by Sienna Blake
But even I knew that was a lie.
* * *
“What the hell happened last night?” Mercutio’s voice rang out.
I stiffened. Mercutio was standing in my living room, a blanket rumpled on the leather couch. He must have come here after he dropped Julianna off. He’d been waiting for me.
I shut my apartment door behind me. “How did you get in here?”
Merc tilted his head. “You gave me your spare key, asshole, and you didn’t answer my question.”
“Julianna got jumped by two hired guys last night.”
“And you just happened to be there?”
Smart fucker. “Yeah.”
“Some coincidence, huh?”
I gritted my teeth. “Some coincidence,” I repeated.
Mercutio’s eyes narrowed. He knew I was full of shit. “Who hired them?”
“I don’t know. I just got the handler’s name.”
Mercutio snorted. “I bet he just gave you that name freely. Who’s the handler?”
Goldfish. Your father. I wasn’t going to reveal this piece of information to him until I’d verified it. Mercutio thought his father was reformed, just hiding out somewhere. It’d kill him to know his father was back in the game. I repressed the guilt at lying to my best friend and shrugged. “The less you know the better.”
“What do you think you’re doing with her, Roman?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I kept my mask on as I walked into my black marble and stainless steel kitchen to mix up a protein shake. I would take out my frustrations on a bag once he left.
“Don’t fucking bullshit me. I’m your best friend.” Merc followed me into the kitchen and stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “You stayed with her last night, didn’t you?” He said her like she was some kind of virus. I wanted to throw him against a wall for talking about her like that. But showing any reaction would just confirm my guilt.
I didn’t answer. Mercutio was someone I promised myself I’d never outright lie to.
Merc let out a string of curses. “Did the pussy in Europe give you shit for brains? She’s the police chief’s daughter, Roman.”
I was all too aware of that.
“If your father doesn’t find out, hers will.”
Yes, I knew that too.
“You and she can never be anything. Just the idea of it—”
I slammed my protein shaker down on the countertop, every single one of his words stinging as they found their mark. “Don’t you think I know that?” I bellowed. Mercutio was the last person I wanted a lecture from.
“Then why—”
“I don’t fucking know. I’ve tried to get her out of my head. Believe me, I’ve fucking tried. I’ve tried to stay away from her since…”
Mercutio stared at me. His mouth dropped as a look of realization crossed his face. “She was the one you left at the hotel the day you were supposed to leave Verona. She’s your Perfect Girl, isn’t she?”
I nodded, just once.
Mercutio grabbed at his hair as if he were about to tear it out. “Why would you even take her home?”
“I didn’t know who she was, okay? She didn’t know who I was.” As if I would mess around with her on purpose. Did he think I had a death wish?
Mercutio backed up until he hit against the bench top, scurrying away from me as if I were a leper. “Holy fuck, Roman.”
Yeah that pretty much summed up my situation.
“Holy fuck,” Merc repeated, “you’re in love with her.”
His words slapped me like a cold palm across my face. My head snapped to face him. “I am not in—”
His words sank in. My chest seared and clenched as if someone had put a round of bullets into it. I tried to shake them away. I was not in love with her. I couldn’t be. The heir to the Tyrell empire could not be in love with the police chief’s daughter.
I grabbed my shake and tilted it back, drinking the entire thing down, then wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. I really needed to hit something.
Merc was still staring at me with a woeful look on his face. “Dude, what the hell are you going to do?”
I know what I should do. I should walk away from Julianna. Leave her the hell alone.
But I couldn’t. I’d tried. I just wasn’t strong enough. What choices did I have left?
I shook my head. “I don’t know, Merc,” I admitted. “I don’t fucking know.”
* * *
After Mercutio left I changed into a pair of navy sweatpants. Every time I closed my eyes I saw the two men attacking Julianna. I saw the gun pointed at her, the terror on her face when she realized there was no way out. I saw Eddie grabbing her, then hitting her. I could almost feel the bruise on her swollen jaw. My blood boiled and the aggression spilled over as I remembered them holding her down. I slammed my fists into the punching bag I kept in my spare-room-turned-gym.
Eddie had gotten off way too easily. For a second it felt like the knife was in my hand again, the tip of it inside his mouth aimed at his brain. If Julianna hadn’t been there next to me, I might have killed him right then.
See…violent tendencies. Just like your father.
My father’s face flashed through my mind as I laid into the bag, sweat pouring off me. Goldfish had been his employee until he went underground, but I’d heard rumors that his supposed confession was just a ploy orchestrated by my father to get the case thrown out. Could Goldfish still be working for my father? Could he be the one who tried to snatch Jules last night?
He couldn’t… He wouldn’t…
An unwanted memory flashed in my head.
“She’s the daughter of the new chief of police. A very…interesting girl.”
“She doesn’t seem that interesting,” I said as casually as I could.
“Her father is a righteous man. He’s stubborn enough to believe that he can clean up this city. Incorruptible, they call him. But I think I just found what he’d be willing to bargain for.”
“What are you talking about?”
“No one is incorruptible. Everyone has his price. You just need to find their weak spot and know when to push.”
