Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Rocco’s eyes flicked back and forth between mine as if he saw it. “Yes . . . come on.”
But then that desire was washed away by reality. “The only reason he let me go was because I gave him my word. And my word only meant something because I always keep it. I can’t break it now.”
He released a frustrated sigh.
“He said if I ever came back, he wouldn’t just kill Aurelia and Medusa, but everyone I’ve ever known and loved. That means my mom, my sister, my cousins, my aunts and uncles . . . my entire line. I know you think I’m a coward for refusing to return, but I have to protect my own first.”
He bowed his head and released another frustrated sigh. He dug his hands deep into his hair and his scalp before he abruptly dropped his arms. Then he looked at me again, his eyes furious. “Con, he can’t kill your family if you kill him first. We hit him hard and put his bones in the ground, and everyone wins.”
“The second he knows I’m in Rome, he’ll make good on his promise.”
“Where’s the man I knew?” he snapped. “The man who’s never even fucking blinked when a gun was pressed to his head.”
“The gun isn’t pointed at me, Rocco. It’s pointed at my wife. At my child. At my mom and my dog. If it were just me, then we both know I wouldn’t give a damn. You seriously don’t understand that? I thought you liked Aurelia.”
“I do like her,” he said. “I liked that she accepted you completely and was willing to support you in your reign. That she understood the risks of loving an emperor and chose to stay. I liked that she was fucking brave. But now, she won’t let you leave—”
“It’s not her.” I didn’t want to disclose this to him, not when it would just make him hate me more, if that was possible. “She told me she would hide and let me finish this. She’s always been supportive of me, even though I know Darius scared her to death. I’m the one who chooses to stay, Rocco.”
Disappointment filled his gaze.
“What kind of father would I be if I left?”
“You aren’t a father yet—”
“Something else you won’t understand until it happens to you, Rocco. My life was forever and irrevocably changed the instant I knew she was pregnant. I’m not a son or a brother or a friend anymore. First and foremost, I’m a father. It’s primal and instinctive, and it would go against my very essence to risk the child I haven’t even met yet. I can’t do it, Rocco.”
His arms crossed over his chest, and he bowed his head slightly.
“I don’t understand why you need me anyway, Rocco.”
He lifted his chin slightly and looked at me again.
“I know you can do this.”
He gave a slight shake of his head. “You don’t get it, man.”
I was too afraid to ask exactly what I didn’t get.
“Grow a pair and turn on the fucking news, Con. Maybe then you’ll fucking get it.” He tapped his fingers against his temple hard enough that I could hear the thud of his fingertips. “Most of our men are either dead or they’ve fled—or they’ve joined him. It’s me and a few others, with Barsetti’s military and police. But it’s fucking complicated because Darius has his hands in the Senate now, and he’s threatening and bribing everyone left and right. Policies are changing. Did you know he’s stripping people of their universal health care? And you want to know why? Because he wants tariffs from the gangs and the government. He wants the citizens of his country to pay him to destroy their republic. Tourists have fled, hotels are vacant, motorbikes aren’t on the street anymore. Never in my life have I ever described Rome this way—but it’s fucking quiet.”
It killed me to hear all of that, but I still didn’t know what the solution would be. “It sounds like this is bigger than one person, Rocco.”
“You don’t understand why people left?” he asked incredulously. “It’s because they lost all hope when their emperor skipped town. When the person who’d transformed Rome into a goddamn legacy ran off in exile. Not just the men who served the Roman Republic, but the police who felt protected under your regime, the Senate who never had to battle corruption because no one was dumb enough to try. Perhaps you don’t fully understand the impact you had on everything and everyone in that city—but it was fucking massive. I still believe in the Roman Republic.” He patted his palm against his chest. “I still believe in everything we stood and fought for. I will fight for it until it kills me—and in all honesty, it probably will kill me. And that’s okay because there are things worth dying for, and this is one of them. So don’t be surprised if this is the last time we ever see each other . . . because I know Darius is coming for me, and it’s only a matter of time before he finds me.”