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

She shouted at his back, “You have to believe I love her, too!”

“Yeah, but at what fucking cost.”

He didn’t wait for a response before he left the basement.

SIXTEEN

His mother rarely ever came to the loft to visit him, and that suited Roman just fine.

So, when he emerged from the basement to find Claire standing next to a vehicle that was in the process of being chopped down by two of the guys—who had scattered earlier when the boys arrived—Roman was more than surprised.

“Ma.”

She looked away from the pieces of dismantled vehicle to find him wiping his hands on a rag one of the guys had left on a work bench. More red than usual, her cheeks and sunglasses belied the calm way she presented herself. She didn’t have to say she was worried—he could see it.

Claire still fixed a warm smile on her face and walked open-armed toward her son. Tipping her head sideways at the car, she asked pointedly, “Can we talk—why don’t you invite me up to your loft?”

“We can go upstairs,” Roman told her, “but I don’t want you cleaning up after me.”

His mother was who she was. Cleaning was the way she coped, but he hadn’t needed his mother picking up after him since he was a boy. She didn’t need to be in his business in that way, either.

“No, don’t worry, I’ll leave that for Karine—if you’ll even let her tidy your things. You always were particular about that.”

Claire curled an arm around him so he could lead the way. Hearing Karine’s name made him a little sick. He wasn’t sure if his mother knew that Karine was missing from the facility. How would she?

In the loft, he found it amusing the way his mother refrained from pointing out all the little things that might make his place feel more like home. Or rather, a home to her standards. She wouldn’t mean any harm, but he’d learned to like less.

“Coffee?” he asked, trying to ease her into the reason she was there.

Adrenaline raced through his veins. Masha was still in the basement, tied up and left in her own misery until he was ready to say otherwise. Claire would have undoubtedly, immediately gone to the woman’s rescue if she knew—regardless of what Masha had done.

Is who she is, he repeated to himself.

He couldn’t say he was the same.

Clearly.

Karine was still missing, and Roman had every intention of going out there to look for her, the very first second he could. Even if he didn’t have shit to work with. He prepared the coffee while his mother surveyed the Guns & Ammo magazine he’d left sitting on the island.

“You and Karine will have to get a bigger place when she’s out. A much nicer place. I’ll start looking at some properties. Of course, we’ll want the two of you to live close to us,” Claire said. “It’ll probably make things easier.”

Her rambling told him that she was trying hard to cover her own emotional turmoil. Marky dying would have been a blow to her, too. As graceful and strong as his mother was—kindness and humanity were at her core. It’s why she’d been a nurse for so many years. She formed emotional attachments easily to the people in her life. The people she liked.

“Like what things?” Roman asked as he brought a mug of coffee over to her.

She offered him a weak smile. “I didn’t mean anything. With Karine, I just assum—”

“We don’t know what it’s always going to look like.”

Claire nodded, then shook her head. “We’re here to help. I know the last few days haven’t been easy for you, son. Marky didn’t deserve what happened to him, but Roman, you’re married now. You have a woman who relies on you and loves you. You can’t put yourself in danger for revenge. Blood keeps spilling.”

He understood. Roman let his mother finish speaking, before he took a sip of his own coffee.

She stared at him, waiting for a response, but he really had only one thing to say.

“I’ll deal with Marky’s death later. Right now I have to focus on finding Karine.”

“Finding Karine—what?”

“Maxim broke her out of the facility she was staying at.”

Claire quickly found the stool to sit down at the island, and she clung to the coffee mug in her hand like she needed the warmth. Her lost stare gazed into the creamy pool of coffee for a long while before she finally asked, “How ... how could this happen? They were going to keep her safe there. You made sure of it, right? Your father said—how did Maxim find her?”

“It was Masha. Some of the paperwork she stole from Dad’s office had information on the facility. She’s been in contact with Maxim this whole time, and I think you can figure out the rest.”

Roman sat in the chair across from his mother, drumming his fingers to the island before clenching them into tight fists to stop the jitteriness racing through his veins. Helplessness was not his strong suit.

He didn’t know where to go looking for Karine. He didn’t know the first thing about locating Maxim. What plan did he have—what did he even fucking want with Karine? At this point, Roman suspected it wasn’t for anything good. How long did he have before she was no longer safe with her father?

Was it already too late?

For the first time, he acknowledged that helplessness and wondered if that was how Karine felt.

All the time.

Not knowing what would happen to her next. Being in the dark about every aspect of her own life.

Claire covered her face with both hands. “Does your father know?”

“Nobody knows. I’ve only recently found out myself. I have to go looking for her, Ma.”

“Roman,” she hissed, shuddering as she glared at him with bloodshot eyes. “You can’t. You wouldn’t know where to look. Where would you go? Think about it.”

She wasn’t wrong.

He also wasn’t rational.

“I’ll start with Nevada. There has to be something for me to find. The man