Severance (Entangled Series Book 2)

by C. M. Radcliff

  Her honey tinged curls shine under the moonlight as she lets her newfound power drive her.

  Like a true queen.

  My queen.

  My fucked-up queen.

  Dahlia

  We walked hand and hand through the forest without questioning what was lurking in the darkness.

  Fear doesn’t live here anymore.

  I was soaring, flying high on the lust for blood that I never knew I had inside me. My life always lacked control, so that’s why I danced naked and fucked randos for a living. I needed that control, but this was something completely different. The euphoria was consuming and liberating.

  I was satisfied, but it wasn’t enough.

  I need more.

  I need them all dead, all by my hands.

  The power to end them all was mine.

  Kai has killed before, even before I met him when he was seventeen. We never talked about it, but I know he’s had plenty of blood on his hands.

  I could see it in his eyes, how badly he wanted it and wanted them dead. Kai’s calculated and controlled, but he handed that over to me.

  He gave me everything I needed.

  He’s my safety net, he loves me more than anyone else ever could.

  He’s a selfish man, especially when it comes to me, but he’s a walking contradiction. Everything he does for me shows how selfless he truly is.

  Control is everything to him, he craves that power, but he gave it all to me. He put his own needs aside and handed it to me.

  I wasn’t a killer, but now that I’ve had a taste, I’m fucking starving.

  I didn’t kill Stan, but I’m responsible for his death. That is mine… and knowing that I was the last face he saw before he died has me riding a high I could never put into words.

  I’m on top of the fucking world.

  ◆◆◆

  When I was younger, it was almost as if Kai and I had a prophecy to fulfill. It was mainly their fucked-up role play with Kai being the prince and me the princess. But it was more than that. Kai was the prince of Luca’s kingdom, but as we grew in life, we made our own kingdom.

  One where we both rule, side by side, hand in hand as the king and queen.

  Without each other, we wouldn’t have anything, we’d both be nothing. Just two lost souls without a purpose.

  Only our purpose is greater now.

  We’re here to take what is rightfully ours.

  The control to create our own destiny, with fate as our moral compass.

  Our purpose is to finish what Luca and his men started long ago. Only one king can rule a kingdom and that throne belongs to Kai.

  ◆◆◆

  Kai weaves us through the trees and treks through the brush until we reach the fence that he crossed to get into the dark forest.

  The same fence that prevented us from ever escaping.

  “Don’t worry, it’s not hot,” he assured me, grabbing onto the metal wires before reaching for me.

  “How did you know that?” I eye him warily as he helps me over the fence.

  He shrugs with a smile playing on his lips. “I got over it earlier, didn’t I?”

  Stopping short, I drop his hand and stare at him as he opens the passenger side door nonchalantly. “What if it was on, Kai? That would have killed you.”

  “That was a risk I was willing to take,” he concurs, pulling me to him. “If I wouldn’t have taken that risk, who do you think the rats would be eating right now?”

  Once again, he rolled the dice and risked his own life just to save mine.

  A king always protects his queen.

  Grabbing the front of his shirt, I push upward onto my tiptoes as I pull his face down to mine. Our lips collide as he grabs my hips, pulling my body flush against his. Stealing the air from my lungs, his mouth consumes mine in a frenzy.

  His lips are rough and dominating as he pushes me up against the side of the car. Biting down on my bottom lip, I taste my blood on his tongue as it tangles with mine. Moaning into my mouth, he deepens the kiss as our lips fuse together.

  Time is nonexistent, but we don’t waste the illusion of it. Slow and steady never wins the race. Frantic and unruly is all we know. The pull between us is the one thing neither of us will ever have control over.

  Kai’s touch is far from gentle as he slides his hand up underneath my thin shirt and cups my breast. Drawing my nipple in between his thumb and forefinger, he pinches hard and twists it slightly. My back arches forward, pressing my chest flush against his as a moan escapes my lips.

  Reaching down between us, I quickly undo Kai’s pants as he slides his hands down to my ass. In one fluid movement he strips off my shorts and panties, leaving them on the ground. Cupping my ass cheeks, he lifts me up with my back still against the car.

