Page 169 of Dark Romeo

“Leave.” Her top lip pulled up into a snarl even as her bottom lip wobbled and her hand holding the gun trembled. “Before I change my mind.”

She was letting me go. She wasn’t arresting me.

Even as relief broke over me, it couldn’t wash away the stains of my unworthiness. I didn’t deserve her mercy. Angel as she was, she bestowed it upon me anyway. Perhaps she could forgive me. I couldn’t leave without knowing she could one day forgive me. Perhaps love me again. “Just tell me?—”

“Leave now,” she hissed, even as her voice broke. “Leave Verona. Go where you’ll never be found. Because the next time I see you, I will shoot you.”

JULIANNA

____________

Roman slid into the shadows. The instant he disappeared, my anger was jerked out of me as if it were tied to him with a piece of string.

I dropped the gun and turned back to Espo on the ground. Shit. He was losing so much blood. Too much blood.

I pressed my hands to the mess on his stomach. “It’s going to be okay, Espo. Just hang in there.”

“Why didn’t you step aside?” Espo asked, his face screwed up. I was the reason he hadn’t been able to defend himself.

“I just...couldn’t.”

“But…” he winced, “why did you let him go? You had him, Capi.”

“I… He…” How could I explain to Espo? How could I excuse the man who had him lying there on the verge of death?

I shook my head.

“It looked like… You know him.” The accusation was clear in his broken voice.

How could I deny it? How could I keep lying to him when the truth was so clear? I couldn’t.

I nodded. “He’s not who you think he is,” I said, trying to justify myself. My voice sounded weak and limp.

The sirens screamed and tires screeched as help arrived. Relief flooded me. Help was here.

Espo blinked at me, becoming still. “He’s the rose guy…isn’t he?”

I nodded my head. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

Betrayal clouded his eyes. My stomach stabbed with a thousand swords of guilt. I couldn’t explain any further. Strong arms pulled me back from him as Espo was swarmed with paramedics.

ROMAN

____________

“…the next time I see you, I will shoot you.”

Juliana would never forgive me. Nor did I have any right to expect forgiveness. When I shot Espinoza, I severed the bond between us too.

Useless apologies had gathered on my tongue. The fierce wailing of the police sirens blaring down on me silenced me and had me stumbling backwards.

I shot one last look at Mercutio and Julianna, sending silent goodbyes to them both, before I slunk deep into the blackened bitter shadows where I belonged.

I destroyed my phone and tossed the pieces away so I couldn’t be tracked. I drove half out of my mind, somehow finding myself at my mother’s secret apartment.

I ricocheted through the rooms with all the lights still off and stumbled into the shower with all my clothes on. I leaned my forehead against the cold tiles, watching Mercutio’s blood swirling down the drain.

It was only then I realized I’d broken all my father’s rules about leaving a crime scene.

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