Page 113 of Shadows of Obsession

My mind feels like it’s stumbling through a swamp. I hear sounds that seem very far away and my forehead is throbbing.What the hell happened to me?

My eyelids fight against me, each attempt to open them intensifying the hammering in my temples. I try to figure out where I am and focus on the senses that are available. The voices start becoming clearer, and the smell...is that leather?

"I don't care what you do with her. As far as I'm concerned, you can make her a star in one of your brothels."

That voice is familiar. Where do I know that voice from?Come on, Luna. Focus.

"Don't you dare put your hands on me!" I hear another voice and immediately force my eyes open.

Roxy.

The light is relatively dim here, but it feels like an explosion in front of my eyes. In that moment, everything that happened comes rushing back.

Roxy. Aidan. The explosion. Roman.

My thoughts center on Roman. Roman who was in that house that exploded.

"Luna, we can leave now," Aidan tells me as he comes toward me.

His gaze settles on the head wound thathecaused.

"Sweetie, why are you bleeding?"

I frown at him.Has he really gone insane?The idiot hit me in the head with something and he's surprised I'm bleeding.

"Roxy..."

My voice is barely a rasp because my tongue feels like I've swallowed a handful of sand.

"The boys will take care of her," Aidan tells me, and when I manage to look beyond him, I see a group of three men hovering around a chair.

"If you put your hands on me, I swear I'll break your neck!" Roxy screams like a banshee.

Without thinking, I start yelling for her, struggling against the ties binding my hands behind my back. Two seconds later, I feel the first slap land on my cheek. It's strong enough to turn my head to the side.

"After everything I've done so we could be together, you're looking at that little whore friend of yours?!" Aidan is the one shouting now. "You know something, Luna? I agreed to let you play with that Russian scum while I was away and I even forgive you for that. Especially since he's in pieces somewhere in a yard, but you need to understand that only I matter to you," he says, and his words are so certain that for a second I'm shocked when I hear them.

His mention of Roman and the explosion brings a wave of tears, but I swallow them down.I need to help Roxy.

"Help Roxy, please. I'm begging you," I plead with him and hate myself in this moment for how vulnerable I am.

The second slap lands on the same side of my face, and this time a scream escapes me.

"ME! I SHOULD BE THE ONE WHO OCCUPIES YOUR THOUGHTS! NOT HER!"

Oooh, you are occupying my thoughts. Thoughts of you bleeding on a dirty floor. Thoughts of someone breaking your neck in front of me. Plenty of thoughts.

Aidan keeps turning and walking in circles, running his hand through his hair. Behind him, the men start laughing and I hear one of them say, "Let's see if that mouth is good for something other than insults, boys."

"Give it to her, Devin!" sneers another man.

Every fiber in my body goes on alert, and although my hands are tied, I realize I still have the gun Roman gave me at my back.

They didn't frisk me. Their mistake.

I start rotating my hands, and the damn rope cuts into every layer of skin as I struggle.

"ROXY!" I yell at her because I want her to know I'm here. She's not alone.

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