Page 39 of Severance

Kai squeezes me lightly. “He’s right,bambolina,” he tells me in a hushed voice. “They are the only way that we’re going to get the full story and all of the answers that we need.”

My mind is swimming in the overload of information that’s been fed to me and I don’t know what the fuck to do with it.

But, Kai… he’s the only voice of reason that I have and I can’t fight him.

I know that he’s right, even if I don’t want to admit it.

Anthony gives me a pained look, with his eyes filled with sorrow. “Please, go talk to your parents, Dahlia and just listen to what they have to say. They can tell you more about what happened than I can.”

Lost in the dark depths of my mind, I stare at him blankly and nod. “I will,” I assure him, the sound of my voice is foreign and distant.

“Come on,bambolina,” Kai says in a hushed voice as he lightly squeezes my hand. He leads me across the room and pauses as we get to the door to look behind us. “Thank you, Anthony… for everything.”

“You don’t have to thank me for anything, Kai.” Anthony smiles. “Isn’t this the part where you kill me before you leave?”

Kai shakes his head lightly. “You’re not on tonight’s agenda and if you’re smart, you won’t ever be.”

Spinning back around, Kai pulls me out the door without so much as another word. I follow him in a daze as he leads me through the house and out to the car. My mind is in a different place as he holds the door open for me and I slide into my seat.

Silence settles in the air as Kai climbs in and starts the car. Our world was just turned upside down and the anger and pain settles in the silence as we pull onto the road and drive away from Anthony’s

???

My parents knew this entire time.

The betrayal sets in deep as that bitch, reality, slaps me across the face again.

My entire life has been a lie.

They lied to me, and Anthony helped them cover it up without me ever knowing.

I can hate them for it, but not Anthony. He did what he was hired to do and simply provided them a service. It was never his place or any of his business to reveal their secrets to me.

He didn’t owe me the truth, but he gave it to me anyway and now I owe him his life and the vengeance he so desperately seeks.

I will kill Luca, but it won’t be just for me and Kai. It will be for every other child he destroyed and the daughter he took from Anthony.

???

The car swerves as Kai jerks the wheel to the side and my body is thrown into the door. Pulling off the road and onto the shoulder, he slams on the breaks and throws the car in park.

Kai quickly turns in his seat to face me. “Dahlia.” His voice is demanding, begging to be heard. “You gotta fucking talk to me,bambolina. You’re pulling away and I can’t lose you, not now.”

“I’m fine.” My voice is impassive as my face is void of the emotions running through me.

I’m not fine.

“Don’t fucking lie to me,” he breathes, but it comes out as a plea. “Neither of us are okay, but we will be.”

Reaching over, Kai takes my face in his hands and turns my head to face him. His soft brown eyes are troubled as they search mine. I feel my guard slowly crumbling to the ground as his touch brings me back.

“I promise you that we will get through this, no matter what. We’ll talk to your parents and we’ll figure this all out, okay?”

He brushes his thumb across my cheek as I lightly nod my head. “What about Luca?”

Kai’s body stills and his eyes widen slightly as he remembers who is truly to blame for everything.

“Luca dies.”

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