Her Obsession (by Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 53

Her Obsession

Gone.

I woke to cold sheets. At first, I thought she’d just slipped out early, maybe to the surveillance room again, but the space beside me was too empty, too final. No warmth No weight. I sat up, scanning the room automatically, my instincts already clawing their way to the surface. That’s when I saw it, a folded scrap of paper. My stomach dropped, 1 reached for it, my fingers tight enough to crumple the edges before I even opened it. Two words. I’m sorry. That was it. No explanation No time. Just that. A sharp, ugly feeling knifed through my chest, and I was already moving, yanking on jeans, shoving my feet into boots. My mind ran every possible scenario, none of them good. Cameras. Guards. Doors. I hit the hall in seconds, checking every feed from my phone. She was gone. She left me, ghosted me again when she promised she wouldn’t. She told me she would stay. No blip on the perimeter alerts, no trace on the drives she’d built herself. She’d ghosted me in my own house. And she’d done it clean. Too clean. I tightened my jaw, shoving the note into my pocket like it might burn a hole there. Wherever she was going… I was going to find her.

I didn’t bother knocking. The door slammed open hard enough to hit the wall, and Liam bolted upright in bed like I’d fired a round in the room.

“The fuck-?” His eyes were wide, hair sticking up in about fifteen different directions. Then his gaze cut to the space beside him. Empty. Sheets rumpled

but cold.

“Where is she?” 1 demanded.

He blinked, still trying to wake up. “Who?”

“Naomi.”

That got me a long pause, his brows pulling together. “…Gone?”

“Gone,” I confirmed through gritted teeth. “And Sage is with her.”

Realisation dawned on his face, followed by something halfway between a wince and a smirk.

I narrowed my eyes. “Did you sleep with her?”

He gave a lazy shrug, rubbing a hand over his face. “Yeah. She’s crazy, but you’ve seen her, hard to say no to crazy when they’re that pretty too.”

I stared at him, unblinking. “And you just… slept through her disappearing in the middle of the goddamn night?”

Another shrug. “Guess so…guess you did too, but if she’s with Sage, wherever they’ve gone… it’s not somewhere we’ll like.”

“Then we’d better start moving,” I growled. “Because I’m getting her back.”

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and ran a hand down his face.

“Yeah, fuck it. I like that sort of crazy, and you’re much more tolerable with your ghost. Let’s go find our girls.”

I didn’t waste time answering. I was already moving, storming toward the door. My pulse was a steady roar in my ears, every step heavier with the thought of her slipping out into the night without a word beyond I’m sorry.

Liam grabbed a hoodie from the floor and shrugged into it while jogging to keep up with me.

“You got any clue where they’d go?”

“Somewhere she doesn’t want me following,” I said flatly. “Which means I’ll burn the whole city down if I have to.”

He smirked faintly, but there was a sharpness in his eyes now. “Guess it’s a good thing I’m in the mood for trouble.”

“Trouble,” I muttered, hitting the stairs two at a time. “What they’re walking into is worse than that.”

“Then we’ll be worse,” he replied, deadly calm now. “Let’s get Matteo and Nico. If they’ve got a head start, we’re going to need the firepower.”

1/2

7.25 pm & D

Gone

I didn’t low down. “We’ll need more than that

Sage

They didn’t waste time The basement smelled the same as it had years ago, sweat, blood, mildew, stale fear. Most of the shapes in the cells were small. Kids New recroin. Their eyes followed me, too wide, too silent.

“Chost forgot what she is,” Yakov’s voice rolled out from the dark. “We’ll remind her.”

They chained me to a metal chair in the middle of the floor, ankles and wrists bound tight. My ribs pulled with every breath, my shoulder throbbing under the bandages from Conner’s doctor. The first bucket of water was ice cold. It slammed over my head and face, stealing my breath, soaking my clothes. Then the hood went on, thick, suffocating fabric. Hands gripped the back of the chair and tipped it hard. I plunged backward into a trough of water. My lungs seized, the burn starting instantly. They hauled me up just long enough for one gasp before forcing me under again. Over. And over. And over. The world narrowed to darkness, water, and the echo of my own heartbeat. But this time was different. The first time they trained me, I had nothing. No one waiting. No one who would tear apart the world to find me. Now I had everything. I had him. Conner’s voice in my head, low, steady, always laced with that maddening mix of stubbornness and care. His hands, warm, strong, pulling me from the rubble. The way his eyes locked on mine like I was the only thing worth looking at. I held onto that. Every time they forced me under, I built a wall around it, sealed it in. He was the reason to hold on. The reason to push through. The reason I’d make it to the other side of this hell and end Yakov with my own hands. I wouldn’t beg. Wouldn’t thrash. Wouldn’t give Yakov or the kids what they were meant to see, fear. I’d rather drown first. They didn’t bother unchaining me. The hood stayed on, heavy with water, pressing against my mouth with every shallow breath. My clothes clung to me like ice, every drop sliding down my skin another reminder that warmth was a luxury I wouldn’t get here. The kids didn’t speak. I could feel their eyes through the dark, their breathing soft but sharp in the silence. That was part of Yakov’s game, make them watch, make them see what happens when you fail. Fear is contagious, and he wanted it to spread. My shoulder throbbed where the bandages had been soaked through, the wound pulsing like it had its own heartbeat. My ribs screamed every time I tried to shift in the chair. So I stopped trying. Water pooled beneath me, dripping steadily from my hair. I let the shivers come but kept my breathing even, calm, controlled. Let him think I was broken. Let him think he was winning. Because the truth was, the longer I sat here, the clearer it became, this wouldn’t end with me begging. It would end with me putting a bullet between his eyes. And that thought alone kept me warmer than anything else could.

Chapter Comments