Page 108 of Shadows of Obsession

But had I heard him correctly just now? Through the remaining haze in my mind, had those words really been—

The drug dealers killed Nikki?

Bile rose in my throat, hot and acidic. Not a random robbery. Not wrong place, wrong time.

Murder.Deliberate, calculated murder.

"Yes, Jared. I think he will," an unfamiliar voice replied. Cold, calm, and terrifyingly controlled. The kind of voice that made every hair on my body stand on end. The tone was smooth, measured. The voice of someone used to being obeyed. Someone dangerous. Someone who hurt people without hesitation.

"Especially considering I haveherhere. I think he'll be smart enough to avoid losing someone else."

Me. He was talking about me. I was the leverage.

The casual way he spoke, discussing me as leverage, a bargaining chip, ignited a flicker of rage beneath the fear. But I kept my body limp, my breathing steady, even as every muscle screamed to move, to fight, to run.

"Isaac, this is a bad idea. Jaxon isn't stupid—"

Jared's protest was abruptly silenced by the sickening crack of flesh meeting flesh. A heavy, meaty sound that made me flinch inwardly. A grunt of pain followed, then the scrape of shoes against wood as someone stumbled.

"Of course he isn't the stupid one. You are, as I've learned the hard way." Isaac's voice cut through the air like a blade—sharp, cold, deliberate. I heard heavy footsteps pacing the floor, back and forth like a caged animal, each pass punctuated by the creak of old boards.

Wooden floors. The smell of old wood and fresh air. This had to be Jaxon's cabin, or at least one of the ones on Connor’s ranch.

"You're the reason his fiancée is dead in the first place. You were the one who told me to go to his house to find the money." The words struck like physical blows, each one another piece of the puzzle locking into place—horrifying and undeniable.

Jared set up the robbery. Jared got Nikki killed.

"And not to mention," Isaac continued, voice icy, "you thought burning that cabin down would get him to come home so you could force it out of him."

The fire. Jared started the fire at the cabin. Did he seriously think that would make Jaxon stop staying at Connor’s with me and go back to his place? Jared muttered something low and defensive, but Isaac wasn't finished.

"And let's not forget when you tried to spy on him here, making him more guarded from the start, because you thought it was a good idea to scare a horse into the woods."

The accident with the Choco when I was at Jaxon’s. That was Jared too? My head spun, the remnants of the drug making it hard to keep up, but the revelations kept coming like hammer blows.

"And then it was your idea to trash the place and just try to find the money yourself." The break-in. They were looking for the money Jaxon supposedly had.

The weight of their revelations crashed over me like a tidal wave, each word slamming into my already pounding skull. The secrets they spilled so carelessly, thinking I was unconscious, thinking I couldn't hear, hit harder than any blow. The trauma they'd inflicted on Jaxon, the torment they now sought to use against him again.

They killed Nikki. They've been tormenting Jaxon. And now they're using me.

It was almost too much to bear. The magnitude of what they'd done, what they were planning, the sheer cruelty of it all.

Bile burned the back of my throat, but I swallowed it down, forcing my body to stay limp and lifeless. Every muscle trembled withthe strain of pretending, the effort of keeping still when every instinct screamed at me to fight, to run.

I focused on my breathing. I wouldn't give myself away—I refused to.

Despite the fear coursing through me like ice water, one truth rooted itself deep inside me: Jaxon would come for me.

He would move heaven and earth to find me, to bring me back to safety. I'd seen it in his eyes when he held me, when he made love to me, when he whispered promises against my skin. That wasn't a man who would ever abandon me to this fate.

I just had to stay alive until he did.

All I had to do was survive long enough for him to reach me. That was it. Just survive.

So I lay there, trapped in a waking nightmare, my heart hammering so loudly I was sure they could hear it. I clung to the image of Jaxon's face like a lifeline in a storm. His blue eyes, his crooked smile, the way he looked at me like I was everything.

I had to see him again.