My stomach turned as I imagined Julianna being used as a pawn in my father’s hands. “What are you going to do to her?”
“Nothing. Yet.”
I staggered as a horrible truth slammed into me. My own father ordered her capture.
15
____________
Roman
I drove like a man possessed to the outskirts of Verona, my head churning the whole way. My father might have had something to do with this. My own goddamn father. How could Julianna ever forgive me if this were true? How could she still care about—?
I slashed that thought in half before I could finish it. Julianna had a moment of weakness last night when she asked me to stay with her. She didn’t care about me. How could she?
Giovanni Tyrell still lived in the house I had grown up in, a vast, cold fortress of marble and granite. At least when my mother had been alive, she had left warm human touches on the place, vases of sunflowers and wild violets, rich, colorful landscape paintings done by local artists, soft rugs and sunny throws over every sterile piece of furniture. Under my father’s sole care, it looked like a soulless luxury hotel.
I stormed down the wide corridor, the stomp of my boots echoing off the marble and stark white walls, ignoring the maid calling after me. “Sir! Mr. Tyrell! Please. He’s not to be disturbed.”
Abel blocked the doors to my father’s study where my father ate his breakfast while he read the day’s papers. He always had. He was, if anything, a creature of habit.
“Get out of my way,” I growled.
Abel didn’t move. I didn’t slow my strides as I shoved past him like a linebacker, breaking through the defense. He made the mistake of grabbing the back of my shirt. I turned and decked him square in the jaw. He let go of me, stumbling back with a grunt. I didn’t stop to assess the damag
e. I burst through the door into my father’s study.
Giovanni Tyrell sat behind his expensive mahogany desk dressed in his royal blue bathrobe, our family crest, an eagle with vines, emblazoned on his chest pocket. There was a plate of croissants, tiny pots of butter and jam, and a pot of black coffee at his elbow. Papers spread out in front of him. My father didn’t even flinch at the sight of me. In fact, he almost looked bored as he tore off a piece of pastry and stabbed it into his mouth with his thick fingers, chewing slowly and thoughtfully.
I stood before his desk, chest heaving, fists clenched at my sides. “Somebody is trying to snatch the police chief’s daughter.”
Behind me I heard the maid and Abel both apologizing for letting me in. My father waved them away and they backed out, still mumbling apologies.
The door clicked shut behind me. My father turned his dark glittering eyes on me. Just like when I was a boy, a bolt of fear went through me. “Why does this matter to you?”
Lie, Roman. Because your life and hers depends on it. “Targeting the chief’s daughter, a detective in her own right, a detective who just happens to have both of us under suspicion for a recent murder, puts the crosshairs of the police on our back, something which I thought you didn’t want to happen. It’s bad for business, isn’t that what you said?”
“She has a dangerous job. Bad things happen to people in her position.”
I gritted my teeth. That wasn’t an admission. That wasn’t a denial either. “I just want to make sure it wasn’t our stupid move.”
“You’ve got some balls coming in here and accusing me of being stupid, son.”
“Are you admitting you tried to have her kidnapped?”
“No.”
“I’m supposed to be your heir. I should have been consulted if this job was ordered. It needs to be called off, now.”
My father’s eyes narrowed at me. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were concerned about this detective woman.”
I snorted and forced as much derision as I could in my snarl. “I’m concerned about not driving our business into the ground because we’ve pissed off the chief of police so much that he makes it his mission to bring us down. I’m the one who’s supposed to take over after you’re gone. I don’t plan on taking over a pile of rubble.”
For a few terse moments, my father and I just glared at each other.
I suddenly felt very vulnerable standing in my father’s office, in his house, surrounded by his men. What if he had ordered Julianna kidnapped? What if he found out I’d been the one to save her?
A smile crawled across my father’s face, causing a bolt of fear to go through me. I feared his smile more than his anger. “I knew I was right to bring you back into the fold, Roman. I knew you would step up into the role. I think you might be ready to see more of our operations.”
I tried to ignore the chill that ran down my spine. The more of his operation I saw, the harder it was to get out. I felt the darkness reaching for me.
“You still haven’t answered my question about the chief’s daughter,” I said.
My father took a long, almost delicate sip of his coffee. He placed the china cup down before folding his fingers in front of him. “No. I have not authorized the capture of the lovely detective Capulet.”
I didn’t believe him. “So who would it be if not us? The Veronesis again?”
“She’s a detective. She has arrested and pissed off a number of bad people. Maybe one of them did it? Now, get out of my study so I can eat my breakfast in peace. Unless there’s something else you’d like to accuse me of?” My father leveled a stare at me.
“No, Father.” I almost thanked him but I bit my tongue. My father would slap me if I thanked him, if I thanked anybody for anything. I was a Tyrell. I was entitled to whatever I wanted. Thank no one, apologize to no one. That’s what he always taught me.
I turned, eager to see this house in my rearview mirror. It felt like the lion’s den.
I was almost to the door of my father’s study when his voice made me halt. “How did you know, by the way?”
A knot developed in my throat as I turned back to look at him. “Know what?”
