Page 84 of Shadows of Obsession

"Only one person handles his food, so poisoning is complicated because that man is completely loyal to the maniac. He's had the same doctor for thirty years, equally hard to replace, and believe me, I've tried to infiltrate his inner circle."

But he failed. He doesn't need to say it aloud because I see it in his eyes.

"Max, did he ever abuse you?" It's barely a whisper, but I know he heard it.

My eyes are fixed on the floor. It's a question I already know the answer to in my soul, but I need confirmation to cross that moral barrier.

He doesn't respond, but his breathing becomes more ragged and that’s my answer. I regret asking. The rational Luna in me needed another reason, another excuse that what I'm about to do is somehow right.

"I'll do it. Give me the name," I tell him, my voice trembling with the emotion caught in my throat. No tears fall down my cheeks, yet I see how much the idea of being pitied bothers him.

"You have my word—which might not mean much to you, but it's all I can offer—that this man deserves to die," Julia tells me as she turns to the laptop and gestures for me to sit at the computer.

I move toward her while Maksim stays several feet behind us. His face remains frowning, and the air around him feels somehow charged, oppressive.

"You'll have ten minutes to erase my trail. After I modify the application, a notification will be sent to a department manager. It's their standard procedure," I say and get to work.

I need to clone the code and find the service containing the lines of code I need.

"I'll need his name," I tell Julia.

"Ivan Rastovski," Maksim answers, every syllable dripping with venom.

The name sounds familiar, but I ignore that thought and focus on what I need to do.

In a few seconds, I've found his device ID in the database and copied it to put in the code. I realize I need to help Julia cover up somehow, so I reformat all the code. When they realize someonehas tampered with it, they'll try to find the differences, and I can buy us some time if the entire code is reformatted. It will simply appear as if all the code was modified, and maybe they'll miss the few lines I added.

"You know they'll eventually catch on, so you don't have much time," I say, and I can tell they both understand what I mean.

Whatever they plan to do to give that monster a heart attack needs to happen quickly if they want the device to stay deactivated long enough.

"I have someone on standby," Maksim tells me, and when I look at him he seems calmer, more composed, though I can still feel fury seeping from every pore.

Outside it's almost evening, and although I should focus on this godforsaken code, I can only hear Roman's voice when I called him after the car flipped.

I miss him.

Julia opens multiple terminals, and it reminds me I still need to reformat the code before wrapping it with a bow. I talk through my strategy with Julia as I make the modifications and explain what each line of code does because, without time for testing, there's a chance the whole application could crash if we have any logic errors. After many minutes pass, we're both sure we have the final version, and I send it to her.

"Message Akim," Julia tells Maksim after the application reaches production.

Oh God. I just signed someone's death warrant.

And although the panic attack starts to creep up, when I raise my eyes and see Maksim messaging whoever waits to carry this mission to completion, I remember why this man deserves to die.

I can't imagine how terrified those children must be, waking up in hell every day. I was already an adult when I went through my experience with Aidan and it still scarred me for life, but to spend weeks, months, years waiting for someone to rescue you, only to realize no one is coming, seems so cruel.

"Done," he says and exhales, sounding like a weight has been lifted from his chest.

Julia leans back in her chair, closing her eyes and smiling, a full smile that makes her face shine, and a small smile appears on my lips too.

When she opens her eyes, I see tears on the verge of falling, and her palm settles over my hand.

"You have no idea what kind of monster you helped remove from this world, Luna."

I don't know everything this man has done, but I see relief in her, a glimmer of peace settling in her gaze.

That's when I allow myself to breathe freely. Someone will die tonight, and I just hope it brings some calm to those gray eyes fixed on me.

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