Page 193 of Maddening Fixation

The only member of the Flynn family Romeo had spared.

No one seemed to understand why.

The old man had been just as cruel as the rest of them, yet somehow he had escaped the massacre that had erased the Flynn bloodline.

“Good day, sir,” I said quietly.

He ignored the greeting.

“As you know, your husband was responsible for the deaths of nearly everyone in my family,” he said, his voice low and measured. “He made one fatal mistake. He left me alive. I want you to finish what he started.”

My stomach tightened.

“Kill him.”

He said it without anger, as though discussing a business arrangement.

“In return, I will see to it that you receive everything that is rightfully yours. Your inheritance, his inheritance, the properties, the accounts—everything. The necessary legal arrangements have already been made.”

“You won’t need to concern yourself with the details. You need only decide whether your husband is worth more to you alive than everything his death would place in your hands.”

I couldn’t speak.

“This should not be a difficult task for you,” he continued. “There are countless ways to end a man. Poison his food. Put a bullet through him while he sleeps. Choose whichever method you can live with. I know you don’t love him. And whatever passes between you, he certainly doesn’t love you.”

The casualness of it made my stomach turn.

A complete stranger was calmly asking me to murder my own husband as though he were assigning me an ordinary household duty.

“Of course,” he added calmly, “you should understand that refusal is not really an option.”

My heart lurched.

“Your mother—the woman you left at your father’s mansion moments ago—is now in my custody.”

My blood ran cold.

“Complete what I’ve asked of you, and your mother will be returned to you unharmed.”

My breath caught in my throat.

“No...”

I gripped the phone so tightly my knuckles ached.

“If you tell Romeo—or anyone else—about this call, your mother dies.”

Every muscle in my body locked.

“You have forty-eight hours.”

His words came one after another, each more horrifying than the last.

The call ended.

Chapter 9

JULIET