Page 90 of His Darkest Obsession

I dip her low while supporting her weight with one arm. The heat between us disappears for a moment as her body leaves mine, but her eyes remain transfixed on me. She gives a tiny little gasp and a yelp that only I can hear in the ballroom.

“Were you afraid that I’ll drop you?” I ask when I pull her back upright.

“No.” she shakes her head as her body continues to move with mine effortlessly. “You just surprised me. That’s all.”

“I didn’t think I can still surprise you.”

“And yet, you still manage to do so.” She smiles. “Now do it again.”

I do exactly as she commands. This time, Indigo throws her head backwards, shaking a strand of blue hair loose from her eyes as she exposes her lovely neck to me. But suddenly, something between us shifts. Her hand grips mine more tightly than before. Her chest starts rising and falling in rapid succession. And her hips have stopped moving against me.

When I pull her back up this time, she looks behind her, and her lower lip starts trembling.

I follow the direction of her gaze, and that’s when I see him.

Grant Bennet, standing with a young woman who looks like she’s just graduated from college near the bar with a drink frozen halfway up to his lips. His eyes are narrowed to slits, and something dark flutters past his face.

"Indigo?" I ask, but she doesn’t turn, doesn’t face me, doesn’t even seem to acknowledge me as the trembling in her lips starts spreading through her entire body.

Her eyes are still locked on Grant Bennet, and there’s no mistaking the color that’s draining from her face as she looks. Her hand tightens against mine with that same desperation I had felt a week ago when she stood next to me atop the stairs as my family walked into the door.

She’s scared.

"I can't—" she whispers, voice cracking.

Before I can respond, she tears from my grip, stumbling backward. And before I can stop her, she is pushing her way through the crowd, her blue dress disappearing between the tuxedos and gowns.

My instinct screams to follow, but something makes me turn back toward Bennet.

His eyes continue to track her through the crowd. A mixture of disbelief, hunger, and anger war for control in their depths. The way he watches her retreat makes my blood boil with anger. Bitter adrenaline pumps through my blood. My hand balls into fists.

And when his tongue darts out to wet his bottom lip, a gesture so brief most would miss it, red starts creeping into the corner of my vision.

Cold, calculated anger burns away until only something molten and vicious remains as I glare at Bennet. The gun in my jacket hangs heavy against me, and practically screams at me to reach for it.

Grant's eyes finally break from Indigo's path to meet mine. Recognition flashes, and he knows that the rumors are true. That Indigo Taylor is nowmine.

His lips curl with contempt as he deliberately turns his back to me, dismissing me like I'm nothing.

Like he doesn't know who the fuck I am.

Or what the fuck he originally asked me to do.

I glance back and give Svetlana a nod, and she starts moving through the crowd with practiced ease toward the same direction that Indigo disappeared.

As for me, I now turn my attention back to Bennet. Straightening my cufflinks and smoothing the front of my jacket, I cross the ballroom in measured strides.

When I intercept him by the bar, his young companion looks back and forth between us, and even she can detect the anger and hatred rolling off me in waves.

Stammering something, she steps away with her drink to leave us alone, and casts back a furtive stare when she thinks she’s far enough.

"Mr. Baryshev," Bennet acknowledges stiffly. "Just what?—"

I don’t bother letting him finish whatever fucking bullshit he wants to spew at me. I want him to know that he doesn’t get to fuckingstareat my wife. He doesn’t get to put fear in her eyes. That he has no fucking right to make her rush away from this like she’s the one who did something wrong.

I put a heavy hand down on his shoulder to root him in place, then I lean in and snarl.

"I know what you did."