Page 30 of Don’t Break My Heart (Secrets of Ravens Hollow #3)

Groggily, I blink open my eyes. The room in front of me is bright, and I squint, trying to block out the stream of daylight blinding me.

How much did I have to drink last night?

I remember a couple of wines then a whiskey with Orlando, but that was it.

Nothing that should have me feeling like I spent a night out with the girls.

But my head throbs and my vision is blurry as fuck.

I go to run a hand through my bird’s nest of hair and realize I can’t.

What the fuck? It’s attached to something hard.

I try to move it again, my heart kicking up a beat.

My eyes fly open in a panic. I’m trapped.

“What the fuck, Romeo,” I scream when my blurry vision clears, and he’s the first one I see from his seated position across from me.

“She’s awake,” he mutters to someone over his shoulder.

He stands and drops down onto his knees in front of me, his fingers tangling in mine as he looks up at me, the guiltiest fucking expression on his face I have ever seen.

“It’s okay, doll face. Won’t be long until we take off, then we can get you out of those restraints. ”

Restraints. I glance down at my wrist to find what he’s blathering on about. I’m fucking attached to the arm of the chair with what looks like a couple of cable ties. “Oh fuck no. Get me out of these now,” I shriek back at him, tugging at the restraints violently as panic takes over .

He shoots up to standing, getting the hell out of my way as I try to kick him. “Sloane, calm the fuck down.”

My death glare lands on him, and I suck in ragged breaths. “Calm down? Are you fucking kidding me, Romeo? Get these off me.” My words are sharp and filled with poison. I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but what I do know is he’s gone too far this time.

Orlando comes into view, walking down the aisle of what I now realize is their family jet. His hands come to my wrists, his fingers clamping over them softly. “Don’t fight the bindings, treasure, you will only hurt yourself.”

Cold sweat trickles down my back. These assholes have me trapped again. My glare fixes on him, turning deadly. “Why am I tied to the chair on your jet, motherfucker?”

His lips twist up at the sides, his handsome face lighting up. He looks relaxed and happy for the first time since we arrived in Italy. “You’re going home, treasure.”

My heart kicks up a beat for so many reasons, the small sliver of trust between us vanishing in an instant. He knows this isn’t what I want anymore. “We haven’t finished what we came to do,” I snap back, trying to work out what is really going on. What the fuck the twins are now hiding from me.

A flash of something that looks a lot like sympathy registers in his eyes, but it couldn’t be, this fucker doesn’t have a sympathetic bone in his body. “Your job here is done.”

“We can’t afford for you to get hurt, and with the war Orlando’s about to start, we know you would be caught in the crossfire,” Romeo explains like it should help to change my mind.

I flick my angry gaze between them, my heart feeling like it’s about to pound out of my ribcage. “What war are you about to start?” I seethe .

“Moretti against Moretti. I can’t unhear what we all learned last night, and after digging into my papa’s affairs a little more, both Romeo and I think it’s best we take you someplace safer while I stay to clean up the mess.

” His words are kind, caring even, like he’s really concerned for my welfare, but we both know that can’t be true if his solution right now is to send me away like some weak little girl who can’t protect herself.

“This is my fight now as well, I want to stay and help you. I deserve to be at your side.”

Romeo looks me over, his eyes lingering on my bindings. “That’s what we thought you would say.”

Fuck! I tug at the bindings again, my icy glare fixing on Orlando.

I should have fucking known he was up to something last night, being all sexy as hell, fucking seducing me into his trap.

They knew I would fight them on this, so they took the choice away from me.

“What the fuck did you put in my drink, motherfucker?” I yank so hard on the bindings I draw blood as the thick plastic cuts into my skin.

But I don’t fucking care, I have to get out of them before this jet takes off.

Orlando runs a hand down the side of my face, cupping my chin as his eyes lock with mine.

I feel his love for me, and it fucking hurts because how could someone who loves me treat me like this?

“Sloane, this is for the best. You will be safe, and you get to go back to your life. That’s what you wanted all along. ”

“But…” I glance at Romeo. They can’t be serious. Not now. “But what about Daisy, what about all the girls at that club? We should be fighting this together. How dare you take my fucking choice away from me again.”

