Page 220 of Maddening Fixation

He stepped into the backyard garden, his immaculate white suit standing out sharply against the greenery.

The tailored jacket molded itself to his broad shoulders, the pristine fabric making his dark hair and piercing green eyes seem even more striking.

White should have made him look pure.

Instead, it made him look lethal.

Like an executioner dressed as an angel.

Like salvation dipped in sin.

He was heartbreak wrapped in perfection.

Rage surged through me so suddenly that it nearly drowned out the shock.

This was the man who had sentenced me to solitary confinement.

The man who had abandoned me here without a single explanation.

The man who had never once bothered to see whether I was alive or dead, leaving Keegan to deliver food like I was some inconvenient responsibility that needed feeding.

Four months.

Not one visit.

Not one conversation.

Not one ounce of remorse.

I had tried to escape more times than I cared to count.

Every attempt had ended in failure.

The last time, I had nearly made it over the towering perimeter wall before my foot slipped. I still remembered the sickening drop, the sharp pain that shot through my body when I hit the ground.

I hadn’t been afraid for myself.

I had been terrified for the child inside me.

I was pregnant.

I had never taken a test.

I hadn’t needed one.

Four months of relentless morning sickness that often stretched long past sunrise.

Crushing exhaustion that made even watering the vegetables feel like climbing a mountain.

Smells so overwhelming they turned ordinary meals into torture.

Dizzy spells that stole the strength from my legs.

Tender, swollen breasts. Cravings so bizarre they would have made me laugh under different circumstances. Emotions that swung wildly between tears and fury.

And then...

The flutter.