But he didn’t answer my question.
“Romeo?” I asked.
“I told you it would take time to undo the things my father did.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” I said. “My bodyguard thinks you had something to do with it. Please tell me he’s wrong.”
His eyes met mine, filled with clouded lust and a stoic sense of sorrow. I blinked my eyes to keep tears from welling in them as feelings of remorse and regret filled my stomach. What the hell had I been thinking? How had I given into a man like him? Was reminiscing about better times all it took for me now? Was I that lonely and pathetic?
“Oh, Romeo,” I said, disappointment thick in my voice.
I couldn’t believe it. Enrico had been right after all. I shook my head, then headed for the bathroom door.
But Romeo’s hand came down onto my arm.
“Don’t,” I said as I pulled away from him.
I stumbled down the short hallway to the main bathroom door.
“Julia—”
“Don’t you dare,” I said.
I was hoping he could convince me he had nothing to do with it. Prove Enrico wrong for the first time so I could believe he was the same man I’d always thought him to be. But he wasn’t. He was a murderer, just like his father.
And I wasn’t going to let Matteo be around a man like that.
“I won’t see you again,” I said.
“Julia, it isn’t what you think.”
“It isn’t? Then look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t kill those men,” I demanded.”
I watched him clench his jaw, and I couldn’t unlock that damn bathroom door fast enough.
“Julia—”
“No. You did enough talking. You talked me out of my fucking panties for the second and last time, Romeo. I will not see you again and you will not know your son. There is no way in hell I’m going to let you around the most precious thing in this world.”
“That boy needs—”
“To be protected!” I exclaimed. “And that’s exactly what I’m doing. If you come after him, you better be ready for the fight of your life. And I’ll gladly put a bullet in anyone who crosses my path and thinks they can take that boy away from me and hand him over to the likes of you.”
Then I threw the door open and stormed through the coffee shop without another word said. I grabbed my purse from the table we’d been sitting at and stormed out of the shop. I forced my tears to remain unshed as I crossed the street and hopped into my car.
Then I sped off, my tires squealing against the pavement.
I felt like I was going to be sick, and I needed a fucking shower.
CHAPTER 11
ROMEO
I listened as her footsteps scurried down the hallway. Far away from me as I stood in the women’s bathroom of that coffee shop. I stepped out of the room and watched her grab her belongings and storm out of the shop. She was running across the street. She couldn’t get away fast enough.
Fuck.
Running my hand through my hair, I groaned. I loved being with her. I cared for her more than she could imagine. More than I could comprehend. It was just like before. Being buried inside of her ignited those feelings I’d felt all those years ago. Feelings I knew had never fully vanished. I wanted all of her. I wanted our family to be together. Sitting with her and reliving the past, then taking her against the wall of that bathroom? It pulled deeper feelings from me. Feelings of forever I’d never experienced with any other person in my life.