Page 79 of Dark Romeo

I studied this unfamiliar biting feeling coursing through my veins. The answer smacked me in the face. I was jealous. I didn’t get jealous. I heard a growl and realized it was coming from me.

“You okay, bro?” Benvolio asked.

I shoved my emotions down and forced my face into a cold mask. Later I’d go bash the shit out of a bag in my private gym. For now, I had to keep my shit together. I couldn’t let Benvolio get even a whiff that I cared about who Julianna was fucking.

“What about her friends?” I barreled on like nothing was wrong. “What does she do outside work?”

“As far I can see, her work is her life.” Benvolio was staring at me out of the corner of his eye. “If you’re thinking of approaching her with a bribe, it won’t work. It’ll cause you more trouble than it’s worth. Besides, they don’t have anything to pin Vinnie’s murder on you.”

I snapped my head towards him. What the hell was he doing? He should know better than to say anything incriminating out loud, especially in a public place like this. I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anything about Vinnie’s murder. Neither do you.”

Benvolio’s eyes widened, then he nodded. He stared around us, as if looking for anyone who might be listening. “Yeah, right. We know nothing about nothing.”

I almost rolled my eyes. Benvolio was like a squirrel, great at ferreting out hidden nuts of information, but he had a brain the size of a nut.

“If that’s all you’ve got, then I have somewhere to be.” I got up and left him sitting on the bench, my head a fucking mess.

What the hell was wrong with me? I was getting jealous over a woman. Not just any woman, but Julianna fucking Capulet.

My enemy.

JULIANNA

____________

“Got something delivered for you, Capi.” Espo ambled towards me with a smirk on his face and a long white box in his hand.

He slid the box on my desk. I stared at it and frowned. There was no card. No note. No indication of what it was or who it was from. “What is it?”

“Beats me. Courier delivered it. No return address.”

Our station’s policy was to scan every parcel that was delivered here, which meant that at least it couldn’t be a bomb or anthrax. Still, you could never be too careful. There were some weirdos out there. I picked up a pen and used it to flip open the lid. I was not expecting what I saw.

In among the delicate white tissue paper was a single long-stemmed rose.

Who could have sent this to me?

I extracted the rose from the box, careful not to pierce myself with its thorns. It was a deep blood-red, silky and perfect.

Espo sniffed, reminding me he was standing at my side. “You got a boyfriend I don’t know about?”

Roman.

I shook my head as I shoved that cursed name aside. He kicked me out of his apartment after we… after we got carried away. He told me never to speak to him again. Why the hell would he send me a rose?

Maybe it was some kind of warning? A threat?

If it were a threat, shouldn’t the rose be destroyed? At the very least there would be a threatening note.

“Come on, Capi. Don’t hold out on me.”

I fingered a silky petal before lifting the rose to inhale its full sweet scent. “I don’t know who sent it, I swear.”

Espo let out a whistle. “Capi’s got a secret admirer.”

A secret admirer? But who?

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