Chapter 28
The drive lasts for what feels like an age. A horrible, everlasting stretch of time with her heart in her throat, sobs stuck there, wondering if she’s going to end up with a bullet hole in the back of her skull and her body left in some ditch like last night’s garbage.
She tries to feel the movements of the vehicle. Every turn. Every shift. There are a lot of turns and a lot of silence, but Kara knows she isn’t alone. Her skin is prickled, hot and cold with terror. Her wrists ache, the belt wrapped around them pulled tight to keep her in hand.
Kara can feel when they pull onto a highway, hearing the familiar drone of racing across the pavement. The comforting rush of white noise, even though it only brings more unease; where are they taking her? Why so far?
There’s no telling time from behind the goggles that prevent her from seeing.
When the car finally comes to a stop, Kara feels a tremble come to her limbs. There’s no controlling it; she’s sure her death is coming. A pathetic sound slips from her lips when she’s pulled out of her seat, pulled out into fresh night air, cool on her face.
It’s not city air, not congested with the scent of sewers, smoke, and trash. Kara has no clue whatsoever about where she is, but she finds small comfort knowing she won’t be dying in that horrid building where it reeked of death and sterilization.
Her shoes are on grass and she loathes herself for feeling weakness in her knees. She doesn’t want to die-
The goggles come off, revealing a familiar face, expressionless, and a midnight sky full of stars, vacant of city pollution. Lights from a large house fill the night, bouncing off the trees, a car idle on the long, winding path.
Kara stares, a certain numbness falling over her in a wave. It’s as if an icy blanket has been thrown over her flesh, sinking into it like a terribly unwelcome embrace. Words elude her completely and her fingers clench into fists, her wrists still bound together.
Good thing, because wrath is starting to coil in her veins, trying to thaw the freeze that she’s found herself caught in.
“Go ahead and scream,” Dieter says flatly, eyes like green wastelands. There is no warmth there, only shadow and reserve. Kara has seen these eyes before, just never on him. Saoirse . “I know that’s what you want to do.” He steps behind her casually and undoes the belt around her hands, setting her free.
She’s his puppet and his words have cut all her strings.
All this time, all this fucking time he knew. He knew about the torture warehouse. He was able to get her out, and if he was able to do that, it meant that he was running it-
Kara collapses down into his perfectly manicured lawn and shrieks from the very core of her soul. All the fraught emotions, the horror, pouring out of her. He’s fooled her so entirely with his charming facade. Underneath, he’s always been this .
It’s her curse to find bad men. Only, this one is far worse than her father ever was. He hid his darkness behind a perfect mask, so perfect that even she didn’t see behind it. A broken sob tears out of her and she digs her fingernails into her forehead, as if it will remove her from this dark reality she’s found herself in. She’s been working for a monster all this time.
The new witness was paid to frame the owner of the Dark Mirage . A controlled witness, unlike ‘X’, who was murdered.
Dietrich Bittinger must have planned for all of this. He’s too calculating for it to be anything else.
Taking in a shaky breath, ready to wail again, Kara is interrupted.
“Anyone who hears it will assume it’s coyotes,” Dieter says lightly, simply observing her come unraveled, as if watching a particularly boring television show. “They sound like children crying, did you know that? The pack does. Quite eerie-”
How dare he?
“I know what coyotes sound like, you fucking snake!” Kara yells hoarsely, her jaw aching from tension. She grew up even further from the city than he did; she’s used to the wails in the night from her childhood. The way their cries used to mingle with the loneliness in her soul.
His mouth twitches a bit, as if wanting to smile affectionately, but doesn’t have the energy for it. “Of course, you do.”
The sight of his familiar face is like a knife to her chest. Never has she felt this sort of pain before, not for as long as she can recall. After her brutal experience…and knowing he’s in on it…it’s too much to bear.
Kara’s voice is nearly broken with emotion. “How could you do this?”
He gives a short, unpleasant little snort, gazing off at the large swath of trees around his estate. The moon above bounces off his pale hair, giving him a halo that he doesn’t deserve. “Are you really asking me that? Do better, chickadee.”
Hearing his fond little nickname for Kara nearly disembowels her.
“No,” Kara says bitterly, tasting her tears on her tongue. Salty. “ How could you do this to me ?”
He looks upwards briefly, casually placing a hand in his pocket. He still looks cool and in control, the way he always is. Dieter is thinking through his words, but he finally settles on something extremely safe and vague. “What are you referring to? Paxton or-”
“What. Do. You. Think?” The words slash out of her mouth like the dropping of razorblades from her tongue. As if she’s spat them up from her lungs with each word. Her heart is an open wound, oozing blood.
