Page 142 of His Darkest Obsession

I try to focus, but the words blur together. The air seems to thicken around me, making each breath a struggle.

"I don't... I can't..." My vision narrows, darkness creeping in from the edges. "I have to tell…"

My knees buckle. The floor rushes up to meet me.

"Indigo!" Svetlana's voice cuts through the fog. I feel her arms catching me, stopping my fall.

Somewhere in the distance, I can hear Roma shouting something. But the sound is muffled, almost like it's coming from underwater.

Blackness creeps into the edge of my vision, and the last thing I whisper before the world fades away is just a single word.

"Anatoly."

44

INDIGO

I jolt awake,heart hammering against my ribs. My mouth is dry, and there's a dull ache behind my eyes. For a moment, I can't remember where I am or how I got here.

Then it hits me all at once—the pregnancy tests in the café bathroom, the news broadcast, and Grant Bennet's mutilated body.

I'm in my bed at the mansion. Someone's changed me into a nightgown. The curtains are drawn tight, but I can tell it's night by the thin strip of darkness visible along the edge.

Voices filter up from downstairs. Loud, angry voices. Shouting.

I swing my legs over the side of the bed, fighting a wave of dizziness.

The shouting grows louder. I can make out Anatoly's voice now, deep and furious. Roma's too, and Svetlana's sharp tones cutting through them both. And then another voice joins them.

Vassily's smug drawl.

I pad to the door, my bare feet silent on the carpet. When I open it just a crack, the voices become clearer.

"You've lost your fucking mind!" Roma shouts. "The police will be looking for you! While the fucking Volkovs are fighting us and before Bennet did any of the fucking things he promised us!"

"Let them come." Anatoly's voice is frighteningly calm beneath his anger. "I don't give a fuck! He deserved worse than what I gave him."

"I don't care about what he deserved!" Roma keeps shouting. "You've compromised everything we fucking worked for. We were this fucking close to victory and you threw it all away!"

Anatoly standing with his back to me, Roma facing him, Svetlana stands by Anatoly while Vassily stands by Roma.

"And what about Indigo?" Svetlana's voice cuts through the argument. "Has anyone thought about what this means for her?"

"What about her?" Vassily scoffs. "She's the reason we're in this mess."

"She's Tolya's wife," Svetlana fires back. "And she's unconscious upstairs while you idiots shout about things that don't fucking matter!"

"Don't fucking matter? The bratva is the only thing that matters, bastard!" Vassily jabs a finger at Svetlana. "And don't fucking raise your voice at me! You're not even a real fucking Baryshev. You're just another stray we picked up from the streets."

The room goes deadly silent.

Then Svetlana pulls her gun out and aims it at Vassily's face.

"Call me a bastard one more fucking time, Vasya!"

Roma steps between them. "Put the gun down, Sveta."

"Out of my way, Romochka," Svetlana hisses. "I don't want to have to shoot you too."