Page 41 of Severance

“I’ve been waiting for the two of you,” he says as he sizes us up. His eyes land on Dahlia’s gun for a fraction of a second before trailing back up to our faces. “I thought that I would die of old age before you came to try and take me out.”

“We’re not here to try,” Dahlia informs him as she steps into the room in front of me. “We’re here to ensure that you’re gone for good.”

Okay, so we didn’t plan any of this out, which we should have, but Dahlia’s going fucking rogue.

I gave him to her, but she’s taunting a lion with a piece of meat. She doesn’t know the caliber of the man in front of us and I didn’t prepare her.

If anything happens to her, it’s her blood on my hands.

“Where are your guard dogs?” I ask him as I walk into the room, seeing that he’s completely alone. “Are they waiting in the dark to blindside us?”

My father laughs loudly as he leans forward and snubs out his cigar. “You would know more about my guard dogs than me, seeing as I’m sure that you’re behind their disappearance.” He rises to his feet and walks to the side of the room. “No bodies have been found, so you’ve at least learned something.”

Tightening my grip on my gun, I feel my circulation being restricted and my knuckles turn white. Dahlia’s body goes rigid and we both follow him with our eyes as he walks to the small wet bar in the room. He grabs a decanter of bourbon and reaches onto the top shelf for a crystal tumbler.

“I must say, I didn’t think you’d end up with this whore after everything that happened.”

“What the fuck did you just call her?” I bark. I refuse to put up with his shit any longer. He’s already done enough damage in our lives.

“A whore.” He chuckles as he pours himself a drink. “Which is exactly what she is and what she’ll always be. You helped turn her into one and I thought you’d moved past that.”

“No one created a whore… all you did was ruin a little girl’s entire life.”

“Oh, Kai.” He laughs lightly as he turns to face us. “Aliana was good for you and I really thought you two were building a future together.”

“No, Luca,” I seethe. “You were trying to build my future with her for me and fucking her behind my back.”

“Jealous, are we?” He sneers. “I heard that you weren’t exactly following in my footsteps in the fucking department. After all the years that I conditioned you, I thought for sure that you would fuck like a porn star.”

Dahlia inhales sharply beside me and starts to walk toward him. Her rage radiates from her body and she burns holes through him with her eyes. My arm darts out to block her, stopping her in her tracks.

“Somebody’s feisty.” He smiles as he moves his eyebrows up and down. “Or maybe she’s the one who’s jealous…”

“Nobody’s fucking jealous.” I scoff and roll my eyes. “Aliana and I barely slept together. I didn’t want it and she was too busy fucking you. Dahlia couldn’t give two shits about any of that. We’re not here about that.”

Luca takes a sip of his drink and sets it down on the bar. “Oh, but that’s exactly why you’re here, Kai. If you wouldn’t have fucked up, things would be playing out as they were intended to.”

“So, is that why you killed her then?” Dahlia questions him with her eyes narrowed.

Luca laughs loudly and reaches behind his back, producing his own weapon. “She knew too much.” He shakes his head in disappointment. “That’s the thing with you whores. You can’t keep your legs or your mouths shut.”

Dahlia’s eyes are on his gun and she glances at me from the corner of her eye. I can hear her words, just from her body language.

What the fuck.

“You ruined it all,princess.” He narrows his eyes at Dahlia. “I should have done this many years ago, but better late than never, right?”

In an instant, his arm is extended in front of him as he aims his gun at her head.

“Drop the fucking gun, Luca,” I demand as I point my own at him.

My father shakes his head. “You’ll thank me later, son.”

The muscles in his arm twitch and my own gun falls to the ground as I shove Dahlia onto the ground right as Luca pulls the trigger. It all happens so fast. My body is thrust backward as a searing pain erupts within my chest. Dahlia’s scream rings in my ears as I crumble tothe ground, tumbling into the darkness.

Dahlia

Time comes to a standstill and ceases to exist as Kai slowly collapses onto the floor. The blow from the gunshot knocked him down and onto his back. A scream escapes my lips and the sound from Luca’s gun drowns everything out.