Page 9 of Severance

A large hand is cemented over my mouth and I’m pulled flush against a rock-solid body. The urge to scream rushes through me with the adrenaline that’s feeding the panic building within me.

“Shh,” he breathes in my ear. “It’s me, I got you.”

Kai.

He came for me.

He withdraws his hand from my mouth and quickly spins me around. A flash of silver catches my eyes as he takes my face in his hands, clutching a pistol in one. “You’re alive,” he breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank fuck.”

I nod lightly against his palms, feeling safer in his hands, but we’re not safe, we need to keep moving.

“Kai,” I whisper, my eyes rapidly searching his soft brown irises. “He’s coming.”

“I got you,bambolina,” he reassures me, softly stroking the sides of my face. “You trust me, right?”

Memories from the past flood my mind. Memories of us, the good and the ugly. The memories of him trying to protect me even when he couldn’t.

I shouldn’t trust him, but I do.

“With my life,” I whisper into the silence.

Without another word, Kai takes my hand in his and begins to lead me through the woods. It’s dark and I stumble to keep up with him as he moves diligently, with purpose.

We weave in and out of the forest, but he’s only leading me in deeper, further away from where he came from. There’s a break in the trees ahead, where the moon shines brightly across the grass.

He’s leading me in the opposite direction.

He’s taking me back to the farm.

To Stan.

Kai

Finding Dahlia here was an expectation but finding her here alive was like being brought back to life.

I was so sure that I was too late, that they would have gotten to her and did their worst.

But I was wrong.

So fucking wrong.

But life isn’t that simple. I found her here in the woods before he did by sheer luck. Fate, destiny, call it what you want. I got here at the right time. But time was running out and our only way out of here now was to trudge straight through the depths of hell and face him head-on.

As we approach the edge of the woods, realization hits Dahlia and she balks. She stops abruptly, pulling her hand from mine, but I don’t let her go.

“You motherfucker!” she whispers harshly. “I trusted you!”

“Dahlia,” I growl, entering her space. Towering over her, I grab her shoulders and give her a swift shake. “You know how shit is played here. Do you want to die today?”

I ask her the same question that I asked her years ago… the first time I ever laid eyes on her.

She stares up at me with those fierce, bright green eyes. After everything she has endured, they still shine brighter than any star in the sky.

“Do you want to die today, Dahlia?” I ask again, pressing for her approval. Her lips are pursed as she narrows her eyes at me, testing me.

Always fucking testing me.

“I’m not dying today and when I do, it won’t be here.”

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