Page 89 of Unmasking My Dark Knight

I’d never been more enraptured by a soul like I was with his. I needed to make him understand.

“You’re just saying that because you’re scared,” I challenged him, narrowing my eyes into something fierce. “But I’m willing to push through that, because as much as I need to prove to you I’m different, I need to prove it to myself as well.”

I pulled my right earring off. Eight carats. Pink diamonds. I threw it across the room as hard as I could. Two hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars rolled along the floor and disappeared below a vanity.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Romeo asked, looking at me. “Stop that!”

I took my other earring off and threw it. My bracelet—gold with emerald-cut rubies—I unclasped it and let it fall to my feet—ninety-thousand dollars. “I don’t care if my parents cut me off, because I choose to be with you. Don’t you get it?”

He slapped the doorframe above me. “You’re fucking crazy!” he shouted. “You’re just delaying the inevitable. We won’t work⁠—”

“Do you ever shut up? Or do you just want to hear your own insecurities repeated out loud?” I asked. Ro looked rigid, shaking with anger or frustration, both of us about to burst into a fit of flames. “This is who you are and who you tried to hide. You’re not afraid of monsters; you’re afraid to be yourself,” I said, quoting him. “You said that to me! And yes, we may be from different worlds, but we’re still the same fucking people—judged for who we are, and afraid to be ourselves.” I pulled up the sleeve of my dress, showing him my tattoo. “I’m not going back to that… I’m not hiding myself away to make other people feel better. And that includes you, Romeo Scott.” My eyes welled, and he was starting to become a blurry mess.

We stood motionless, breathing heavily, staring at each other like animals lost in the dark.

I couldn’t read him anymore. His face was just shocked. I didn’t know if he was angry, sad, or what the hell he was, because I think I scared the hell out of him.

He looked down at me. “Your heels are missing,” he muttered softly.

“I took them off to run to you…” I said. “I wanted to tell you I was sorry for treating you like shit yesterday.”

His eyes stayed secured on mine, and they glistened. One of my tears rolled down my cheek, and he caught it with his thumb.

“I think you stepped on bubble gum,” he said softly.

“It was worth it.” I held back a smirk.

“Was it?”

“Yes,” I answered, “because I’m in love with you,” I said, time standing still. I swear I was falling backward, my stomach flipping like I was tumbling down into the ditch where he first found me. But it was better. It was like falling upwards into his arms instead.

I love Romeo Scott.

I love High Jynx.

And above all else, I loved that our life would be our own, and nobody else’s.

“You mean that?” He lightened up.

“You’re my dark prince, my dark knight; of course, I love you,” I said, holding onto his suspenders. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tightly against his chest. His hands threaded the back of my hair as our foreheads touched.

“My Princess…” he said, his voice cracked. “I’m in love with you, too…”

He kissed me, long and hard, and I felt the world slip away below my feet. I didn’t need a fancy house or money. I didn’t need diamonds or private jets.

He brought out the real me. The one who always dreamed big, but was too afraid to leave her own castle.

And that was something money could never buy.

CHAPTER 35

Romeo

Ivy Jade told me she loved me. She broke my heart into a million pieces one moment, and then mended it the next, molding it back together with three little words.

I held her close, her arms wrapping tightly around me, tears filling both of our eyes. I’d never felt so many of these feelings in the span of twenty-four hours, let alone in my entire life. It felt like pure agony thinking I’d never see her again.

“What about your mom?” I blurted out. “Did you tell her yet?” I trailed off, still in disbelief.