Orlando sits calmly beside me. He’s so damn composed I want to slap him across his pretty fucking face just to get a reaction.

He produces some papers and lays them on the coffee table in front of me.

“I’m giving you your life back, treasure, your life will be your own again. Make it whatever you want.”

I suck in a ragged breath. Pain radiates through me as I glance over the paper and see they are divorce papers. His name is already signed on the dotted line. Just like that. What the actual fuck. He’s divorcing me?! I blink back at them, too in shock to form a sentence.

He stands and bends down, placing a kiss on my cheek, softly. “You’re free.”

My heart constricts. Words that should be music to my ears but instead are like a bullet directly to my heart, shattering it into millions of tiny shards.

I suck in a shaky breath, trying to get my emotions in check.

But I have nothing. I can’t do this anymore.

A tear slips down my cheek. “You’re done with me just like that?

” I whisper through clenched teeth, pain radiating through me in a way I have never felt before.

It would hurt less if he actually shot me.

His face hardens, his walls shooting up as he blocks me out. “Go and live your life, Sloane, forget about me.”

Forget about him. That’s what last night was, his way of saying goodbye to me.

Tears blur my eyes now, and I blink them away.

I won’t give him the satisfaction. How the fuck am I supposed to live my life without him?

He corrupted me, got under my skin and into my heart.

Now that I know what it’s like to live with him in my life, I don’t want him to leave me. To send me away like it was nothing.

I flick my head back to him. “You’re a coward, too scared to let me succeed at your side, so you fucking send me away.”

I see the rage bubbling up and out of him now as he turns back toward me, locking his dark eyes with mine. He says nothing, just breathes like a raging bull, nostrils flaring.

I want to hurt him, inflict the same pain he is. “You know it doesn’t matter if you send me away, I’m still the only one who can sign off on everything. Even if you divorce me, your fucked-up papa left it all to me.”

His chest heaves. “That’s where you’re wrong, Sloane, our lawyers found a loophole. That power is no longer in your hands.” He turns then he’s gone, striding off the jet, hands in his expensive suit pockets, looking every bit the mafia don we all know he now is.

My furious eyes lock with Romeo. “I fucking hate you all for this.”

“I knew you would.” He stands and takes the seat beside me, unaffected by my venomous words.

“At least you will be alive to hate me, doll face.” He dusts my hair over my shoulder, his fingers trailing down my arm, sending goosebumps in their wake.

“I couldn’t let you die in our family war, and when Valentine works out he’s got nothing, you would have been his first target. ”

“What about Daisy?” I sniff, helplessness coming over me. Part of me knows they are right, but fucking come to me with this information. Don’t trick me, knock me out, and take my choice away.

His eyes lock with mine, filled with sadness, and I know he’s fully aware of the damage he’s caused. “She’s safe.”

“How do you expect me to believe you?” My head drops sadly.

“She’s with Dante,” Onyx says, taking the seat opposite me.

My head flicks up, my eyes rising to meet his.

Reef is by his side, strapping himself in.

They’re coming home as well. A small amount of relief fills me, mostly for them.

This is what they both wanted since we got here, to go home, and they don’t deserve to be trapped in this mess any longer.

But the truth is I already know I won’t forgive any of them for doing this to me.

They could have stopped the twins, but it’s clear they are all working together.

They plotted this shit against me. I’m not their possession to protect.

I’m my own person, and I could have made a real difference here. If they let me .

A sickness washes over me as I remember my and Orlando’s conversation from last night.

I asked him to let me be who I am, and he agreed.

He’s letting me go because of what I said to him.

A fresh wave of pain radiates through me, because while he clearly knew it was goodbye, I had no clue I was giving him the okay to send me away. To fucking divorce me.

An announcement comes over the loudspeaker. It’s our pilot telling us the plane is about to take off. My fingers wrap around the arm of the chair, gripping it as tightly as I can as the jet’s engines whirl to life.

“Are you alright, trouble?” comes Onyx’s concerned voice.

I close my eyes and try to block them all out. Fuck him for letting them do this to me. Fuck them all. I don’t want his concern now.