Page 176 of Burning Daylight

I can’t leave. Not yet, at least. Not until I know my sister is taken care of.

So, I don’t go to her. I just stand here, in a room full of people who wouldn’t give a shit if I fell to pieces right in front of them, watching the only thing I’ve ever wanted move through a world that won’t ever let me love her freely.

Will she resent me?

The thought tangles in my chest like barbed wire, so I push it aside, closing my eyes for a moment to breathe through the pain. When I open them, I focus on why I’m here, and the conversation I had with my father after we learned that Frederick was playing us both.

“Go to the gala, Roman,” my father demands. “Smile for the cameras. Let him think nothing’s changed. I just need some time, give me some time to make this right.”

I hesitate, searching his face for the truth, because honestly, I don’t trust him.

“Why do you even care, after everything?” I ask.

His look strips away any power, any pride, any anger. And suddenly he just seems like a man with a failing body and a son he never really knew how to love.

“Because I love you.”

I scoff.

“It’s the truth,” he says. “I’ve done a lot of things I’ll have to burn for after death, and that’s my penance. That’s onme. But you…you’re the type of man I always wished I was.”

His eyes grow watery, and I force my face to stay blank.

He doesn’t get a reaction after all this time.

“I’m sorry, son.” His voice is strained. “For everything.”

A smack on the back of my shoulder brings me out of my reverie, and I turn to look at Benjamin, who gives me a grin. “There you are.”

I raise my brows, because why is he looking for me?

Benjamin laughs. “Don’t give me that face. I’m bored to death schmoozing with all these people.” He leans in. “We’vecertainly caused some tension in this town, huh? It’s fuckingvibrating.”

I grimace. “Don’t sound so happy about it.”

Rosalie saunters over and links her arm through his, her face angled down, half hidden by the fall of her hair, and she doesn’t make eye contact with either of us.

“Hey Rosalie,” I greet.

She flashes me a look, and a smile, but then looks at the ground again, as if she’s trying to hide something away. I’m about to ask if everything’s all right, but Merrick walks up and beats me to it.

“You look like you’ve just trudged through a thunderstorm,” he says, tilting his head. “Everything good, baby girl?”

Rosalie stiffens. “Just tired.”

Benjamin doesn’t even glance at her. Just sips his drink and scans the crowd.

Merrick catches my eye, his smirk fading.

Juliette moves into my line of vision behind him, and my breath catches in my throat.

She’s always beautiful, but she looks the part of Rosebrook Falls royalty tonight in a sleek black dress with a high neck and no sleeves. She spins around, and her back is entirely exposed, a line of crystals draping from the nape of her neck down her spine and ending just above the hemline, which rests at her hips.

Blood rushes through me, arousal pinning me in place.Jesus Christ.How the hell am I supposed to stay away from her all night when she looks like that? There are a hundred different people here, and I don’t give a single damn about any of them, my eyes stuck on her like glue.

She’s talking to a group of people but twists around, glancing over her shoulder, her gaze locking on mine. It’s only a moment, but it hits me like a gut punch.

For a heartbeat, I let myself believe that maybe this could still work.