Page 255 of Maddening Fixation

My jaw tightened.

“And if she were pregnant, I would know.” I shook my head harder. “That isn’t possible.”

But Sokolov didn’t stop.

“Then don’t believe me. Verify it. But get Juliet out first.”

His desperation was almost unbearable.

“She is innocent. And she is terrified of the dark. You know what you’re doing to her.”

Before I could respond, Keegan stepped forward.

“Boss, that’s exactly why he’s saying this.”

My eyes shifted toward him.

“Sokolov knows you won’t accept the possibility that Yarina betrayed you. That’s why he’s putting the blame on her. He knows you’ll hesitate to punish her, and that hesitation gives Juliet the protection he wants.”

Sokolov’s expression twisted.

“That’s not true.”

“Then why won’t you give us evidence?” Keegan asked. “Why are you suddenly so desperate to save Juliet?”

Silence.

Two versions of reality stood before me.

One was the truth I desperately wanted to believe.

Yarina was loyal.

Yarina had loved me.

Yarina could never betray me.

The other possibility was unbearable.

What if Juliet had been telling the truth?

What if she had been the one writing to me from prison all those years—not Yarina?

What if Yarina really had been pregnant with Sergei’s child? What if she had truly wanted revenge for his death?

My jaw tightened.

What if my hatred for Juliet had made the conclusion too easy to accept?

For the first time, doubt slipped beneath my certainty.

And with it came a thought I didn’t want to entertain.

What if I had punished an innocent woman?

What if I had condemned her without proof...

Then this wasn’t justice.