"I don't have?—"
"Save it." Roman cuts me off with a sharp gesture. "I've known you since you were a kid. I've never seen you like this over a woman."
He acts like he’s my elder. Granted he’s over a decade older, but he’s no father figure.
“And it’s clear she has no room in her life for anyone less than Prince Charming.”
“You totally fucked her up, Roman. Why would you do that?”
He leans forward. “To see if she could reciprocate what you seem to feel for her. She can’t. Now you know. What are you going to do about it?”
The fight drains out of me as quickly as it came. I sink back into my chair. "What do you want me to say? That I'm compromised? Fine. I am."
Roman's expression softens slightly. "The others are worried. Marco especially. We're all exposed here."
"I know." And I do. Every minute I spend thinking about Olivia is a minute I'm not protecting my family. "But she's the key to Blackwood. And I can't just..."
"Let her go?" Roman finishes for me.
I meet his gaze, not bothering to hide the truth anymore. "No. I can't. But you’re one to lecture me. You fell for the woman you were supposed to keep in line, possibly kill if she continued to work with Blackwood."
Roman's expression hardens. "Isabella was different. For one, she was manipulated. Two, she’s the daughter of a don. You know as well as I do that it’s unlikely La Corona world have ordered her murder. Marrying her was a strategic decision approved by La Corona."
"Strategic," I repeat with a bitter laugh. "Is that what you called it when you fucked her?—“
“Watch yourself, Dom.” A warning flickers in his eyes.
“Or what? You forget yourself, Roman. There is a hierarchy here. La Corona respects and values you as Marco’s enforcer, but you’re no don.”
"You're deflecting," he says, clearly not concerned that he’s disrespecting me. "Isabella isn't actively investigating us. She isn't sworn to uphold laws we break daily. Your FBI agent? She is."
The words "your FBI agent" send a shock of pain in my chest. She isn’t mine, even though I wish she was.
"How can you trust her, Dom?" Roman presses. "Really trust her? She's spent years building a case against you. How can we know she’s not pretending to help us when in fact she’s working for Blackwood? You know he’s all about shit like that."
I can’t deny he has a point and the idea that Olivia could be duping me doesn’t sit well.
"I don't know," I admit finally. "But she could have turned me in a dozen times by now. She hasn't."
"Yet," Roman adds quietly.
“It could work the other way,” I say, playing devil's advocate. “Blackwood could be manipulating her just like Isabella was manipulated?"
"Then help her," Roman says. "But don't pretend this is just about justice. Don't pretend your dick isn't doing half your thinking."
Anger flares again. "You think that's all this is?"
"I think," Roman says carefully, "that you need to decide what matters more. Her or La Corona. Because the moment might come when you can't protect both."
I hold Roman's gaze, letting his warning settle between us. The truth is, he's right to question me. I've never let a woman get under my skin like this. Never allowed anyone to become a liability. That was a lesson my father taught me well.
"I know what you're thinking. That I've lost my edge.”
Roman doesn't deny it. "The others are concerned."
"They should be," I admit, surprising him. "This isn't a clean situation. But I need you to understand something. I haven't forgotten who I am or what I owe La Corona."
He purses his lips in skepticism.
