Chapter 10 #2
“Your father learned I was coming for him, so he laid a trap.” His eyes stayed locked on mine. “And he laid it well. I had barely stepped into his territory before the local police were waiting for me. My arrival was supposed to be invisible. No one was meant to know I was there.”
A muscle moved in his jaw.
“Except someone did.”
The anger in his voice wasn’t directed at me.
It was directed somewhere else.
“I was arrested and detained. I couldn’t reach my men. Not Keegan. No one.”
For the first time, my anger faltered. “You were in prison this entire time?”
“Yes.”
He didn’t blink.
“I flew to Poland the same day I ordered Keegan to bring you here. You were never supposed to be locked up for four months. It was meant to be temporary. I expected to be back the next day.”
His expression hardened.
“Keegan refused to release you because he had no direct command from me.”
I stared at him. “He could have used his own judgment.”
“No.” His answer was immediate. “Our rules exist for a reason.”
I laughed bitterly, the sound trembling with disbelief.
“Let me make sure I understand you. If you’d spent the rest of your life behind bars, I was expected to spend mine behind these locked doors too? Because apparently, no one thought to let me out without your permission?”
“Yes.”
The lack of hesitation made my stomach twist.
“Yes?”
His eyes didn’t leave mine. “That is the rule.”
The audacity of him almost made me laugh.
His face was inches from mine now.
Close enough that I could feel his breath against my skin.
My voice came out barely above a whisper. “I hate you.”
His expression didn’t change.
But my chest tightened. “I hate you so much, Romeo.”
The wind moved gently across the farm, carrying the scent of damp earth and crushed leaves. It lifted strands of my hair, blowing them across my face.
Before I could move, Romeo reached out.
His fingers brushed against my cheek as he carefully tucked my hair behind my ear.
The tenderness of the gesture caught me completely off guard.
For a man who had spent months turning my life into a prison, that small act of gentleness felt almost wrong.
His thumb lingered briefly against my cheek before he pulled away and rose to his feet.
Then he held out his hand.
An offer.
A gesture of help.
I stared at it for a moment, almost tempted to take it.
Instead, I pushed myself to my feet without his help, brushing the dirt from my clothes as I stood.
I turned away from him, unsettled by my own reaction.
I had imagined this moment for four months.
I had pictured seeing Romeo again and feeling nothing but rage. I had imagined screaming at him, hurting him with every word, making him understand even a fraction of the pain he had caused me.
But now that he was here...
Now that I knew his absence hadn’t been a choice...
That he hadn’t simply abandoned me...
Some of the hatred I had carefully fed for four long months began to crack.
Not disappear.
Never that.
But crack.
“I will find your father.” Romeo’s voice cut through the silence.
I looked back at him.
His expression had hardened again, the brief softness disappearing beneath the cold determination I knew too well.
“I don’t care how long it takes,” he continued. “I don’t care how many times they arrest me. I don’t care how many men I lose along the way.”
His eyes darkened. “I will find him.”
The certainty in his voice sent a chill through me.
“And when I do, you will be there.”
My stomach twisted.
“You’ll watch him pay for everything he has done.”
I clenched my jaw.
“You’ll see him for who he truly is.”
“Whoever he is,” I snapped, refusing to let his words get under my skin, “he’s still not as bad as you.”
The accusation hung between us.
Romeo didn’t flinch. “I don’t kill children.”
His voice was quiet, but there was something terrifying beneath the calm.
“I don’t murder innocent people.”
He stepped closer. “Your father does.”
My breath caught.
“He killed my sister.”
For the first time, I heard something beneath his anger.
Pain.
Raw, buried pain.
“And he will pay for it.”
“Apart from Keegan, you are the only person who knew I had your father’s location.” His voice remained calm, but something dangerous settled into his eyes. “Keegan would never betray me. Which leaves you.”
My heart sank.
“My guess is that you warned your father I was coming.”
“I didn’t.”
“I hope you’re telling the truth.”
His jaw tightened.
“Because if I discover that you were the reason I failed to apprehend your father in Poland, if your betrayal is what put me in a cell for four months and forced me to relive what happened at Ravencliff...”
His gaze became lethal. “You will regret it.”
My anger flared.
Then he turned toward the bungalow.
“Come inside. It’s going to rain.”
I stared at him.
For a moment, I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard.
He had accused me of betrayal.
Threatened me.
Promised to make me pay if his suspicion proved true.
And now he was telling me to get out of the rain?
Like he cared.
