Page 115 of Maddening Fixation

The sensation crawled across the back of my neck.

Slowly, I lifted my head.

On the second-floor balcony stood Yarina.

She leaned lightly against the wrought-iron railing, illuminated by the warm glow spilling from the hallway behind her.

Our eyes met.

Neither of us smiled. Neither of us spoke.

There was something unreadable in her expression.

Curiosity? Suspicion? Satisfaction?

I couldn’t tell.

After several tense seconds, she turned and disappeared back inside without a single word.

A chill slid through me despite the humid evening.

I continued staring at the empty balcony.

A thought crept quietly into my mind.

Yarina knew Egor.

Not well, but well enough.

They had exchanged greetings at family dinners. Shared conversations at charity galas. Even laughed together once or twice at larger Bratva gatherings.

Nothing unusual.

Yet...

After Yarina’s threat earlier today, after she discovered I needed to marry Romeo—the man she believed belonged to her—in order to claim my inheritance, one thought wouldn’t leave me alone.

Could Egor’s sudden proposal really be nothing more than a coincidence?

My pulse quickened.

What if it wasn’t?

What if Egor’s proposal had never been entirely his own idea?

What if Yarina had encouraged him?

The possibility settled uneasily inside me.

It certainly wouldn’t be beyond Yarina to manipulate someone emotionally if it served her purpose.

But Egor hadn’t seemed manipulated.

He hadn’t looked like a man following someone else’s plan.

He had looked convinced.

Consumed. Obsessed.