His Juliet: An Age Gap Hurt Comfort Mafia Romance (Empire of Royals Book 2)

Romeo left early this morning, but not before waking me up with sweet kisses that trailed down my body until he’d settled his head between my legs. Thank god my period had stopped a couple of days ago. He’d licked me until I’d come in a sleepy haze, unsure if I was still dreaming. Then he’d called me his good girl, kissed me on the forehead, and told me to go back to sleep.

I’d woken for real a few hours later, hating the empty bed. Being in the apartment alone felt eerie, and I couldn’t stop myself from tip-toeing around as I got ready for the day. Although the rainfall shower head was pretty magical, and there was unlimited hot water, unlike in my crappy apartment.

When I padded out to the kitchen, I found a bag of bagels on the counter and strawberry cream cheese in the fridge.

I blinked quickly. I was not about to cry over bagels.

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand as I put a bagel in Romeo’s fancy-ass toaster. I didn’t realize how cold my life had become, how devoid of love and care, until I was sitting in the kitchen of a man I’d only known for a couple of months, crying as I ate the breakfast he’d gotten me.

After eating, I wandered around the apartment for a while before settling on the couch. I wasn’t used to having so much free time. I tried reading, but my mind was going a mile a minute, and I couldn’t focus. Finally, I decided to turn on Mario Kart. Maybe I could actually get good while Romeo was gone.

We’d spent so much more time together the past week than we ever had, but somehow, I missed him even more now.

I didn’t know how much time had passed when there was a knock on the door. I immediately muted the video game and listened. There it was again.

My heart raced. Was I supposed to answer?

I quietly walked to the door and peered through the peephole to see the two women I’d met in the bookstore—Sienna and Sofiya. Sofiya, who I’d now pieced together was the same Sofiya married to Romeo’s boss, no longer sported her pregnant belly. The women were accompanied by Angelo and the other guy who had been with them that day.

I grabbed my phone and shot off a text to Romeo, desperately hoping I wasn’t interrupting something important.

Juliet

Hey I don’t mean to bother you but Sofiya, Sienna, Angelo, and another guy are at the door. Am I allowed to open it?

Romeo

Of course, baby. The other guy is Dante, Sienna’s guard

And you’re never a bother

I took a deep breath and opened the door.

“Hi!” Sofiya said. I peered around the hallway to see if her service dog was with her and was disappointed by his absence.

“I don’t know if you remember us,” Sienna started. “We were in the bookstore?”

“I remember,” I said.

“We’re sorry we visited on false pretenses. We knew Romeo was interested in you, so we were curious,” Sofiya said sheepishly.

“Oh.” My brain was still catching up to what was happening, but I was also dancing inside that Romeo had told them about me.

“And I’m sorry we couldn’t come to the book signing event. There have been some safety concerns with us leaving the apartment.” Sofiya’s nose wrinkled. “But we’re so excited you’re here. Romeo’s been hiding you away, so we had to pounce on our chance to get time with you.”

“Oh and these are our bodyguards, Angelo and Dante,” Sienna said.

My brow furrowed as I looked at Angelo. “I thought you worked for Empire Properties.”

The two women turned to stare at him, and I swore he actually blushed.

“Ahh, didn’t know how much you knew when I picked you up,” he mumbled.

Sienna rolled her eyes. “Empire Properties is a real company, but it mostly operates as a legitimate front for some of our other businesses.” Before I could piece together what her words meant, she continued. “We’re going down to the shooting range and were wondering if you might want to join us?”

I blinked. “Shooting range?”

“We have one on the lower floor and I teach classes,” Sofiya said. “Gotta make sure these guys don’t slack.” She gestured at the two large men behind her.

“Oh, I don’t know anything about guns,” I said.

“Sofiya’s a great teacher,” Sienna said, smiling. “We’d love to get to know you better, especially since I’m sure this is all a bit overwhelming. Mafia men don’t really understand the concept of boundaries. Us girls have to stick together.”

Mafia men.

Holy shit.

Hearing someone else utter the words, especially so casually, made it even more real. Not that I believed Romeo was lying, but part of me was still in denial.

Sofiya and Sienna looked genuinely excited to spend time with me, and I wanted that, too. But just the thought of leaving the apartment or using the elevator made it hard to breathe.

I tried to come up with a good excuse for why I couldn’t join them.

I have to prepare dinner. Yeah right, I can’t cook for shit.

