Page 53 of Maddening Fixation

It struck me with painful force.

She smelled exactly the way I remembered.

I closed my eyes.

For the first time since walking through Ravencliff’s gates...

I allowed myself to breathe.

The room faded away.

There was no Flynn family.

No blood. No revenge.

Only the woman who had kept my soul alive.

Yarina continued crying softly against my shoulder.

Between uneven breaths, broken words escaped her.

“Romeo...”

She clutched the back of my jacket tighter.

“I thought...”

Another sob interrupted her. “I thought they’d never let you out.”

“I waited.”

“I kept waiting.”

“I prayed every day.”

She looked up at me through tear-filled eyes.

“Every letter...”

A shaky smile appeared. “I kept every single one.”

Emotion tightened painfully in my chest.

She’d kept them.

All of them.

The countless letters I’d written beneath dim prison lights.

The ink stained by blood and bruised hands.

The promises. The dreams. The hope.

She’d never thrown them away.

I brushed a tear from her cheek with my thumb.

“I’m back now.”