Page 1 of Romeo

Chapter1

Jules

Icover my mouth with a shaking, bloodstained hand and do my best to stifle my breathing.Through the sliver between the accordion closet doors in my grandfather’s study, I can see the masked thief working through the safe where my grandfather kept nearly everything of value.

How he even knew the code, I’m not sure.It’s something my grandfather kept close to his chest.Not even I know what it is.

Grandfather.His crimson blood soaks the floor at my feet, saturating the carpet as it moves beneath the closet doors.I have to keep myself from looking at the body lying just in front of the doors.It’s theonlyreason I haven’t been seen.

The only reason there aren’t two bodies on the floor.

He’s protecting me even in death.

Tears burn in my eyes as grief sears the inside of my throat.

All of this for jewelry.For money.

Gems that are considered more important than the blood of the greatest man I ever knew.A man whonevergave up on me.Even when I gave up on myself.

“Stay in and stay down, girl,”he’d told me before shoving me into this closet.“Don’t make a sound.No matter what you see or hear.”

“We need to call the police!”

“And you will.But nothing in this room is more important to me than you are, Jules.Never forget that.”

His smile will haunt me for the rest of my days.The thief didn’t even give him a chance to hand anything over.They’d pulled out a gun and fired.Two shots.

Bang.Bang.

That was the end of my grandfather.

The thief drops something to the ground, and the jarring noise has me jerking within my hideaway.I accidentally bump into an umbrella leaning against the side.

It clatters to the ground, and the sound is deafening.

Oh no.

The thief straightens slowly, his face covered in a black mask as he turns toward the closet.On footsteps so quiet they might as well be silent, he crosses over and peers inside.I try to hide, to tuck myself into a corner, but there’s nowhere else to go.

Even with his eyes shielded, I know the moment his gaze meets mine.

He steps away from view, and my grandfather is dragged out of the way.

Panic shakes every inch of my body, and I know that, if I don’t fight, I won’t survive.Even if I do fight, I may not survive.

But my grandfather raised me to meet death with fists.

So, I grab the very umbrella that gave me away and wait.The doors open, and I explode out of them with a scream, driving the umbrella into the gut of my grandfather’s killer.He grunts and stumbles back, so I dodge to the right and try to make it to the door.

I haven’t even taken a single step before I’m ripped backward and slammed into a hard body.An arm bands around my throat, and breathing becomes a nearly impossible struggle.

“They’ll think you did it,” he growls into my ear.“I know you.I know you’re trouble.And I’ll make it look like you did it,” he says, hatred lacing his tone.“Deranged former alcoholic murders beloved actor.I can see the headlines now.You just handed me a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

“Who are you?”

“Someone owed something,” he snarls.

My gaze lands on my grandfather.He willnothave died for nothing.I slam the heel of my shoe down into the top of my attacker’s foot.