by Ella Miles
Arlo wraps his arms around my waist before he realizes that something is wrong.
“What did she say?”
I can’t speak. I can’t say anything. I must be in shock.
“Nina, what’s wrong?”
I don’t hear him. I can’t think about him. I’m too scared of what I just heard.
Arlo comes around to my front and forces me to look at him. “Nina! What’s wrong? You’re scaring me.”
I blink, finally able to see him, but I can’t say the words. If I tell him then it’s true. Instead, a tear falls down my cheek.
He wipes it, looking as scared as I look.
I hear some rustling in a bush behind him and I jump.
“It’s just a lizard Nina. Nothing is going to get you. I have you,” Arlo says holding onto me.
I look over his shoulder at the beautiful painting he started of us. Except it’s not just us. I didn’t notice before but now I can’t believe I missed it. It’s a painting of me pregnant, with another child riding Arlo’s back. We are a family. That was what his dream was. That is what he wants. Us to have kids. Us living our happily ever after.
Except we can’t. We might not ever get our happily ever after. Because our enemies are always going to be one step ahead of us.
I can’t hold back the tears any longer. I hate that I can’t give him that. I can’t give him his dream, not while we live our lives in danger.
Arlo squeezes me tighter. “Tell me, Nina. Let me take the pain away.”
“You can’t.”
“Sure I can. That’s what we do for each other. We save each other. We heal each other. We take the pain away.”
I cry until I can’t anymore. Until I’m hiccuping because I can’t cry anymore.
“What did Eden say?”
“She didn’t say anything. She wasn’t the one that called. Matteo did.”
“Matteo?”
I nod.
“He said he has Eden. He’s had her this whole time. The whole time we have been having the time of our lives, she has been living a nightmare locked up as Matteo’s slave.”
“Matteo wouldn’t do that. He’s a good man.”
I look at Arlo and he knows what I’m saying is true. I don’t know what happened to Matteo after we left. If Enrico got to him or the pain of us leaving did. But he’s a different person now.
I touch the painting of the dream that Arlo had for us. A dream that I now realize is exactly what I want but will probably never have.
“And if I ever want to see Eden alive again, we have to go back. He’s going to kill her if I don’t give myself back to him.”
Arlo holds me tighter. He won’t give me up without a fight. But this is Eden we are talking about. He knows I will do anything for her. She’s my best friend. I love her. I should have been there for her this last year.
I’ve talked to her countless times on the phone and every time she protected me instead of asking me to save her. She kept me away. She saved me, now it’s my turn to save her.
The End
Thank you so much for reading Dirty Obsession! The next book in the Dirty series is Dirty Addiction. Want to read Eden and Matteo’s story? Grab it here—> Dirty Addiction
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Continue reading to see what books I’m writing next…
What’s next?
June 25th — Dirty Revenge (Dirty #3)
July — Unforgivable: The Complete Series
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Also by Ella Miles
Too Much
Aligned: The Complete Series
The Maybe Series
The Definitely Series
Not Sorry
Heart of a Thief
Heart of a Liar
Heart of a Prick
Savage Love
About the Author
Ella Miles writes steamy romance with a twist. She’s currently living her own happily ever after near the Rocky Mountains with her high school sweetheart husband. Her heart is also taken by her goofy four year old black lab that is scared of everything, including her own shadow.
Ella is a USA Today Bestselling author, author of the Amazon top 100 bestselling books: TOO MUCH and SAVAGE LOVE. She is also the author of the ALIGNED series, MAYBE series, DEFINITELY series, UNFORGIVABLE series, NOT SORRY, and DIRTY series.
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www.ellamiles.com
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