Like we were a normal husband and wife instead of two enemies who happened to share a marriage certificate.
I stayed where I was.
My feet refused to move.
For several seconds, I simply stared at the ground, trying to process everything he had told me.
“Juliet.”
Romeo’s voice was quieter this time.
I finally looked at him.
His gaze traveled over me.
Then his brows drew together slightly. “You’ve added weight.”
My heart stopped.
Only for a second.
But it was enough.
I instinctively turned my body, angling myself so he couldn’t see the slight curve of my stomach.
The panic came too fast.
“You hardly know me well enough to judge whether I’ve gained weight,” I said, keeping my voice steady despite the irritation rising inside me.
I didn’t wait for his response.
I walked toward the house.
Because he couldn’t know.
Not yet. Not ever.
The truth growing inside me was the only thing I had left that belonged completely to me.
I still didn’t understand how it had happened.
I had taken the pill Keegan gave me after that sex.
I had trusted that it would protect me.
Maybe it failed.
Maybe the timing had been wrong.
Maybe my body had betrayed me.
I didn’t know.
All I knew was that there was a life inside me now.
And Romeo Flynn did not deserve to know about it.
Not after everything.
I entered the bungalow without another word.
The moment I reached my room, I shut the door behind me and locked it.
The click of the lock echoed through the silence.
For a moment, I remained against the door, my hand instinctively covering my stomach.
Eventually, I pushed myself away and walked to the bed.
I curled onto my side, drawing my knees toward my chest and holding a pillow against my stomach while the small television played softly in the corner.
I wasn’t watching it.
The noise was only there to fill the silence.
Because silence had become my enemy.
A knock sounded at the door.
My heart reacted before my mind did.
Romeo.
The door swung open before I could even call out for whoever was outside to come in.
But it wasn’t Romeo.
My entire body went rigid.
Yarina stood there.
The woman I once called my sister.
The woman whose name used to mean family.
Now, it only meant betrayal.
She leaned casually against the doorframe, wearing a smug smile like she enjoyed seeing my reaction.
“Surprised to see me?”
My anger rose instantly. “Leave.”
One word.
No hesitation.
The memory came back like a blade twisting through my chest.
Raven.
My beautiful cat.
The innocent creature who had done nothing except love me.
And Yarina had taken his life without a second thought.
I still remembered the helpless rage.
The grief.
The way something inside me had broken that day.
Four months ago, consumed by rage, I had thrown a ceramic mug at her, desperate to hurt her in that moment of blind anger.
But standing there now, staring at her face, I wished I had done more.
So much more.
Yarina pushed away from the door and stepped into the room.
“I heard you were locked up here for four months.”
Her eyes moved around the room before returning to mine.
“Like an animal.”
My hands curled into fists. “I’m warning you.”
My voice dropped low. “Get the fuck out of my room before I lose control.”
Instead of leaving, she smiled wider.
That smile.
That same arrogant, cruel smile that had always made me want to wipe it from her face.
“I’m actually angry.” She took another step toward me. “Do you know why?”
I said nothing.
She didn’t wait for an answer.
“Because after returning from Poland, the first place Romeo went wasn’t to me.”
Her eyes narrowed, jealousy sharpening every word.
“He came here. To you.”
A strange mixture of anger and confusion moved through me.
“You shouldn’t matter that much to him, Juliet.”
Her voice became quieter. Almost crueler.
“You really shouldn’t.”
She moved closer to the bed.
That was enough.
I threw the pillow aside and stood.
The anger I had been holding back for months finally found somewhere to go.
“I have not forgiven you for killing Raven.” My voice shook with fury. “And I never will.”
Yarina’s expression flickered for the smallest moment.
I reached toward the dresser and grabbed the heavy makeup brush sitting there.
I tightened my grip around it.
“Before this ends up cracking what little is left of your skull...”
I stepped closer. “Leave.”
I held her gaze. “Now.”
Yarina’s lips curved into a wicked smile. “I’m not scared of you.”
She took another step closer. “Would you really dare lay a hand on me?”
Her eyes dropped briefly to my hands before returning to my face.
“Especially now?”
A chill moved through me. “What are you talking about?”
Her smile widened. “I just aborted the pregnancy I was carrying for Sergei.”
The words hit me like a slap.
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.
My gaze moved over her automatically. I had noticed earlier that her stomach was completely flat.
By now, her pregnancy should have been obvious—far more noticeable than mine.
So she had ended it.
She had gone through surgery.
And somehow, she was standing here.
Taunting me.