The Marriage (Darkest Lies Trilogy Book 3), Bethany-Kris [books for 8th graders txt] 📗

That’s when Mel decided she needed to step in.

“Okay, Miss Karine, let’s take a moment to resettle and reset our feelings and conversation. Please, we are here to help you,” the woman said.

Karine turned her fiery gaze on Mel. “It’s Mrs. Avdonin. I’m not a child, and I won’t be talked to like one. Address me accordingly, thank you very much.”

Each word came out calm, and flat. Yet, the rage simmering inside Karine, twisting her pretty mouth into a bitter sneer and vibrating through the rest of her body was still so clear to him. Worrying him, really.

Katina could show, and everything would be over at that point. There was only so much the staff here could or would do for Karine’s violent alter—they’d made that unfortunately clear to him before arrival. Everybody had to be safe. Every doctor, nurse, or any other staff member on the property. Safety was a priority when it came to residents. He tried to understand, even if it was hard, when they explained procedure after procedure in case of different events.

This was not what he’d wanted—yet, what other choice did he have to keep Karine safe when time was running out, and Roman had to go back? Nothing about this was easy.

Fuck.

“My apologies, Mrs. Avdonin,” Mel was quick to say, “but this experience isn’t meant to be traumatic. We’re willing to do anything we can to help during your stay with us, truly. We strive to make this environment one you feel at home in with us.”

That didn’t make Karine happy. At all.

“Who in the hell are you, and why do you think you’re going to help me?”

“Because that’s my job.”

In an instant, Karine’s gaze snapped back to Roman, wild in a blink. She might attempt to bolt; her darting gaze taking in the windows and doors said that she was considering it. He wouldn’t let her get far—even if it broke his fucking heart, he just couldn’t let her leave now.

“You have to relax,” Roman said in a murmur, “and let me explain, all right?”

He didn’t help the situation either.

“Why am I here?” she screamed at him. “Explain that!”

Roman swallowed hard. “Babe, just—”

“Roman, why am I here?”

From the corner of his eye, he watched Mel speak into a white radio that he’d noticed was strapped to every employee’s waist. She was probably requesting someone else join her, just in case, and he didn’t blame her. Not a single person here was willing to put the entire facility at risk because of one unruly newcomer.

He also wanted to make this as least traumatic as possible for Karine, but Roman seriously doubted that was going to be the case.

Christ.

He’d fucked up.

Again.

“Karine, listen to me,” Roman told his wife who was becoming more and more agitated by the second. “This is only about keeping you safe—that’s all I wanted to do.”

But he should have known.

The label of it.

An entire facility.

His secrecy.

All of it.

Roman did know better, but fuck ... he had to do what he had to do.

He held his hands up where she could see them clearly, not willing to touch her if she didn’t want him to, but still itching to do it all the same. He wouldn’t let anyone else touch her, either.

Mel had thankfully stepped back, giving them some space, but that didn’t stop Karine’s quick, sharp gaze from slicing back and forth between the two.

“You lied to me,” she hurled at him. “You brought me here under a pretext.”

“Actually, I don’t think I did lie to you, Karine. Not technically.”

“Fine. Twist your words however you want to—you didn’t tell me the whole truth. You told me we were going to spend the day at a spa. Something adventurous.”

She practically spat that at him.

Roman didn’t even blink, or move a muscle. “This is sort of like that—for both of us. Neither of us know how to do this, babe. It is an adventure, but it’s not an easy one. You wouldn’t even let me talk about going back to New York, how in the hell was I going to tell you this? I just ... I didn’t have a choice. I had to figure out something without a whole lot of time to do it, and no matter what choice I made, we were still gonna end up apart. At least here, you can get more—”

“Fuck you.”

That burning retort didn’t blow by him quite like the rest had. In fact, it felt like a slap against his face, and all he could do was stand there and take it.

He deserved it.

Karine shook her head, lips quivering. Tears rolled down her cheeks, leaving wet tracks she didn’t even bother to wipe away, and Roman wished he could hold her. More than anything, he hated when she cried.

Why did he have to be the one to make her cry?

“I’m sorry,” he settled on saying, “but it was looking like I couldn’t take you back to New York. Not safely. This option came up, and fuck, it works. Okay? I get it, I know what it is, but it works.”

“You lied to me. You manipulated me. Again.”

“Karine—”

“How can you say you love me and then do this to me?” she cried. “Do I even get a say—what, will you pay them to stay quiet and lock me away?”

She was too loud, now.

Even he knew it.

Mel cleared her throat, a clear attempt to grab his attention, but he didn’t look away from his wife. No matter what, he wanted one thing clear.

“That’s not what this is,” he told Karine. “That’s not what it will ever be.”

Karine glared with cold eyes, clenching her palms into fists. Any moment, he expected Katina to appear. The blank flicker in her eyes and the way her stare darted away to nothing sometimes said she was there. Mad, already fighting, and causing chaos inside Karine’s fragile mind.

Still, Karine kept staring back. As fast as he had all of her attention, she took it away. The tension tightening his spine and shoulders