Page 75 of His Juliet

“We have a lot we can offer the Don—” Dragan started.

“Hi!”

My heart dropped and dread filled me when I turned to see Juliet’s beaming face. She walked over to my table, eyes flitting to the two men before turning back to me. “Sorry for interrupting, I just can’t believe?—”

“And who are you?” I asked harshly, cutting her off.

Her mouth snapped shut, hurt clouded her eyes, and my heart broke in two.

“Yes, who is this?” Vlad said. His eyes raked down her body and my hand twitched towards the fork on the table. It would take me only seconds to pluck his eyes from their sockets.

Juliet’s face burned red, and she took a little step back.

“I didn’t know this was your type, Romeo,” Dragan said, chuckling. “We can certainly gift you some girls if you’d like. We have access to some of the finest escorts in the world. We’ll even find some fat ones if that’s what you’re into.”

I forced a laugh. “No, thank you.” I met Juliet’s gaze. “You’d better run away, little girl. You’re not going to find whatever you’re looking for here.”

She swallowed hard before turning on her heel and rushing out the door. A scowling Marco met my gaze from behind the counter, lifting Juliet’s box of baked goods that she’d left behind.

41

JULIET

Tears blindedmy eyes as I stumbled out of the bakery and tried to get back to my apartment. I was so disoriented that I took the wrong turn and ended up on a completely unknown street. Panic clawed at my throat as I tried to orient myself. Several people stopped to stare at me, and a concerned older woman asked if I was okay. It just made me run faster.

Unsafe. Unsafe. Unsafe.

I finally made it back to my building. Weak legs carried me up the stairs when all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball. My hands shook as I tried to unlock the door, my vision black and spotty. I finally got it open and slammed it shut behind me before collapsing to the floor.

I clawed at my neck, unable to drag in air. Everything was crumbling around me. All I saw when I closed my eyes was the disdain on Romeo’s face when I spoke to him, the sound of his laughter when the other man had called me fat. Romeo, who had told me he wasout of townfor business, and that’s why he wasn’t able to see me… Why he had been too busy to even talk to me.

It was so unfair. I had beenfinewithout him. My life might have been small and pathetic, but it wasmine. And then he’d crashed into it, with his sweet words and promises, and left me with this agony. This was why I couldn’t trust anyone. This was why I had to be alone.

Waves of pain washed over me, too heavy to bear. I was going to suffocate if I couldn’t get out from underneath it. I crawled to the bathroom, knowing that there was only one thing that would make this feeling stop. Shame bubbled up within me as I grabbed the razor blade from under the sink.

I fumbled with the zipper of the jumpsuit, letting out a scream when I couldn’t get it off fast enough. It was somethinghehad gotten me, just part of the torture of him pretending to care. The jumpsuit ripped as I dragged it off my body, and I let out a sob.

The dingy tile floor was cold against my legs and butt. An icy draft blew through the cracks in the window. And none of it fucking mattered.

I looked down at my thighs, already lined with scars, and lifted the blade in my hand.

The pain didn’t register after the first cut.

Or the second.

Blood seeped onto the bathroom floor with the third.

It wasn’t working.

My heart could stillfeel.

I sliced again.

He had ruined me. Made me feel too much.

Another.

And another.

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