Page 314 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“Yeah, I’m going for a run. Give you a chance to, ah, bond some more with Romo,” he says with a wink.

My face flushes with heat and I manage a weak smile. “I’ll let Roman know.”

Dante chuckles, shaking his head. “Oh, so you’re his assistant now, too?”

I shrug. “I think it’s written somewhere in the employment contract I signed.”

“Nice. Don’t ever lose that sense of humor, Marchella,” Dante quips. “Especially if you’re gonna be hanging around my brother. Trust me, you’ll need it.”

“Thanks for the tip,” I murmur, the hot flush now flooding my insides as he turns to open the front door.

I stare at the door as it slams closed behind him, almost in a trance until reality smacks me in the face.

All good things come to an end.

No matter what I think or feel or want.

Mama, Papa, my career, Princess, Bella…Jesus, it’s a depressing list.

And I’m only twenty-four!

I lean my head back, expelling a loud sigh. “I’m so tired of losing, Bella,” I whisper. “When the hell is it going to end?”

Roman clears his throat behind me and I gasp, twisting around at the intruding sound. “You scared me,” I yelp.

He runs a hand through his hair, avoiding my eyes. He obviously heard what I said, although he chooses to ignore it as he grabs a bottle of water from the fridge.

Maybe he thinks it was a rhetorical question.

I guess it was, but only because I don’t have a freaking answer myself.

I stare at his back as he guzzles it down before tossing the empty into a recycling container under the sink.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

He shrugs, still unable…or unwilling…to look at me. “Yeah.”

A stab of rejection slices into my heart. “Is there any reason why you insist on keeping your back turned?”

His spine stiffens and he slowly rotates so I can see the hardened expression on his face. The gaze that melted away my inhibitions such a short time ago is now sharp and cold.

Completely void of emotion.

“Did something happen with your brother?” I ask, gathering Bella into my arms and hugging her tight against me as if she’s the only thing that can shield me from the apparent stranger in front of me.

“Yeah,” he rasps, narrowing his eyes at me. “Something happened.”

I pull my lips into a tight line, trying desperately to calm my galloping heart. “What’s going on here, Roman?” I ask. “You left me and everything was fine. Now you’re looking at me like you want me dead.” I swallow hard. “What changed?”

His lips twist into a grimace. “Nothing!” he bellows, stalking past me toward the living room. Then he stops short and spins around, glowering at me. “No, you know what? There is something. See, all the bullshit you fed me about seeing something deeper inside of me, someone who’s good and soft and all that crap?” He stomps back toward the kitchen table. “That’s not who I really am,” he says in a choked voice. “It may be what you want to believe, but it’s not who you really see. It can’t be! Because I’m not any of that!”

I recoil as he shouts those last words, turning around and fisting his hair as he stalks past the coffee table. “I’m the guy who needs to be in control, Chella! I’m the guy who gets things done, no matter what the cost!” He gets right in my face, his teeth clenched, his forehead pinched. “I’m the one who people have to count on,” he growls, jabbing himself in the chest with his thumb. “Me! And that guy doesn’t have the luxury of being good! If I snooze on my work, if I don’t do what’s expected of me, I fucking fail and everything crumbles. Do you understand that?”

My mouth drops open because whomever this guy is, he’s most definitely not the guy I spent the night with…the guy I thought I might actually be falling for by some bizarre twist of fate. It takes me a second to process his words, just enough time for my stomach to knot like a giant pretzel. I watch him collapse onto the couch cushion, his head dropping into his hands, and I’m still shocked into silence.

Bella wiggles around in my arms until I finally lean down and let her leap out of them. She trots right over to where Roman is sitting and hops up onto the couch next to him, resting her head on his leg. My eyes widen. The guy is like a ticking time bomb right now. I don’t know if it’s such a great idea for Bella to be in the line of fire?—

That’s when he reaches over to stroke the top of her head with the same gentleness he displayed when we were together.

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