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

This instability between them—the constant coming and going—couldn’t be good for her mental health, even Sylvia said it. They didn’t know how his departure would affect her progress. Was he chipping away at her?

“I’m sorry,” he repeated again. “I’ll let you know how long you’ll be here, or at least when I’ll be back, as soon as I can.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Roman stilled. “Will you?”

“Here, yeah. I think so. I don’t want you to worry about me. You should be with your family now—focus on them, and what needs to be done there. I need you to do that first so that we can do this again soon,” she finished in a whisper, fisting his shirt in her balled hands, and pulling him close again.

Roman hadn’t believed he would hear those words from her mouth—for Karine truly understand why he had to do what he did.

He stroked her hair and she pressed herself further into him.

“Do you forgive me?” he asked, barely above a breath.

He didn’t want anyone else to hear it, anyway. This was meant for him and her alone. It was between them, and would always be.

“For what?”

“For this place. For bringing you here. For taking you to Vermont and Michelle. The therapists and doctors. The people constantly watching you. Any of it—all of it, Karine. I just ... wanted to know,” he said lamely, with a shrug.

Karine licked her lips and looked away. He wished she wouldn’t. “I know you’re trying to help me. Sometimes I don’t understand it, or it doesn’t really seem fair, but I know why. Your actions sometimes speak louder than your intentions when I don’t think they match, but I picked you, and I didn’t say you had to be perfect when I did it, Roman.”

“You tried to run once here.”

She laughed, shaking her head and glancing back at him with a twinkle in her eye. “You can’t lock someone up and think they won’t crave freedom—I still forgive you. I know why you did what you did.”

“The world is yours the second I make it safe for you.”

“And you want these people,” she said with a smirk, waving around them, “to tell you it’s safe for me to be out there, too.”

“That you can handle it, yeah.”

He kissed her forehead and pressed the tip of his nose to hers. Any bad days together would be worth it just to have a few good days like this with her.

Quieter, he added, “And the world was the one that did this to you, Karine, so fuck them, anyway. I don’t care about anybody but you. It’s me and you first, babe, from here on out.”

He kissed away the tears that spilled to her cheeks, whipping away what wetness remained with his thumbs right after. Giving him a rueful smile, she latched onto his thumb and sucked the taste of her tears away.

God, he loved this woman.

“You should go,” she whispered, her fingertips tapping the underside of his jaw. “Give my love to Claire. And if you find Masha, tell her ... tell her I am okay. I’ll be back soon, but right now, I’m okay. Give her at least the benefit of the doubt, Roman.”

He stared hard at her, not wanting to make that promise.

“Please?” she asked.

“Karine—”

“Please.”

“Depends on what happens. That’s the best I can promise.”

“Fair enough. I love you, Roman.”

He didn’t want to leave her, as he kept picturing waking up the next morning without Karine in his bed. Here, in this sterile, lonely bedroom, she would wake up doing the same for him. From his pocket, he pulled out his wedding ring which he hadn’t started wearing in public yet.

Karine’s eyes brightened when he slipped it on with a smile.

“I’m done looking because I’ve already found everything,” he said. “Everyone should know.”

*

Nobody seemed happy when Roman arrived back in New York. Not that he expected them to be considering he’d done exactly what he was told not to.

His father demanded his presence the second Demyan knew Roman’s feet were on home soil, and he drove over there to find Marky already waiting on the steps of the house.

He offered Roman a smoke first thing.

“We need to talk,” Roman said to his friend, refusing a smoke he badly needed.

“Yeah, I know.”

He grabbed him by his arm, yanking Marky towards himself. The two men stared hard at one another before Roman said, “Listen, I know I’m a fuck up and an asshole sometimes, but I appreciate—”

Marky nodded once, shrugging Roman’s hand off his arm before he could even finish. “All’s good, man. A sorry suffices sometimes, shit. That’s all.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

That seemed to be good enough for his friend, and after another quiet pause, Roman walked into the house alone.

Bulls milled about the grand staircase and outside his father’s office where he found Demyan waiting for him. Two of the men slipped in, one was his father’s spy who moved to the corner of Demyan’s desk to look through a file he passed over to the man.

It was his father’s disappointed eye turning on him that made Roman tense a bit on the spot. Standing just beyond the doorway, he noticed that with his mother absent from the room, the cigars filled the ashtrays and smoke still clung to the air.

“Do you have any idea where this woman could have gone to?” Demyan asked.

Roman bristled—he never did well with that tone his father liked to use. He’d been trying to get past the constant need to snap back at every comment Demyan made, but habits were hard to break. “Don’t you think I would have dragged her ass back here already if I knew where she went?”

“Thin ice here, son, you’re skating on it. Don’t get smart with me, huh? How do you propose we find her? She was part of your package of responsibilities, so to spe—”

“Fuck off, don’t call Karine that.”

“Roman!”

He didn’t even blink at his father’s shout. “I get it, you’re