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

New York City was blanketed in snow and Christmas was just a few days away, but there was no magic in the season for me without Juliet.

The Albanians—or what was left of them—had been quiet since our raid on their apartment building. We’d cleaned up our mess before anyone could discover the massacre, but our actions had created a ripple through the underworld. The hits on Sienna and Sofiya had been withdrawn. Not only that, the head of the most powerful assassin syndicate in the world had put out a notice promising retaliation against anyone who took future hit jobs against innocent women in the criminal underworld. This had allowed us to take a breath, but we still hadn’t tracked down the Butcher. Until we did, the girls were still on lockdown, and I needed to stay away from Juliet. I couldn’t put her at risk.

I’d sent her a few texts since I got back from Chicago, but I’d stayed away from the bookstore and we hadn’t had any more late-night calls. I watched the cameras outside her apartment religiously and lived for the brief glimpses I caught of her as she came and went to work. It fucking killed me to hold back like this, especially since I couldn’t be truthful about why I was pulling away. The only excuse I’d given her was that I was busy with work before the holidays. Of course, Juliet didn’t complain or call me out on it. I’d learned she expected very little from life when she should expect the world.

I’d stopped myself from asking what she was doing for Christmas because if I brought it up, I wouldn’t be able to resist inserting myself into her celebrations somehow. I didn’t understand how she had worked her way into my soul so deeply. I felt like a different person from before I met her.

I sighed as I headed to Sienna’s apartment. She opened the door wearing a silver pajama set with snowflakes.

“Getting into the winter spirit?” I quipped as I walked inside.noveldrama

“I ordered them online for me and Sofiya. You want a set?” She was teasing, but I was tempted to get some for Juliet. Would that be overstepping or sending mixed signals? Probably, but now all I could imagine was her in cute pajamas, curled up on my couch next to me.

“Maybe later,” I said. “But right now, I need another favor.”

Sienna flopped down on her couch. “Of course you do.”

I sat down next to her and realized she was watching Frozen.

“This isn’t a Christmas movie.”

“Close enough. What do you need?”

I took a deep breath. “I need you to help me create a fake letter notifying someone they’ve won money.”

She scrunched her nose. “Oh yes, just notifying a random someone, I’m sure.”

“Fine, it’s Juliet. You know, the girl you visited when I told you not to.” I glared at her, but Sienna just smiled.

“Why don’t you just give her money? Why the subterfuge?”

“I don’t think she’d take it if I gave it to her.” Especially since I’d been avoiding her. “But she deserves it. She doesn’t have a lot of money or support. She grew up in foster care.” Shit, maybe I shouldn’t have said that last part, but I couldn’t get the image of her as a child, alone in the world, out of my head.

“Oohh, okay.” Sienna rubbed her hands together. “I get it now. This is fun! We need to find something believable that she could have won. If it’s a contest, we have to get her to enter it first.” She drummed her fingers on her chin. “What kind of things is she into that she might enter for a contest?”

“She loves reading.”

“I guess it could be a book contest with a cash prize. I could create a landing page and newsletter and send it to her, although there’s no guarantee she would enter.”

I leaned back on the couch with a groan. “Why is it so fucking complicated to give someone money?”

“How much are you thinking?” she asked, pulling out her phone.

“I don’t know. What’s realistic? Like half a million?”

Sienna snorted a laugh. “Do you also think a banana costs ten dollars?”

“What?”

“Never mind,” she said with a grin. “I don’t know that a book contest prize could be more than a couple thousand.”

I scowled. That wasn’t enough. Juliet deserved everything.

“Oh!” Sienna said, sitting up. “Foster care! We could say there’s some sort of grant for New York City residents who have aged out of the system. That way, she wouldn’t have to enter, and we might get away with giving away like ten thousand.”

“Can you make it happen so she can’t trace it and it looks legitimate?”

“Yeah, for sure,” she said. “I can just wire her the money so she can’t reject it.”

“Don’t you need her bank information for that?”

She shot me a scathing look, and I raised my hands in a placating gesture. “Not doubting your prowess.”

“Maybe that’s the way to go, then. Just send me the ten grand and I’ll write up an official-looking letter, mail it to her, and wire the money.”

“Thanks.” I pulled out my phone to transfer the money, even though I wished it were ten times the amount. What could ten grand even buy these days?

“When are you going to let us meet her?”

I scowled. “You already met her.”

“Yeah, and she’s awesome. I want to be friends. You should bring her over for dinner.”

My jaw clenched and I tapped my fingers against my leg. “I don’t think that would be a good idea. I’m not sure I’m going to continue seeing her.”

Sienna’s face fell. “Wait, why?”

“You and Sofiya have been stuck inside this apartment for weeks because of threats against you. Juliet isn’t in our world. How can I justify bringing her into it? It would completely change her life and expose her to danger.”

Her eyes were soft. “You really care about her.”

I got up from the couch. “Just let me know when you’ve wired the money.”

“You’d protect her, Romeo. She deserves the chance to choose if the risk is worth it.”

The door clicked shut behind me, but her words swirled in my mind as I headed back to my apartment.