Page 97 of Juliet & Her Romeos

Are you having delicious food for breakfast? Presents? Are you happy?

Or is Mom cold, scared, and alone?

I shiver, trying to block the image from my mind. I need to start investigating now that I’m free. But how?

Where do I start?

I hate that I can’t talk to Silvanus today. But after how he’s bullied Ambrose in the past, I can hardly ask to call my cousin.

Smiling, Vito passes the phone to Swan.

Tentatively, Swan holds the phone to his ear. In the academy, we didn’t have phones.

“Hello?” A deep man’s voice answers on the other end. “Vito?”

Swan clears his throat. “It’s Swan.”

Silence.

Shit, has the other man put the phone down on him?

At last the other man answers in a broken voice like he may be crying, “S-s-swan? This is your brother. It’s Link.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Romeo Hall, Sanctum

Iwander down the grand corridor away from the kitchen in search of Ambrose.

My bare feet slap on the cold marble. I shiver at the chill, pulling my velvet dressing gown closer around me.

Behind me, I can hear Swan still animatedly talking to his brother on the phone.

I want to give Swan some space. It must be like talking to a ghost. Lincoln is the only person who he remembers from the time before he was sent away from his pack.

Sadness chokes me that I still have to find Mom and that she may be alone on Christmas.

At the same time, those thoughts don’t dim my happiness for Swan.

I won’t forget that Vito has gifted Swan this or that Vito wanted to rescue him because he’s Lincoln’s best friend.

He’s the type of Alpha who is best friends with a Beta and cares about his family.

And that says more to me about the type of Alpha Vito is than the fact that he was born into a mafia pack.

We’re all Romeos now, no matter that once, we were each other’s enemies.

Can’t we become lovers, despite our dark pasts?

I stroll toward an open doorway, peeking inside.

Talking of enemies turned to lovers…

I cross my arms, as a smile dances on my lips.

The lounge is as large as the one on Cinders ranch, but instead of being rustic, it’s marble and gleaming gold. The couches are burgundy, and antique vases stand on columned plinths.

A vast open fire roars and spits in a fireplace, which is decorated with wreathes festooned with scarlet robins and pine cones. Satin ribbons dangle from the central chandelier.

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