Page 26

It was late by the time I left the station. Almost nine o clock. I’d buried myself in my work all day to avoid thinking about Roman and the revelation that he was a Tyrell. A Tyrell and my prime suspect. As I walked out the back exit into the parking lot, the heels of my boots clacking against the concrete, echoing between the dark locked cars, I had nothing left but my thoughts.

Why had he lied to me about his last name? How could he be so callous as to trick me? And why?

A thought struck me with such force that I gasped. I had heard of the creative ways that criminals used to blackmail people. He had insisted that we go to his hotel room. I had…I had let him do whatever he wanted to me. Dear God. What if he had photos of me? Footage? I felt sick.

I was so absorbed in my thoughts I didn’t register that I wasn’t alone. Something shifted in the dark before me. A wide figure detached itself from the shadows. I halted, my heart slamming to my throat and my fingers going to my gun at my hip.

He stepped into the light, his familiar features made harsh by the shadows. A jolt of pain and confusion slammed through me.

It was Roman.

What was he doing here?

His stare was pinned to me, his eyebrows drawn together in a look that, if I didn’t know any better, I’d almost call desperate. He was here for me.

He shouldn’t be here. We were meters from the entrance to the police station. If he were caught…

Roman started forward, his mouth opening as if to call for me?—

“Julianna!” My father’s voice cut through the air from behind me.

Roman gave me one last piercing look before he melted back into the shadows. I felt a tug inside my gut as he disappeared.

I spun, my heartbeat so erratic against my ribs I was sure my father would hear it. He cut across the parking lot towards me with his familiar long stride. From the calm look on his face I knew that he hadn’t seen Roman.

Roman… What had he wanted? Had he come to gloat? To taunt me? Had he come to blackmail me? To name his terms for his silence?

Roman’s not like that, a voice inside me said. Give him a chance to explain…

Don’t be stupid, Julianna. He lied about who he was to get you in bed. Don’t fall for his lies again.

I realized my father, now standing before me, had said something. I shook myself. “Sorry. What?”

“I asked if you brought your car into work. Do you need a lift home?”

I blinked. My car. I had my… No. Wait. Espo had picked me up today. My mind had been so much elsewhere that I had walked out of the station thinking I had my car here. Idiot.

“Julu,” my father frowned at me, “are you okay?”

I glanced to the shadows that had swallowed Roman Tyrell. I couldn’t see him anymore, but I could feel him. I could sense him watching us. Watching me. The hairs on my skin stood on end. I wasn’t sure if it was from fear or…something else.

“I’m fine,” I lied.