Page 125 of Be With Me
He. Would. Not. Hurt. Her.
“How did we let it come to this?” Dad seethed. “How is he still leading in the polls? We’ve spent months digging, and what do we have? Nothing.”
Mother’s sharp gaze snapped to me. “The daughter, Romolo. You were supposed to have something we could use weeks ago.”
My jaw clenched. “I’m working on it.”
“No. We’re done waiting,” Mother snapped. “If she doesn’t have anything useful, then we use her. We’re out of time. Where are the photos?”
The photos. The compromising ones of me and Mia that I told her I’d get.
They didn’t exist. Never fucking would.
“Pictures are easy to Photoshop,” I said dismissively. “It’s a weak plan.”
“Then get a video. Quickly. Humiliate her in it. Even if it doesn’t sway the election, it’ll sting. Morales won’t be able to bring her out for the rest of the campaign.”
Bile rose in my throat. She was out of her fucking mind. Was she actually asking me to film a sex tape—one designed to degrade Mia—and release it?
“You’ve done worse,” she said coldly, as if sensing my hesitation. “Don’t act like you’re above it.”
A charged silence filled the room. Alessio watched me with furrowed brows. Cosimo’s expression was harder to read, but his eyes flickered with something that might be concern.
They didn’t know what she was referring to.
Thank fuck for that.
It was true. I had done worse.
But that was before I met Mia.When the family was all I had. Now I had something more, even if it was just fucking fleeting. I wasn’t going to repeat my past mistakes with Mia, no matter what it cost me.
“Romolo.”
My gaze snapped back to Mother’s. “Yes?”
Arms crossed, she tilted her head. “Is there a problem?”
I took a slow sip of my drink. “No. I just think we don’t have time for petty distractions.”
“It’s an order. End of discussion.”
“Fine,” I gritted out. “Give me a few days.” When I came back empty-handed, I’d be ready with an explanation. Something along the lines of Mia refusing to see me this close to the election. For all I knew, after that fucking lunch, that might already be the truth.
That encounter had been a brutal reminder of why our days together were numbered. And it made me want to break something.
Dad leaned back in his chair. “We have to prepare for Morales’s win. He’s too confident. There’s a chance he has something on us.”
“You’re letting him get into your head.” Mother’s voice was tight. “He doesn’t have anything. We have to stay calm, be smart, and keep a tight rein on our operations and our people.”
My father picked up a heavy paperweight, his fingers flexing around it. “If this deal with Alvarez falls through, it’ll shake the confidence of our partners, not to mention the family.”
“I just got some news,” Cosimo said, eyeing his phone. “We got access to the flight logs for Alvarez’s private plane. It looks like he came to the States last week. Landed at a small private airport at the Finger Lakes. We weren’t able to track them past that, but we’ll be ready if he returns. Know anyone in that area?”
My grip tightened around the glass.
The Finger Lakes?
Mia had mentioned Morales had a meeting there over Labor Day weekend.
