Page 168 of Maddening Fixation

JULIET

Ididn’t remember when I arrived back at the desolate, cursed bungalow Romeo had condemned me to, nor when exhaustion finally dragged me into sleep.

When I finally opened my eyes the next morning, sunlight filtered softly through the curtains, warming the unfamiliar bedroom.

For one blissful second, I forgot where I was.

Then reality settled over me all at once.

The wedding.

Less than forty-eight hours ago, I had been a free woman. Now I was married to a man who hated me with a cruelty so deep it seemed to have become part of him.

The warehouse came rushing back—the guns, the moment I had thrown myself between him and death.

And then came his words.

They replayed in my mind with merciless clarity.

Yarina is gentle. Kind. Everything you are not. And everything you’ll never be. If you ever cause trouble for her... if you ever hurt her in any way, I will never forgive you.

I closed my eyes, but his voice followed me into the darkness.

My chest tightened.

Reaching for my phone on the bedside table, I noticed a missed call.

Yarina.

A knot formed instantly in my stomach.

After everything that had happened, I almost ignored the call. I let it ring until it stopped, then stared at the screen for a moment before pressing call back.

She answered on the first ring.

“Guess who’s dead?”

Her voice carried an almost playful sweetness.

My blood ran cold.

My mother.

The thought struck so violently that I stopped breathing.

No.

No...

My heart pounded against my ribs as images of my frail mother flooded my mind—her pale smile, the medications lining her bedside table, the hope that somehow she’d recover.

Pain ripped through me so suddenly that my vision blurred.

Before I could speak...

Yarina laughed softly.

“Raven.”