Page 130 of Maddening Fixation

“I’ll escort you home.”

I turned at the sound of the voice and found Keegan standing beside me.

Romeo’s underboss towered over me in a flawlessly tailored charcoal-gray suit, his broad frame casting a long shadow across the church steps.

I lowered my gaze and swallowed against the tightness in my throat.

“It’s only for two years,” I whispered to myself, barely loud enough to hear. “Just two years.”

The words felt hollow.

A promise I wasn’t entirely sure I believed.

Drawing a shaky breath, I nodded.

Keegan stepped aside, silently gesturing for me to follow.

Neither of us spoke as we walked down the church steps.

The murmurs of departing guests followed us all the way to the waiting black SUV, lingering like ghosts at my back.

The driver opened the rear door.

I climbed inside without a word.

Keegan slid into the seat beside me, and moments later the SUV pulled away from the church.

Silence settled over the cabin.

Not the comfortable silence shared between people with nothing to say.

This one felt heavy and oppressive.

I turned my face toward the window, desperate for anything that would keep my thoughts from replaying the ceremony.

Florida stretched beyond the glass in vivid contrast to the storm inside me.

The world continued as though nothing had happened.

As though my life hadn’t just shattered inside an old stone church.

My fingers tightened.

I squeezed my eyes shut, but it made no difference.

The venom laced through every word he’d spoken at the altar replayed in my mind, over and over, refusing to let me breathe.

No matter how desperately I tried to silence his voice, it echoed through my head like a curse.

You selfish, worthless little thief...

I will break your body, your spirit, and your soul...

I will savor every second of your suffering...

The words echoed over and over until I thought they might permanently carve themselves into my mind.

The drive seemed endless.