MADDEST OBSESSION - Chapter 53: Chapter 53

The only sound in the room was the slow tick of the grandfather clock.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Then the door slammed shut.
Dominic walked in, shadows trailing behind him like dogs on a leash. His expression was unreadable. Icy. Dead calm. That was always the worst kind of Dominic—when he didn’t yell.
Three men stood at attention. All senior members of his team. All handpicked. All sworn loyal.
One of them was lying.
He stared at them, then dropped the photo on the table between them.
The image of Aria—stolen, exposed—faced upward like evidence in a trial.
“You see this?” he asked, his voice low.
No one moved. No one answered.
Dominic’s gaze cut through the silence like a blade. “It was taken two days ago. In public. In my city. And not a single one of you reported anything.”
Still nothing.
Until Marco shifted slightly. Barely noticeable.
Dominic’s eyes locked onto him like a sniper.
“You flinched.”
Marco swallowed. “I didn’t—”
“Don’t lie to me!” Dominic’s voice cracked like a whip. “I made each of you swear an oath to protect her. Even when she didn’t want it. Even when I sent her away. That oath doesn’t end just because she isn’t in my bed.”
He paced slowly.
“Someone knew her route. Her routine. What café she’d stop at. What time. This wasn’t luck. It was access. Intel. It was betrayal.”
Dominic turned back to the trio. “So I’m going to ask one time. Who leaked it?”
No one answered.
A beat passed.
Then Dominic pulled his gun.
The safety clicked off.
“You have ten seconds.”
Tension choked the air. Marco looked at Enzo. Enzo looked at Theo. One of them broke—visibly sweating now.
Nine…
Eight…
Seven…
Marco’s voice came out like a squeak. “It wasn’t us. We swear. But—”
Dominic raised the gun. “But what?”
“There’s been… rumors. Someone’s been seen talking to De Luca’s new head of security.”
Dominic froze.
“…You’re saying this came from her own family?”
Marco nodded. “That’s the word.”
Dominic’s knuckles turned white around the grip of the gun.
So it wasn’t just a mole in his house.
It was her father.
The man who arranged their marriage.
The man who smiled at the engagement.
The man who swore Dominic was “family.”
The betrayal burned hotter than any rival’s bullet.
He holstered the gun. For now.
“Find out who passed the intel. Bring them to me alive.”
“And the De Luca family?” Enzo asked.
Dominic’s voice dropped to a growl. “No one touches them—yet. But I will speak to her father myself.”
He turned to leave, but paused at the door.
“And if any one of you even thinks
about hiding another secret from me…”
His eyes darkened.
“…you’ll wish I never found out.”