Dieter moves to crouch down to her level, bringing them eye to eye. He’s looking to put her at ease, because he knows how to manipulate people all too well. “I saved you,” he says matter-of-factly, utterly unconcerned about what she knows about him . “I didn’t put you there, but the people who did believed you would be a threat to The Operation. You were snooping deeper, looking into the witness we put up to bag Poor Pax. Navarro got nervous, didn’t like what you were up to. He took matters into his own hands, as you can see. Tried to take you off the playing field, especially after hearing your conversation with that unfortunate PI-”
“…the witness you put in place to bag Pax? Are you fucking with me, Dieter?” Hysteria rises. They’ve completely screwed with justice. This is a complete frame job, just as she suspected. Another thought comes to mind, inky black. “Navarro is the man that was watching me at night, isn’t he? And you’re working with him?! ”
He waves his hand dismissively. “Never mind all that. It’s what landed you in that nasty torture business, isn’t it? Learn your lesson, chickadee. You’re fine, of course. I made Navarro see reason as soon as I realized he had taken you. He won’t bother you again, never worry. You’ll settle in. Put this in the past. It won’t be too hard.”
Put this in the past? Settle in? As in, getting comfortable in a chair full of knives? Settle in!? “Are you fucked in that pretty skull of yours?” Kara hisses, voice rising precariously. “This isn’t a minor criminal infraction we’re talking about, Dieter! This is a massive , repulsive felony. This is…this is wrong on so many levels.” It’s so horrid that she can’t even find the words to say, can’t quite figure out how to shape her feelings into meaning. Her fingers are trembling uncontrollably. “How could you do this to people-”
“That’s the magic. I don’t do a thing. I simply provide a place for a certain cut of the profit.” There’s no inflection in his voice whatsoever. Terrifyingly so. “There’s demand, so there must be a supply. I know people in dark places. The blackmail I have on some politicians… astounding .”
“So, your hands are clean?” Kara feels her face twist, her eyes stinging. “Is that what you like to think?”
Now, his lip twitches, almost unnoticeably. Amusement, flickering there and gone. “I don’t think about it at all, actually.”
The scary thing is, Kara believes that.
Morally vacant, no conscience to be found. He walks, talks, and smiles like a human. He even kisses like one. But underneath, Dieter is something else entirely.
“I should tell everyone what you are.” Assuming they don’t already know. There’s always been something dark about him, but Kara never thought it was this bad. “I should go to the police-”
“You won’t, because I own you. Understand that? Read my lips, chickadee. I own you .” There is no smiling, playful spark in his peridot eyes, no smirk on his mouth. This is the side of Dietrich that Kara has always been uneasy about. The unpredictable side. He gets closer to her on the grass and puts his hand behind her head, pulling her forehead to his own. His smooth voice goes soft as he stares into her eyes. “You belong to me. And if you say a word, believe me when I say you will not be long for this world. I’d prefer we not do that; don’t you agree?”
Mental hooks tear at her mind, pulling in all directions. Waves of hopelessness. Disbelief. There’s nothing she can do against this and she knows it. The amount of power he holds is too great. People like him don’t go down for crimes; they find ways to silence others, either by money or murder.
The way he had X silenced, her lips sewn shut and her head chopped off.
“Isn’t Paxton Brooker your friend?” Kara asks miserably. “How could you set him up like this?”
Emotionless, Dieter shrugs. “He’s useful. But his use is almost up. It’s amazing what you can get done with money, forged signatures, and corrupt real estate officials. Pax isn’t lying when he says he never bought the property, that he never signed for it.” A little pleased grin shapes his lips, the ones that have kissed her. “But I did.”
Kara stares at him, unable to comprehend the level of horror. Dieter has so many corrupt people in his pockets that he was able to illegally purchase property under Paxton Brooker’s name with the intent of using him as a future scapegoat. He intended to set Paxton up for the fall from the very beginning, just in case things went sour. “I don’t know what you are,” Kara utters. “But monster doesn’t cut it.”
He places a soft kiss on her forehead and Kara feels the well inside of her burst, tears falling silently down her face. How could she have been so utterly blind to the soulless thing she stood behind? Nick was right all along. “I want to leave. I want to leave now-”
“Don’t be silly. You can’t,” he says very reasonably as he guides her reluctant form to the brightly-lit estate. “It’s late. You’ll stay here. I’ll have my physician see you. You’ll feel better in the morning. Mostly .”
She tries to dig her heels into the lawn, but he tightens his grip and hauls her into his home.
Perhaps she should be embarrassed about sitting in her bra and jeans in front of these men, but Kara has found herself unable to find the emotion required. Sitting on a chaise lounge in Dieter’s office, Kara holds perfectly still as his private physician sets about cleaning up the mess of her back. There’s a stinging sensation, biting at her flesh. A cotton swap is being brushed against the open cuts on her back. It burns as hot as her anger, claws at her just as deep as betrayal feels.
Gritting her teeth against the burn, Kara asks, “Not going to ask where I got these, are you?”
