Page 20 of Maddening Fixation

He knew exactly what he had done.

He knew I had seen him.

And he knew no one would ever believe me.

The truth hung silently between us, invisible to everyone else in the room.

The officers dragged me through Flynn Manor while servants lowered their heads and guests whispered behind crystal glasses.

Not one person spoke in my defense.

When we reached the entrance hall, I saw him.

My father.

Medved Flynn.

The man whose approval I had spent my entire childhood chasing.

Hope flared inside me despite everything.

Surely he would listen. Surely he knew me better than the rest.

The officers shoved me forward.

My knees crashed into the polished marble with bone-jarring force, the impact splitting already battered skin.

Fresh blood seeped from the wounds, joining the steady stream running down my face before dripping onto the priceless Persian rug beneath me.

I didn’t care.

The pain no longer mattered.

Dragging myself across the marble, I crawled toward him, every movement fueled by the desperate hope that he would finally look at me—not as the family’s disgrace, not as the bastard they all despised, but as his son.

“Father...”

The word escaped me like a prayer.

My voice cracked. “F-Father...”

I reached for him with my cuffed hands.

“Ye know me.”

He didn’t move. “Ye know I could never hurt her.”

Nothing.

“I loved Sarah more than my own life.”

My breathing became ragged. “Please...”

I searched his face desperately. “Don’t let them take me.”

My voice rose with panic. “We have to find who really threw her from that window.”

My cuffed hands shook violently. “It wasn’t me. I swear on Mam’s grave.”