Top Dog

I panned my gaze over to his and watched him stab at his broccoli.

He was cool. Collected. Calm. Like the lifestyle he had chosen didn’t even bother him.

He was the father of my child and looking at him now made me want to cry.

“I’m so disappointed in you,” I said.

“I can see that,” Romeo said.

“I thought you were better than that. Than all of this. Did those late-night conversations mean nothing to you?”

“We were clueless children, Julia. You knew from the beginning my rightful place was where I’m sitting now.”

“Not when we were talking at two in the morning and you were professing your love to me. You serenaded me with lies about running off and being together. Lies I clung to. Lies that kept me going during the years we were apart. During the months I was pregnant. During the sleepless nights with Matteo and the screaming and the teething and the diapers and the constant fear that someone would make him a target”

I looked around to see if anyone was listening.

“We’re safe,” Romeo said coolly. “I made certain you were looked after all those years we were apart.”

And that was when I became painfully aware of the position I had been put in. Not only was I with Romeo, but I was also with his goons. Men employed to protect him.

“What do you mean I was safe all those years?” I asked.

“I had to be certain of your safety. I had eyes and ears on you” he said flatly.

“You mean you spied on me.” I said. What now? Are your men going to stop me if I try to leave?” I asked.

“You’re free to go whenever you want,” he said. “But I am going to see my son.”

“Not as long as you’re the head of the Martine family, you won’t.”

“You can’t keep me from him any longer. I have as much of a right to that boy as you do.”

“That ‘boy’ is a privilege,” I said. “And you lost it when you thought you could delve into the bloodied affairs of the family business and still keep your hands clean enough to stroke your son’s cheek.”

His eyes were icy. The warmth of his blue embers faded into a dim light I’d only seen one other time. I rolled my shoulders back and prepared myself for a fight. I wasn’t sitting here one more second than I needed to. This man wasn’t going to lay a hand on my son, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to demand he see him out of some right of being a sperm donor.

I felt foolish for agreeing to meet up with Romeo. I should have known the discussion would go south. I’d foolishly hoped that Romeo hadn’t known about his son but it was wishful thinking. Even so, I could never agree to his request to meet Matteo.

He made his decision. He knew how I felt about getting out. He knew that was my goal.

He made his choice, and it was time for me to make mine.

I stood from the booth and watched as six men stood up around me. My eyes locked hard onto Romeo’s face and he held up his hand, signaling his air-headed assholes to stand down.

“I thought you said I was free to go.”

“You know how they operate,” Romeo said.

I scoffed and shook my head as I backed away from the table.

“Are you sure you aren’t hungry?”

“No, this whole conversation has ruined my appetite,” I said.

“Pity. I was hoping to bask in your beauty a bit longer.”

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere.”