“You’re free to go whenever you want,” he said. “But I am going to see my son.”
“Not as long as you’re the head of the Martine family, you won’t.”
“You can’t keep me from him any longer. I have as much right to that boy as you do.”
“That ‘boy’ is a privilege,” I said. “And you lost it when you thought you could delve into the bloodied affairs of the family business and still keep your hands clean enough to stroke your son’s cheek.”
His eyes were icy. The warmth of his blue embers faded into a dim light I’d only seen one other time. I rolled my shoulders back and prepared myself for a fight. I wasn’t sitting here one more second than I needed to. This man wasn’t going to lay a hand on my son, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to demand to see him out of some right of being a sperm donor.
I felt foolish for agreeing to meet up with Romeo. I should have known the discussion would go south. I’d foolishly hoped that Romeo hadn’t known about his son but it was wishful thinking. Even so, I could never agree to his request to meet Matteo.
He had made his decision. He knew how I felt about getting out. He knew that was my goal.
He had made his choice, and it was time for me to make mine.
I stood from the booth and watched as six men stood up around me. My eyes locked hard on Romeo’s face and he held up his hand, signaling his air-headed assholes to stand down.
“I thought you said I was free to go.”
“You know how they operate,” Romeo said.
I scoffed and shook my head as I backed away from the table.
“Are you sure you aren’t hungry?”
“No, this whole conversation has ruined my appetite,” I said.
“Pity. I was hoping to bask in your beauty a bit longer.”
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere.”
“So you’ve decided that we have no future together then?”
I made the mistake of looking into his eyes and felt my knees growing weak again. I reached for my purse and clutched it tightly to me, allowing the feeling of the material to root me into reality.
It didn’t matter how I felt.
What I thought.
What I thought could be between us.
It shattered my heart that Romeo had chosen this lifestyle instead of me. He may have watched over us all these years but he hadn’t come after me or his son before now. The strong, family oriented alpha male hadn’t whisked us away from this dangerous life. And now he was enmeshed in it.
And that meant I had to protect Matteo from his own father.
“I will see my son,” he said again. “I have a right to be in his life.”
Without thinking, I loomed over Romeo until my shadow was covering his face. Close enough to feel the heat of his body emanating toward me. Close enough to be reminded of the reason why I’d succumbed to him in the first place.
Close enough to smell the cologne he hadn’t changed in over six years.
“Over my dead body,” I said.
CHAPTER 2
ROMEO
She’s one fucking woman.