I have to work. Uh huh. They know you work at the bookstore.

I have… baths to take. For fuck’s sake.

There was no good reason I couldn’t go downstairs with them except for the fact that I couldn’t go downstairs with them because I was a defective weirdo.

“I don’t like elevators,” I blurted out.

I was met with confused but kind expressions. Angelo eyed me carefully and then typed something on his phone.

“Oh,” Sofiya said. “That’s fair. A lot of people don’t like elevators.”

“Do you want to take the stairs instead? It’s like twenty floors, but we can get our steps in and meet Sofiya and Angelo down there.” Sienna shrugged, looking completely unfazed at the idea.

Could I take the stairs? It still required me to leave the safety of Romeo’s apartment and be around new people. And a cramped stairwell probably wouldn’t be much better than the enclosed elevator space.

Angelo grunted and stepped forward, holding out his phone.

I scrunched my eyebrows and took it, confusion filling me as I pressed it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey, angel.”

Romeo’s voice instantly soothed the tension in my chest. My breaths came easier as my shoulders dropped. The influence he had over me had to be some kind of sorcery.

“Hi,” I said again, like an idiot.

He chuckled, the sound warm and low. “Angelo said Sofiya and Sienna are inviting you to the gun range.”

“Yeah.” I turned so I wasn’t directly looking at them, although they were doing a great job of pretending not to pay attention to me.

“Do you want to go, baby?”

“Maybe.” My voice was a hoarse whisper. “But I’m scared of leaving the apartment.”

Romeo swore. “I should be there with you, but I’m upstate right now.”

“You can’t just stay here with me all day, every day. Besides, you’d get bored.”

“Fucking would not. Nothing about you is boring, especially not when I’m buried in that sweet pussy or you’re sleeping all sweet with your head in my lap.”

My cheeks burned, but I couldn’t stop my smile. “I really hope no one is around to hear what you’re saying.”

Romeo scoffed. “All they’d be hearing is how obsessed I am with my girl. Are the stairs better than the elevator?”

“Maybe.” My heart jolted at the thought. “But I’d still have to leave the apartment.”

“I love that you feel safe in your new place. But I don’t want you to be stuck in the apartment.”

My fingers tightened around the phone. “I know.” I wanted to be brave. I hated feeling so trapped in my mind.

“I have an idea,” he said. “Give the phone back to Angelo.”

I handed him the cell. He listened to whatever Romeo was saying and nodded.

“I’ll be right back,” he said to Dante. “You got them?”

He lifted his chin, leaving the three of them in the hallway, staring at me.

“Oh,” I said. “Um, do you want to come in?” I cringed at how rude I’d been just standing in the doorway.

“I was hoping you’d ask,” Sofiya said, a mischievous glint in her eye. “I’ve never been inside Romeo’s apartment, and I’m feeling nosy.”

That made me smile. I stepped aside so she could make her way inside with her wheelchair, Sienna and Dante following her.

“Oh, this is really nice,” Sofiya said, going straight to the kitchen. “Maybe we should go dark.”

“Oh my god, make up your mind.” Sienna’s tone was teasing as she looked at her friend with exasperation.

“We’re going to start renovating my kitchen soon,” Sofiya explained. “To make it wheelchair accessible. I have hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos so I can walk and sometimes use a rollator, but Matteo thinks it’s safer for me to use my chair in the kitchen since I cook and bake so much.”

“Which he’s correct about,” Dante said.

Sofiya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, doesn’t make him any less overbearing. Anyway, we have to finalize the kitchen design soon, but I can’t decide on anything. I like everything Sienna shows me.”

“Interior design is my side passion,” Sienna said. “I designed this apartment for Romeo. He was easy to design for, though.” She threw Sofiya a dirty look. “Mainly because he had no opinions. But I’d love to do a refresh to get it more in line with your style.”

I automatically glanced behind me as if Sienna was talking to someone else. “My style?”

“Yeah,” she said, tracing her fingers along the dark black countertops. “There are a lot of easy changes we can make to add more personality—paint, wallpaper, lighting, wall treatments. Although if you want to do a bigger renovation, we totally can.”

My lips parted as I tried to decipher her words, but it was like she was speaking a foreign language. Maybe they’d gotten the wrong information about why I was here? “This isn’t my home.” For some reason, the words felt like ash on my tongue. “I wasn’t safe in my apartment, so Romeo brought me here. It’s just temporary.”

