Then it hits me like a bolt of lightning.
I want Julius Ravera more than I want to return home.
21
JULIUS
Rose is nervous, and part of me is glad about that. She must realize there’s a target on her back and not get complacent.
The waiter approaches, causing her to stare blindly at the menu, and as I place my order, she glances at him and smiles. “That sounds lovely; I’ll have the same.”
He nods, his smile genuine when he takes her menu, and I wonder if there is a man on earth who would be immune to this woman. It certainly makes my job harder, and with a sigh, I reach for my water and drain the glass as quickly as Rose did hers.
It’s awkward between us, and I’m guessing that’s a lot to do with me. It’s as if something is hanging in the air and I don’t have the strength to shift it.
It’s probably because I dragged her attention back to the danger she is in, and I hate myself for that. So I reach across the table and grasp her hand, forcing a softer expression onto my face and whisper, “Relax. We’re on an adventure, remember.”
“I know, but–”
I shake my head.
“Just enjoy Madrid while we’re here. Leave the worrying to me.”
She smiles, but it’s obvious she’s got a lot on her mind, and I feel responsible for that, and the easy relationship we were developing has faltered under the weight of the problem.
Rose could be taken from me at any moment in time, and I shouldn’t really give a fuck about that, but I do. The old me would merely shrug and move onto the next mission, but this new pathetic me would burn down the world to find her. To bring her back in whatever state I find her and slay the people responsible with a brutal hand.
It’s as if my entire life has been one long training camp for the job of protecting Rose, and all I require is the smile of happiness on her face as payment for that.
I am confused, conflicted and in uncertain times, and so I take my own advice and push it to the back of my mind to analyze later.
“So, tell me about your time at the boarding school.”
My voice is low and undetectable from eager ears around us, and she leans forward with a frown on her pretty face.
“I hated it, and I suppose I can thank my father for that.”
“In what way?”
“He never allowed us to have friends, so I wasn’t able to read the room. To play the game after years of studying the rules.”
“You’re right. It must have been tough.”
“It was.”
She chews on her bottom lip and sighs. “I had my sisters, but they weren’t always around, and many times I was alonein a hostile crowd. The teachers weren’t much better, and I blame my stepmother.”
“She was the one who arranged for you to go there.”
“Yes.” She nods, a flicker of distaste passing across her features.
“Our father would never have agreed. When he died, she couldn’t pack us off quickly enough. We were excited to go, but it soon became apparent that rules had been put in place for us that weren’t the same for anyone else.”
“Such as?”
“The locked door, for one. After lights out, the teacher would lock us in and only unlock the door the next morning. If we required the bathroom in the night, we used a bucket we had to empty ourselves in the morning. The other girls were aware of this, and I lost count of the times I was tripped on the way to the bathroom. It was humiliating, Julius, and it happened a lot.”
“Go on.”
