Page 218 of Maddening Fixation

My sister hated me so much she wanted me dead.

And Romeo—the man I had loved for as long as I could remember—looked at me as though I were someone he wished he had never known.

How long was he going to keep me here?

Twenty-four hours?

Two days?

A week?

The thought made me sob harder.

This wasn’t the life I had dreamed of.

I had dreamed of love. Of family. Of coming home to people who wanted me there.

Instead, I was locked inside a house with nowhere to go and no one to turn to.

For years, I had foolishly believed that if I loved Romeo long enough, somehow, someday, it would mean something.

I was wrong.

He was a monster.

And he would never be mine.

I curled into myself, sobbing until my body trembled.

My nails dug deep into my palms, the sharp pain almost welcome against the agony in my chest.

This was my fault.

I should never have gone to that wedding.

I should have dared Romeo to make good on his threat.

I should have walked away the moment he offered me that marriage.

I should have listened when Yarina threatened me, warning that if I dared to become Romeo’s wife, I would spend the rest of my life paying the price.

But I hadn’t agreed simply because Romeo had threatened me.

I had been vulnerable.

Frightened.

And worst of all, I had secretly loved him.

For years.

That secret love had been my greatest weakness, and now I was paying for it.

I had become the bride of the one man who could destroy me without even trying.

The one man who hated me enough to make me wish I had never loved him at all.

Chapter 10