Chapter 153: The deal is off!

Roman

She was strutting across the road, walking into the outdoor café in the plaza, her cream colored dress swishing around her.

Her auburn roots were starting to be more obvious, blending into her brown hair. It had grown a few inches more, ending just a little past her shoulders.

For one whole second, my whole body just stopped. She was right before me. There was no glass between us, no buildings, just that tired look on her face.

My Adam’s apple bobbed as I watched. She was heading for one of the little round tables near the fountain. A girl was waving both arms over her head... what the... what was Irene doing there?

I took a step in their direction when an asshole came from nowhere, red faced and winded from the stairs, running across the plaza, and he suddenly grabbed her hair and dragged her out of the plaza.

"Stupid arrogant bitch, I’ll teach you a fucking lesson."

I lost my mind.

There’s no other way to put it. One second I was standing at the corner of the plaza, and the next I was across the paving in six strides, grabbing the bastard by the collar.

That was Angel Braddock, her ex-husband. I had memorized his face from the file Gideon pulled.

He came off her like a coat off a hook.

I threw him sideways, and he hit the low brick wall of the planter with his shoulder blades. His hand let go of her hair, and Vivi stumbled free with a gasp. I pounced on him, ignoring the alarm bells ringing in my head.

"Why would you touch her? How dare you fucking touch her with your disgusting hands?!"

I got him by the lapels, lifted him half off the wall, and slammed him back into it.

"Arghh... who... who the hell are you?!" he wheezed.

"You grabbed her by the hair," I fumed, digging my fingers into his hair and ripping out a chunk.

He screamed like the wuss he was, and to shut the fool up, I slammed my fist into his jaw.

He got a hand up, and I knocked it down. He got his feet under him, and I put him back into the wall.

Somewhere far away somebody was shouting, and people had their phones up, and the whole plaza had turned into a ring of flashlights, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

How could he yank on my Vivi’s hair? How could he cause her pain? I was going to break those arms, then stuff his bones down his throat.

"Stop! Oh my god, STOP!"

Her voice shrieked behind me, but it only fueled my anger more. I reared my fist back, ready to smash his face to bits, when she yelled again.

"Stop it! Who do you think you are? If you kill him, get ready to rot in prison."

And that landed hard on my chest. I whipped around, knuckles all bloody and bruised, my chest heaving as I stared at her in disbelief.

I knew she thought I was a stranger and didn’t know it was me, but was she really defending the one who had grabbed her? I let go of the man’s lapels, and he slid down the wall, slumping. My feet carried me toward her, but Vivi flinched and took a few steps back in fear.

It was the worst thing I had ever seen in my life.

She was afraid of me. I wanted to tear the whole prosthetic off right there in front of the several phones flashing in my face.

It’s me. Vivi, it’s me, it’s been me the whole time, come home with me.

She was so close. Two steps were all that was between us. She was close enough to touch, close enough that if I reached out right now, I could have her.

...Get ready to rot in prison...

I glanced back at the man on the floor, the hurt boiling and consuming my chest. All the anger was flat out gone. Why... why couldn’t she love me enough like that?

"Ivy, oh my gosh, are you okay?" Irene and Duke immediately swarmed her. I took one last glance at her.

Her eyes caught mine, and her face lit up with surprise. Her lips parted. "Ro..."

I panicked. That was the only word for it. I bolted for the door, pushed straight through the crowd of onlookers with my head down, out the other side and into my car.

I sat in the driver’s seat with both hands on the wheel and stared at the windshield.

My heart was going like a hammer. My knuckles were split on two fingers. There was blood on the inside of the prosthetic at my jaw where it had rubbed.

And in my ears, over and over, was the small breath of the sound she had made when she wanted to call my name.

I got my phone out and dialed G’s number with shaking hands.

"Ro? Are you done?"

"G." My voice came out all wrecked and thin. "G, I think I fucked up."

"Where are you?"

"In the... in the car, by the plaza. She... she saw me, G."

"Did anyone recognize you?" I knew he meant to ask whether she had recognized me, but Gideon had been avoiding talking about Ivy like she was the plague.

My eyes grew misty. I had to take a breath to get the words out. "She flinched from me, G. She flinched. Why the hell would she defend that bastard? He was hurting her, and yet she threatened to throw me in prison!"

G gave a long sigh, and I just knew he was rubbing his forehead. "Come home."

So I did. I drove back home to find G waiting in the doorway with his jacket off and his sleeves rolled up. He took one look at me, the blood streaking my hands, my wet eyes, and just opened his arms.

I walked straight into them, put my forehead on his shoulder, and stood there while he ran his fingers through my hair.

"Why the fuck are you cuddling him?" Kai grumbled, showing up behind G with a cigarette between his lips.

"You think you fucked up? Look at this fucking headline. You had one job, to go undercover, Ro, and somehow you made the bloody news."

He held his phone out in my face.

MYSTERY MAN GOES FERAL IN CITY PLAZA: HARPER KINGSLEY AND HER EX HUSBAND ASSAULTED BY UNKNOWN STRANGER!

"That was not what happened. I would never assault her!"

As if on cue, my phone buzzed with a call. I yanked it out, ready to throw it away, when I saw it was Anthony Braddock. And he was not happy.

"You assaulted my son, Padilla?! The deal is off!"