Beneath Their Scars

Chapter 24

Sage's POV
A mere ten minutes after I received that text from Roman saying that he needed to talk to me, he entered the Villa. He came into his old room where Iz and I still were and, he began walking toward me.

I met him halfway and hugged him tightly. We kissed quickly and let go.

"What did you want to talk about?" I questioned and he looked over my shoulder at Izzy.

"What?" she asked.

Roman sighed. "You think we could get some privacy?" he says annoyedly and Izzy rolls her eyes as she gets up and walks over to the door.

"I'm gonna be listening from the other side of the door." She says before swiftly shutting the door and I chuckle.

Roman pulls me by my hand onto his lap as he sits at the edge of the bed. "So, by now I'm sure you know why I had to come back here." He says lowly and I nod. He's seemingly nervous and that's an emotion that I never really see from him.

"How are you feeling? Do you want to talk about it?" I ask him, comfortingly rubbing his back.

He shakes his head. "I don't want to but, we need to." He responds.

"You don't have to talk about it if you're not ready." I assure him. "I just need you to know that I'm here whenever you are." I add and he leans in to give me a quick kiss.

"I appreciate that Sage, I do but, we have to talk now... about us." He responds, nearly whispering the last two words.

I'm immediately filled with confusion. "What about us?" I question lowly and he lets out a long sigh.

"Shit." He curses under his breath. "This," he says pointing between the two of us. "it has to end." He says and my heart immediately drops to my feet.

Silence. A long moment of silence passes as I try to analyze his face for any sign that he's joking. Roman doesn't joke.

"Y-you're breaking up with me?" I ask, my voice cracking at the end as I blink back the tears I have threatening to spill.

We've only been officially together for a day...

"Yes – I mean no." he answers. "Fuck- Sage please don't cry." He continues as he sees my eyes beginning to water. "I just don't know what else to do." He says, roughly raking his hands through his hair.

"What do you mean?" I question. I don't understand where any of this is coming from.

"I can't imagine you getting hurt or even worse because of me so...I think it's best that we break up."

"What are you even talking about Rome?" I yell, getting angry and the tears fall. "You're hurting me now." I say in a much softer tone. I harshly wipe the tears from my cheeks.

He tries to wipe my face but, I jerk my head away from him.

"Sage, this is for your own safety." He says and I can see through his eyes, the internal battle that he's having. "I'm a mafia don now. For one of the biggest fucking mafias in the world. You don't even understand what kind of risk you'd be at." He says getting upset. But it seems that he's angry with himself, not me.