Page 11 of Romeo

“To test you.” He tilts his head toward me. “You squeezed blood from a stone to get a tiny fraction of what’s happening.”

Until now, I didn’t even know it was a drug company. I really did luck out with finding … Charlotte! That’s her name.

“And with it, you’ve proven your competence.” The Don sniffs. “But do you have what it takes to do what I actually need from you?”

I should thank him for sending me on this bullshit adventure. Had he not felt the need to test me, I’d have never met Jess. And where I feel a little silly for not realizing I was being played sooner, I owe Don Lione a great debt.

Maybe someday, I’ll tell him.

“Ready for anything, Don Lione.”

Not true, but I’d rather lie to his face and walk away safely than die on a hill of morals.

“I want you to destroy them.”

8

JESS

“There’s someone at the gate, Miss Mayfair. He says he has an important matter to discuss,” Barry Williams says through the black intercom box next to the front door.

Barry is Father’s daytime gate guard. A hard-working man who spends the whole time allowing or denying entry from our estate.

“Father isn’t home. You’ll have to turn him away,” I answer.

I’m confused. Father rarely has meetings at home, and personal visits are even more uncommon.

“You’re what?” Barry asks, but it isn’t directed at me. There’s a brief exchange between him and whoever he’s with before he grumbles to me again. “I’ll tell her, but Mr. Mayfair will not be happy about this.”

“What did he say?” I rush to the point. Curiosity killed the cat, they say, but I’ll take my chances.

I’ve spent my whole life dodging bullets, after all.

“He’s not here for your father, miss. It’s Jerome Whitaker. For you,” Barry says.

My eyes nearly pop out of my skull hearing his name, and a bright, goofy smile stares back at me from the enormous mirror hanging on the entryway wall.

“Send him down,” I say, doing my best not to scream with excitement.

“Are you sure?” I understand his concern. He’s just doing his job and doesn’t want any trouble. But if Romeo is willing to stick his neck out and come back here, I can take a few risks of my own.

“I am.”

I pull open the front door and watch his pearlescent white muscle car pass the gate. I’m halfway down the steps by the time his car comes to a stop.

Romeo gets out, and he doesn’t look anything like he did yesterday. His fancy suit is replaced by jeans and a gray-black t-shirt. His hair lies in a messy bush atop his head. But Romeo’s smile is still the same—warm, inviting, happy to see me. I just want to kiss it.

So I will.

I sprint to him and launch myself into his arms. Romeo catches me, hoisting me into the air, and we spin in place. Neither of us speaks, letting our mouths smash together in a far better greeting than ahellocould ever do. My whole body thrums with excitement, anticipation, and … happiness. God, I don’t remember being this happy in a long, long time.

“We won’t have much time before Father hears about this,” I say, still stunned at how amazing our first kiss felt. Short and sweetbut filled with the intense passion both of us were stripped of last night. “So we better hurry to whatever you’ve got planned.”

“Good, because we’re getting out of here,” Romeo says as if he’s whisking me away for a wonderful week on some tropical island.

“What? I can’t go anywhere. Father would have a fit.”

He might be a thick slab of rock-hard muscle and want the world to think his emotions fall in line, but his stern face cracks when our eyes meet.

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