Page 80 of Tainted Ties

“You’re telling me, you inked yourself from head to toe and none of it has any significance?” I asked, surprised by his answer.

Roman sat on a stool, grinning at me with an arched brow. “Head to toe?”

“You know what I mean,” I huffed, taking a seat next to him.

Before I had a chance to reach for anything, he began gathering a bit of everything onto my plate.

Immediately, I grabbed his forearm to stop him. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I know,” he affirmed before piling food onto his own plate. “Thank you for breakfast,anima mia.”

Butterflies took flight, fluttering in my stomach from his words. “You’re welcome.”

After Roman coaxed me into admitting my feelings for him a few days ago, I couldn’t help but hate myself for it.

I needed to talk to my father and convince him Roman wasn’t behind Enzo’s murder. But even I knew it would be useless, or I would have done it already. With the loss of his son, my father finally had a motive to go against Roman and I knew he would do everything in his power to take him down.

And now that Roman knew my father had a vendetta against him, I knew I couldn’t stop the inevitable bloodbath waiting to happen.

I took a bite out of the frittata and despite my sudden loss of appetite, it was delicious.

He cleared his throat, earning my attention. “Can I ask you something?”

My heart thudded. “Sure.”

“What happened that day?” His voice was low, cautious. “I need you to tell me.”

I swallowed against the bile threatening to rise. I knew what day he was referring to. It was the same day I’d tried to forget for ten years.

“What do you want to know?”

He turned to face me. “Everything.”

I exhaled shakily, not knowing where to start but doing so anyway. “Losing a parent at a young age is never easy. I thought after losing my mother, my father would pick up the pieces of my broken heart and mend it, but he didn’t. Instead, he let it rot into nothing.”

Tears welled in my eyes, but I swallowed the strain in my throat, needing to continue for my own sake.

I needed to revisit the past that haunted me.

“You see, I was holding onto something that was never there.” The sting of my tears warmed my face as I recalled the memory. “That day, my father had asked me to go to the stables with him and I thought, wow, he’s finally trying to spend time with his only daughter.”

I sniffled, biting back a smile. “I’ve always loved horseback riding.” Though, it’d been years since I last rode.

Roman watched me with a hard expression, the irises of his eyes deepening into a darker shade of obsidian. He stayed silent, allowing me to tell the story at my own pace.

“I should’ve known better, but the little girl in me held onto that sliver of hope.” My palms grew clammy from nerves. “You need to get rid of that stupid fear of yours, he’d said, as if he wasn’t the reason I had it in the first place.”

He grabbed my arm, bringing my attention back to him. I hadn’t even noticed I zoned out. “What do you mean?”

I blinked, realizing I’d never told anyone about how my fear of blood started, not even Irina.

“It happened after my mother passed away. I think he despised me because I resembled her so heavily.” I clenched my fists, feeling my rage come off me in waves. “When he would punish me unjustly, he’d make me bleed.”

Dismay flickered in his gaze before it clouded with something sinister. “You do understand that your father will die, yes?”

His tone of voice snaked down my bones, deadly and promising.

I didn’t answer him. Instead, I continued unraveling the events from that day.

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