Page 44 of His Juliet

I shrugged. “First time for everything.”

“You can’t keep these things from me.” There was a steely edge to his voice, and I deserved it.

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t plan to keep talking to her or seeing her. It just happened.”

“Have you told her who you are?”

I shook my head.

“Good. You need to be careful. We can’t trust people outside the Family, especially now.”

The idea of Juliet posing a risk to me was laughable. It was much more likely that I put her at risk. The thought settled like a heavy weight in my stomach.

Matteo pushed up from his desk. “I’ve scheduled the jet to leave at ten tomorrow night.”

Relief rushed through me that I’d be able to keep my dinner date with Juliet, although I kept my face impassive. “I’ll be there.”

“Take three men with you. I have no reason to doubt Ivanov’s trustworthiness, especially since he cares for Sofiya, but this alliance is new and we need to be careful. The girls are on lockdown until the threat passes.”

“They’ll love that.” Sarcasm dripped from my words. Matteo would be unyielding on this point, and I agreed with him. Sofiya and Sienna would hate being stuck inside, but nothing was worth risking their safety.

Matteo headed to the door. “Let’s go to the basement and see what these bastards have to say for themselves.”

“Think they’ll know something?”

“Probably not, if they really are pawns. But I’ll take anything that gives us insight into what the Albanians are doing or what their future plans are.”

I clasped him on the shoulder. “We won’t let anything happen to Sofiya and Sienna.”

He gave me a jerky nod.

“And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Juliet.”

He took a deep breath and some of the tension from his shoulders melted away—the only sign I got that I was forgiven. Matteo wasn’t one for expressing his feelings, but after all these years, I could read his small tells.

As we exited the elevator on the lowest floor, the damp chill of the basement air swirling around me, I released the restraints on my inner darkness, allowing it to come to the surface.

I opened the door to the cells with a smile.

24

JULIET

Romeo wasdue at the store with our pizza any second now, and I had made up my mind.

I wanted to kiss him.

I hadn’t had the slightest desire to kiss or even becloseto someone in years, but now I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was absolutely possible that Romeo’s default setting was “massive flirt,” and he had no interest in me beyond friendship, and I could accept that. But after all our texting and late-night calls, I had convinced myself that he might want something more.

There was a knock at the door and I scurried over to see a smiling Romeo through the window. My heart skipped. He was unfairly handsome, the snow sticking to the tips of his black hair and dusting his jacket.

“Hi,” I said, pulling the door open and shivering at the gust of cold air that hit me. Romeo quickly shut the door behind him and tucked me into his side. “You’re cold,” I squealed as my warm skin collided with his icy jacket, but I didn’t pull away.

“Must be because I need my Juliet to warm me up.”

My cheeks heated and I cleared my throat. “Do you need help with those?” I pointed at the two large pizzas balanced in his hand.

“I’ve got them.” He winked and pressed his other hand to my lower back, urging me deeper into the store. Once we got to the front desk, he put down the pizzas, and I noticed a brown paper bag on top of the boxes. At my questioning look, Romeo pulled out a glass container.

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