Page 66 of Maddening Fixation

Every person in this room knew exactly who the Flynns were.

Powerful. Untouchable. Ruthless.

The sort of family that smiled while deciding whether to bury you or make you useful.

Grandmother hadn’t simply chosen me a husband.

She had tied my future to an Irish mafia dynasty, despite the fact that we were Bratva.

The Bratva and the Irish Mafia had been bitter rivals for as long as anyone could remember.

Their history was written in blood, betrayal, and generations of hatred.

Yet somehow...

My grandmother had chosen to bind our two families together.

My gaze drifted across the table.

Aunt Irina’s lips had gone thin with irritation.

Aunt Sofia looked positively delighted, as though she had already begun calculating how quickly the inheritance would revert to her.

The smug smile tugging at her lips made it painfully obvious what she was thinking.

She was convinced I would never agree to marry Romeo Flynn.

Convinced I would reject the arrangement my grandparents had orchestrated from beyond the grave.

And the moment I did...

Everything they had left to me would become theirs to claim.

Uncle Viktor drummed thick fingers against the tabletop, the black Bratva tattoos disappearing beneath the cuffs of his tailored suit before reappearing with every impatient tap. His jaw worked as if he were chewing on an insult.

The atmosphere in the room turned poisonous.

Every one of them looked at me as though they wanted to tear me apart with their bare hands.

But there was nothing they could do.

My grandparents’ will had stripped them of any claim.

Their only hope now was that I refused to marry Romeo Flynn.

If I did...

The inheritance would no longer be mine.

It would be divided among them.

For the first time since the lawyer had begun reading the will, I realized they weren’t waiting for me to accept.

They were praying I would refuse.

Mr. Volkov then moved on to the remainder of the will, calmly distributing what little my grandparents had left for the rest of the family.

It wasn’t much.