Chapter 344: Vulnerable

CHAPTER 345

ROMEO POV

Shock was the first thing I felt as my hand remained suspended in the air where it had been around her neck only seconds ago.

I stared at it as though it belonged to someone else before my eyes returned to her.

Katya.

She was lying beneath me, completely still. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes wide as they remained fixed on mine.

For several seconds, neither of us moved. My mind struggled to catch up with what my body had done. The last thing I remembered was darkness.

A voice. Someone begging. Then… Nothing. My gaze dropped to her neck. The faint marks my fingers had left there made something cold settle inside my chest. I pulled myself away from her immediately.

What the hell had I done? I sat on the edge of the bed, dragging a hand over my face as fragments of the nightmare came rushing back.

A dark cell. My father and I chained into chairs. A door opening. Three figures entering. My mother screaming. Pregnant and terrified.

Her hands reaching toward me while I fought against the restraints, unable to reach her. And that same word I’d been whispering over and over.

Please.

My jaw tightened. I hated dreams like this. I hated what they dragged back with them. But more than that, I hated that someone had seen me like this.

Vulnerable. Out of control. Afraid. I lowered my hand and stared at the floor.

I could still feel the warmth of her skin beneath my palm. The realization made my stomach twist.

I’d nearly hurt her. Again. A strange silence settled over the room.

I expected her to move. To get off the bed. To run. To look at me with the same fear I’d seen in her eyes countless times before.

Instead, I felt the mattress shift slightly behind me. I didn’t turn. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. My breathing remained uneven. I forced myself to inhale slowly, trying to drag my mind completely back into the present.

The villa. My room. The bed beneath me. There was no chains. No cell. No screaming.

It was over. Years had passed. It was only a nightmare. A faint movement came beside me and something warm touched my cheek.

My entire body went still. Katya’s fingertips rested cautiously against the side of my face. I turned my head slowly.

She was looking at me. Not with fear this time. Something else. Something I didn’t know how to name. Her eyes dropped briefly toward my cheek before returning to mine.

I almost pulled away. Almost until I noticed her expression change. Her brows drew together. Her lips parted slightly.

She looked confused. My gaze followed hers. Only then did I feel it. Something warm had slipped down the side of my face. I reached up instinctively and touched my cheek.

My fingers came away damp. I stared at them, not understanding what I was seeing.

Tears. I hadn’t even realized I’d been crying. I looked away immediately. The embarrassment came first, followed closely by anger.

I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand, almost roughly, as though I could erase the evidence before she saw another drop.

But she had already seen. I heard the faint movement of her hand again. Before I could stop her, her fingertips returned to my cheek.

This time, more gently. I looked at her. She didn’t say anything. Neither did I.

For once, words felt useless.

Her hand remained there for only a few seconds, but somehow those seconds felt longer than they should have. I didn’t understand why she was doing it.

After everything I’d done to frighten her, after everything she’d had to endure because of me, I couldn’t understand why she was still sitting there.

Why she hadn’t run.

Why she was looking at me as though I were something other than the man everyone had learned to fear.

I caught her wrist gently and lowered her hand. “Go.” The word came out quieter than I intended.

Katya didn’t move. I kept my eyes on the floor, refusing to look at her again. Her presence suddenly felt too loud in the silence of the room. Her breathing. The shift of the mattress. The warmth still lingering where her fingers had touched my face.

I needed her gone. “Katya,” I said, forcing my voice to remain steady. “Go back to your room.”

She hesitated. I could feel her staring at me. I didn’t trust myself at the moment.

The room was still dark enough that I could barely make out her expression. Moonlight slipped through the curtains, catching the edge of her face but leaving most of it in shadow.

It was better this was as she couldn’t see me properly. She couldn’t see the weakness I was trying desperately to bury under the mask that wasn’t even on my face. Fuck.

I finally lifted my head up, my jaw tight and aching from how much I was clenching it.

“I said Go.” Still, she didn’t move. Something inside me snapped. “Katya.” My voice softened again.

“Please leave.” That finally made her shift. She slowly climbed off the bed. I watched her from the corner of my eye as she stood beside it, uncertain.

For one ridiculous second, I almost told her to stay.

The thought disgusted me.

Stay?

Why?

So she could watch me fall apart?

So she could see what existed underneath the man everyone feared? No. I had spent years making sure no one saw that man.

Especially not her. She took one step toward the door. Then stopped. I didn’t look at her.

“Go,” I repeated. The door opened quietly. Then she was gone. The moment it clicked shut, the room became unbearably silent.

I leaned forward, resting my elbows against my knees. My hands curled together.

Breathe. I dragged in a slow breath. The nightmare was gone. The cell was gone. My mother’s voice was gone. But my mind refused to settle.

Instead, it began wandering somewhere darker. My fingers moved unconsciously toward my face.

The scar. I stopped. For years, I’d hated anyone touching that side of my face.

I’d hated mirrors. Photographs. Questions. Pity. Most of all, pity. My fingertips hovered near the burn scar beside my left eye before I pulled my hand away.

The memories I’d buried beneath years of anger began pushing their way back.

My stomach twisted.

I need to kill someone.

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