Page 18 of Maddening Fixation

He had condemned me without asking a single question.

The silence that followed lasted only a heartbeat.

The great double doors burst open with a thunderous crash.

Every head turned.

Heavy boots echoed across the marble floor.

Armed police officers in tactical gear poured into the ballroom with disciplined precision.

The Flynn family stepped aside almost effortlessly, creating a path through the crowd as though they had been expecting them.

As though this had all been arranged.

A tall detective approached me.

His face revealed nothing.

He glanced briefly at the blood covering my face before pulling a folded document from his coat.

“Romeo Flynn.”

His voice echoed through the silent room.

“You are under arrest for the murder of Sarah Flynn.”

The words landed with crushing force.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

Murder.

The single word echoed through my mind, shattering every fragile hope I’d been clinging to.

“No...”

The whisper slipped from my lips before I even realized I’d spoken.

Strong hands seized my arms and hauled me roughly to my feet.

My knees buckled beneath me, but the officers showed no mercy, wrenching me upright as though I were nothing more than another criminal dragged from the streets.

Then came the steel.

Cold metal clamped around my wrists.

The handcuffs locked into place with a sound so sharp, so final, it seemed to reverberate through every corner of my soul.

The unforgiving steel dug into skin already torn and swollen from the beating, but the pain barely registered.

I could only stare.

Down at the cuffs.

Down at the proof that my own family had condemned me without a trial.

This couldn’t be happening.