Page 174 of Maddening Fixation

It disappeared so quickly I wondered if I’d imagined it.

His features settled back into the cold, unreadable mask I’d come to know.

“I came because Yarina said she was sick. Nothing more.”

He adjusted the cuff of his suit jacket with precise, unhurried movements. “I didn’t stay the night. I wouldn’t. I’m leaving.”

Yarina rose abruptly, her expression hardening.

“You’re seriously leaving?”

Her eyes flicked toward me, then back to Romeo.

“Because she’s here?”

A slow, mocking smile curved her lips.

“Since when does her presence dictate what you do?”

She took a step toward him.

“You’re not afraid of her, Romeo. So why are you suddenly acting like she has the power to send you running? She should be the one feeling threatened—not you.”

Romeo met her gaze with a hard, warning stare, the kind that made it clear she had crossed dangerously close to a line.

“Juliet is my wife,” he said coldly. “At least for the next two years. As painful as that reality is, and as little as I ever wanted this marriage, I am a man of my word. I made vows at that altar, and I will honor them for as long as they stand.”

His jaw tightened.

“I will not spend the night in another woman’s house, nor will I use another woman to humiliate my wife or punish her for a marriage neither of us wanted. Whatever I may think of Juliet, she deserves the basic courtesy of knowing why I came here.”

His Irish accent deepened around the final words, each syllable carrying an unmistakable sense of finality.

Then his gaze hardened on Yarina again.

“And Yarina, you know exactly how much you mean to me. You know I haven’t forgotten everything you’ve done for me.”

He paused, letting the weight of his next words settle.

“But don’t mistake what you mean to me for permission to cross a boundary.”

His voice remained calm, almost frighteningly so.

“You will speak to me with respect. You will not challenge me in front of my wife, and you will not use my feelings for you as a weapon against her.”

He stepped closer, his expression turning colder.

“Never confuse my warmth with weakness, Yarina.”

His eyes held hers without blinking.

“I can be warm to the people I love. I can also be very fucking deadly when someone forgets their place.”

Something flickered across Yarina’s face.

It vanished almost immediately.

But I caught it.