“Can I ask you something?” he requests, leaning against it.
“Do I really have the option to say no?”
He smirks. “Where do you think your relationship is going?”
“Excuse me?”
“Come on. Think it through,” Roman says, holding up his hands in placating gesture. He walks towards me, taking the glass from my hand and putting it on the kitchen counter.
Probably a good thing. I’d only smash it on his face.
“You already have,” he says, taking in my expression.
And he’s right.
I have, it’s all I’ve done really.
I can’t be by his side with what comes next, and Roman knows it as much as I do. Having someone call it out as bright as day makes me feel nauseous.
“Life isn’t fair, is it?” he asks.
And I hate that tears bite at the back of my eyes. “Do you remember when we were locked in that room together?”
I stare at him as I’m transported back to a time when Roman Rook was my ally, my lifeline, my confidant.
“You got angry with Owen for telling Luca about you, but you did the same to me. Luca was always planning to give that hard drive to Owen. Luca was always planning for you to be the one to protect him. Apex Security gave him that means.”
“Isn’t it all a cruel joke?” I ask, angrily wiping at the tear that breaks free. “Reunited, to only be ripped apart?”
“But you know what you have to do?”
And I do.
I have to walk away and it rips my fucking heart open, tears a crack so deep inside that physical pain runs through my body, making it hard to breathe.
“How can I walk away?”
“With strength that you have always had in you, Kara.” He smiles sadly. “With that same strength that had me doing what I did to Luca. To my brother. Because you’d do anything to protect the ones you love, even if that decision feels like it could kill you.”
“Better you than them,” I mutter quietly, and he nods.
“You’re strong, Kara, and he won’t let you go now he has you. But he can’t stand in Number 10 with someone like you on his arm.”
He doesn’t say it to be cruel. Roman, says it with such sadness in his tone, that I wonder whether deep down he’d want something different for me.
“Will you help me?” I ask the words quietly. He leans forward and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, cupping my cheek.
“After everything we’ve been through together, I don’t know why you even have to ask that.”
“Times have changed.”
He smiles, but it doesn’t meet his eyes.
“Nothing’s changed.” He smirks. “You’re still just as stubborn as ever.”
“And you’re still just as annoying.”
He grins. “What do you need?”
