Page 79 of Ruthless Riches
“You don’t know anything about me,” Sascha spat.
“I know you better than you think,” Nate said. “I know your whole history. I know how you grew up, and I know how losing your father affected you. I know it made you feel abandoned.”
“You don’t know shit!”
Nate pressed on. “I do. I know it makes you push people away because you’re terrified you’ll wind up losing them in the end, like you’ve lost others, and you can’t stand the thought of facing that. You’re also scared that people might reject you. So you keep pushing them all away. But at the same time, you desperately crave love, intimacy, and acceptance, which makes you want to stop pushing them away.” He paused and shook his head. “It’s like that old saying. You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. You can never win.”
He flicked his eyes to me again. I could see a question in them. He wanted to know if he was on the right track.
I dipped my chin in a barely-perceptible nod. He’d obviously figured out a lot about my sister.
He turned his gaze back to her. “I get it. I lost my family too. Every single one of them. My father was murdered, and the rest of my relatives turned out to be involved in an organ trafficking cabal. So I know what it’s like to feel betrayed and abandoned. Like you’re all alone in the world. It can ruin you if you let it.”
“So fucking what?” Sascha said. She bit out the words with anger, but I could see the manic determination in her eyes fading. Everything Nate had said so far was right on the money, and it was hitting her hard.
He took another slight step forward. “The thing is, Sascha… I’m not actually alone in the world. I have Alexis. She’s helped me through everything. Made me feel like a person instead of a fucking monster. I know I’m never going to be alone now, and it’s all because of her. She’s amazing, isn’t she?”
Sascha’s chin was wobbling now. She nodded and lowered the knife about half an inch. “Yes,” she muttered.
“You love her just as much as I do. You don’t want to hurt her. In fact, I think that’s why you were telling her all those lies when I arrived. You thought you were going to keep her with you forever, and you knew how much she’d miss me. Then you figured she’d be less heartbroken and miserable if she thought the man she loved was a cheating slime-bag who tried to fuck her sister. So you made up all that bullshit to convince her of that. That’s how much you care about her. You want her to be happy despite all the shit you’ve put her through.”
Sascha drew a deep, shaky breath, and her nostrils flared. “What’s your point, Nate?” she asked in a low voice.
“My point is… I understand you, and I want to help you.”
Sascha’s eyes narrowed again. “Help me?” she snarled. “Help me all the way to a fucking maximum-security prison, you mean.”
“No. That’s not what I meant at all.”
“Oh, yeah? What did you mean, then? How are you going to help me?” Sascha spat out. “Do you really think there’s any way out of this?”
Nate took another step forward. “You’ll have to face consequences for what you’ve done. I won’t deny that or sugarcoat it. But those consequences won’t be as hellish as you think. Not if you let us help you. We can do our best to keep it as quiet as possible so you won’t have your name dragged through the mud like your father’s was ten years ago. We can get you the best legal defense team, too.”
“You really think having a good lawyer will matter?” Sascha said. Her eyes were alight with fear and desperation again. “I’m a fucking killer. You know that, right?”
“Yes. But think about it this way. You’ve killed four people. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, every murderer messes up eventually. Then they get caught. I can guarantee it’ll happen to you too. So that means there are two ways this can go. You can come with us right now. Turn yourself in and pay the price for those four deaths. Or…” Nate paused and raised his brows. “You can kill me and Alexis, even though I know you don’t want to, just to get us off your back. Then you can keep killing random people. Chasing that high so you can feel powerful for a while. Maybe your body count will be somewhere near thirty before the police catch you. But they will catch you, Sascha. And I’m sure you can imagine how much worse it’ll be for you with such a high body count and your own sister’s blood on your hands.”
Sascha kept glowering at him. Her hand shook beside me, bringing the knife closer to my skin. “I told you, I’m not fucking stupid,” she said. “Even if I believe your bullshit and go with you right now, I’m fucked. They’ll probably bring back the death penalty for me.”
“That won’t happen,” Nate said. “We know this isn’t you, and once all the facts are laid out, everyone else will see that too. You’re just sick right now. You have a medical history that will prove that this isn’t the first time you’ve experienced some sort of break with reality, and we can also get Edward to testify that he sent you scopolamine-laced chocolates. I have a feeling those drugs pushed you into this state, and there isn’t a judge in the world who can ignore that.”
“He’s right,” I murmured. “You won’t even be able to stand trial, Sascha. They’ll find you unfit.”
Nate nodded. “Exactly. You’ll still go away for what you did, but you won’t serve time in prison. They’ll put you in a psychiatric hospital instead. It won’t be a pleasant experience, and you’ll probably be there for a long time, but that’s not the worst thing in the world. You need that time to get better and work on yourself. You’ll still have a life there, and even though you don’t believe this right now, you’ll still have a lot of people who love you, too. A family. Alexis, your mom, Simon, and me.”
Sascha frowned. “You?”
Nate nodded again. “You’re Alexis’s sister, and she loves you, so as far as I’m concerned, that makes you my family. That’s why I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to help you.” He paused and cocked his head. “Now, I want you to tell me. Do you really think you can hurt Alexis? Just to save your own skin?”
“I… I don’t want to. But…” Sascha’s voice cracked, and she trailed off.
“You really don’t have to hurt her. You can stop all of this right now, and we can go back up there together,” Nate said gently, pointing toward the ceiling. “Once we’re out, we can make a plan to get you the best possible help. The world won’t be over, and you won’t die. It’ll be hard, but you’ll have us there with you, every step of the way.”
Sascha was silent for a long time. When she finally spoke again, her voice was low and fearful. “How do I know you aren’t lying?” she asked. Then she looked at me. “How do I know you won’t leave me as soon as we get out?”
