Page 70 of Neverland

“What are you?”

He seemed hesitant. “I’m Vice. But the good kind.”

“Did you know you’d see me?”

“Never in a million years did I think I’d see you walk through that penthouse door.”

“So, how did all this happen?”

Romeo kissed my forehead. “Always in a hurry, that hasn’t changed. You need to eat before we get into that.” He looked down at his towel, and I felt a throbbing between my legs which made for a nice change from the throbbing in my head and shoulder. “I’m going to put on something more suitable and get you some food. It’s been three days.”

“Three days!”

Romeo cleared his throat. “Well, after Sol shot you, you fell and hit your head on the marble floor.”

Tentatively, I reached up and touched the bandage on my forehead.

I felt Romeo watching my every move and when I met his gaze, he gave a small smile. “You look even more beautiful than what I remember, Lucy.”

I bit my lip, smiling. “I bet I look a real treat right now.”

“You certainly do, but not in the way you’re thinking.”

With those parting words, he left the room, and for the first time in my whole life I felt some hope.

~~~

“I guess it’s my turn.”

I lay with my head on Romeo’s bare chest listening to his heartbeat, a sound I’d found so soothing. It was now dark out, and we were in the privacy of Romeo’s room in the safe house, a small lamp placed on the floor to darken the room. The five of us, Sol, Charles, Romeo, myself and Laura, the nurse, made the house our home for as long as it took. Laura helped me shower, fed me and removed the bulk of the bandages so I could be more comfortable. And now, it was time to hear Romeo’s truth.

“It started the night you were taken away from us. Away from me.” His arm wrapped around my good shoulder, his thumb grazing my skin. “They wouldn’t tell us where you went and we never heard from you. It was like you just vanished into thin air. Everywhere I went I’d look for you, hoping you’d be just around the corner or in the same class as me. With everything that happened, the town became too much. Everyone was talking but they didn’t know the truth, and they were deliberately ignorant of the hurt it had caused. Some even blamed us, saying we’d done something to you.”

“Oh my God!” I whispered, a hard lump stuck in my throat. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. You know what that place was like.” He paused, considering his words. “Mom was devastated. She cried for months for you. I often heard her sobbing in the bathroom, the door locked. She spent hours on the phone to various government departments trying to find where they’d taken you, but of course, everything was confidential. We ended up moving because the pressure was too much and my dad needed work. We resettled, and I graduated knowing full well what I wanted to do.”

“You always did hate injustice.” I absently ran my fingers over his muscled stomach.

“I had plenty of reason. After everything that had happened to you, I wanted to be in a position where I could find you. But as you know, there wasn’t a trace of you anywhere. But there was another reason. Do you remember the night we had to answer to Mr. Hopkins because of the stolen bread?”

“I most certainly haven’t forgotten that moment.”

“Well, then you’d recall the way my parents behaved when Mr. Salvatore’s name came up in conversation?”

I didn’t like where this was going. “Yes, I do.”

“When we were packing up the house to move, I came across a letter from a lawyer saying that my parents were to cease any allegations of rape toward Mr. Alexi Salvatore. When I confronted Mom about it she broke down on the bedroom floor telling how Mr. Salvatore had raped her late one night in the hospital office while he was there visiting his sick grandmother.”

I sat up to see Romeo’s face. “Oh my God…”

“They took it to the police, but his sway and power were enough to have any complaints dropped, and of course the lawyer’s intervention meant they were never to speak of it again.”

“So, he just gets away with it?”

Romeo nodded, his jaw twitching. “When I became Vice, I made it my priority to bring the Salvatore empire down. Alexi Salvatore proved to be more difficult since he spent most of his time overseas. So I focused my attention on Dominic. He too knew how to cover his tracks well. The only way to catch him was by setting up a sting. He took the bait, and we expected to nail him the first meeting. What we didn’t expect was to have you walk through the door. The girl who’d suddenly disappeared. The girl I thought was dead because there’s literally no record of your name anywhere. And suddenly you’re alive, and on the arm of the mobster we were trying to sting?”

“I wasn’t there by free will.”

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