Chapter 10 Rome
TEN
ROME
“You’re insane.” Julianna rips her hand from mine. Her cheeks are flaming red, and there are tears in her eyes.
My heart wrenches knowing I put them there, but it’s par for the course at this point, and nothing out of the ordinary between the two of us.
Those tears give me little pause, though. She’s hardly innocent in this situation. A venomous snake disguised as a gentle bird.
“I’m not the only insane person here,” I tell her, raking a frustrated hand through my hair.
“It’s been ten years, Rome.” She grinds her teeth together and points a stiff finger to the ground.
“We’ve lived our separate lives, and I’ve done my best to follow through on our agreement.
Now you’re dragging me back here, to this place, offering me a divorce in exchange for redecorating a house that doesn’t need redecorating?
” Her voice is shrill, disrupting the peace around us.
I don’t respond to her question. The words are lost on me as I struggle to give her a proper explanation.
My plan to get Julianna away from the city, away from harm, only extended this far.
The part about offering her the one thing she asked for the last time we were here, a divorce, was my last-ditch effort in getting her to stay.
She’s boiling over with frustration. Pursing her lips, she sticks her arm out and curls her hand in my direction. “You told me you’d give me my phone back once you explained how you were going to get me to repay you. Well, you have, and now I want it back.”
“You haven’t agreed to the terms.” A lifetime of ties to the mafia and my insistence on building a business empire has taught me to never show your cards too soon.
She crosses her arms beneath her chest again. The motion pushes her breasts up. They swell above the fabric of her tight black dress—a sight that’s had me forcing my dick to calm down ever since I saw her dancing at the club last night.
Skepticism replaces the anger as she narrows her gaze. It moves past my shoulder to where Marcus is standing guard at the back of the SUV, facing the front of the property. Then her narrowed eyes cut back to me.
“What’s the real reason you brought me here?”
“I already told you.”
“Bullshit. We agreed years ago that getting a divorce would only make the truth of our marriage more public. Marrying in secret was easy. Divorcing would threaten to expose the fact our families betrayed each other. It would create a media spectacle. Does that not matter anymore?”
I don’t answer her.
“Why is Marcus limping?”
“So many questions.” I shoot her a glare, anger simmering in my veins. “I thought you preferred to live with your head buried in the sand?”
That question breaks her. She inhales a deep breath, tipping her chin higher as she shoots invisible daggers in my direction. “When it comes to you and your family, it’s best to exist in ignorant bliss.”
“Is it best, or is it simply convenient?” I snarl, memories of the night our entire lives shattered replaying in my mind.
“Both.”
I let out a sarcastic laugh, exhausted with this conversation.
I knew bringing Julianna here was going to be a challenge, and convincing her to stay would be even more difficult, but it’s been years since we’ve been able to talk rationally, thanks to a combination of factors at play.
The fact we’re enemies, we’re still technically married, and the mistakes of our past hanging over us like dark heavy clouds.
Looking at Julianna now, I try to remember we aren’t those foolish, na?ve, eighteen-year-olds anymore. The only way to get her to concede to staying here for her safety is to tell her the truth.
“I swear to God, Rome,” she fumes, her patience with me wearing paper thin. “If you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on right now, I will steal the car keys from Marcus and drive home myself.”
I chuckle. “You, take on Marcus?”
“The girls and I took a self-defense course two years ago.”
I already knew this after keeping an eye on her all this time. She probably suspects I have, but she says it with her full chest anyway as if to shock me.
“Besides,” she continues. “It might be a little easier considering he’s injured. And using a cane.”
She emphasizes the word cane as if she still can’t believe Marcus is using one.
“You wouldn’t attack him.” I grin smugly.
“What makes you think I won’t? You don’t think I can?”
“You’ve always had a soft spot for Marcus.”
She groans in frustration, and my dick perks up again. She knows I’m fucking right.
She marches toward me, stomping into the gravel until she brings her face close to mine. Even in her chunky high heels, she’s still shorter than me. Her forehead meets my chin as she looks up, stretching her neck. I resist the urge to reach up and wrap my hand around it.
“I may have a soft spot for Marcus,” she snarls, “but that’s only because he hasn’t hurt me the way you have. Now, give me. My fucking. Phone.”
Heat spreads across the entire front of my body.
It’s summertime, and the morning sun is fully awake.
There’s not a cloud is in the sky. My skin prickles with sweat under my all-black suit, but I know it isn’t just from the sunlight beating down on us.
It’s Julianna’s anger and hatred for me. It’s radiating off her body.
I’ve gotten under her skin.
I wrap my hand around Julianna’s phone inside my pocket and pull it out, holding it between us.
She’s quick to grab it, wrapping her hand around mine.
“Not so fast,” I warn her.
Her heated gaze falls to my mouth as she inhales a sharp gasp.
I can’t help staring at her pretty pink lips, knowing there was once a time I couldn’t stop dreaming about them, wishing and hoping I’d never have to tear my mouth from hers. She was all I ever wanted. Now, we can’t seem to escape one another, no matter how hard we’ve tried over the years.
