Page 204 of Dark Romeo

His lips moved over mine with desperate tenderness, with pained hunger, with crazed relief. Our hearts collided against each other, drumming the same beat, as they had always done. If there was a way to draw him all into me—his scent, his taste, everything—I would.

I couldn’t believe it had worked. The Father’s plan had worked. The drug had worked, thank you, God. The Father warned me that the toxin was dangerous. He warned me that it could actually kill me. Or that I might never wake up.

I hadn’t cared. I was dead anyway if I couldn’t find a way to be with Roman.

Now that I was “dead”, I was released from the shackles of my previous life. I could go with him, anywhere, be anyone…

“Julu?”

I jolted away from Roman, lips swollen, breath caught in my windpipe. I spun towards the familiar voice. My father, the chief, stood at the doorway in a black suit, tie askew, purple shadows under his red-rimmed eyes. “You’re…alive?”

Oh my God. We’d been caught. So close to freedom and stopped just before the line. We were so screwed. Roman broke his immunity deal by coming back to Verona. I knew what this meant. He was going away for life.

Screw this. Screw the system. I did not come this far, risk this much, to back down.

I stepped forward, shielding Roman from my father. “Don’t you dare blame him. Don’t you dare make this his fault. We wouldn’t have had to lie if it weren’t for you.”

My father just stared at me, an incredulous look on his face. “You… You were going to let me think you were dead.”

“It’s nothing you didn’t do to me,” I said coldly.

My father gave me a pained look, a look that squeezed in through the gaps of my shield. “I guess I deserve that.”

I glanced past my father. The only way out of this room was through him. How far was I willing to go for Roman?

All the way. I was prepared to die for him. If I had to shoot my own father to get us out of here, I would. We’d have to go on the run. But at least we’d be together.

I turned my eyes back to my father, trying to calculate my next move. He started forward and I flinched, making him pause.

“I won’t let you take him,” I cried. “If you try to arrest him, I’ll?—”

“I won’t.”

“You…won’t?”

My father’s gaze settled on Roman standing at my side. “You look at her the way…” he cleared his voice, “the way that I used to look at my wife. You really love her, don’t you?”

Roman’s hand slid around my waist and he pulled me close. “With everything that I am.”

My father turned his gaze to me. “You really love him too, don’t you?”

I nodded, my throat too closed with emotion to speak.

My father deflated, his shoulders falling. “I have been…an old fool. A short-sighted old fool.” He looked at me. “Can you ever forgive me?”

I flung myself into his arms and he hugged me back. “I already have,” I said to him. “I love you.”

“Oh, Julu,” he muttered into my hair, “you’re alive.”

“I’m alive,” I repeated as I laughed, my body filling with warmth.

My father pulled back and faced Roman. “I’m… I’m sorry for forcing you to lie to her. I’m sorry for trying to keep you two apart.”

Roman nodded. “You were just trying to protect her.” He shot me a look. “I understand the impulse.”

“But how did this happen?” my father asked, staring at me. “How are you not…?”

“Dead?”

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