VEIL OF OBSESSION

g the windows and sending shadows flickering across the room. Olivia's

s alive and

ds lodged in her throat, chokin

said, his voice eerily calm despite the s

immovable force. "Put the gun down," he sa

to Olivia's. "I did everything to keep you safe," he

s. "Safe from what? F

, the man she had mourned for years, had been alive al

dn't you?" he said darkly. "You knew what would happen whe

never supposed to find out. Not about Elias. No

bout

k Olivia like a dagge

silence was a

twisted inside her.

the Blackwoods, the corruption, the blood money. Elias was go

tect Olivia?" His voice was filled with venom. "That's r

n't understand what I've done for her. I kept her f

You let me believe you were dead. You let me chase ghosts.

r a brief moment, but the gun remai

iled like a predator. "And what now? You'll

livia saw hesitation

dn't

f uncertainty was

hot rang out, deafening in the silence. Olivia scr

d, she thought No

ming across his chest. His eyes widened i

de him, her hands shaking as she

breathing was shallow, his body trembling

via's face. "You lied t

around hers. "I..." A shud

still. The air inside Blackwood

faster than Olivia had seen anyone move before he had taken t

e world crumbling around her. "You

suspected, but I needed yo

s your plan? Let me walk straight into

d. "No, Olivia. I plan

sperate. "I told you," he murmured, his silver-gray eyes burning into hers. "You were never just another person t

ght him, she wanted to scream at him for keepi

t she don

the truth, knowing

sume her, knowing she

hing crashing down on her. When she finally

nd to Nolan

his secrets, an

uld never

speration, it was possession. A final declaration that no matter what had happened,

outside

or, the last veil of obs

ed, the silence it left

ing. Her father's body lay motionless on the floor, blood flowing into the ancient rug. The wei

her, his grip on her arm firm, a

nd commanding yet laced with so

, searching his silver-gray eye

ained unreadable. "He

led away from him. The realization of everything t

watching her, manipulating her every move, all under

se of

ef, rage, and something far more dange

ou let me walk straight into thi

new it could end like this," he corrected. "And I was pr

s never about me, was it? It was always about your war

d. "If that were true, I w

spine. There was no remorse in hi

her over eve

fied her more

k, her pulse racing

Instead, he simply watched as she turned on her heel and walked

didn't

allway, something felt off. The hou

he hea

int

eaped into

of the hallway, where the shadow

oice shattere

supposed to surv

ood ra

gnized t

ictoria

of hands clamped around her arms,

to scream before the