Page 79 of Dissension

Instead of taking his offered hand, Kara steps past him. “Have it your way. Hopefully, my blood doesn’t stain your mother’s pristine ivory sheets.” She’s trying to hurt him, somehow, any way possible, no matter how stupid.

You betrayed me. You lied to me. You made me think I could fall head over heels for you-

His mouth firms into a line.

Holding her head high, Kara heads up the bridal staircase, heart racing unsteadily. Everything within her wants to run away, wishes she could run to Ray and tell him everything. The bigger part of her knows she would never live letting out Dieter’s little secret.

Without question, he’d have her killed.

“Goodnight, Kara.” Dieter says from the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her. There’s some dark and unsettling about him, even with his pale hair and eyes. Something malicious, like an abyss. He looks at her the way a monster looks at a victim.

Like cold violence held on a very firm leash. He’s never let her see this before, she realizes. Not this far behind the mask. It scares her to think that Nickknew, thatthisis what Nick saw in him.

It’s what Kara saw in Saoirse Bittinger’s face, in so many pictures.Like mother, like son.

She can’t speak, her tongue feels fat and frozen. With her skin crawling, Kara moves on autopilot, going straight toward the room she always stays in; Saoirse’s room. The long-abandoned room is full of candles and jewelry, luxurious clothes in the closet. Professional photos of his mother encased on the walls, eternally young, staring down at Kara, all cold green stares and pale hair. Unavailable and emotionally distant. A woman sobeautiful that no one truly knew how wicked she was behind her mask of perfection.

A woman capable of orchestrating fatal accidents for those that displeased her.

Kara shuts the door behind her and locks it, throat tight. She stares up at one of the large photographs and thinks,you gave birth to a monster just like you, you murderous bitch. You didn’t even raise him and he’s stillexactlywhat you are.

Feeling overwhelmed and weak, Kara feels her knees give out as she slides down to the floor.

The knowledge that she’s been working for a monster all along is making it hard to breathe.

The fact that shenearlylet herself fall in love with him is a noose she put on her own neck.

Chapter 29

It’s not easy, pulling herself from that dreadful bedroom and making her way downstairs, knowing there’s no possible way she’s going to avoid seeing him. Dieter won’t allow it, that’s not his way. Part of his subtle dominance comes from knowing how to make others uncomfortable…and he knows she’s on edge with him now.

He’s not going to let her walk out that front door like some sort of used-up one night stand.

The second floor is silent when she exits Saoirse’s room, the room that makes her feel like she’s sleeping in some form of worshipful mausoleum. There’s not a soul to be seen, but Kara knows the house staff is likely at work, roaming the premises.

Carefully, she descends the stairs as quietly as she can, feeling like a mouse trying to escape. When she gets down to the entryway, making a beeline for the grand double doors, his voice lights up her nerves.

“I suppose you don’t want me to send you with my driver?” The words almost give her the barest of comforts; the paranoid part of her mind assumed he might justneverlet her leave after what transpired.

Turning slowly, Kara finds him sitting in the sunroom, the morning light dancing off his pale hair. The angelic quality he carries drives her mad, because it’sa lie. “You supposed correctly,” Kara replies, jaw tense. “I’ve called myself my own ride home. It will be here shortly.”

With the slow care of a predator that knows its prey is caught, he rises from his seat and strolls over to her, hands casually in his pockets as he does so. His eyes travel across her body in aleisurely way, inspecting. “You have the antibiotics the doctor gave you last night?”

Her mouth turns downward. “Yes.” She wouldn’t need such things if his criminal associates hadn’t thought her a threatand tortured her.

“Good,” Dieter is crowding into her space, another exercise of his control. He seems to be assessing her state of mind, her mood. “Wouldn’t want you to get sick.”

“As if you fucking care,” Kara finally snaps at him, eyes sparking. She doesn’t want his false sympathy. Does he even feel at all?

He exhales slowly and closes his eyes for a brief moment, as if trying to contain some negative reaction. When he opens them again, there’s nothing there for Kara to read.

“Remember what we talked about last night,” Dieter tells her without any emotion in his voice. His eyes, eerily blank, revealing the morally bankrupt monster within.

Mouth dry, fingers shaking, Kara holds that gaze the best she can and nods. His words,I own you, echoing in memory. She doesn’t want to be owned. She wants to tell him to go pound sand, but what she wants is different from reality. His reach is simply too far, too powerful.

He’s got cops in his pocket. He’s also got dangerous allies who are not just willing to throw Kara in a torture video, but also to snuff her life awaypermanently.

“I remember.” The words are acid on her tongue.

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