I tipped my head back to meet his gaze, my pulse a wild throb in my throat. “We could keep it a secret until the election, and then…” I drifted off, unsure. I didn’t have all the answers, damn it. “And then, we’ll find a way to tell my family.”
“You’d lose them.”
“Not necess?—”
“Mia,” he cut me off. “You’d. Lose. Them. Maybe not forever. But for a while. And no matter what I think about your dad, it’s obvious you love him. That would be the price you’d have to pay to be with me.”
He stared at me, as if trying to make sure his words were sinking in.
They were.
And maybe he was right.
But I wasn’t going to lose faith. Just because something seemed impossible, didn’t mean it wasn’t worth fighting for.
“And what would you get in exchange?” he continued, his eyes burning into mine. “I’m fucking defective, Mia. I’ve got this thing in me that makes me bad for people. It always happens.Always. I ruin their lives. I fuck things up.”
My mind raced. What was he talking about? “I don’t understand.”
He touched his forehead to mine, a heavy sigh spilling past his lips. “I’m bad for you, baby. So fucking bad.”
My instinct was to soothe him. I brushed my fingers over his cheek before settling them on his chest. His heart was pounding beneath my palm. He stared at me, his gaze like a dark abyss, filled with self-loathing.
Whatever Romolo thought about himself was obviously distorted. I knew it wasn't the whole truth. He wasn't the villain he painted himself as, at least not with me.
My thumb brushed over his cheekbone. “Rom, you can’t predict the future, or what will?—"
He swiped my hand away and took two steps back, dragging his fingers through his hair in clear frustration. “I saw Harper.”
“What?” I asked, disoriented. “When?”
“Just now. Downstairs. She told me how everything fell apart for her after our fling. The end of which you witnessed at Messero’s party.”
A prickle of realization appeared at the back of my mind. So that’s what’d happened while I was gone.
His throat worked. “I don’t want to make your life fall apart too. You might not even see it coming, but one day, you’ll wake up in the midst of ruins and ashes. You’ll look around and realize, bone-deep, that you’d made a mistake choosing me. Then, you’ll want to leave.” He paused. “And here’s the thing, Mia.” His tone darkened. “Once you’re mine, I won’tletyou. If we cross this line, there’ll be nothing that can save you from me.”
A shiver ran down my spine. I shut my eyes and took a steadying breath. “What makes you think all these awful things about yourself? You haven’t been bad forme. You’ve made me stronger and more courageous. You’ve made me feel accepted and safe. Two months ago, I would have walked out of here the second you said we were over. And now, here I am, fighting for this. For us.”
He flinched, like I’d physically hurt him.
The silence in the room was loud.
A few beats passed before his shoulders sagged. It was as if all the tension, all the fight, had abruptly drained out of him, leaving him exhausted and empty.
“You want to know who I really am?” His voice was hoarse, no more than a rasp. “Fine. Here’s what I do for my family, Mia. I trade in secrets, favors, and threats. I manipulate people. Find their weaknesses. Dig into their lives until I find dirt. If I can’t find any?” A smile touched his lips, but there was no humor in it. It was a bleak, bitter thing. “I create it. And then I use it to make them serve the interests of the family, whatever those happen to be at the time.”
My heart raced. In politics, they had people like this too. Power brokers, fixers, men who operated in the shadows.
Yes, I could see it. I could see Romolo being that.
The photo of me he'd taken. The one I'd deleted from his phone that night in the Hamptons.
My chest tightened, a vise squeezing my lungs. That had been him trying to create dirt on me, to gain leverage over my father. But in the end... he hadn't used it. He'd let me erase it.
I pushed off the wall and took a step toward him. “You could have ruined me ten times over by now. But you haven’t. Don’t you see? You’re different with me. I trust you.”
"Stop." He held up a hand. "Stop trying to find good in me where there isn't any."
