Page 84 of The Marriage

Masha’s gaze hardened at his accusation. “I did the only thing I knew I could do. The only thing within my power. I kept her as safe as I could when I was with her but—”

“You kept her hidden.”

“You took her away,” she snapped back. “You have no idea what it was like to live in that house, to be around those men. If Dima or his father thought Karine would ever talk or reveal the truth, they’d have killed her just like Katina. The only reason they let her live was because her behavior proved she would never talk. And she never did.”

Masha gulped more air into her lungs, trying to regain some semblance of control, but it didn’t help. Her lip bled even more from the blow Roman had dealt across her face.

“So you plied her with drugs,” he said, lifting a shoulder. “You call that helping? Feeding her a concoction of medications that aren’t even proven helpful for her disorder?”

In fact, he was starting to believe that shit had only made her worse.

Masha shook her head. “The drugs kept her subdued.”

“The drugs kept her submissive when she was high. To you and her father. Or to anyone else who wanted to do what they wanted with her.”

“Maxim knew nothing. He thought his daughter was ... different,” she tried to argue.

“He thought his daughter was unworthy of his love or attention. That she was something he could use to get what he wanted. A union with Leonid’s family, to strengthen the control he thought he had over the man, and to get her off his hands. Let’s not pretend different.”

Roman was certainly beyond that shit.

“He never would have agreed to it if he knew what Dima had done!”

The way she said that made him think those weren’t her words, but Maxim’s. Just how much time had she spend with the man while she was missing?

Roman narrowed his eyes at Masha. She seemed unnaturally sympathetic to a man who had been nothing but a master to her for a good portion of her life. He never allowed her to be a free woman, but she still showed him a loyalty Roman didn’t understand.

“You care about him.”

“He gave me a life. Better than the one I had,” she returned simply.

If only that mattered.

“I don’t give a fuck what you think Maxim would have done if he knew the truth. You say he knows the truth now. So be it—where has he taken Karine?”

Her mouth hung open, and her chest collapsed roughly with a rattling breath. Her shoulders shook with the effort of trying to catch her air, her sob as wet as her tears. It was a pitiful sight.

“I swear to you—I don’t know,” she replied.

He could have killed Masha. Right then, right there. He had his weapon tucked into the back of his pants, and it would have taken so little effort to pull it out and shoot her in the head. She fucking deserved it.

Maybe they all did.

So many of them had failed Karine.

Over and over.

Again and again.

Even me, he thought.

Masha had single-handedly fucked up his plan for keeping Karine safe. All because she thought she knew what was best for her.

The only thing that did save her in that moment was Karine. Roman didn’t kill her because he wanted to leave her alive for his wife to make the final decision; her emotional attachment she had towards this woman, and the fact she had, in a way, tied her future to Karine meant that she should decide how, or if, Masha’s life would end.

Roman didn’t consider that he wouldn’t find Karine—not for a second. He would bring her back to him, and when he did, she could decide what needed to be done to the woman who had betrayed her.

“You won’t be able to keep Maxim’s hiding place from me for very long. I will find Karine, and when I do, everyone who was involved in taking her from me will pay for it. Mark my fucking words, Masha.”