Page 44 of Born Free

I shake my head. “I don’t think so either.”

“I assume Roman is watching him like a hawk?”

“Probably,” I say, letting out a breath. “Honestly, I’ve just kind of tried to forget that he’s even back. So, moving on. Where is Jon?”

She smiles at just the mention of his name. “He’s at the Nocturne. I mentioned the idea of renovating the upper floors into living spaces, and he was all over it. He’s been over there planning and taking measurements.”

I stand. “I think I should go see him. It would be good for us to have a little talk.”

Elena stands too, and kisses my cheek, pulling me in for a brief hug. “Thank you, babe. I love you.”

I roll my eyes at her and head toward the door. “I love you, too. Get a dress. We’re having a send-off party for Orlando and the House tomorrow. He says he’ll leave now, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Well, that’s the second-best news I’ve heard all day,” she says, a tentative but hopeful smile on her lips.

I call a goodbye and walk out the door. The elevator plunges me down through the center of Godfrey Tower and lets me out at ground level.

I stop into a shop on my way to the Nocturne and pick up a new dress. It’s a crushed velvet, emerald green affair, one that hugs my curves in all the right ways. I have some black heels at home I’ll pair with it.

I try not to linger on imagining the look that will be in Roman’s eyes when he sees me in it.

I finish my walk to the Nocturne and use my key to open the door.

Some part of me expected to hear hammers going and saws ripping through wood when I walk through the doors. But I don’t hear anything other than the faint sound of breathing on the upper floor. I leave my bag by the door and climb the stairs.

Finally, I reach the top floor, and there, I find Jon standing at a table with huge pieces of paper in front of him that I realize is an old blueprint of this building.

His eyes flick up to mine, and there isn’t any hesitation when he crosses the space and wraps his arms around me, hugging so tight I’d be bruised if I were human.

“It took everything I had not to rip Orlando’s throat right out when we realized what had happened,” Jon says, his voice a low growl.

“Just another day in the life of Juliet Doe,” I say, shrugging as much as I’m able, considering how tightly he’s holding me.

There’s a noise in the back of his throat, low and angry. “You know you don’t have to keep going by Doe. In fact, I wish you wouldn’t. Just the name is a painful reminder of what was taken from us.”

I let him go and look into his eyes. I’d never really thought of that. I nod. “I’m definitely not emotionally attached to it, if anything, I kind of hate it, because you’re right, it’s a constant reminder. But Juliet Bonny just doesn’t have the right ring to it.”

“But Juliet De Luca sure does,” he says as he arches an eyebrow at me, a light smirk on his lips.

“You and Elena need to knock that off,” I say firmly, though I’m fighting a chuckle. “It is way, way too early to even think in that direction. I still have whiplash that the man I thought hated me endlessly is someone I unknowingly fell in love with.”

Jon chuckles. “Give it time. I’ve only known the man for two months. He’s got that darkness in him I’ve seen before. But it’s the good kind. The kind that makes him make decisions for the greater good, not just for himself.”

It’s true. I’ve never thought of it that way. Roman has always made decisions that are for the greater good of everyone around him. Sebastian made decisions that benefited what he wanted, no matter if they hurt those around him.

Their darkness is not the same.

“Look, I just wanted to come here and tell you that I’m not going to have a problem with you and Elena being together if that’s what you want,” I say, jumping right into it.

“You’re sure?” he asks, looking up at me from beneath his eyelashes. “I don’t want this to hurt you. I loved your mother with everything I had in me. I’ve loved her for a long, long time. And I’ll never stop.”

I nod. I don’t know if I can really understand, but I’m doing a lot of emotional growing and stretching in the past hour, all for the sake of people I love. “I know. It’s more just… you’re so old.”

He barks a laugh, exactly what I was going for. “Forever thirty, Juliet. I’m physically only two years older than you. Let’s keep a little perspective.”

I scrunch my nose. “Well, physically, Elena is only twenty-five, and you died over 250 years ago. You’re basically an ancient bag of bones.”

He scoffs and shakes his head as his eyes rise to the ceiling. But he’s just as entertained as I am, and it’s such a relief that we have this in common, the need to diffuse difficult situations with sarcasm and teasing.

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