Page 136 of Maddening Fixation

They continued watching the movie as though I didn’t exist, as though I were nothing more than another piece of furniture occupying the room.

The realization stung far more than I wanted to admit.

I cleared my throat.

The sound broke the silence.

“It never occurred to me that we were free to entertain members of the opposite sex on our wedding night.”

Neither of them reacted.

I folded my arms across my chest, refusing to let my unease show.

“If I’d known that was permitted,” I said coolly, “I would have invited my friend Egor over to keep me company tonight.”

Romeo’s head turned sharply.

His expression remained unreadable, but something dangerous flashed behind his eyes.

Beside him, Yarina shifted closer until her thigh brushed his. A satisfied smile tugged at her lips as she rested one hand possessively on his leg.

The gesture lasted only a second.

Without looking at her, Romeo calmly lifted her hand and set it back in her own lap.

He didn’t touch her. He didn’t encourage her.

They hadn’t been sitting close before I’d arrived, either. A respectable distance remained between them on the sofa.

Oddly, that should have comforted me.

Instead, it only confused me.

Because despite the distance...

Despite rejecting her touch...

He had still chosen to bring her here.

That alone was humiliating enough.

“This is my house,” Romeo said at last.

His voice was quiet, but every word carried the weight of a command.

“I decide who walks through those doors. And no man will ever cross this threshold for you—not while I’m forced to look at your face every fucking day.”

He rose to his feet slowly, his gaze locking onto mine with chilling, murderous intensity.

“So I’m held to rules that don’t apply to you?” I asked, refusing to look away even as my pulse hammered.

A humorless, cruel smile twisted his mouth, full of pure contempt.

“You don’t have rules, wife.” He spat the word like it tasted rotten. “You have orders. And you’ll obey every last one of them.”

He took a slow, deliberate step toward me, his presence radiating raw hatred.

“You seem to have forgotten exactly what this sham of a marriage is.”