Page 106 of Shattered Obsession

“Mechanic,” he drawls, the word dripping with condescension. “Took you long enough.”

My gaze remains fixed on his gun. “Step away from her.”

“Or what?” He spreads his arms wide, knife dangling precariously. “You’ll fix me?”

“Or I’ll break you in ways nobody can fix.”

His laughter echoes, distorted and wrong, a sound without joy. “You want her. I get it. She’s sweet when she cries. But she came here for me.”

At that, Thalia lifts her head enough for her eyes to find mine, shimmering with defiance but glazed with fear. Something in my chest snaps open.

Not fear. Not desperation.

Hope.

Her lips form my name, though no sound accompanies the motion.

“I’m here,” I tell her, my calmness a strange animal within me, fierce and protective. “I’ve got you, baby.” She swallows hard, nods once, and the handcuffs whisper, rattling against the beam. Damian’s smile broadens, a predator relishing the thrill of the hunt.

“Say it again,” he softly instructs her, as though I’m invisible. “Tell him you’re mine.”

The bulb buzzes ominously. The knife in my grasp feels as integral to me as my very arm. I take a single step to my left, shallow and silent, shifting the line between his gun and her vulnerable ribs. His gaze flickers there. Good, keep your eyes on me, not on her.

“Last chance,” I say, my voice like ice.

“For who?” he sneers, lifting the blade in a mocking test of the air. “You? Or her?”

I let silence drape over us like a heavy blanket, stretching until it creaks ominously. Within that silence, I hear everything: the choked hitch of Thalia’s breath, the metallic kiss of her cuffs as she trembles, the soft scrape of leather against skin as he shifts.

I root my feet firmly, gathering myself for what’s to come.

I’m going to tear him out of this world. But I’ll do it on a count that I can live with.

One breath for the woman chained to the beam, fighting through fear.

Two for every call I missed, every time I hesitated.

Three, and I move.

And in this moment, the world snaps toward the inevitable collision we’ve been edging toward since the night he laid hands on her.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

-Thalia-

The room smells like violence, sweat, and blood. My head throbs. There’s a buzzing in my ears, loud enough to drown out my own heartbeat.

I tug against the handcuffs, testing them again even though I know they won’t budge. They bite deeper, as if mocking my desperation. Damian prepared this place. He planned to bring me back here.

A wave of nausea hits me so sharply I have to squeeze my eyes shut. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be in this body. If I could peel my skin off and escape myself, I would.

But then I hear Xander snarl, low and full of violence.

And I remember I’m not alone.

Boots slam against concrete, followed by a sharp grunt. A crash rattles the walls so hard the cuffs bite deeper into my wrists. When I open my eyes through the blur of pain, I see them. Xander and Damian, locked together like animals. Xander’s face is carved in fury, every muscle alive with rage. His knife gleams in one hand, but Damian is faster than I thought, heavier too. He swings wildly, and when his fist connects with Xander’s ribs, the noise Xander makes is something I’ve never heard before—a strangled growl, not in pain, not yet, but close.

“Don’t touch him!” My voice breaks raw against the basement air, but neither of them stop. Damian’s knife flashes, slicing through Xander’s sleeve, leaving a red trail across his arm. Blood blooms fast. “No, please!”