t be sure…”
“What the—” My voice trembles so violently I can’t finish my sentence, I can’t do anything but shake and look everywhere but at him. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath through my nose, only to choke on it.
“I’m ending this tomorrow night,” he announces in a hollow tone.
“What does that mean?”
“I contacted Smith through Graham’s laptop. Tomorrow, I’ll have his location.”
“You’re sending the police…right?”
“So he can be thrown in jail again? Fuck no. I don’t know how many people or cops Smith has with him; the rest are under my father’s control. Xander has set up a meeting with his sibling’s tomorrow night. I’m paying the Sixers for their help.”
My heart rips apart what had healed over the last day, and I’m struggling to breathe. He’s going after Smith himself?
“YOU CAN’T DO THAT!” I scream.
“It’s happening, Rome.”
I retreat on numbing legs, pointing a trembling finger at him. “You can’t make me fall in love with you and then tell me you’re walking into possible death.”
He stiffens. “Say it again.”
“Fuck you,” I whisper as a tear rolls down my cheek.
I already know why he’s not asked his father for help: he can’t trust him.
If Aaron provides the resources Rain requires to kill Smith, he’ll want something in return—that being my estate and my compliance in divulging whatever intel I can about the team and my connections.
I know Rain well enough that he won’t allow that to happen, nor will he concede to his father.
He’s proving a point; a shitty, ego driven point, and it’s going to get him killed.
Xan’s siblings aren’t to be taken lightly, and I cannot allow Rain to fall into debt.
“No,” I choke on the short word, violently shaking my head. “We’ll find another way.”
“Say. It. Again.”
“Promise me you won’t do this and I will.”
“It’s already in motion.”
Is this what my future will look like? Being in a constant state of panic from the moment he walks out that door each day? Can I live like that? The Westons don’t play fair; they aren’t afraid to burn the entire world to gain what they desire. How did I allow myself to fall into this position?
More broken tears fall down my cheeks when I back into the fence. I hadn’t realised I’d been retreating this entire conversation.
“Baby,” he whispers, though not with the softness the nickname I once despised usually holds or the desire attached to it. It’s hard. Sharp.
The trepidation kicks out my knees, and I fall down the fence, fisting my hair until my scalp prickles with pain. I can’t breathe. I can’t stop the hatred of tears dripping from my eyes to my bare chest. “FUCK!” I scream into the cold, absent air.
The lack of warmth hits my aching chest, and I lift my head. Rain’s figure moves out of the gate and into the woods. Him. All the hurt ravaging my soul is because of him, because I fell in love with the prick.
My heart is decimated, because all I’ve done today is imagine us in this house together.
The future that could lie ahead for us. Our breakfasts beside one another at the kitchen bench.
Our dinners at the dining table. Lying beside one another in bed each night.
The showers we would share. The laughs. The fights.
The violent beating of my heart with every moment… I want it all… I want it with him.
Pushing off the fence, I chase after him.
The gate rattles behind me as I narrow my eyes to his white shirt moving between trees. The damp ground squelches beneath my bare feet as I follow. Once the house disappears, I finally catch up to him. Failing to clear the lump in my throat, I still manage to whisper, “I love you.”
He stops, hands shaking at his sides. “Do you understand how much I hate myself for putting you in danger?” he asks with his back to me.
I take a hesitant step and nod. “I know.”
“Your mother and sisters, but I…” he trails off, voice straining. “I couldn’t do it…I couldn’t let you go. I know that makes me selfish. I thought I could fix what I’d done before he realised how much you meant to me, and I failed you in not doing so.”
The white material stretches taut across his broad shoulders as I take the final step and reach out, my chilled hand warming where I graze my fingers over the back of his hand.
The reappearing moonlight spears through the canopy above, lighting his body. My heart thrashes when I see my name tattooed down the back of his neck. His fingers tighten between mine as I raise my other hand to trace the raised ink.
“I told you I’d get it,” he whispers.
He did. I don’t know why I’d thought it was a joke. “That’s permanent,” I choke past the emotions clogging my throat.
“I hope so,” he teases.
“Let me help tomorrow.”
“No.” He spins around, his beautiful face pained and wet. “You stay in this house. Do you understand me?”
I interlace my fingers with his again, grazing my other hand over his chest. “You have a vest, right? Like a bullet-proof vest?”
“Yeah.”
“A full body one?”
He laughs softly. “That would be incredibly hard to move in, and stealth is something I require.”
Heat spreads beneath his fingers trailing up my neck to cup my cheek. Bewilderment flashes in his dark eyes as they take in every inch of my face. “Even if I’m to die tomorrow, I know that I’ve still won because you will be the last person standing.”
I shake my head. “You aren’t leaving me.”
“I won’t if I can help it,” he teases, gently stroking my cheek, the tentative movement tightening my fingers around his. “I’ll have Blade and Xander, and if there’s one person I trust indubitably, it’s Blade.” His face inches closer, breaths warming my chilled lips. “Say it again.”
“I love you.” Before he can capture my lips, I confess everything.
“I love that you never make me ashamed of who I am. I love that no matter how many pieces I’ve fallen into, you gently pick up each one.
Ravage my life—I can withstand everything that comes along with you, but I can’t stand the thought of a life without you. I love you, Rain.”
His lips claim mine the second the profession is proclaimed. I groan with the heat his body envelops me in as I wrap my arms around his shoulders, lacing my fingers in his hair. He hums in approval as another tear glides down my cheek.
My aching heart clenches, my hands finding the buttons of his shirt.
His tongue continues assaulting mine, sending shockwaves through me as he backs me into a tree.
I growl in frustration and rip his shirt open, sending buttons flying to the forest floor while frantically trying to remove it from his body.
He pulls back, gasping, as my mouth moves across his cheek, teeth sinking into his jaw.
“Fuck, baby,” he groans.
My moan skates across his warm skin as I continue leaving marks on his neck, tugging at his hair while undoing his belt with my other hand.
I can feel the continuous tears wetting my face. They won’t stop. My heart’s screaming as though my brain has it convinced this is the last time I’ll ever feel him.
“Baby,” he whispers, wrapping his hand around my throat to push me back.
“No,” I protest, pushing against his hand, not caring that I’m struggling to breathe now. I bite his shoulder, sucking the skin into my mouth.
He shoves me into the tree, the bark rough against my back. My lips tremble, and I shake my head, pleading, “Please.”
“Rome.”
“I’ll do it. I’ll give him the estate, I’ll tell him everything I can about the team, I’ll convince every person in this bloody world to use his hotels. Please, baby.” I grip his face, his jaw tightening beneath my hands.
He shakes his head. “No.”
“I CAN’T FUCKING LOSE YOU!”
“You won’t,” he whispers, gently stroking my cheek with his thumb.
He can’t guarantee that.