Page 13 of Reckless Obsession

“Talk to me like a fucking child one more time, and I’ll set your house on fire.” I snap, shooting daggers at him.

“I don’t view you as a child,” he responds firmly. “I see a 22-year-old adult who behaves selfishly and disregards those around him even though they are willing to do anything for him. They care for him so deeply that they accept whatever nonsense he offers them.”

I stare at him, unsure what to say. His words hang around my head like a maths problem I need to solve. I pick it apart like a freaking puzzle.

“Then if you care about me,” I say, my voice almost a whisper, and there’s something there I can’t decipher, but I feel a little bit of my heart stumbling. “Why do you keep bringing Jake around? Why do you shove him in my face like I’m supposed to be okay with it?”

The silence that greets me presses on my heart, but it’s also the way my voice sounds that feels as if it’s tearing me apart. I hate how weak I sound and how vulnerable I feel.

Something flickers in Tristan’s eyes. Something like guilt or care. I don’t know which, but then it disappears, and his eyes harden.

“I never said I cared about you, Maksim,” he says, his voice cutting like glass. “Whatever I do for you is because I work for your family, and keeping you out of jail is a responsibility I’m paid to fulfil. Nothing else. Is that clear?”

The hurt hits like my heart’s been dipped in cold water. It crashes over me until I let myself open, and I feel that depression crawl up my feet and settle in my brain, making a home there. Nonetheless, I put on that fake, guarded look I’ve practiced all my life. The one I use when I have no other pretense to give.

“Noted,” I reply, my voice hard as stone. “How could I forget?”

“Good,” he says, then starts the car.

The drive is silent until we reach my family’s estate. As the car passes the gate and heads up to the mansion, I see my mother standing by the huge door. The worry in her posture guts me. Yeah, I know I do a lot of shit that worries my parents and gets me into trouble. But I haven’t been arrested in about eight months or so. And I just know she’s worried sick.

When the car finally comes to a halt, I take off my seatbelt and let out a deep sigh before my gaze settles on Tristan. He isn’t looking at me. He’s staring straight ahead, as if he’s waiting for me to vanish from the car.

“Look at me,” I say. The command in my voice surprises me, yet I don’t back down. His head turns towards me, and his eyes hold mine.

“I promise you this,” I grit out. “I’ll kill Jake, and I’ll make sure to do it in front of you so you’ll see your lover die right before your very eyes.”

“And I’ll do the same with your sugar daddy Dante,” his reply comes immediately, as if he already knows what I was going to say. “Is that a deal?”

My eyes widen.

How the fuck does he know about Dante? But before I can ask, I see my mom walking briskly toward the car. I let out a curse as I open the door and step outside. I move to close it but then pause and glance back at Tristan.

“I hope you die.” I sneer with venom in my voice, then slam his car door so hard I’m sure he feels my anger in it.

Before I can take another step, my mother is already on me. She grabs me by the ears and drags me towards the house.

“Ow, Mom,” I say as I follow her, bending slightly, my ears still in her grip like a vice. “Ow, it hurts!”

“Shut up, you lizard,” she says in Thai, then rains curses on me in both Thai and Russian. But the worry in her voice tells me she’s not angry with me, and it warms my heart despite everything.

Chapter 4

TRISTAN

I lean back in my office chair, turning the photograph over slowly between my fingers.

Then I pick up another.

And another.

Five of them in total, spread across my desk like a personal insult.

All of Maksim. All with the same man he’s apparently been sleeping with for almost two years.

Dante Russo, 43 years old, owns one of Europe’s largest winery companies. He has been divorced for seven years. His ex-wife, Fiona Bianchi, is the daughter of a prominent Italian politician. They have twin children, a boy and a girl, both in their early twenties.

On paper, he’s respectable, polished and powerful. In reality, he’s the man Maksim has been letting put his hands all over him.