Sensing my shift in tone, she asks on a whisper, “Why are you now agreeing to the divorce? Tell me the truth, Rome, if you’re even capable of it.”
I curl my mouth, still in awe of how sharp her tongue can be, but then it falls.
“Dominico is dead.” The statement alone sends a chill down my spine.
Julianna’s tired, hungover eyes widen just a fraction. Then she’s swallowing and taking a step back. “Oh…”
She doesn’t offer her condolences, knowing I would rather walk through broken glass than hear anyone’s apology for his death.
“What does that have to do with you needing me to stay here?” she asks.
“He found out about us.”
A sharp gasp passes her lips. “How?”
I inhale a deep breath, wondering where the fuck to even start.
Julianna may technically be my wife, but she wasn’t lying when we said we’d agreed to live separate lives.
She doesn’t know the depths of my ties to the Italian mafia or how I’ve spent the past ten years trying to escape it and live as normal a life as possible.
She’s no idea what I’ve done to betray my family or how that betrayal has now put both of us in danger.
“He sent someone to kill me two weeks ago.” I rub my fingers over my lips. “Obviously, he didn’t, but he nearly killed Marcus in the process.”
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know yet.” I shake my head, knowing Rhys can no longer help me.
In fact, I don’t even want his help. I don’t need to embed myself further into the underbelly of the Irish mafia. If I truly want to leave this life behind, I need to do this on my own.
“Marcus and I have been trying to figure that out. But the Montgomerys continued to run business as usual since he went to prison. The network is deep and complicated, so it could be anyone at this point.”
“Wow.” She breathes.
“The guy who attacked me may have died, but there’s someone else. They called me with a warning. That’s how I found out he knew about you. He sent me a picture of us at Charleigh’s wedding. They’re working for my dad and have no intention of stopping just because he’s dead.”
“Oh, my God.” She tilts her head up to the sky. Her hands fly to her face, covering them as she screams into her palms.
“What?”
“I fucking knew it, Rome.” She lowers her hands.
“Knew what?” I ask, dumbfounded. It would be like her to completely blow past everything I just told her—the part about me being nearly killed.
“I just knew you would rope me into some more of your bullshit. It’s always something with you, and you somehow never take accountability for it. You never did that night with Macy, and you’re not doing so now.”
“You don’t understand what it was like living under my father’s thumb. Not everyone can have a family as perfect as yours,” I spit back.
“My family? Perfect?” She points to her chest, aghast and laughs bitterly. “You’re such a fucking asshole, Rome.”
“And let’s not even fucking go there with, Macy,” I continue, the anger taking control. “My heart was torn to fucking shreds, Julianna. I lost everything.”
“So did I!” she shouts back, tears spilling from the corners of her eyes.
Both of us pause, staring at one another with as much hatred as we had standing in this same place ten years ago. Hurts can’t be undone, but it’s especially impossible once you’ve had the unfortunate experience of falling in love with your enemy.
Tears stream down her cheeks, and it takes everything in me not to move from where I’m standing. I think at this point I’d rather drown in the fucking pond than watch Julianna standing here, crying.
“Listen.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I just need you to stay here until we find who is after us. Then I’ll give you the divorce, and we can be done.”
Her chin wobbles, and it’s clear she’s still upset about what I said about that night. I know that night hurt her, but I’m tired of her making me feel like she’s the only one who’s capable of feeling. Like I’m some fucking monster.
“What am I supposed to tell work?” she asks. “My family? Friends?”
I casually shrug a shoulder. “You’re resourceful, Lark. You’ll think of something.”
If looks could kill, I’d have dropped dead the second that final word passed my lips. Her bitterness turns to hurt.
“You…” she starts, her bottom lip quivering. Her glassy, sparkling eyes do something to my insides. Something best to avoid right now.
“What?” I ask, exhausted. I need fucking sleep and peace. But I can’t have any of that when Julianna hasn’t agreed to stay here.
As much as we hate each other right now, it doesn’t mean I don’t want her safe.
“I knew marrying you was a mistake,” she admits. “I didn’t realize the price I would have to pay all these years later.”
“Same here.” I snarl.
She presses her lips together and nods in agreement before looking down at her feet.
My throat swells, and I clear it, forcing the words out. “So, do we have a deal? Will you stay until I figure this out?”
“Hmm, go back to the city and be hunted down by an unknown vigilante who wants me killed, or risk either of us killing each other here?” Slowly looking up, she tilts her head and sighs.
Her eyes move over my shoulder to the cabin behind me.
“My choices aren’t great. In fact, they actually suck.
I suppose I’ll go with the better of the two. ”
“Which is?” I give her a crooked grin.
“I guess I’d rather know when death is coming for me and by who than the alternative.”
I widen my grin, satisfied. Heat returns to her cheeks when I extend an olive branch in the form of giving her phone back.
Her gaze drops to it before she looks up at me with a pinched brow. Her arms unravel and she plucks her phone from my hand before storming past me and into the cabin.
She may hate me, but at least I got her to agree to stay.