Page 178 of Maddening Fixation

The wallpaper was a photograph of Romeo and Yarina.

It was recent. Too recent.

They were looking into each other’s eyes, standing so close that there was barely any space between them.

The intimacy in the photograph was unmistakable—the kind of closeness that made something ugly twist inside my chest.

My grip tightened around the phone.

A sharp, irrational fury clawed through me.

Then—

“What the hell are you doing with my phone?”

Romeo’s voice ripped through the silence.

I jolted.

The phone slipped from my fingers and struck the floor.

Romeo crossed the distance between us in long, furious strides.

He bent, snatched the phone from the floor, slipped it into his pocket, and straightened.

His eyes found mine.

Anger burned behind them.

Cold. Controlled. Lethal.

My stomach twisted.

I had no idea what frightened me more—the thought that I had touched something he considered private, or the possibility that he would make me pay for what I had done to the woman he loved.

My lungs seemed to forget how to work.

Would he hit me?

After everything that had happened since our wedding, I no longer knew where the limits of Romeo’s hatred ended.

His green eyes remained fixed on me.

Dark. Hard.

Dangerously calm.

I had never seen anyone look so much like judgment itself.

Slowly, I rose from my crouched position.

Every instinct screamed at me to step backward.

To put distance between us.

Instead, I forced myself to remain where I was, even as my knees threatened to buckle beneath me.

Romeo looked murderous.