Page 19 of Severance

“No,bambolina,” I say softly as I take her hand in mine. “Where you go, I go.”

If she wants to turn the city to ash, I’ll stand by her side and watch it burn.

“I want them dead… every single one of them,” she declares with certainty in her eyes. Her bright green eyes are now clouded with a storm brewing inside.

“Then we’ll kill them all.”

Dahlia’s mouth falls open slightly as she stares at me with an unreadable expression. The shock is evident on her face as her eyes rapidly search mine.

“We will?” she questions me quietly.

“We will.”

She watches me, waiting for anything else I can give her, but there’s nothing for me to say. Telling her how I’ve imagined killing them every day for the past decade won’t do her any good. It will only raise more questions. Dahlia knows that I’m no stranger where death is concerned, so she’ll want to know why.

Why I didn’t kill them all already.

And that isn’t a question that I can answer for her right now.

Not yet…

???

“If I start driving again, you’re not going to try and pull some dumb shit like that again, right?”

Dahlia smiles as I put the car back in drive and lightly shakes her head.

“Good,” I concur with a curt nod and pull the car back onto the vacant road.

I drive in silenceas we speed down the streets leading back into the city. Dahlia stares out the window as the streetlights flash past us.

In a matter of minutes, we’re at my place, standing awkwardly in the elevator that goes straight to the penthouse suite.

“Why are we here, Kai?”

Glancing over at her, I take in her appearance in the brightly lit room. She’s covered in dirt and blood, with her hair a tangled mess and her clothes disheveled.

Such a familiar look, just under completely different circumstances.

“Don’t worry, we’re not staying here.”

As the elevator inches closer to the top of the building, I pull the pistol from the back of my pants and hold it by my side. Dahlia glances down at the gun and back at me as we reach my floor and the doors slowly open.

Grabbing Dahlia’s hand, we step inside and I keep her close beside me as I do a quick sweep of the place. As I’m leading her into my bedroom, Dahlia gives me a sly grin and raises an eyebrow at me.

Spinning her around, I pull her close and wrap my arms around her chest. “You think this was all a ploy to get you in my bed?” I breathe against the side of her neck. A soft moan slips from her lips as mine brush against her skin.

“I don’t need a ploy,bambolina,” I whisper and nip at her earlobe. “You’ll be in my bed every night whether you want it or not. But I can promise you, that’s where you’ll want to be. It’s where you’re meant to be; in my bed, my head, my soul. It’s you and me,bambolina. Fuck the rest of the world.”

Spinning her back around to face me, I gently brush her tangled stray curls from her face and plant a soft kiss on her forehead. Pulling away, I catch Dahlia’s eyes on mine and the swirls of green glisten as she stares up at me.

She’s a fucking mess.

A fucking beautiful mess.

She deserves to be worshipped in every way, shape, and form, but now isn’t the time. I quickly step away from her and walk across the room to my walk-in closet. Dahlia doesn’t follow me as I slip inside.

Grabbing a row of dress shirts, I part them in the center and slide the hangers to either side, revealing a large built-in safe in the wall. Wasting no time, I punch in my code and pull open the solid metal door. Sitting front and center on the bottom is my emergency bag, with everything that I knew I would need when the time came.

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