Page 55 of Obsessed Mr. O’Brian

Several emails flagged as urgent hit my inbox with a discordant note. Quinn notifies me by text of a stack of contracts requiring my signature. I sigh and run my hand through my hair.

“I need to go to the office for an hour or two,” I say.

“Oh. Then we’ll go to the park after.”

Even as she responds, her eyes dim in disappointment. I brush her hair back and cup the side of her head.

“Go ahead without me. I trust you to keep Lola safe, Millie.”

“Maybe we should just stay here,” she suggests.

I silence her objection with a kiss.

“The driver will take you anywhere you need to go,” I say.

“Fine, we’ll go, but you have to reach out the second you’re done with work,” she demands.

I nod, kiss Lola on the head, and peck Millie on the cheek before turning and rushing to my closet. I change into a suit in record time and return to the foyer while Lola still battles with her shoes. She refuses Millie’s help but grows more frustrated with every failed attempt.

“We’re fine, Artur. Go,” Millie says.

I stand with the door open and my gaze locked on Millie’s lips for a long moment, wanting a deep, lascivious kiss but aware I won’t be able to walk away if I do. When she bends to help Lola and the couch blocks my view, I turn and stride away.

Ready to get things settled as quickly as possible in hopes of joining their picnic, I hail a cab instead of calling for a second driver. When I slip a few extra bills through the money slot, he weaves through the traffic with the recklessness of a man who no longer values his life, but he pulls up to the curb outside of my office building in record time.

I unfurl my big body out of the cramped space and shut the door without looking back. My phone buzzes in my breast pocket as I step through the front doors. I check the caller ID and answer Quinn’s call.

“Regina is back in New York City,” she says by way of greeting.

“Where?”

“The airport. The spotter we had posted there lost her.”

I grunt in response and press my ID to the scanner outside the executive elevator.

“There’s more,” she warns.

The elevator doors open. I step inside.

“The man who attacked Millie outside her apartment was her father. He has gambling debt. A lot of gambling debt,” she says.

The sleek silver interior of the elevator blips to white hospital walls in my memory. Through the small window in the door, the man—Millie’s father—speaks with Regina.

Horror rips through me.

Regina lied. Everything she says or does is to manipulate and control the people around her. She said she saved me when Millie was my true savior. She hid Millie’s family from me and took her place in my life. She drugged me—the man she supposedly loved—to trap me into marrying her.

How far would she go to destroy the sweet, serene Millie Grant? Would she pit her father against her—and then sic him on both Millie and Lola?

It’s been thirteen years, but looking back, I realize Regina always held grudges. Always. She’s mean, spiteful, judgmental, and selfish. No heinous act is below her.

A ding pulls me into the present. The elevator doors begin closing.

I thrust out my hand, stop the doors from closing, and push through sideways the moment they open wide enough.

“Send everyone to Millie and Lola’s current location. Private guards, police, fire, EMS. Now,” I snarl into the phone as I sprint through the lobby and out the doors.

“What? I thought they were with you.”