Page 256 of Maddening Fixation

It was cruelty.

It was the weakness of a man who allowed his emotions to control him.

I looked at Keegan.

“Take me to Juliet.” My voice was final. “Now.”

Keegan nodded immediately.

We left the room.

The deeper we went into the safe house, the colder the air became.

The basement levels seemed to swallow sound.

The concrete stairs were narrow beneath our feet, and Keegan switched on the overhead lights as we descended.

The harsh bulbs flickered above us, casting long shadows across the walls.

But all I could think about was darkness.

And Juliet trapped inside it.

We reached the final door.

A heavy wooden barrier separating me from Juliet.

The woman I had accused. The woman I had punished.

The woman who might have been innocent all along.

I reached for the handle.

Then stopped.

For the first time in years...

Real fear moved through me.

Not anger. Not rage.

Fear.

A cold, sickening realization that settled deep in my bones.

What if she was innocent?

What if I had spent all these months hating and punishing the wrong woman?

What if everything Juliet had confessed was true?

What if she really had been the one who saved me from drowning at the lake—not Yarina?

The thought had been impossible moments ago.

Now it was the only thing I could see.

What if I had taken an innocent woman—my wife—and thrown her into the same hell I reserved for the people who betrayed us?