  He sinks deep inside me as I wrap my legs around his waist. Tipping my head back, I moan loudly as he starts to thrust into me. Kai grips my ass cheeks harder and my hips meet his with every thrust as he inches in deeper with every stroke.

  Clawing at his shirt, my sharp nails dig into his back as he fucks me against his car on the side of the deserted road. Caught up in the heat of the moment, it’s just the two of us lost in each other in the darkness of the night.

  Our moans mix together with the sound of our skin slapping skin and it echoes through the forest for only the trees to hear.

  Pinning me against the car, Kai fists his hand in my hair and jerks my head upright, bringing my face to his. The moon casts a sliver of light across Kai’s face, illuminating his heated chocolate-colored irises.

  “Eyes on me, bambolina,” he growls as he tightens his grip on my hair. “I’m gonna fuck you. Hard. And I wanna see the look in your eyes as you shatter into a million pieces on my cock.”

  Pushing his hips harder against me, he dips in deeper, filling me completely. My eyes close as my body quivers and Kai’s lips drop to mine as I moan into his mouth. His tongue slides between my lips and our moans blend together as I grind my hips against him.

  Abruptly, he tears his lips away and pulls my head back roughly. His heated gaze meets mine and his fingertips dig into my skin as he begins to move.

  With every thrust, we fall into a methodical rhythm of give and take.

  Kai is a man of his word.

  When he says something, he means it, he follows through.

  As a man of his word, Kai fucks me hard, showing no mercy as I cry out.

  The lines blurred between pain and pleasure as it all melts together as he moves inside me. Keeping his eyes on mine, I’m pushed over the edge and he watches as I’m shattered into a million pieces. Kai lets the pieces fall to the ground as he comes undone, losing himself in me completely.

  Neither of us move and I’m still pressed up against the car with Kai’s cock inside me. He rests his forehead against mine as we both struggle to catch our breath.

  “Fuck, bambolina,” he breathes, his voice low. He slowly pulls out of me, lowering my feet to the ground and grabs my clothes.

  Still riding on a cloud of euphoria, I grin at him lazily as I slip back into my thong and shorts. “What now?”

  Staring into my eyes, Kai’s mouth is slightly agape as his gaze penetrates straight into my soul. He watches me in silence as I step in front of him.

  “Kai?”

  Reaching forward, his hand grazes the side of my face as he brushes a stray curl behind my ear. “Get in the car, bambolina. It’s not safe out here.”

  “Kai,” I sigh, rolling my eyes. “Stan’s in the barn and we’ve been out here for who knows how long. There’s no one out here but us.”

  “You don’t fucking know that!” He growls harshly and leans down in my face. His soft brown eyes are dark and angry. “This is not up for discussion. Get in the fucking car.”

  Wrapping his hand around my arm, I let him drag me to the passenger seat and climb in with a huff.”

  “And then what, Kai?” I retort just as he’s shutting the door. “We get in the car and then what?�
�

  Kai pauses, holding the door open just enough for me to see the storm brewing in his chocolate-colored eyes.

  “We run.”

  KAI

  “Fuck that,” Dahlia barks as I slide into the driver’s seat. Ignoring her, I turn on the car and put it in drive, pulling back onto the gravel road.

  Dahlia spins in her seat and glares at me. “There is no way in hell we are running, Kai,” she says angrily.

  I speed down the road, coasting around the turns until we’re out of the trees and pulling onto the paved road.

  “Pull the car over,” she orders as she continues to glare at me.

  What the fuck?

  Ignoring her, I step on the gas harder and the car speeds down the road. Dahlia turns from me and sits forward, staring out the windshield.

  From the corner of my eye, I see her hand creeping to the handle of the door. “Don’t,” I warn her, without slowing the car.

  “This is going to go one of two ways, Kai,” she says quietly. “You can either pull this car over or I’ll get out now.”

  Glancing down at the dashboard, I clench my jaw as I see we’re going over ninety mph.

  “If you jump out of this car, there’s no way you’re surviving that.”

  Dahlia’s stormy green eyes meet mine as I glance over at her and her hand grips the door handle.

  Dahlia doesn’t bluff.

  She talks shit but she doesn’t talk shit.

  She’ll fucking do it.

  Letting out a breath in defeat and annoyance, I slow down the car and slam on the brakes. Dahlia falls back into her seat and onto the center console as I jerk the car onto the shoulder of the road.

