Page 198 of Maddening Fixation

That version of us felt like it belonged to another lifetime.

After a moment’s hesitation, I answered.

“Hi.”

His voice was rough.

My thumb hovered over the screen, already tempted to end the call.

There had been a time when hearing his voice made me smile.

Now it only exhausted me.

“Did you see the picture I sent you?” he asked.

“What picture?”

I switched the call to speaker and opened my messages.

The moment the image loaded, my breath caught.

Romeo.

He was seated beside a hospital bed.

Yarina rested comfortably against him, her head nestled on his lap as though it belonged there.

One of his hands was gently stroking her hair.

The hard, unreadable expression he wore around everyone else was gone.

Instead, concern softened every line of his face as he looked down at her.

Yarina looked peaceful and safe.

As though she had found exactly where she belonged.

A sharp ache spread through my chest.

Keegan had told me Romeo was probably in a meeting.

Instead...

He had been with my sister.

The realization hit even harder because only hours earlier Romeo had taken my virginity—and we had fucked with a force that still left my body aching.

After everything that had happened between us today...

After crossing a line that could never be uncrossed...

He had gone straight to Yarina.

My chest tightened until it hurt to breathe.

The pain was sharper than I wanted to admit.

“I’m at Club 007,” Egor said, breaking through the silence. “You should come.”