Page 147 of Sinner's Obsession

“I thought that was it.”

I am numb as we walk outside and climb into the black car. I watch my home getting smaller and smaller in the back window.

“Thank you.”

I squeeze her hand in answer. My head splits with this headache, and my heart already misses him. Everything inside of me craves and screams after him.

I didn’t even tell him I love him. I hug myself, suddenly cold.

Why did I wait? Was it selfishness? I wanted to hear him say that to me for a while longer before I’d share my feelings.

On the tarmac, a jet waits for us. With steel flowing through my veins, I step inside and my uncle says, “Put this bracelet on. It will redirect the signal.”

With trembling fingers, I put it on.

What have I done?

I force my eyes open, the nightmare playing in my head as I groan, my moves sluggish. I turn my head to find Aurora’s side of the bed empty. Panic has me shooting up and calling her name. The night almost gives way to day when I rush from the room. She must have woken up earlier, but the eerie silence, this motherfucking gut instinct telling me it’s not the case, has me panicked and furious. If something happened to her, if anyone dared to take her from me, I am going to unleash all levels of hell on them.

I freeze as I see Daniel lying on the floor in the hallway. I check his pulse. Finding one, I shake him, and he wakes up with a growl.

“What happened?”

“Someone entered the house last night.”

I yank at my hair, shouting, “How the fuck was this possible? This house is meant to be a fortress.”

He bows his head and I storm into the guest room and find Cato forcing his eyes open.

“What the fuck happened?”

“They took the girls.”

Thunder strikes with every silent beat. Panic turns to lethal calm.

I check my phone. Why didn’t I track her from the start?

When the signal redirects from one place to another, I drop onto the chair, gravity pulling me under with the knowledge. They couldn’t have known…that means…No, she wouldn’t do that. I shake my head, only for Daniel’s eyes to find mine, and I know his words will cut through me.

“The girls were in on it.”

Cato lets a string of curses out while I stare at the monitor. My eyes find her, glassy, as she holds Chiara in the security footage from last night.

You fooled me really well, sweetheart.I wish Hayden had killed me so I wouldn’t have to experience this betrayal, having to go through the humiliation that this asshole got to me in my own house.

I smash the chair against the wall and storm outside.

“Why didn’t you stop her?”

Tamara freezes and sighs, “Aurora said she’s going to come back.”

A self-deprecating laugh bursts out of me. “Yes, well, why didn’t she tell me the same?”

“Kieran.”

I let myself become a fool because of her. I’ll kill him. No wonder she didn’t say those words back. Aurora played me, an angel who seduced the devil and ended up playing him. I’ll congratulate her the moment I put a bullet through her so-called uncle. They must be having a good laugh at my expense.

A woman is what ruins any man. In that aspect, we’re all the same. I became a fucking cliché.

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