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

few times when I thought she came close ... I think the lack of medicinal cocktail and time away from her most stressful triggers has allowed her a bit of clarity and control of her disorder. I would have liked to speak to the others if I could, but I won’t say it’s a bad thing if she can halt them from coming forward for now.”

“So ... does that mean she’s oka—”

Sylvia shook her head. “It’s not about that. What’s okay for one person is someone else’s beginning, Roman. I’m afraid this condition is not as simple as that. Mental health rarely is. This is going to be a lifelong struggle, but with time and therapy, she will learn to keep her alters in check. They may even eventually merge into one. Merge into her. It takes time, and none of this might happen at all, too. You just never know.”

Roman continued staring at Karine. He was back to thinking about their house again and what a life with her was going to look like—how the very picture of it make his heart beat harder. Would the professionals tell him to keep her from being alone with their children even though he couldn’t imagine doing something like that to her?

That was far away, sure, but ... it was on his mind, all the same.

“As much of a struggle as it will be for her, you should be prepared for what that will mean for you, too,” Sylvia said.

“All I want is her,” Roman returned. “The rest is details, and I don’t care much for those.”

“Then that’s all she needs.”

He turned to the therapist who was smiling again.

“I have never wanted a normal life,” he said with a chuckle. “Or a boring marriage, for what it matters. She challenges me. Keeps me on my toes, and reminds me every day that she needs me, that I have to strive to be a better person. I can’t fuck this up for her. Is that messed up? That I need her more than she needs me.”

“No, it’s not. It’s just a little co-dependent, is all. It could also be that you are both incredibly lucky to have found each other. I’m not here to judge the whys, Mr. Avdonin. Only figure them out, lay it bare, and let you do what you wish with it. Keep that in mind.”

Right.

Karine stood up, then, and waved at them.

Roman shook Sylvia’s hand before he walked over to his wife so he could take her in his arms and kiss her one more time.

They only had a little time—the rest could still wait.

*

“Is Sylvia pissed with us?” Karine asked as he held her in his arms, enjoying the heat of the sun beating on his face. The weather in Nevada in the colder months was nothing like New York.

“Fuck Sylvia,” Roman uttered, bending his head down to run his mouth over her neck with quick, peppered kisses.

She shivered with a giggle.

Standing in the garden, in the open for everyone to see, he didn’t care if it was inappropriate.

He was paying these people a lot of money to have Karine here, and he was done being lectured on what he could and couldn’t do with his wife.

How did this hurt her recovery? She couldn’t help herself but lean into him, to want him. And given how viciously he’d ripped himself apart over the last while at the idea she didn’t want him, he was all too happy to soak this up.

Karine did eventually pull away from his mouth with a breathless laugh. “I’m already embarrassed enough by last night—the girl who handles the desk blushed at me earlier. Stop it.”

“Don’t really want to.”

She gave him a half-hearted glare. “Well, try.”

“Or ... we can go somewhere else. There’s a path, let’s walk.”

That seemed to work for her. Roman weaved their hands together, and they started down along the cobblestone path.

Karine couldn’t stop peeking over at him, each time making her grin bloom even wider. Happiness gleamed in her eyes. He still couldn’t believe how much he loved her—how right she felt beside him.

With him.

“I thought you would be disappointed in me,” she said.

“I’ll never be disappointed in you, Karine. I’m proud of you, and I know I hurt you by bringing you here. The way I did it ... no excuses, babe, that was wrong. I should have had a conversation with you about it.”

She nodded. “Maybe. And maybe I would have still resisted. I didn’t really want that week to end, you know?”

He pulled her hand up to his mouth, and kissed her wiggling fingertips.

“I didn’t want it to end either, and I promise we’ll go away on a vacation. Somewhere far away with beaches and palm trees—white sand and ocean for days. Just as soon as all this is over.”

“You mean as soon as Dima stops looking for me?”

That stopped him in his tracks, and her, too. She turned to him, offering only a shrug to explain what she’d asked.

“When he stops looking—he’ll be dead,” Roman said frankly. She drew in a quick, shaky breath and he thought, now or never.

“Karine, there is something you need to know. Something about your father.”

Her smile sagged for a split second as she searched his eyes, and didn’t find something to calm her worry.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing to be—”

“Just tell me, Roman. What about my father?”

“There was a fire—at his home. They found a body. The FBI thought it was likely your father, and no one led them to believe any different.”

“He’s dead?”

The wetness in her eyes made his chest clench. Despite the complications that colored their relationship, he thought there was a small part of Karine that had to love Maxim because he was her father.

Maybe that part of her would never forget the father he used to be before her sister’s death.

Roman wished he’d prepared something to say, but he hadn’t bothered. He didn’t start thinking until he got there, and saw Karine again.

“No, he’s not dead,” he