Page 80 of Obsession
I force air into my lungs. “This isn’t the way—things… are done.”
Canon’s mouth curves. “You don’t even know what way this is.”
“I know enough. You’re going to hit the eastern corridor, and when Saint finds out you took me, he’ll come through every Rogue door between here and Albany.”
“Wow, beautiful,” Canon says softly, gently clapping his hands together. “Obsidian’s little warning bell.”
Varina moves half a step. “Dad.”
Canon doesn’t look at her. “Quiet.”
I stare at her, and something in me hardens. She can look horrified. She can cry. She can hate this and still choose not to stop it. The room doesn’t care what her face says while her feet remain planted on Canon’s side.
Canon circles me slowly, his gaze catching on the ring on my finger. “I should’ve known you’d fold for the first man who made you feel special.”
“You don’t know anything about him.”
“I know he gave you a ring and you handed him your bloodline like a wedding gift.”
“I handed him a plan to save the club.”
“Theclub,” Canon says, voice sharpening. “Listen to yourself.”
I look at Varina instead of him. “You knew?”
She opens her mouth, closes it, and something in her silence ruins the last clean piece of hope I had. “I knew there was a plan,” she says.
“That’s not what I asked.”
She looks away.
My chest tightens as I direct my next question to her anyway. “You knew they were going to take me?”
“No,” she says quickly, too quickly and maybe truthfully. “No, Oisín. I didn’t know that part.”
“But you’re here.”
Her mouth trembles, but no answer comes.
Canon sighs. “Enough. Family reunions make everyone stupid.”
Rook steps forward and cuts the zip tie from my wrists, but the mercy lasts less than a breath. Another man catches my arms and wrenches them forward, forcing me into a metal chair bolted to the floor. My shoulder screams from the angle, and leather straps go around my wrists, softened at the edges by use.
My ankles are bound next. By the time they step back, the chair has turned my body into something of a display. I look at Varina while they secure the final strap. “This isn’t how it’s done, Varina! Why would you let…” I trail off as she drops her gaze to the floor.
I almost take the movement for guilt but I know better.
Canon crouches in front of me. “You keep saying that like you know what the way is. You never did. That was always your problem. You watched, listened, wrote down numbers, and called it courage.”
“You ignored me until someone else didn’t.”
For the first time, his face hardens in a way that isn’t performance. Then he stands and turns the moment into business. “Give me the eastern corridor adjustments.”
“No.”
He nods to Rook. I glare at my father and then the Rogue I grew up around, unsure what he’s about to do. The first hit catches my cheek before I can brace. My head snaps toward my shoulder, pain bursting hot across my face, and for a second the room disappears under the ringing in my ear. Blood thickens in my mouth. When I drag my head upright, the overhead light has gone blurry around the edges.
Canon steps closer. “Route adjustments.”
