Page 6 of Precious Legacy

“The day you die,” she sneers.

I laugh at her words, the dark tone of it making her jolt. “You’d miss me too much, Presh.”

“That would mean I have feelings, Genovese,” she taunts. “And those disappeared the day you did.”

There’s a softness in her eyes despite her harsh words, and that’s when I notice it. There’s something hidden beneath the surface of them, beneath the hatred she feels for me. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but that only makes me want to dig deeper.

“You’ve changed,” I point out, leaning in to run my nose over hers. It’s something we always did when we were younger, something that deepened our connection in such an innocent way, yet I still cling to the gesture.

The way Alanis breathes in deeply tells me she feels it, too. “You changed me,” she replies bitterly, but I don’t miss the way her eyes soften. There’s a secret there, something she’s either unwilling to admit or is too painful to revisit. I know she’sstill mad I left, but I did it for her; to cement my place in the syndicate so I’d be in a position to protect her. She might not accept that, and maybe I would’ve done things differently if I could go back, but harboring a grudge for something I did when I was young and naïve is hardly fair. We’ve both grown up since then, and it’s safe to say we’re not the same people we were.

I knew she’d hate me for my decision to leave to help my dad, but this world isn’t unfamiliar to us. I could’ve probably handled that better, but we both knew it wouldn’t be forever. And it doesn’t detract from the fact that I’m here now and I’m willing to fix what’s been broken.

Unfortunately, the look on Alanis’ face tells me that’s going to be more difficult than I thought.

Pushing the errant strands of hair from her face, I lean down, but Alanis stops me with a press of her palm against my chest. “Don’t.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” she snaps, shouldering past me. “Just stay away from me, Roman.”

With those words, I watch her march into the bathrooms. I wish I could say that I’ll listen to her. Any other decent human being would accept her request. But then again, I never claimed to be a decent guy, and that’s not about to change.

THREE

The moment my apartment door closes behind me, I sink back against it and kick my heels off, brushing off the sound of them clattering against the floor. My exhale invades the silence and I smile to myself as I relax in my own space.Well, technically it’s mine now.I inherited it from my Aunt Lexie when I told her I wanted to move out. I don’t know why she held onto this apartment for so long, but I’m glad she did.

The place needs a bit of updating since it’s over twenty years old, but it’s home for me. I’ve made it my own and decorated it how I like, but my favorite part about this apartment is the peace and quiet. I don’t have anyone breathing down my neck or invading my privacy. I can come and go as I please without having to explain myself. It’s the freedom I’ve craved for so long. It was also the leap of independence I needed to get over what happened five years ago. I needed to find myself again, because the girl I was at eighteen was lost.

My mother understands why I’d want my own space, but my father, not so much. He still thinks my moving out was an act of rebellion, and while he’s partially right, it’s so much morethan that. Dad insisted I live with my brother, saying I needed the protection. Little does he know that evil doesn’t always approach from unfamiliarity. Sometimes evil just is.

I shudder at the past memories, trying to evoke happier ones. Times when I wasn’t such a naïve girl, desperate for someone who didn’t really care for me at all.

Just being around Roman tonight was exhausting. I don’t even want to think about what it would be like living with my twin brother and having to deal with his best friend on a regular basis. I’m hardly able to avoid Roman in public settings, let alone in the confines of my brother’s apartment. I can barely stand looking at the man. All I can think about when my eyes land on him is what he did—what happened after he left and everything in between. It’s not just the bitter taste the memories leave on my tongue, but the scars he left on my young heart. When he promised he’d never leave me, then did exactly that the very next morning. When he told me we were forever, but he walked away nonetheless. Those are the memories that motivate my distaste for him and this life, forging impenetrable walls to prevent myself getting hurt all over again.

I should have known that Roman would see through the armor I wore, the walls I built to protect myself. But he should have known better than to think I’d spill all my reasons for hating him; for what happened the night he left. I could’ve forgiven him for leaving, eventually. But the night Roman left was one of the darkest moments in my life. I’ve worked hard to bury the past, locking away the memories so deep in my mind that they remain untouched. Roman brings out the worst in me because he’s a constant reminder of them. He makes me mad, manic, a complete idiot brimming with venom and spit. Yet I’m so utterly tethered to him that I hate not only him, but myself, too.

It’s like whenever we’re in the same vicinity, all the air and my sense of rationality is sucked out of the room. I try to avoid him as much as possible, though he always seems intent on finding me. There’s just something about him I’m always drawn to. Even tonight, I couldn’t take my eyes off him, as much as I wanted to. But then I wanted to hurt him like he hurt me. I wanted him to feel every facet of my anger.

I might hate the asshole, but there are moments when he’s not around that I find myself remembering what it was like when we were kids; the good times before everything fell apart.Before I fell apart. And then he reminds me why I hate him.

Making my way to the bedroom, I push the image of those crystal blue eyes out of my mind and shrug out of my dress. I let the satin material slip down my body, pooling at my feet in a puddle of red fabric. I step out of it and run through the motions of getting ready for bed, throwing on an old t-shirt and unclipping my gun from its holster on my thigh before sliding it under my pillow.

It’s the only protection I need.

As I slide into bed, my mind reels over tonight’s events.

The way Roman’s eyes never left me all night. The way his hands roamed my body as we danced tooursong. The way my body betrayed me when he ran his hands over my skin.

I hate that I can’t control myself around him, no matter how hard I try. It doesn’t matter that our past is fractured, barely glued back together by my own attempt to heal. Somehow, Roman has stolen a fragment of my shattered heart, and no matter what I do, I can’t find a way to reclaim it.

I shake my head, grumbling to myself as I cocoon beneath the covers and pull them up to my chin. It’s only two in the morning. I could have stayed out a lot later, but with all the dancing Haven and I were doing, my body is aching for sleep. Though with the way my mind won’t quiet, I doubt I’ll be gettingmuch. Still, I close my eyes and try to lose myself to the blanket of darkness.

I inhale deeply, letting my body sink into the mattress. Exhaling loudly, I finally let my exhaustion wrap around me. And just when I feel like the world is falling away, I hear it.

It’s just a creak of the floorboards, a potentially innocent sound in the dead of night. But as soon as I hear the telltale sound of my bedroom door opening, I slide my hand under my pillow until I feel the brush of cold metal against my fingertips.

The bed dips and a familiar scent reaches me, hitting me like a freight train. I roll over swiftly, swinging my leg for momentum and pinning my assailant beneath me. My thighs straddle his waist as I thrust the barrel of my gun under his chin, but there’s no fear in his eyes, just smug satisfaction.

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