Page 88

“It means exactly what it sounds like. This little ninety-day thing is between you, Enzo and Sin. It ain’t got shit to do with me and never will.”

“But—”

He reached across the console and pulled my jaw until I was looking at him. Then he continued like I hadn’t tried to interrupt.

“It means I don’t just let go when my heart is involved. I don’t fall in love easy, and you made me give a fuck. I’m not gonna just watch you walk out my life. We’ll figure it out.” He sounded so sure I almost believed him.

“I wasalwaysleaving in three months, Rome. And those three months are halfway done.”

With a shake of his head, he released his hold on my face. “I don’t give a fuck about any of that, G. And if you think Sin and Enzo want you to leave, then your eyes haven’t been open.”

“They haven’t told me otherwise, so I’m not gonna assume and get my feelings hurt.”

Romeo laughed dryly. “You hear yourself right now, G? You not gonna assume and get your feelings hurt, but you were just sneaking out in the middle of the night because youassumed shit and got your feelings hurt.”

Defiance stiffened my shoulders as I stared at him. He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t want to tell him he was right, either.

Silence crawled into the cracks of our conversation, pushing down the words I needed to say.

The words about Lilith and Chance and everything he’d told me.

Staring straight ahead, I tried to make out the mountains beneath us, but all I saw was darkness now that Rome’s headlights were off.

So I focused on the moon instead, drawn to the glowing orb propped up in the sky.

“I…um…I had a meeting today and it brought up all this stuff I didn’t want to deal with. It felt easier just leaving…”

“A meeting with who about what?” he wanted to know, latching on to the first part of my announcement.

“With Chance. My realtor.”

“What’s going on?”

“He’s been drawn to me since we met and it creeped me out. He would stare at me until I got goosebumps and then?—”

“Did he fucking touch you, G?” Romeo cut off my rambling and I shook my head.

“No. It’s worse.”

“What the fuck is worse than that?”

“His wife came to the shop today and accused me of being a home-wrecker, so I went to visit him to figure out what she was talking about.” As it turned out, his obsession had nothing to do with some misplaced attraction.

“What did he tell you, G?” Romeo’s voice was tight with barely leashed fury. He was assuming the worst and I didn’t know if what I had to tell him would fall in that category.

Ignoring the lead ball in my stomach, I replied, my voice as flimsy as my nerves. “He thinks he’s my dad.”

Eleven Hours Ago

It was official.Chance Summers had finally crossed the line from oddly fascinated with me to straight up creepy. That was the only explanation for what he was showing me on his screen right now.

A digitized photo took up the display, but it had clearly been taken on film decades ago.

And the woman the picture captured was all too familiar. I shared all her features. Looked just like a carbon copy of her. Yet, I’d never met her in person. At least not while I was old enough to remember it. She made sure of that when she dropped me off on my grandmother’s doorstep and disappeared without a trace.

The woman who’d gifted me with all my features. The first woman to make me feel like a burden for simply existing. The woman who chose herself over the life she created.

She wasn’t smiling at the camera, more likesmizingwith a smug light in her eyes. A thick cloud of black curls framed her face. I’d dyed my hair blonde for years to look less like her.