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It was too late. I’d left. I said goodbye.
Romero and I were never meant to be lovers. We were twisted and broken. Our jagged edges might fit together perfectly, but it didn’t matter because our relationship would never be accepted. He was the dark king that ruled in the shadows and reveled in the darkness while I choked on it.
My life was nothing but betrayal and cruelty.
It was time now to step into the light—bask in its warmth and try to heal.
Darkness and light didn’t mix; it was either one or the other. That’s why I couldn’t go back. I told myself over and over that that was why I couldn’t call.
The second I heard his voice I’d run right back and get tangled up in his world of vast, wicked night.
I kept my eyes closed, the dull throbbing at my temples easing as I hugged my bag to my chest, holding the sin I’d forever hide like it was all I had.
In a way, I guess it was.
Chapter Thirty
ROMERO
Kieran typed on the laptop while Eli weaved through traffic.
“We already know she’s over the American border,” Eli said.
“The girl can fight, no?” Rafael reasoned. “You trained her, you said so yourself.”
I nodded, still grinding my teeth. Yes, I’d trained her. Until sweat coated her skin and tears flowed from her beautiful ocean-blue eyes. I’d never forget the resolve and determination I saw in her, even when she screamed in frustration every time her smaller, fragile body failed to best me.
Still, I couldn’t help but berate myself for not teaching her more. I’d taught her how to fire a gun and how to disarm anyone pointing one at her, but there were some situations I couldn’t have prepared her for.
“I swear to God, if he fucking hurt her…” I growled, pressing the gauze on my wound harder, trying to staunch the blood flow. My stitches were torn, but I didn’t care.
“The first matter at hand is to get to wherever she is,” Aaron stated. And while I knew he was keeping me from blazing a path of hellfire to the girl who’d fully enchanted me, it didn’t make the glare I shot him any less harsh. He ignored my volatile mood in favor of pulling away the bandage from my chest to inspect the wound.
Kieran’s head snapped up suddenly. “Arizona? Why did she go that far east?” He spoke mostly to himself but I found myself straightening, then grimacing as pain lanced through my chest.
Aaron cursed under his breath, grabbing the needle and tweezers from an open med kit in Darren’s lap.
“What do you mean east?” I barked. “She should have gone through Tucson.”
Kieran peered back at me, pointing to something on his computer screen. “The license plate was last captured yesterday on the far eastern side of Tucson.”
It was midday and we were still two hours away. My fists clenched. “Do you have a more precise location?”
Aaron leaned in and began applying new stitches. It burned, the whole area throbbing, but I was too distracted by my need to move faster.
Kieran went back to his computer, typing and scrolling. “It was captured on North Ocotillo Road. The junction before the ten.”
Sharp panic clawed its way through me. I wanted to get to her faster. To make sure she was okay. She might’ve run away from me and my life, but she couldn’t escape the danger.
The danger I put her in.
A bitter laugh escaped me. I shook my head in disgust.
“Care to share with the rest of us?” Darren asked dryly.
“Marrying Vanessa had been strategic. I’d helped run her life into the ground by feeding her addiction, so I thought I was helping by giving her and Julietta a better life. Now I see I damned them both.” My eyes shut as a different kind of pain flared in the dead organ housed within my ribcage. “This life that I chose for myself, I built from the ground up, fully knowing I’d make plenty of enemies. But neither Vanessa nor Julietta understood the extent of my empire. Vanessa knew a little, and she saw me as a protector. Someone she could hide behind. But for Julietta it was worse. She saw me as her savior. I gave Julietta the knowledge to survive on her own.
“But in the end, I failed to protect her. Now I’m just the demon who stole her innocence and endangered her life in the process.”
