Page 109 of From Rome, With Hate

His admission makes me skin go cold. “What?”

“After you sued Holt, and the news was plastered all over the world, I took matters into my own hands. Being mayor, albeit a former mayor, has its perks. I did a little digging into your history only to discover you were married.” Every word pouring out of Kingsten grows louder, angrier. “Married tomydaughter. Then I found medical records from a hospital outside the city. Medical records for a still birth from a Julianna Rosaline Montgomery. I wanted to fucking kill you, but I kept my mouth shut, figuring out what to do with this information until I concluded you needed to be dealt with. While sending your own father to prison earned you very little opportunity, if any, for redemption, all that went to shit the moment I discovered it all.” He pauses, sucking his teeth. His eyes darken. “I called up my old friend, Francesco, and enlisted the help of the Mattia brothers, under the guise of it being at your father’s direction. It’s just a shame they couldn’t get the job done. When Enzo failed to kill you that day, I knew your father needed to be taken care of.”

My chest hurts. It feels as if a string of barbed wire is wrapped around my heart.

“Dad,” Julianna cries hoarsely. “How could you?”

“Because I love you, Jules,” he offers maniacally. It makes my stomach sick. “Your mother was stolen from me, and I wasn’t about to let that happen with you.”

“You put your own daughter in danger.” I raise my chin. “The man you hired to kill me tried to kill her, too. He vowed tomurderher, Kingsten. But I did what you couldn’t. I kept her safe.”

“I had my suspicions.” He tilts his head to the side, eyeing me darkly. “I had a suspicion she was with you when she called me and said she’d scored a major client and that she suddenly needed to be away from the city for a while. But Julianna’s tracking was shut off on her phone, making it impossible to find her location.”

“You failed to protect her,” I remind him coldly. “You put her in danger, then failed to protect her, all because of some bullshit vendetta you have against my family.”

“Don’t you fucking talk to me about protecting her!” he roars, waving his gun in my direction. “What about getting her pregnant? What about turning your own father in for the murder of your mother?” He turns to Julianna. “He will betray you the second he has the opportunity, just like he betrayed his own family. Don’t you see? Montgomerys are poison.”

“It isn’t me who’s poison. It’s you.”

“All you’ve done from the second you sank your claws into her is ruin her,” Kingsten barks. “You’ve brought her nothing but heartbreak and devastation. You’re just like your father and every Montgomery before you.”

“I love Julianna.” I curl my hands into tight fists. “She’s the love of my life and the mother of my daughter. Without her, I would never have known peace and love. She’s shown me a life worth living, different from who I was told to be.”

Julianna looks up at me, her entire body trembling as she cries. I want to reach out to her, wrap my arms around her and never let her go.

“I love you,” she whispers, healing every wound and scar that remains from our past.

I stare at her, taking in her beauty, wondering how in the fuck I got so incredibly lucky. I’ve never been more thankful for a bullshit school assignment than I am for the one that brought her to me, removing the blinders I’d been forced to carry with me my whole life.

But the air is sucked from my lungs when I feel it.

“No!” Julianna lets out a blood-curdling scream as she scrambles to her feet, jumping between Kingsten and me.

A sharp pain stabs me in my left side, forcing me to drop to my knees. They land heavily to the ground as I look up at Kingsten.

He’s standing with his arm stretched out, eyes narrowed pointedly at me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much hatred and vitriol pouring out of someone.

Black dots ebb the corners of my vision before I’m falling to my side. My hand flies to my ribs, and warm liquid seeps through my fingers. Shakily, I remove my hand and look down to see it dripping with crimson blood.

Another shot rings out, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from. For a moment, I worry Kingsten has shot Julianna, too. But she’s suddenly in front of me, cradling my head in her lap. Her hand lands on my ribs, pressing hard to stop the bleeding.

“L-Lark,” I pant, gasping for air. It stings and burns, every breath I draw in more painful than the last. I squeeze my eyes shut before I force them open.

“I’m here, Rome,” Julianna cries, her tears dropping onto my cheeks.

“Well… shit… Lark,” I choke out, looking into her blue eyes. Will this be the last time I get the pleasure of seeing them? “You finally get your wish.”

“What wish?” Her brows pinch together.

“My death… bringing you… peace.” I try to let out a small chuckle, but that shit hurts. I grunt, pressing my hand to my ribs over Julianna’s.

Fresh tears fill her eyes. “Rome Sebastian Montgomery,” she scolds. “I lied. Your death would not bring me peace, you fucking asshole, and you arenotdying.”

She looks up and her head frantically turns on a swivel. “Marcus!” she cries. “Help!”

Marcus races over and falls beside me, his phone pressed to his ear.

“Hang on, sir.” He presses his free hand to my arm. “Just hold on.”