Her Obsession (by Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 137

Sign The Papers.

“Get the fuck out of my house!” Miguel roars, the sound sharp enough to rattle the bottles on the counter.

The front door bursts open before I can answer, sunlight spilling across the floor as Naomi, Liam, and Matteo step through. Naomi catches my eye. I tilt my chin once–go.

7?

She doesn’t hesitate. As she moves past, Miguel lunges to block her path, his hand snapping out, but she’s faster. She pivots on her heel, catches his wrist, and twists. The motion is clean and cruelly efficient. He’s on the ground before he realizes what’s happened, gasping, his face pressed to the wooden floor.

“I got him, crazy,” Liam says, stepping in with a grin that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Off you go.”

Naomi releases Miguel, giving him a playful pat on the head before skipping toward the stairs. “Best friend!” she calls, light and sing- song. “I’m here!”

For a moment, the only sound is Miguel’s ragged breathing. I crouch, meet his bloodshot eyes, and let every bit of calm in me harden.

“I’m going to love that boy,” I say quietly, “and care for him better than you ever could in your filthy, useless, pathetic life. So here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to sign these papers, and then you’ll never see us again, or you choose not to sign them and I start cutting off your fingers and turn them into a bouqet from my boyfriend as a gift. And you’ll still sign the papers.”

He laughs a wet, ugly sound. “What’s wrong with you? You’re messed up. I’m glad we gave you away. We got good money for you, too. Two years of highs before it ran out.” He smirks, cruel. “Then we had another kid to try again, but that one died before we could sell it. Shame, huh?”

The world narrows to a single sound, the roar in my head. Before I can move, Conner’s hand settles on my back, firm, grounding me again. I look up at him, breathing hard, and he steps forward, voice steady. “What’s it going to take for you to sign the papers?”

Miguel’s grin falters, then returns meaner. “A hundred grand. Cash.”

Conner doesn’t blink. He takes the paperwork from me, lays it beside Miguel’s head, and drops a pen onto the page. “Sign it,” he says flatly. “Then you’ll get paid.”

Miguel hesitates. Then, with shaking hands, he scrawls his name.

Conner smiles faintly, the kind of smile that has teeth. “You could’ve asked for more,” he says. “I’d have paid millions to be done with you.”

He stands and turns to Lucia, who’s still pinned against the wall by Matteo’s arm. “Your turn.”

She sneers, chin tilted high. “I want millions.”

Conner laughs quietly and steps close enough that she can feel his breath. “You’re not worth the ink on that page. Sign it.”

Her hand trembles as she takes the pen. The second her name hits the paper, she exhales like she’s just conned the devil himself.

“So,” I say, my voice razor–thin as I straighten, “I can take him now?”

Lucia grins, that same hollow smile she must have given every child she’s thrown away. “Yeah, sure, sweetheart. The little brat’s all

1/3

12:33 Wed, Oct 22

Sign The Papers

yours.”

I keep my eyes on the two of them, Lucia’s cold stare, Miguel’s twisted sneer, and every instinct in me wants to drag them both through the dirt.

“Hold them steady,” I tell Liam and Matteo quietly. “No one moves, no one breathes wrong until I’ve got Diego out of this house.”

Liam nods once, shifting his weight, keeping Miguel pinned against the floor. Matteo tightens his grip on Lucia’s arm, not enough to hurt, just enough to remind her that this time, she’s not in charge. I turn, take the stairs two at a time, heart hammering faster the higher I climb. Each step feels like wading through ghosts, but the sound that greets me at the top shatters them all at once. Laughter. Light, warm, real laughter.

It’s coming from the small room at the end of the hall. When I push open the door, I find Naomi sitting cross–legged on the floor with Diego in her lap. They’re whispering to each other, giggling like the world outside these walls doesn’t exist.

Diego looks up first. His face lights up like sunrise. “Sissy! You came back!”

He wriggles out of Naomi’s lap and runs straight into my arms, small legs wrapping tight around my waist. I catch him, hold him close, breathing him in, his hair smells dust and dirt, but I dont mind.

“Of course I came back,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to his head. “I pinky–promised, remember?”

He nods against my shoulder.

“Now we’re going home.”

He leans back enough to look at me, brow furrowed. “Home?”

“Yeah, buddy,” I say softly. “You’re gonna love it there. Trust me.”

“Do I get to take something?” he asks, glancing around the sparse room.

“Anything you want.”

He doesn’t even think as he reaches to the nightstand and picks up his little red toy car, the one I gave him that first night. His fingers curl around it, holding it tight like it’s the most precious thing he owns.

“I want to take this.”

“Of course you can.”

He tucks it into his pocket, and I shift him onto my hip as we head back downstairs. His small hands grip the collar of my shirt, and when we reach the bottom, he buries his face into my neck. He doesn’t need to see them. We stop in front of Conner. He straightens from where he’s standing, eyes softening when he sees the boy in my arms.

“Hey there, little man,” Conner says, voice warm and steady. “I’m Conner. I hear you like cars.”

Diego peeks up from my shoulder, shy but curious. “Yeah,” he says quietly. “I like cars.”

Conner chuckles, crouching so they’re eye level. “Then we’re gonna get along just fine. You want to come with me?”

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12:33 Wed, Oct 22

Sign The Papers.

A

72

Diego hesitates, then wriggles down from my arms. He reaches out and takes Conner’s hand, small fingers disappearing inside his.

But before he lets Conner lead him away, he looks back over his shoulder toward the people who made us both and whispers, “You’re not gonna hurt them, right?”

The question guts me. I kneel, brush a stray curl from his forehead, and shake my head. “No, buddy,” I say softly. “Why don’t you go with Conner? I think he’s got some toys waiting in the car.”

His face brightens again, and he nods, trusting me completely. Conner squeezes his hand and guides him toward the open door, sunlight spilling across their path. Naomi falls in step behind them, humming as she goes, her grin fierce and full of pride.

Once Diego is out of sight, I walk over and quietly shut the front door and then I turn back around to Lucia and Miguel. They look calmer now, if not a little bit annoyed at still being held. Miguel tried to wriggle free from Liam’s grip. “Right, we gave you the kid, now when do we get paid?”

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