Page 26 of Severance

“He’s been staying at his house in the Hamptons.”

He says it with such simplicity as if he expected Dexter to be there.

“You know where that is?”

Kai abruptly pulls away from me, letting my hand fall into my empty lap. He runs his fingers through his unruly hair and runs his hands down his face.

“Fuck,” he mutters into his palms as he hangs his head and drops his hands in front of him. “I took over my father’s company.”

What the fuck?

Leaning back, I scoot away from him, putting enough distance between us and let the lies fill the empty space.

He looks up at me and catches my guard slowly going back up.

“Not that business, Dahlia,” he scoffs and sighs. “His firm. I’m the CEO of it now, he’s just the owner that reaps the benefits and the embezzled money.”

“So, it’s still illegal.” I roll my eyes.

Kai stares at me, dumbfounded. “Illegal?” He pauses and a ghost of a smile plays on his lips. “Tell me about how legal everything is in your life, since you seem to be such a law-abiding citizen,” he retorts.

Touche.

“Tell me how you know where Dexter’s house is.”

“When we were taken from the farm, you went back to your family. My father is my only family and his hands were wiped clean from the shit they were rolling in at the farm. I went back to him because I had no choice.” Kai stops for a moment, his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows hard. “Anthony made sure that my father was kept out of the mess and I made sure that you would be protected from them, because I knew that they would come for you eventually, I just never planned on being the one to lead them to you.”

“Kai,” I start, but he quickly cuts me off and moves closer to me.

“Let me finish,bambolina,” he says quietly. He waits for a moment, but I keep my lips sealed as he clears his throat and continues. “Dexter and Stan were still friends with my father. I let them live because I knew how badly you deserved to be the one to finally extinguish them. They took everything from you and now it’s your turn to take everything from them.”

Reaching over, I put my hand on his and squeeze. “So, you’ve had to be around them even after everything that happened?”

His brown eyes are soft and a wave of pain washes over them as he chews on the inside of his cheek.

“Not by choice,” he mumbles. “I dreamt of killing them every fucking minute of my life.”

“This isn’t just about me, Kai,” I remind him softly. “This is us. They destroyed both of us. My revenge is also your revenge.”

“I’ve been to Dexter’s house before. My father forced me to go to a few bullshit parties there. He has a house outside of Manhattan, but that’s the house he shares with his wife. He keeps his side chick at his house in the Hamptons.”

Money and marriage are like water and oil. Money and marriage means that you’re married to the luxury of having pussy on speed dial when your wife is at home playing house with the kids.

“So, is he just there for the night or how do we go about this?”

Kai shakes his head. “His house in the burbs is more like his vacation home. He spends more time in the Hamptons, so I’d be willing to bet he’s there for more than just tonight.”

He stands up, pulling me to my feet and yanks the covers back on the bed. Kai climbs in and I follow suit, laying down beside him as he drags the covers back over us.

Tilting my head up, I look up at him as he stares at the ceiling. “What now?”

“Now, we sleep,” he says, dropping his gaze down to mine. “Dexter isn’t going anywhere. We can’t act without watching him first, if we want to play this safe with the trail of bodies we’re leaving behind us.”

My brow furrows as I look back at him in confusion. “Bodies?”

It shouldn’t be plural; we only left one body.

Kai sighs deeply.

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