"Savannah." He crosses the room in three strides and pulls me into his arms. His grip is so tight it almost hurts, like he's trying to convince himself that I'm real and safe. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did he?—"
"I'm fine." Tears slide down my cheeks before I even realize I’ve started crying, and I don't know if it's relief or exhaustion or just the overwhelming intensity of having him here. Having him hold me, like I'm the only thing in the world that matters. "Giulia and Luca got here in time. He didn't—I'm fine."
He pulls back just enough to look at me. His hands come up to cup my face, and I can see the bruises on his knuckles and the exhaustion in his eyes, the barely controlled violence simmering just beneath the surface. "I'm going to kill him," he says quietly, and it's not a threat or a promise—it's just a statement of fact, a decision he's already made. "I'm going to fucking kill him for this."
"Romeo—"
"No." His voice is hard, absolute. "I tried to do this the right way. I tried to build a case, to use the legal system, to handle it strategically like my father wanted. But Thad doesn't play by those rules. He has judges and prosecutors in his pocket. He can fabricate charges, fake warrants, and use the system as a weapon. So I'm done playing by rules that don't apply to him."
I should argue. I should tell him that violence isn't the answer, that there has to be another way, that Romeo’s being the kind of man who kills his enemies is exactly what I've been afraid of. But I can't. I'm so tired of being afraid, so tired of waiting for the next threat, so tired of trying to build a life while men like Thad and my father use their power to tear it down.
"What are you going to do?" I ask quietly.
"Whatever it takes." He kisses me then, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Giulia slip out, see Luca waving his men out as hefollows, too. Romeo and I are left alone, and as the kiss deepens, I forget why I ever cared about setting boundaries between us.
I don’t need space right now. I need him, making me feel like I’m alive.
He lifts me up and carries me back to the couch, spilling me back onto it as his mouth devours mine, his hands everywhere. My clothes are gone before I can even form a thought, and Romeo yanks his shirt over his head, fumbling frantically with the opening of his jeans.
“Off,” I gasp, before he can slide inside of me, still half-clothed. “All the way off.”
He kicks his jeans and underwear away, and then we’re lying on his couch skin to skin, Romeo over me as he reaches between us and angles his cock between my thighs.
I’m already wet. My hips arch up, and I gasp as he sinks into me in a single thrust, his darkened gaze locked hungrily with mine.
“Fuck—”he groans the word aloud, and he starts to thrust.
My legs tangle with his as he fucks me. It’s hard and fast, hot and passionate, and I feel like I can’t breathe as he sinks into me again and again. His hips roll down with every thrust, grinding against me so that his pelvis hits my clit, pushing me toward a climax. He cups my face in his hands, his mouth devouring mine, and I feel consumed… utterly and completely his.
“Savannah.” He breathes my name against my lips, groans it again and again as he sinks himself into me with every powerful thrust. I cling to him, nails sinking into his shoulders, and I can feel that he’s holding on by a thread, waiting for me.
I cry out as I come, his name dissolving into a moan, and I feel him thrust into me once more, his entire body shuddering as he spurts inside of me.
For the first time, there’s no fear that comes along with it. What’s done is done—him coming inside of me won’t changeanything now. And so, for the first time, I let myself enjoy it fully… the feeling of him inside of me, filling me up, all heat and skin and the movement of his body as he loses himself in the blissful feeling of the two of us coming together.
He slumps forward, his forehead pressed to mine, his hands smoothing my hair away from my face. He’s still inside of me, and in that moment, I want him to stay that way forever.
This is toxic, and terrifying, and I don’t know what lies in front of us. I know I can’t just keep letting things happen to me.
But I also know that Romeo Ciresa is one thing I won’t regret happening to me.
Not ever.
23
SAVANNAH
Ispend the morning after Thad's failed attempt at "protective custody" doing something I should have done weeks ago—I start digging into his past. Not through Romeo's connections, but on my own. Because as much as I believe Romeo is going to fight for us, I'm done waiting for men to fight my battles while I hide in the background hoping everything works out.
And a small part of me believes that if I can find something that will get through to my father, if I could find something… anything to bolster Romeo’s case against Thad, he won’t have to kill him. This won’t have to end in bloodshed.
Romeo is in the shower when I open my laptop and start searching. I look for gaps in Thad's carefully curated public image, stories that don't quite add up, women who came before me and disappeared from his life without explanation. He's always been so careful about his reputation, so meticulous about controlling the narrative. But no one is that perfect. No one has a past that clean.
It takes me three hours and more decaf coffee than is probably healthy, but I finally find what I'm looking for buried inan old college newspaper archive. A brief mention of a Rebecca Cowell, who dated Thaddeus Whitmore during their junior year at Yale. The article is about a charity gala, and there's a photo of them together—Thad in a tuxedo looking exactly like he always does, and Rebecca in a blue dress, smiling but with a tight expression around her eyes that I recognize now.
I search for her on social media and find nothing. No Facebook, no Instagram, no LinkedIn. It's like she vanished after graduation. But then I try variations—Rebecca C., Becca Cowell, R. Cowell—and finally I find a profile for a Rebecca Caldwell in Portland, Oregon. The profile picture is blurry, taken from a distance, but the bone structure is the same. She changed her name.
People don't change their names without a reason, unless they get married. And there’s nothing that I can find anywhere that suggests she did.
