Page 140 of Dark Romeo

The whip came down across his back, opening it to the sky. Violent red blood appeared like a warning. Stop. Stop! His screams took on an anguish that fisted into my heart.

To my horror, a rush of power surged through my veins. Power. I held this man’s life in my hands. I was a god.

I hated myself for feeling it.

Don’t lie, Roman. You love the power. You are a Tyrell. Give in to it. Take it.

I was becoming everything I feared. Everything I had fought so long not to become.

A fury rose out of me. It had nowhere to go except towards the man before me. You fool. Why did you have to steal from my family? Why did you have to make me do this? The anguish released from me in the frenzied furious slashing of my whip.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

He screamed louder, his voice echoing across the wide sky like the pained cries of the jungle birds, cries that would later rouse me from my bed. Between screams I could hear the muffled sobs and whispers of the workers behind me. Monster. Monster. Monster. They would chase me from wake to sleep like my shadow.

Then it stopped. All the noise ended in a collective hushed gasp. Even my brother, who had been laughing, had fallen into silent horror.

All the noise except for the bark of my whip. Crack. Crack.

Someone grabbed my forearm poised above me and the whip coiled at my feet like an obedient snake.

My father stared at me with gravity. “That’s enough, son.”

That’s enough.

I turned around slowly. I caught the look on my brother’s face: fear. Then Abel’s: respect.

My eyes came to rest upon what was left of the man who was screaming no more. I had torn him to ribbons. A mess of flesh stripped off bloody bones remained wrapped around the tree.

Later that night in my brother’s den, as we all sat our well-fed selves in armchairs so soft it was like sitting in the lap of angels, I heard the whispers of the devil. Yo no fui, he taunted. Ayúdame.

Through the nameless ghost of the man I had whipped to death, my father raised his glass to me. “I’m proud of you, son.”

I had never hated myself more.

JULIANNA

____________

The present...

My heart was beating like an executioner’s drum as Espo and I strode down the hallway towards Roman’s apartment door, his official one, not his secret one.

“I still think we should wait until there’s more evidence,” I hissed at Espinoza.

“Capi, we have a witness that puts Roman in a car heading out from Verona on the same road that the body was found on.”

I rolled my eyes. “He was a druggie and it was dark. Some witness.”

“You know,” Espo glared at me, “it’s almost as if you don’t want it to be Roman Tyrell regardless of the evidence.”

“You know,” I snapped back, “it’s almost as if you want it to be Roman regardless of the lack of evidence.”

Espo lifted a finger to signal to be quiet as we approached Roman’s door. Espo insisted that he and I personally go to his apartment to escort him to the station.

There was nothing I could do. No excuse I could give to avoid it.

I lifted my trembling fist and rapped my knuckles on Roman’s door. Dear God, please don’t be home.

---