Page 116 of Maddening Fixation

His words replayed inside my head.

‘You can say no today, Juliet. You can say no tomorrow. You can fight this as long as you need to. But I know what I want, and I don’t walk away from the things that matter to me.’

I forced myself to exhale slowly.

I was exhausted.

After everything that had happened today, maybe my mind was simply trying to connect pieces that had no connection at all.

Maybe I was looking for enemies where there were none.

Maybe Yarina had nothing to do with it.

I pressed my fingers against my temples, trying to silence the chaos in my mind.

Then my phone rang.

The unfamiliar number made me hesitate.

I almost ignored it, but something compelled me to answer.

“Miss Juliet Sokolov?”

The voice on the other end was calm, formal, and completely unfamiliar.

“Yes?”

“This is the Civil Affairs Office. I am calling to officially notify you that your marriage registration to Mr. Romeo Flynn has been approved and scheduled. The ceremony is set to take place this Saturday. All required documentation has been processed, and the final proceedings will be completed at that time.”

For several seconds, I couldn’t speak.

“Excuse me?”

My fingers tightened around the phone, but the line had already gone dead.

I stared at the screen, frozen.

If they hadn’t addressed me by name, I would have dismissed the entire conversation as some bizarre mistake.

But they knew exactly who I was.

And they knew exactly what they were calling about.

A marriage scheduled?

This Saturday?

My jaw dropped.

I had never agreed to marry Romeo.

We hadn’t even had a single conversation about it.

So how could the Civil Affairs Office be calling me to inform me that I was getting married in three days?

Chapter 5

JULIET