The aging, finely dressed gentleman says nothing in response, his eyes briefly glancing at Dieter from behind his spectacles.
“I suppose you’re in on it. You already know. He pays you to keep your mouth shut and look the other way,” Kara says bitterly as the aging man beside her continues cleaning out her various wounds. “Dieter seems to have a knack for that.” Her eyes narrow in thought. “Or is it just the Bittinger family in general that always makes sure to clean up their tracks? Is that how Saoirse-”
“ Shhh ,” Dieter coos, something icy in his gaze.
A sigh of annoyance emits from the doctor. He sets about stitching up a bad injury. Kara flinches as the needle meets sore flesh.
“Mr. Bittinger, shall I give her something for her nerves?” The physician speaks as though Kara is simply a strange house plant that he’s administering medical care to. The bastard wants to drug her to make her shut up, is that it? Make the unruly lawyer take a chill pill like a good fucking girl. Ha.
Dieter is at his grand desk, face emotionless. “No. Let Kara be angry. It’s best that she gets it all out now, rather than later. She’s had quite the adventure these past few days.”
Adventure into Torture Wonderland? She’d like to leap across the room and strangle him, but she fears he might enjoy that.
When the shady doctor finishes his work, he shakes Dieter’s hand and exits the premises, leaving them alone once more. Kara can see the way Dieter stands in front of the grand double doors; she can see him from his office. He turns and stares at her, holding her gaze in the painful silence. Kara wraps her arms over her chest, feeling unsettled by his eyes on her vulnerable form.
Now that she knows what he’s capable of, she no longer feels safe.
“I’m sorry about your clothes. You know you can grab something from my mother’s closet to keep.”
The very thought of sleeping in Saoirse’s clothes is repellant. The idea of staying here? Even worse. “I’m not staying here. I have to leave.”
A scoff. He locks the front doors with a certain finality, maintaining eye contact as he does so. “We both know that’s not happening. It’s late. You’re safe here.”
“ Safe? ” Kara says hoarsely before she can stop herself. “I’m safe with a man that profits off snuff films and blackmail material? A man that sets his business partners up to take the fall? Tell me more jokes, Dieter.”
“Still some humor in you.” Like a predator, slow and measured, he comes back into his office to collect her. “Don’t exaggerate, chickadee.” His grin is fleeting and cold as he holds out his hand to her. “No one dies on camera.”
Kara eyeballs his hand like it’s a venomous snake with its fangs out.
Dieter’s eyes go half-mast, the green almost black. “I know this is a foreign concept for you, but don’t be difficult. Come on, you need to sleep.” He sounds irritated, like he can’t understand why she’s acting cagey. As if he doesn’t understand why she’s horrified to know the real him. But he knows , he’s smart enough to know what he does is wrong, clever enough to keep it hidden, wicked enough to keep those under his thrall silent.
Instead of taking his offered hand, Kara steps past him. “Have it your way. Hopefully, my blood doesn’t stain your mother’s pristine ivory sheets.” She’s trying to hurt him, somehow, any way possible, no matter how stupid.
You betrayed me. You lied to me. You made me think I could fall head over heels for you-
His mouth firms into a line.
Holding her head high, Kara heads up the bridal staircase, heart racing unsteadily. Everything within her wants to run away, wishes she could run to Ray and tell him everything. The bigger part of her knows she would never live letting out Dieter’s little secret.
Without question, he’d have her killed.
“Goodnight, Kara.” Dieter says from the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her. There’s some dark and unsettling about him, even with his pale hair and eyes. Something malicious, like an abyss. He looks at her the way a monster looks at a victim.
Like cold violence held on a very firm leash. He’s never let her see this before, she realizes. Not this far behind the mask. It scares her to think that Nick knew , that this is what Nick saw in him.
It’s what Kara saw in Saoirse Bittinger’s face, in so many pictures. Like mother, like son.
She can’t speak, her tongue feels fat and frozen. With her skin crawling, Kara moves on autopilot, going straight toward the room she always stays in; Saoirse’s room. The long-abandoned room is full of candles and jewelry, luxurious clothes in the closet. Professional photos of his mother encased on the walls, eternally young, staring down at Kara, all cold green stares and pale hair. Unavailable and emotionally distant. A woman so beautiful that no one truly knew how wicked she was behind her mask of perfection.
A woman capable of orchestrating fatal accidents for those that displeased her.
Kara shuts the door behind her and locks it, throat tight. She stares up at one of the large photographs and thinks, you gave birth to a monster just like you, you murderous bitch. You didn’t even raise him and he’s still exactly what you are.
Feeling overwhelmed and weak, Kara feels her knees give out as she slides down to the floor.
The knowledge that she’s been working for a monster all along is making it hard to breathe.
The fact that she nearly let herself fall in love with him is a noose she put on her own neck.