Page 118 of Brutal Obsession

Go anywhere.

Doanything. Even kill her father the way I killed mine.

That’s how strong a hold this woman has on my heart. Nothing, no one, and no history is strong enough to tear me away from her.

Not anymore. Not ever again.

Slipping my cell phone from my pocket, I check the time again.

Ten minutes until seven.

Harper should be here any second. She’s just one floor below me in her suite with Riley, but even that short distance between us has me uneasy.

My nerves are still fucking shot.

Harper’s spent the last forty-eight hours either with me or her sister. But whenever she’s out of my sight, I can’t relax. Part of me worries that she’s gone or that something’s happened to her again.

I try to calm myself with the reminder that time will lessen the paranoia. Especially now that Enzo De Luca is finished.

I’m the kind of man who refuses to believe my enemy is dead unless I’m the one who killed them. Unless I was the one to break their body to pieces, or the one to watch as the blood drained from their corpse until there was none left.

This time, I was only able to gain a fraction of that satisfaction. I have to deal with the anxiety that it causes, but not today.

Right now, I’ve got bigger problems.

What’s my plan if things go south in this meeting with Harper? I vowed to protect her, and this is the moment of truth. If any of the highest-ranking members of this family threaten her safety, then what?

Am I really prepared to take on anyone who tries to hurt her? If her father raises a hand to her, am I going to shoot Thomas Brennan dead right there in the room?

There’s a damn construction site in my chest, my heart’s hammering so hard.

If they sentence Harper to death, I’ll shoot all three of those old fucks, grab her, and run. I’ll drive until we’re so far away that no one can touch us.

If Shane or her father tries to engage her to someone else, I’ll help her run away a second time or, even better, I’ll just kill the guy they pick. That way, Harper won’t have to run away again.

I barely survived two months apart the last time.

At the end of the hall, Harper appears, chasing every other thought from my mind.

She treads slowly, her right arm braced on the wall for support as she approaches. The closer she gets, the more the air squeezes from my lungs.

She’s so beautiful.

Her golden waves—which have cascaded down her back for as long as I’ve known her—are chopped short. Now, her hair stops at her shoulders like a curtain of milky sunshine haloing her stunning face.

She looks like a different person.

If she’d asked me before, I would’ve told her not to change a single thing, but somehow, I already like her better this way.

Everything in me aches to lead her down the hall to my suite and show her how much I love her.

Jesus. When I’m around Harper, I get claustrophobic in my ownclothes. I want to be all over her.

Desire burns in my veins. And so does love.

I love Harper Brennan. Those four words create an earthquake inside me. All I can do is swallow hard and force the thought away for the moment.

“Are you okay, honey?”

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