Sienna went to say something, but Sofiya cut her off. “Take it easy, Sienna. Not everyone moves as fast as our guys.” She came to my side and gave my hand a squeeze. “I very much doubt Romeo sees this as temporary. But I know it can take a while to feel settled when your whole life changes. And if you’re not ready to renovate this place yet, you can help me choose my kitchen design. Maybe I should do wood cabinets?”

“The boss would be relieved,” Dante quipped.

I jumped. I’d forgotten he was here.

Sofiya gave him a dirty look. “Matteo said he was fine with pink cabinets.”

Dante smirked, and I had to hide my smile. I didn’t know much about the Mafia, but I imagined it wasn’t normal for the Don to have a pink kitchen.

The apartment door opened and Angelo walked in with Noodle at his side.

“Hi, malysh,” Sofiya crooned. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m pretty sure Noodle thinks Clementine is his baby,” Angelo said. “He was staring at her while she slept.” He came to my side and handed his phone to me again.

“Hello?”

“Fuck, Juliet. Five minutes without your voice is way too long.”

God, how was I supposed to act normally when Romeo said things like that?

“Do you think you can leave the apartment with Noodle? He seemed to relax you in the car.”

My heart squeezed at how thoughtful he was. Noodle head-butted my leg and I leaned down to scratch his ears. His tongue lolled out to the side as he smiled.

“Yeah, I can try.”

“That’s my brave girl. If it gets to be too much, just go back to the apartment and call me.”

“Okay.” I cleared my throat. “Thank you.”

“Can’t wait to see you tonight.”

“Same. Please be safe.” I had no idea what he was doing, but I guessed there was at least an element of danger in it.

“Fucking cute. I’ll be safe, pretty girl. See you soon.”

I hung up and handed the phone back to Angelo. His eyes were kind as he took it. “Do you want to try taking the elevator?”

I nodded, throat tight. He handed Noodle’s leash to me, but I looked at Sofiya. “Is this okay?”

“Of course,” she said. “Noodle’s off the clock right now, but I’m sure he’s happy to give you some emotional support. He can’t stay with us in the shooting range, which is why he wasn’t with me. The loud noise could damage his ears.”

I took Noodle’s leash and he pressed his body against my legs, lending me his support as we made our way to the door. My feet got heavier with each step.

“I couldn’t shoot while pregnant because the loud sounds could hurt the baby’s ears. Did you know that? Because I definitely didn’t. Growing a human is wild. Anyway, now the guys have convinced themselves they have a chance against me. As if I’d ever get rusty.” Sofiya flipped her hair over her shoulder before rolling out of the apartment.

“You still haven’t beaten Romeo,” Angelo said. He put a light hand on my upper back as I left the apartment, and I kept my fingers twisted in Noodle’s fur.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just biding my time, lulling him into a false sense of security before I destroy him.”

My vision turned spotty as we all entered the elevator. It was large and well-lit, with a mirror on the back wall and wood paneling on the sides.noveldrama

“The Boss has been putting in extra hours in the range. He’s practicing for a rematch,” Dante said.

“I’m sure he is,” Sofiya said. “Not that it will do him any good.”

Their voices faded and grew distorted as the doors closed and panic seized my chest. My knees weakened and I sank to the floor, my arms thrown around Noodle and my face buried in his fur.

“We’re almost there,” Sienna said, crouching down next to me. “Five more seconds.” She counted for me and I clenched my jaw, my stomach swooping as we came to a stop. The doors opened and everyone helped me get out quickly.

Sofiya took my hand and gave it a firm squeeze. “You did it! That’s amazing. Now, are you ready to be a badass with a gun?”

My eyes spun as I took in my surroundings. I’d never been to a gun range before, but this was pretty much how I’d imagined it—a large, industrial space with long lanes and targets at the end. There were a few men already here—huge and threatening—and I tensed.

“They’re just here to learn from Sofiya,” Sienna said quickly, obviously sensing my unease. “If anyone makes you uncomfortable or if you want to leave, just tell me.”

I swallowed hard. They were all being so incredibly kind. I wasn’t used to being treated like this, and it wasn’t what I would have expected from the Mafia.

“Let’s give it a try,” I croaked.

I said a reluctant goodbye to Noodle and focused on Sofiya as she walked me through the basics. I’d never held a gun, never had the desire to shoot one, but everything in my life was topsy-turvy now, so I might as well embrace it.

The gun felt heavy in my hand as I took my stance and aimed at the target.