“How did you know that someone ordered her capture?”
Shit. I was so furious at the thought that my father could’ve been the one behind this, I barely thought twice before coming over here. I just wanted answers. Now I may have betrayed myself.
I shrugged, keeping my face casual. “I have my sources just like you have yours.” I walked out of his study before he could ask any more questions.
Abel scowled at me as I strode past him, but I ignored him. As I showed myself out, I felt the eyes of my father’s men stationed around the house. My senses tingled with anticipation. None of them pulled a weapon on me. Or tried to stop me.
Did I believe my father? Did I believe that he had nothing to do with this? If he did order her capture, then he just lied to me. He lied to me, which meant that he didn’t trust me. If he didn’t trust me, then I was already in trouble.
If he tried to kidnap Julianna, he’d try again. Not so soon after a failed attempt. But he wouldn’t wait too long either. Being around her was too risky. I had to stop watching her if I knew what was smart. I couldn’t step in to save her again if it meant exposing myself. I had to stay away from her.
But telling myself to stay away was futile. It was clear from the way I had launched at the two attackers last night without concern to myself that I’d do anything to protect her. Even risk my own damn life.
16
____________
Julianna
I rubbed my forehead with my fingers where a headache was building. I knew I shouldn’t have reported this. I glanced up from where I sat behind my father’s desk, Espinoza sitting on my right. “I said I’m fine.”
“You’re fine?” my father repeated, his voice hard and rattling with fury. “Julianna, somebody tried to kidnap you.”
“But they didn’t succeed, did they? I’m sitting right here.”
“Sitting right there with a bruise on your jaw the size of Texas.” My father exhaled so loudly it reminded me of a bull.
My jaw let out a throb as if to agree with him.
“Do you have any ideas on who would be behind this?” Espo asked. It was the first thing he’d said since I’d revealed last night’s drama.
Goldfish. Whoever that was. “I don’t know.”
“I bet it’s the goddamn Tyrells,” my father said, emphasizing his words with a fist slamming on the desk.
I stared at him, indignation at his prejudice tightening my grip on my chair arm. The Tyrells couldn’t have done this. Roman was the one who saved me.
A worm of doubt threaded through my stomach. What if his father or someone else in their organization was doing this behind Roman’s back? It was possible.
Or Roman’s playing you, a small voice said inside me. He organized his men to try to kidnap you so he could come in like a hero. Do you really believe he just happened to be there?
I shoved that voice down. I didn’t care how stupid it sounded, I knew Roman. He wouldn’t harm me.
“Why would the Tyrells do it?” I asked.
“The Tyrells have a vested interest in you because of your investigation into Vinny’s murder case.”
“Which stalled. They know that. What did they have to gain by kidnapping me? It would be a stupid move on their part.”
My father’s chair creaked as he sank back into it. “I’ll have a plainclothes officer stationed at your apartment building while you’re off duty.”
I could feel the protective walls clanging up around me, just as they had for the years after my mother died. My father had gotten so strict and paranoid he barely let me out of the house then.
How would you see Roman again if you were being watched?
I shoved that inappropriate thought aside. “I don’t need a bodyguard,” I said firmly, “I have a gun.”
“If somebody’
s trying to kidnap you—”
“It was probably a random attack,” I lied. I hadn’t told them about the attempted rape.
“And if it wasn’t?”
“I managed to thwart the attempt last night, I will thwart the next one if it comes.” My voice began to rise. “I will not be made a prisoner.” Again.
My father looked at Espo, obviously trying to garner some support.
I stared at him with my own unspoken plea. Please, Espo. Don’t let him cage me.
Espo took his time in speaking. “Obviously when she is at work, I’m with her,” he said. “Julianna’s building is secure. As long as I escort her home after work every day and she doesn’t go out alone at night, I don’t see why she needs a protective guard. There’s no evidence that Julianna was even targeted.”
I had lied to them. I had told them that I had saved myself. I’d made myself sound like a regular G.I. Jane when in fact it was Roman who had been the hero last night. I wondered for a second what they would say if I told them the truth.
Probably have me committed.
My father sank his face into his hand and rubbed at his forehead.
“I’ll be careful, I promise,” I said. “Besides, I know you’re short-staffed. You don’t have a man spare to guard me. How would it look to voters if you took a uniform off his normal duties to play my shadow because of one random attack?”
My father leveled his stare at me. His lips pressed together. He didn’t like it but I could see the resignation on his face. “Don’t go around alone at night again, okay? I’ll come to your place for dinner from now on.”
I nodded, relieved that I had managed to escape with my freedom. Espo and I stood to leave.
“Espinoza, can I have a moment alone with my daughter, please?”
Espo nodded and left the room. I lowered myself back into the seat, my nerves jumping with anticipation. What did he want to talk to me about?
Does he not believe my story?
My father sank back in his chair, his amber eyes watching me carefully from under his bushy brows. Suddenly he seemed so much older now than I remembered him ever being. I could see the weariness in the bags under his eyes, in the permanent crease between his brows. This job was a set of thick chains slung across his shoulders, weighing them down.