Page 136 of Obsession

I can’t hold this back anymore.

“Sky, I need to talk to Violet alone before you come with us.” I don’t look at Violet. I can’t. Not yet.

“You do,” she says with a nod. “I understand. I’ll wait for you in the truck.”

I shake my head. “I’m not sure how long this will take. I’ll call you when we’re ready to go.”

I feel like I’m going to be sick. I don’t like the way Violet’s face has paled, or the way she gently tugs her hand out of mine and wraps her arms around her body.

“Okay,” Skylar says with a nod. “Violet, just remember you love him, okay?”

Violet looks sharply at Skylar, and I groan. Seriously, Skylar?Seriously?

“Skylar, go read a book or something, and stop interfering,” Violet scolds. Skylar shrugs and heads to the truck. Maybe I should send her to the house. Who knows how long this will take.

When the door shuts behind her, Violet turns to me. Her amethyst eyes glow with fire, and she stands up straighter. My girl may be a tiny thing, but she’s powerful and potent, and I feel that straight in my gut right now. She raises one brow at me. “Spill, Mr. Master.”

“Target range.”

She slow-blinks, then nods. “Do you plan on seducing me after you tell me whatever the hell it is you need to tell me?”

“No, babe. I’m not planning on seducing you.” I can’t keep the melancholy out of my tone.

Jesus. I’ve waited months and months to get Violet to myself. I’ve worked my ass off building trust, establishing what’sbetween us. I want Violet, and I don’t want to share her… not now, not ever.

But I’ll have to give her a chance to walk away.

I’ve never felt so helpless in my life.

We get to the target range, and the world seems eerily silent. It’s as if the entire planet is waiting on the conversation I’m about to have with her.

A part of me hopes there will be a distraction of some sort, that a meteor will fall to Earth, or a bomb will explode, or… something. Anything, to keep me away from having the conversation I have to have with her.

She shuts the door with finality, then turns to me. “Cain, I feel like I’m going to be sick waiting for this.”

“Me, too.”

Her voice is pained when she pleads with me. She places her hands on my shoulders, nearly standing on her tiptoes. “Then tell me, babe. Please.”

I bend down and brush my lips to hers. It might be the last time I ever do. I want one more chance with her, one more taste of her, before I lay out what could destroy us.

When I pull away, her eyes are filled with tears. “That felt like a goodbye. Why did that feel like a goodbye?”

I’d flay the very skin off my back to keep her happy. To keep those eyes from filling with tears like that.

There’s no more time. I have to man the fuck up and tell her.

I have to tell her everything.

“Violet, when you first came here, that day you came and asked me to help you find your parents’ killer?”

She nods slowly. Waiting. There’s no easy way to say this.

“I already knew who you were.” I watch her eyes grow troubled, but she doesn’t speak.

“It was my intent from the very beginning to bring you here. I… had been obsessed with you for months.”

A look of confusion crosses her features. I’m sure she’s replaying everything in her mind, trying to figure this all out, trying to decipher my meaning. “What do you mean?”

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