Page 148 of Dark Romeo

“You have a choice, too.”

“I have no choice.” His voice boomed out like a gunshot. He let go of me as if I’d burned him, one of his hands coming up to run through his hair.

I refused to flinch. I refused to be swayed, to give up like he obviously already had. I would fight for both of us. “You always have a choice.”

His gaze snapped to mine. His eyes were now the only thing that was alive in him; they burned like they were on fire. “You don’t understand.”

“No, you don’t understand. I love you.” These words spilled out of me. The words were like a stopper. As soon as they were released out came a pouring bubbling mess of every feeling I had tried to deny to myself. I loved him. I loved Roman Tyrell. I let out a strange, curt giggle as my chest tickled full of fireflies.

His eyes widened for a single moment. For a single moment I thought I had reached him. His tenderness turned to bitter ash. “You can’t possibly love me.”

“I do.” I grabbed his tense shoulders and matched his stare, begging him to believe me. “You’re a good man who?—”

“A good man.” His face twisted, darkness leaking into every crease. He pushed my hands off him. I burned and crumpled with rejection. “Let me tell you what this good man did.”

“There’s nothing you can say that would?—”

“I killed Eduardo Sanchez.”

The blood drained from my face. My fingers grew cold as they hung from numb arms. “You’re lying.”

“I am not. I pointed the gun at his head and I pulled the trigger.” There was no remorse on his face. No sign of guilt. Just pure, dark hatred. Hatred for me? Or…himself?

I shook my head like I was batting away the words coming out of his mouth. This was a mistake. A dream. A nightmare. This wasn’t the real Roman standing here talking to me.

I could not believe it. There must be some reason… “Why? Were you forced into it? Did your father?—”

“He could not be trusted to keep what I did for you a secret. You were in danger if he lived.”

“I would kill for her.” Roman admitted it in the interrogation room. I just hadn’t been listening.

“Why are you telling me this?”

Roman said nothing. He just stood there while my world was shaking under my feet. Why would he do this? Why would he admit such a thing, if it were even true?

Realization struck me. “You want to push me away.”

“You should be running, not walking away from me, Jules.”

I shook my head. “You...you were just protecting me.”

“I am a Tyrell,” he repeated. “I’m nothing but a bloodthirsty monster.”

“No,” I said. “You are not a monster. You’re a good man who did a bad thing. You were just protecting me.”

“I am not a good man.”

“You are. You saved me from being raped. From being kidnapped.”

“I killed both those men.”

“To protect me. Only to protect me.”

He shook his head violently. “Stop turning everything into something good.”

“You are good. Deep down, you are.”

“I tried to be good for you, but I can’t fake it anymore. I am a Tyrell down to the core.”

---