Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
It was soft but lethal.
“I’m Finnian,” I said. “I met your sister during the plane crash.”
Romeo’s head whipped back toward his sister.
“Please tell me you weren’t in said plane crash,” he begged.
He actually sounded sick to his stomach.
Not that I could blame him.
I was in it with her, and if I could have, I would’ve wished her safely at home despite how she’d helped me stay alive.
“Unfortunately, I can’t,” she admitted. “I was in the plane crash. Then the tornado that followed.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it, stunned silent.
“I’m okay, Romeo,” she promised. “See? No injuries whatsoever. He got a sliver of wood through his leg, but that was the worst of it.”
“But I thought everyone died?” he eventually asked.
“Not everyone,” I admitted. “The news, thankfully, kept it quiet due to my status as a state representative.”
“Well, at least there’s that.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re a politician?”
“Not anymore,” I confessed. “I made the decision when we were falling from the sky. I wouldn’t be going back to Washington after that. There’s too much bullshit going on there that makes my quality of life abysmal.” I looked over at the woman beside me. “And Washington, DC, is too far away from her.”
Dru’s breath hitched.
“Drusilla Noel Rossi, are you about to tell me that you’ve fallen in love with some wanker in a week?”
Dru cleared her throat. “Three-naming me, Romeo Orion Rossi? Really?”
His lips twitched, which didn’t soften his features an inch.
He lifted his hands, and the clink of the handcuffs and chain settling on the table momentarily stole my attention before he said, “I just want you to be happy. If it’s with some rich bitch politician, I’m okay with that. What I’m not okay with is you trauma bonding with someone and not thinking things through.”
“I’ve thought things through.” She blew out a breath. “I’ve thought a lot.” She looked over at me then. “He stepped in with Daniella.”
I could feel Romeo looking over at me, but I held Dru’s eyes for a long second before she looked back over at her brother. “He blocked them. And then removed my numbers from their phones so they can’t contact me anymore. He also did something to where Mom and Dad can still call me when they want, but my phone number’s not listed in their phones so they can’t give my number out anymore. I think…” She hesitated. “I think I’m done now, Romie.”
Romeo grinned then, and it completely transformed his entire face. “Fuckin’ finally.”
The next half hour was spent talking about what had gone down with Dru’s sister and aunt, and by the end of the discussion, Romeo was angry right along with me.
“I don’t know what everyone’s utter devotion is to Daniella. I seriously don’t. She’s been doing this for years, making it uncomfortable for everyone. Do you remember when she started stalking my high school girlfriend’s brother?”
“Yeah,” she groaned. “You loved her with your whole heart and they had to move to escape her craziness.”
I sensed a story there, but never expected Romeo to explain, but he surprised me.
“When I was seventeen, I met a new girl at school on her first day. She was one of the prettiest girls I’d ever seen, and she was the nerdiest book girl I’d ever had the pleasure of meeting. She was instantly a target, because all of the popular girls saw competition instead of friends. I broke up a verbal fight between a few of the girls and Jessamy in the hallway that first day, and I was sunk. The only problem was, Jessamy had a younger brother, Ramsey. Ramsey was really good-looking, just like her, and my sister sank her claws in the moment that they met. At first, it was just a small obsession. But eventually, Ramsey met another girl at another school that he really liked, and he no longer wanted to have anything to do with Daniella. Daniella freaked the fuck out—not that she ever really had him—and started to stalk him. Thousands of calls and texts a day. Showing up at his house at random times. Seriously obsessive stuff, and Jessamy was ordered not to see me anymore.”
I hissed in a breath.
You could tell that this still bothered him.
“He searched high and low for her after she left. When he had his own money, he hired a private investigator to try to find her. But he was never able to find her,” she explained. “Daniella eventually moved on to her next conquest, but brother dearest here never recovered. I think him still loving Jessamy was the reason he married his ex.”
Romeo didn’t say anything, but I had a feeling that was true.
My brain was already working, and I knew that as soon as I got home, I would be spending some time on my computer trying to find her.