Page 257 of Maddening Fixation

A place where darkness became a weapon.

A place where even the strongest men eventually lost pieces of themselves.

And worse, she was carrying my child—our child—while trapped alone in that dark, suffocating basement.

If I had done this to her for nothing...

If I had punished her for a betrayal she never committed, there would be no taking it back.

No apology, no amount of groveling could undo what I had put her through.

I closed my eyes briefly.

Then exhaled slowly.

I reached for the door handle, twisted the knob, and pulled the door open.

The heavy wooden door groaned as it opened, the old hinges protesting loudly in the silence.

Then darkness spilled out.

Not ordinary darkness.

Something heavier.

It poured from the room like ink, swallowing the hallway light.

For a second, I froze.

The emptiness inside that room was so complete that my eyes struggled to understand it.

It felt like stepping into blindness.

Keegan reached inside and found the switch.

The lights flickered.

Then—

The room was exposed.

And my entire body went cold.

Juliet.

She sat on the floor in the center of the room.

Alone. Small.

Broken.

The woman who had screamed at me.

The woman who had fought me.

The woman who had looked at me with so much anger and pain.

Now she looked like there was nothing left.