Page 108 of From Rome, With Hate

“Jules.” He sighs, happily.

But his entire body language shifts the moment he sees me standing behind her.

His once softened expression hardens. With eyes cutting into narrow slices, his cheeks flame red and his hand is flying to his back. Pulling out his pistol, he holds his arms straight out, pointing it at me.

A chill slips down my neck, and my heart pounds in my chest. I’m no stranger to having a gun pointed in my direction, but it’s the first time Kingsten has successfully pulled one on me.

I throw my hands up in surrender, aware of the gun tucked into my waistband, but I don’t reach for it, hoping we can settle this without them.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Kingsten spits, his lips curling with fury and rage.

“Dad, stop,” Julianna begs. She steps closer to him, imploring him to lower his gun. “He’s with me.”

“No, Julianna.” Venom drips from Kingsten’s tongue. “No, heisn’t.”

I eye him warily. Him pointing a gun at my face isn’t unexpected, but what is unexpected is his response to Julianna. It sounds like this isn’t the first time he’s hearing of us being together.

“Yes, he is.” Julianna exhales. I can tell she’s beginning to panic. Her chest is moving rapidly and she can’t stay still. Every few steps back and forth, she stumbles over the small divots in the ground, her chunky heels getting caught in the soft dirt.

“You’re supposed to be dead.” He sneers, his eyes lighting with indignation, pointed directly for me.

My spine stiffens, and the blood drains to my toes.

Julianna stops cold, her eyes spreading wide. She stares at her father before she takes an unsteady step back. “What are you talking about?”

Creases etch the corner of Kingsten’s mouth as he lets out a brittle laugh. “I knew hiring the Mattia brothers was risky. They were so incompetent.”

“You hired them to go after me?” I ask him, narrowing my eyes. “But I thought that was my father. They worked for Francesco Ferrari in Italy.”

Kingsten scoffs. “Ferrari owed me, so I cashed in a favor.”

Julianna’s hand flies to her mouth to stifle her heavy sob.

I keep my hands up, forcing them to not shake. The last thing I want is Kingsten to think I’m afraid of him, but my hands aren’tshaking in fear. They’re aching to reach out for Julianna. She drops to her knees and bends over, catching herself before she falls completely to the ground.

Kingsten shifts out of focus while I sift through all the memories of the past several years. Like trying to put the final puzzle pieces together, I scramble to connect how the fuck Kingsten brought himself to hiring the Mattia brothers to kill me.

“Look at you. Pathetic fucking Montgomery,” he barks. “Trying to figure it out, aren’t you? I’ve always known my daughter deserved better. If you weren’t a Montgomery, she’d still deserve better than you.”

“Dad,” Julianna cries from the ground, mascara streaking down her cheeks. “You tried to kill Rome?”

“Oh, my precious Jules,” he soothes, his voice low and menacing. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. “All I’ve ever done is try to protect you.”

“I want to know.” She’s clenching her teeth. Her eyes have turned from heartbreak to rage. “I want to know how and why.”

Kingsten frowns, his pistol pointed in my direction. “I’d done my best to raise my children to uphold our oaths. An oath to protect every single Capuleti from the stain and poison that is the Montgomerys. I worked hard to instill that into my children, and I trusted Julianna to uphold her oath until the news broke of Rome Montgomery suingmy sonfor defamation.” His lip curls and the corners of his eyes crease with vitriol. “That’s all your family has ever been: poison that needs to be eradicated.”

“The article was my fault, Dad.” Julianna chokes on her sob, pressing her hand firmly to her chest. “It wasn’t Rome’s. He had every right to retaliate against the magazine.”

“No!” The veins in Kingsten’s neck bulge. “Don’t you take the fucking blame for a Montgomery sin. That’s exactly what they want from you.”

“You don’t even know why you hate me, do you?” I ask him. “Or why you hate my family?”

“I know exactly why. The Montgomerys have wanted to maintain their power over us ever since they betrayed us generations ago, but we wouldn’t ever let that happen.” He stabs his finger against his chest. “It’s why I became mayor. I sent a message to your dear father that the Capuletis wouldn’t surrender. We will always have the power over this city and over them.”

“Well,” I scoff. “You’ve won. My father died in prison, and I’ve denounced my family’s legacy.”

“Your father is only dead because of me.”