Page 141 of Maddening Fixation

My chest dropped.

With one devastating revelation after another crashing over me, it was almost impossible to breathe, let alone process everything.

How is that even possible?

Yarina — adopted?

All these years we had been raised together, treated by Mother and Father as equals, as real sisters.

Had she known this whole time?

And how the hell did Romeo know?

Of course he did.

His connections ran deep into the earth itself; he could unearth any secret he wanted.

My chest tightened painfully.

Had my parents been hiding this from us — from me — all along?

The betrayal stung sharply, but beneath it was a colder fear.

If they could hide something this big, what else had they concealed?

“I see you didn’t know that,” he added with a small, indifferent nod, remaining unnervingly calm.

My heart pounded painfully against my ribs.

Then his gaze snapped back to me, filled with that same murderous hatred that made my skin crawl.

“Where the fuck is your father?” Romeo snarled, his eyes burning with barely contained loathing.

I stared at him, stunned.

I had already told him my father had vanished.

Was he testing me?

“If I knew where he was, I would never have succumbed to your threats and agreed to this marriage,” I said honestly, my voice steadier than I felt. “His sudden disappearance is what left me vulnerable, and you exploited it. That is the only reason I stood at that altar.”

My eyes drifted away for only a second before I forced them back to his.

Romeo studied me in heavy silence, his expression unreadable.

“No.”

The single word landed like a verdict.

“If there’s one person your father would confide in, it would be you.” A brief, dangerous pause followed. “But of course, I don’t expect you to spit out the truth. You’re just like him — a fucking snake.”

“I don’t know where my father is,” I replied steadily, holding his murderous gaze. “And even if I did, I would never deliver him to you to be slaughtered. What kind of daughter betrays her own father to the man who already despises her very existence?”

A humorless, cruel smile ghosted across his lips.

For several long, suffocating seconds, he did nothing but study my face, his piercing gaze drilling into me as if searching for the smallest crack in my facade.

The hatred in his eyes was so intense it made my stomach twist with fear.