  Putting the car in park, I glance down at Dahlia’s head as it lands on my lap. My cock twitches in my pants, with her that close and grows hard under her weight.

  Fuck.

  Grabbing her by the shoulders, I push her back into her seat and discreetly adjust my pants. Dahlia glares at me as she reaches to open the car door.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” I demand, locking the door before she can open it.

  “I’m not running with you, Kai.” She shakes her head in disappointment. “I’m not leaving here knowing they’re all still alive, going about their daily lives as if they didn’t take everything away from us.”

  There she is… my fighter.

  The fire burns deep inside her and she’s ready to burn the city to ash.

  “You don’t want to run, then we won’t run,” I agree, sensing her need for revenge.

  Her eyes widen as she releases the door handle and stares at me. “You’re not leaving me?”

  “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 silence as 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.

  I always knew that this time would come for me… or us.

  Hastily unzipping it, I comb through the contents in the bag, double checking the numerous passports under different aliases and the stacks of cash. For safety measures, I grab the neatly stacked bills from inside the safe and shove them in the bag too.

  Zipping the bag closed, I quickly shut the door to the safe and return everything back to normal, as if nothing was ever touched in this room.

  Dahlia stands in the center of the room with her eyes on me as I walk back out with the black duffle bag in my hand. Her gaze drops down to the bag before looking back up at me, but she doesn’t say anything.

  No words are needed, because she gets it.

  She always does.

  “Let’s go,” I demand lightly as I grab her hand. “We can’t be here when Luca and his men show up and we can’t waste any more time.”

  I lead her back through the penthouse and together we step onto the elevator. Dahlia presses the button for the garage, as if she does this every day.

  “So.” She turns her head toward me as we start to descend. “What happens next?”

  Raising my eyebrows, I glance over at her. “You don’t have a plan?”

  Dahlia scowls and shrugs lightly. “I mean, I didn’t exactly plan on shit going down the way it did tonight.”

  Well, that makes two of us.

  “Why am I not surprised that you didn’t think any of this through?”

  “What the fuck did you expect me to do, Kai?” she demands, with her eyes an angry storm. “Let Stan rape me like he was trying
to do before killing me? I didn’t anticipate your fucking father and his lover, who was your fucking fiancée, kidnapping me!”

  The elevator stops and it dings as the door slowly slides open.

  “Hey,” I say quietly, as I pull her close to me. “I’m not trying to lecture you, bambolina. You fought, like the fucking fighter that you are. And I am so fucking proud of you for that… but there will be repercussions for what happened and we have to be prepared. And if we’re going to take them all down, we need to come up with a plan and fast.”

  Dahlia closes her eyes and briefly rests her forehead against my chest. “I know it was impulsive and I’m sorry.”

  Sliding my finger under her chin, I tip her head back to look at me and get lost in the swirls of green hues in her eyes. “Don’t you ever, and I mean EVER, apologize for doing what you have to do to survive. You’re a survivor, bambolina… it’s what you do best.”

  Dipping my face down to hers, I kiss her lips softly and she melts into me. The elevator dings and I quickly break away from her to keep the doors from closing in on us.

  Grabbing her hand, I lead her through the garage to my car and help her in. Opening the backseat door, I toss my duffle bag inside and quietly shut it before sliding into the front seat.

  “Where are we going?” Dahlia asks quietly from beside me as I ease the car out of the garage.

  “We need to lie low for a little. We’ll find a motel outside of the city and stay there until we have a solid plan.”

  “We’re really doing this,” Dahlia whispers, with a small smile on her face as she looks over at me.

  Taking her hand in mine, I give it a small squeeze and smile back at her. “It’s you and me, bambolina. Fuck the rest of the world.”

  Dahlia

  Kai drives us not far out of the city, but far enough that we won’t be noticed. He chose a dingy ass motel, the kind that you can get any drug that you want at.

  Also, the kind of motel that any and all bedsheets are questionable with their cleanliness.

  I stare out the window, watching the illuminated vacancy sign flicker on and off as Kai goes inside to the check-in desk. Looking around the parking lot, we stick out like a sore thumb in Kai’s sleek Aston Martin.