Page 144 of Maddening Fixation

My stomach twisted with a mix of humiliation and rising anger.

He wasn’t just controlling me — he was isolating me completely, treating me like a dangerous prisoner rather than his wife.

“These rules are absurd,” I shot back, my voice steady even as fear coiled tighter in my stomach.

“The first and second combined make it obvious I’m being held captive. I don’t understand why you believe marrying me gives you the right to sever me from the outside world entirely.”

His eyes settled on me with a quiet, dangerous warning that sent my pulse racing, yet he offered no response to my protest — dismissing it as irrelevant.

“All you need will be handled by Keegan,” he stated, tone laced with disdain. “This marriage will stay exactly what it is — a business contract between two strangers. Do not mistake it for anything more.”

His tone was completely detached.

He turned toward the door without another glance.

Then, almost as an afterthought, he said with complete indifference, “I’ll be taking my leave.”

His leave?

In the middle of the night?

He wasn’t even going to spend our wedding night under the same roof?

After laying down those two suffocating, absurd rules he expected me to follow without question?

“You can’t just leave,” I said, my voice sharper than I’d intended.

He was already halfway to the door.

At my words, he paused and turned his head just enough to look at me over his shoulder.

His eyes were glacial, brimming with unmistakable disdain.

“Oh, yes, I can,” he said, each word calm and merciless. “And I will.”

Without waiting for a response, he opened the door and walked out.

The soft click of the door closing echoed through the room like the final lock on a prison cell.

Panic surged through me before I could think.

“No...”

The word escaped as little more than a broken plea.

I hurried after him.

“Romeo.”

He didn’t stop.

By the time I reached the doorway, he was already outside, striding across the driveway toward the sleek black car waiting beneath the glow of the estate lights.

His broad shoulders remained rigid, his long, purposeful strides never faltering.

The cool night air rushed over my skin, carrying with it the distant roar of waves crashing somewhere beyond the estate walls.

“Romeo... wait.”