Page 110 of Deadly Obsession

I shouldn’t care about Lenetti and his relationship with his daughter. He’s the monster responsible for our mother’s death, but Noah should still know he never stopped loving her.

Noah turns to Lance. “Let’s head back to the townhouse. I’ll tell Gio to meet us there. It’s time I finally confront him about all this.”

Lance points his thumb over his shoulder. “There’s a guy downstairs. Lenetti’s head of security went rogue. He was working with Percy. Save him for us, okay?”

I nod, then snicker at Noah’s delight. She’s clearly excited to torture the fucker.

Matt, I believe is his name.

I wonder if I can get some information from him first. If he was working with Percy, he might have been working with the Lords too. Or maybe he knows something about Chase. Lance wants me to save him so they can kill him, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun first.

“Elias.” I turn at Sage’s voice. “Are you okay?”

She reaches up to palm my cheek. Her brows furrowed.

“You just killed your father. I know you hated the man, and you already thought he was dead, but he was still your father.”

I turn my head to kiss her palm.

“He wasn’t my father, though. Not in the way that matters.” Her beautiful blue-green eyes glaze over with tears. “I was only born so his legacy could live on. He didn’t love me, and I never loved him. I’m relieved he’s dead. I’m sad, but not because he’s gone. I’m sad because I didn’t kill himsooner. I could have saved my mother, and Lance would have never been forced to kill her.”

“You don’t know that,” Sage says, attempting to reassure me. Her palms are resting on my chest, and I’m sure she can feel my heart thrashing beneath.

I know she’s right, but I still wish I could go back in time and fix this.

“I almost killed Percy when I was fourteen. He came home wasted smelling like booze and cheap perfume. He passed out in a chair in the living room. I went to the kitchen and got a knife. I held it to his throat. But I was a fucking coward. I didn’t kill him, and he went on to become power hungry enough to taunt the Empire and Lenetti. He made too many enemies which put a target on my family’s back. I could have stopped it all if I had just plunged that knife into his throat.”

Tears stream down Sage’s face, and I wipe them away.

“You were just a kid. That wasn’t your responsibility. Please don’t let this burden you.”

Fuck.

I don’t deserve her.

I bring her into a hug, and we stand there for a few minutes, ignoring the people around us as they clean up: removing bodies, confiscating weapons, deactivating and removing the explosives. Police officers are pulling up to the home now, likely with the mayor in tow.

“I’m mad at you by the way,” Sage says when she pulls away.

I let out a tear-filled laugh.

“You are?”

She crosses her arms and raises a brow at me.

“You just drop the ‘L’ word and leave? Without letting me say it back?”

I reach out for her and despite her claims of being mad, she lets me cup her face in my hands. I rub my thumb back and forth along her jaw.

“Well?Areyou going to say it?”

She shrugs, failing to hold back her smile.

I lean in and brush my lips over hers.

“Tell me when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready. I just want to torture you a little.”