My Dark Romeo: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romance(102)
That sounded like the Madison I’d grown to know and dislike in Potomac.
It also sounded like my ex-fiancé was the first to initiate this war between them. The hatred burned with a never-ending flame.
“What did he find out?” I swallowed hard, dreading the answer.
Romeo’s eyes met mine, dead and cold. “Not much he could work with but plenty to embarrass me. Morgan never cared about my business. Never wanted to know much about it. So, in order to cut a nice check for herself, she resorted to telling him my secrets. My fears. My…complex childhood.” His nostrils flared. A faraway look curtained his face. “She did something far uglier than giving him trade secrets. She told him my weaknesses and how to use them.”
“Where is she now?” Part of me didn’t want to know. I was liable to make the trip and strangle her myself.
“Norway.” His lazy tenor told me not to ask any more questions regarding the why and the how. “Working a retail job and keeping her nose out of my business. She is not doing brilliantly. Still single. She spent the money Madison gave her within weeks of our breakup, so no sound investments were made, either.”
“Do you think you’ll ever see her again?”
He shook his head. “She is dead to me, and she knows it.”
“Then, there’s no reason for her to remain there. You need to let her come back to America.”
“No.”
“Yes. You can hate someone for all the right reasons and still wrong them. Revenge is the act of stooping as low as the person who hurt you.”
He stared at me miserably. “Loathing you was so much easier when I thought you were silly.”
Silence blanketed the room.
Surprisingly, I didn’t have many questions to ask. Only one, really.
Everything else was crystal clear. His motivations. His desires.
“This all happened years ago,” I pointed out. “Why did you take me as a wife just now?”
“A few reasons.” He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear absentmindedly. “First, I’m now the CFO of Costa Industries, within reach of CEO. Senior is seriously ill and will step down any day now. And you and Madison only recently made the engagement official to the general public. I was unaware of your existence until the week we met. Plus, for the longest time, I couldn’t tolerate the idea of having a woman by my side, even as decoration. Time dulled the anger, but it did not cloud the memory.”
I pulled away from him. “That all women are the same?”
He shook his head. “No, my precious Shortbread. That once broken, a heart can never mend. Function—yes. But you cannot repair something that is already in pieces.”
I didn’t agree with him. Then again, my heart had never been broken. Although, currently, it felt like it treaded dangerously close to this territory.
“So, now you know.” He collected our glasses, standing. “Why I hated seeing you parade yourself in front of Senior. Why he touched you to make a point to me—that you were fair game, too. Why I’ll never have children.”
He left no room for negotiation.
No room for thought.
I studied him from my spot on the rug, realizing he’d given me exactly what I wanted—the truth—and that it didn’t get me any closer to defrosting his heart.
If anything, the mission seemed more impossible than ever.
“I will never love you, Dallas Costa. For that, I am truly sorry. Because you are certainly worthy of love.”
Zach Sun
Is it just me, or have we not seen Rom in weeks now?
Ollie vB
It’s not just you.
He’s been busy with his sweetheart.
Zach Sun
Detroit?
Romeo Costa
@ZachSun, you are aware that this joke was not funny the first time around, let alone the fiftieth, right?
Ollie vB
There you are, sunshine.
Where’d you disappear?
Romeo Costa
Life is hectic.
Ollie vB
Too hectic to join our annual pre-Christmas snowboarding vacation?
Romeo Costa
I’m afraid so.
Ollie vB
Lies.
You’re not afraid of anything.
Other than catching feels.
Zach Sun
@OllievB, can you hear the meows?
Ollie vB
Of @RomeoCosta, being pussy-whipped?
Yup.
Zach Sun
@OllievB, remember when Rom had his balls?
Ollie vB
@ZachSun, yeah.
They were beautiful.
When he ran, they’d clank against one another.