Page 235 of Maddening Fixation

Only then did Romeo release me.

The second his hands disappeared from my arms, my body gave up.

My legs collapsed beneath me.

I slid down the wall, one hand pressing desperately against my bleeding stomach while the other searched uselessly for something to hold onto.

Anything.

Someone.

“Romeo...” I whispered, my voice barely audible as tears blurred my vision.

But he wasn’t looking at me anymore.

He had already turned away.

He walked toward Yarina.

The woman who had come into my room with a knife.

The woman who had attacked me.

He lifted her carefully into his arms as if she were something precious and fragile. “I’ve got you.”

My heart shattered.

Because I had never heard that tenderness from him.

Not once.

“You’re going to be okay,” he whispered to her. “Just hold on for me.”

He carried her away.

My husband carried another woman away while I sat bleeding on the floor.

Blood marked his path as he left.

And he never looked back.

I tried to call his name.

I tried to make my voice work.

“Romeo...”

My throat tightened.

“Please...”

The room spun.

“Don’t leave me...”

But the words were too weak.

Too quiet.