Page 189 of Maddening Fixation

The sound of his footsteps echoed through the house until they disappeared entirely.

The silence he left behind felt almost unbearable.

I watched the doorway long after he was gone.

Part of me wanted to call his name.

To ask him whether any of it had meant something.

Anything.

But the words never came.

My legs still felt unsteady, my entire body pleasantly exhausted, while he had walked away with the same composed stride he carried into every room.

As though the most intimate moment of my life had been nothing more than another obligation to cross off a list.

The realization hurt more than I wanted to admit.

A lump formed in my throat.

Anyone could walk in at any moment.

The thought jolted me back to reality.

I quickly gathered the torn remains of my clothes from the floor before hurrying toward my old bedroom, closing the door behind me.

The moment I was alone, another ache settled over my heart.

Raven.

The memory of her hit me with crushing force.

I sank onto the edge of the bed, closing my eyes.

How was I supposed to return to a world where she no longer greeted me at the door?

Where there would be no soft purring in the middle of the night.

No tiny paws following me from room to room.

No warm little body curling against me whenever life became too heavy to bear.

A fresh wave of grief threatened to overwhelm me.

Yarina had taken the one innocent thing I had left.

The ceramic mug I’d thrown at her suddenly seemed pitifully small compared to the fury clawing its way through me.

I wasn’t finished with her.

Not until she felt the same kind of loss she had inflicted on me. Not until she understood what it was like to have something precious ripped away and know there was nothing she could do to bring it back.

Only then would she learn that every action carried a price.

Drawing a slow breath, I crossed to the wardrobe and changed into fresh clothes.

The outfit felt less like clothing and more like armor.