Page 158 of Maddening Fixation

He calmly dusted the dirt from his immaculate white suit before turning toward the steel beam behind us.

The bullet had buried itself deep inside the metal.

Only then did the reality of what had almost happened hit me.

If I hadn’t pushed him...

That bullet would have struck him square in the center of his chest.

Romeo studied the impact for a long, thoughtful moment before slowly turning toward the young gunman.

Then his gaze shifted to Zachary.

The older man approached at an unhurried pace, his composure almost unnerving—as though his son hadn’t nearly turned the warehouse into a slaughterhouse only moments ago.

Romeo’s expression remained infuriatingly relaxed.

Then his eyes found me.

I instantly wished they hadn’t.

His gaze traveled over me slowly, shamelessly, lingering far longer than it should have.

It was impossible to tell what was going through his mind.

But I knew one thing.

I had saved him again.

For the third time.

The first had been when he was nineteen, at the lake, after his brother pushed him into the water. The second was when my father shot him. And now, once again, I had dragged him back from the edge of death.

If he hadn’t understood the first two times, surely he understood this one.

Yet there was no gratitude in his face.

Not even the faintest trace of warmth.

His expression remained as cold as ever, his emerald eyes fixed on me with an intensity I couldn’t decipher.

I had just saved his life, and he looked at me as though I had done nothing more than fulfill an obligation.

I tried to hold his gaze.

I couldn’t.

My eyes dropped, and I lowered my head, only for a voice to slice through the suffocating silence.

“So...” Zachary began.

I looked up.

Zachary leaned back slightly, a crooked smile spreading across his weathered face.

“This is your new wife, Flynn?”

My gaze shifted to Romeo, expecting to find his attention on Zachary.