Who was this? It was more than a transformation. It was as if I’d never known him at all.
“What do you want me to say, Roman?”
He winced when I said his name. As if I’d reached out and slapped him. So maybe he could still feel something.
“I want you to say you’re fucking sorry,” he snarled.
I reeled back. “Sorry?”
“Yeah, bitch. You took everything from me. My money. My house. My goddamned kid.”
I gaped at him, shock sweeping through me in nonstop waves. “Your addiction did that. Your choices.”
Roman’s hand snaked out so fast, I didn’t have a prayer of blocking it. His palm cracked across my cheek so hard I tasted blood. The coppery tang filled my mouth as I doubled over, trying to breathe through the pain.
“Ever think I needed the drugs just to be able to live withyou?”
I focused on my breathing—in through my nose, out through my mouth. I spat blood onto the stone floor of the barn, strands ofhay scattered across it. All I could see was how Luca’s face lit up as Arden led him around the ring on one of her horse’s backs. The way Cope curved his arm around me as we watched, our boy so happy. And that’s what he was.
Ours.
He wasn’t Roman’s. Not anymore. Roman didn’t have that right.
I forced myself to straighten, even as my head swam. I met the stranger’s dark-brown eyes. “You never deserved us. Me or Luca.”
Roman grinned then, revealing yellowed teeth clearly in need of a dentist. “Oh, and your precious hockey player does?”
I squared my shoulders. I wouldn’t cower. Never again. Not to the men Roman worked with and certainly not to him. “Yes. Cope is more of a man than you will ever be. He’s been more of a father to Luca than you ever were.”
Roman’s grip on the gun tightened, and his breathing grew ragged. “We’ll see about that. See if you still love the prick after I drain his fucking bank account.”
I stilled. Was that what this was? Still all about money and nothing more. “That’s all you’ll ever care about, isn’t it? How to get that next fix?”
“I care about what’s mine,” he snapped. “You bled me dry, and now I’m going to do the same to your pimp here.”
“How?” It was a simple question and should’ve been easy enough to answer, but I had a sinking feeling it wouldn’t be.
Roman’s jaw worked back and forth, annoyance flaring there. “He’s gonna wire it. Twenty mil. His bank to the one I set up in Mexico. That’s what you’re here for. A little motivation.” He held up the phone, showing me the text he’d sent to Cope from my device.
My stomach cramped. Was Roman really this far gone? So past living in reality that he didn’t remember that banks put limits on those sorts of things? He might get a couple hundred thousand, but millions? It wasn’t even possible.
But worse, Cope was on his way. Headed straight here because I was in danger, and that’s what he did. Ran in with no thought to his safety, only caring about mine.
“I see it’s all coming together for the little blue-eyed bitch. But not all of it.” Roman lifted the gun, pointing it directly at my head. “Because the moment that transfer goes through, I’m giving you both what you deserve. A bullet in the brain. Maybe I’ll even grab the kid on the way out just for shits and giggles.”
And there’d be nothing I could do to stop him. Not if I didn’t run right now.
53
COPE
Everythingin me had gone numb. Except for my heart. Panic and fear were currently shredding it to dust, pulverizing it because someone had Sutton. They’d taped her mouth, zip-tied her hands, and God knew what else.
I swallowed the panic rising in my throat as I turned to my mom. “Hey, can you get Luca a sandwich while I go help Sutton with something?”
Mom gave me a puzzled look. “Are you sure? I?—”
“I’m sure,” I cut her off.
