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

Stop it, she said silently.

“It’s okay, Karine, you don’t have to suppress anything. It’s okay if someone else wants to come out and speak to me,” Sylvia insisted.

Was it really?

Karine’s nostrils flared.

Sylvia had no idea what she was asking for. She wouldn’t want to meet Katina—no one did. Katina didn’t introduce herself to the world because she wanted to make friends. She came along to burn everything down.

When she opened her eyes, Sylvia was still staring at her, searching her eyes for proof of a switch.

“Is it still you, Karine?”

“Are you still alive?” she asked back in a murmur.

Sylvia’s brow dipped. “I beg your pardon?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Okay, that’s okay, that’s very good.”

“What is your question?” Karine asked, doing her best to modulate her anger.

She wasn’t going to do it—no matter how much that voice told her to lash out. It wouldn’t be what Roman wanted, and while he was the last person who deserved anything from her, he wasn’t here. She didn’t think letting her frustration explode would do her well, considering that.

“Why did you run when you knew you wouldn’t be able to escape?” Sylvia continued.

It was a good question.

She had actually thought about it already.

There was no way she would have made it out of the facility without being tackled to the ground by security before she even hit the stone wall. And yet, the moment she was out of that door, she felt the urge to make like wind, and go.

For a second, that’s all it was. And she’d laughed, too.

Then, it was over.

Like everything else.

“Because I wasn’t running from anything or going anywhere,” Karine said, meekness returning in her tone. The tears blurred her vision as she continued, whispering, “I have nowhere to go.”

*

When Karine woke up the next morning—for the first time since her arrival at Twin Rivers—something had changed. She couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Her first instinct was to check the ring on her finger. It was there, of course.

She was still married to Roman.

It wasn’t all just a dream, even though it sometimes felt like it.

Before Sylvia knocked on her door, she had showered and dressed for the day already. There was even a rumble in her stomach.

She didn’t remember the last time she’d been hungry—ravenous. Not since she left the lodge in Vermont.

“What do you want to do today, Karine?” Sylvia asked. “Hopefully something less strenuous than yesterday.”

The therapist even smiled, though it was hesitant. She stood at the door to Karine’s room, blocking it with her slender body.

If Karine wanted to, she could have pushed past her and run out. Undoubtedly, there were guards standing close by. Waiting for any rash decision Karine might make because she wouldn’t risk another event where she might run.

“Maybe we could go on that walk we talked about yesterday.”

Sylvia didn’t appear as hopeful today. Who could trust Karine to make wise choices—who could trust her at all?

Karine knew all about that.

Who did she really trust anymore?

She thought she trusted Masha, but did she really?

She thought she trusted Roman, too.

“A walk sounds perfect,” Sylvia agreed, “but I want you to know that we’ll have some security with us.”

Karine shrugged. “I’m used to that.”

It took the other woman a second to absorb that admission.

“Are you?”

“Usually, yes. I’m not sure how much money this place is going to get for keeping me here, but I’m sure you’ve figured out already that I don’t come from great people.”

Good people.

“Well, I know a little. Just enough, anyway,” Sylvia replied. “But it’s not really about you. There is so much about you that I’d like to know.”

“I’m not sure there’s much you’ll like hearing about,” Karine replied.

Sylvia’s smile had faded, but there was a softness in her eyes that made Karine think she might actually care.

But she was one burned, twice shy, and wouldn’t be falling into that trap again.

“I don’t make judgements, Karine. Sometimes hearing the worst about humanity is a part of my job, and you should know I am very good at it,” Sylvia said. “If only you’d give me a chance to show you.”

Karine went to the door, and Sylvia stepped aside.

Outside in the hallway, she was surprised to find there were no guards. She was certain they would follow them outside but for now, Sylvia had chosen to trust her. Or at least, extend a show of it for the moment.

She glanced back over her shoulder at the woman to find Sylvia had raised her brow, a silent question hanging between the two of them—like she was asking, well, now what, Karine?

“I don’t know what you want from me.”

“Just to talk,” Sylvia said. “You can do that.”

“I can’t, actually. I’ve never been able to, mostly. I don’t know if maybe I don’t want to. There’s so much ... a lot has happened, and I—”

She couldn’t make a coherent sentence. Thoughts and feelings became one big jumbled mess at just the idea of discussing her past.

Sylvia reached over to close the distance between them, touching Karine’s shoulder—maybe for the first time, she couldn’t honestly remember.

It was soft, though.

Light.

“Your husband believes in you. He told me all about the progress you made in a short time—he knew all you needed was a chance, Karine. You don’t know how strong you are, but I know you can do this. Even if the way you do it is by taking it one day at a time.”

Above everything, the emotional whiplash was the worst for Karine. One second she was angry at the world, the next she wanted to cry, and right then, she found herself longing for the man who’d put her here.

Irony was a bitch.

A cruel one.

The women walked down the hallway side by side, and Karine wished Roman was there with her. At the same time, a part of her was glad he wasn’t.

Like spiritual warfare, she was being ripped apart. Karine didn’t know how to stop it.

*

“Did he call today?” Karine asked Sylvia.

It had been a few days since the first time they went