Page 85 of Possession

As we traveled down that dark road, there were no answers. No closure. And no charges.

That’s when my goals changed. I had new ambitions, ones I never dreamed of before.

They fueled me in a way I’ve never experienced.

It hasn’t been fast. And as of this morning, I still had no resolution.

Until my conversation with Alamandos.

Finally, a clue.

The initiation.

Focus has been a bitch since the wedding fiasco. Throwing Landyn into the mix has made everything harder.

I claimed her. She’s my responsibility. I need to make sure she comes out of this unscathed.

That should’ve been easy. I planned to lock her up and make sure no one could touch her. I shouldn’t care if she’s bored or doesn’t like to be ignored. She’ll get over it in the end when she realizes I saved her from what a true Marino marriage would’ve been and what undoubtedly would have happened had I just let her run.

The family would have hunted her down and killed her.

Locking her up for safe keeping, throwing away the key, and ignoring the blue-eyed beauty should’ve been the easiest thing I’ve ever done.

But this obsession…

I’m so close. I’ve got to get a grip.

I cannot afford the distraction. If I stray from my one true objective in this operation, I’ll get made. And I won’t be able to protect Landyn.

It is not lost on me that all the things that are fucking with my focus are directly related to my very fake wife.

She’s fucking with my head.

I’d like her to be fucking with other things, but I will not cross that line. No matter how much I want it—want her. She might hate me for the lies in the end, but she’ll get over it when she realizes she’s still single and free to carry on a normal life, with a normal man, by her own choice. Not because she ended up with me after being traded for a debt.

I cannot deviate from the end game. I’m close. I feel it.

But everything is harder than it should be.

In the beginning, this job was easy to fall into and work my way up the chain given my background. Damian might’ve been an asshole, but he wasn’t a stupid one. When he realized the value of my very real knowledge, my fake resume spoke for itself.

Fake resume.

Fake identity.

And my very fake marriage to my very fake wife.

I’m so sick of fake. If I could torture myself for thinking this was possible, I would. Only a few people in this world know where I am and why I’m here.

Carson. He was an easy sell. He’s a crazy fuck who went off the rails for his own personal reasons at one time.

Micah. He was my roommate in the academy. His background makes mine look like theGame of Lifecompared to hisGame of Thrones.

Tim. He only knows because of our mutual love for bourbon that encouraged me to share one night over a bottle of Willett.

And … my mom.

When I told her what I was doing, she stared into my eyes like she was looking at a ghost.

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