Page 71 of Teach Me How To Fly

“Why didn’t you do the same with Katya?”

He remained silent for a few moments, weighing his words, and then I saw a sudden change in his eyes as if anger was the only thing running inside his veins now.

“Because she didn’t need to be as protected as you did and still do.”

His voice came out loudly this time.

“And why do I need to be so protected? This doesn’t make any sense because she should be the one who needs the most protection considering she’s your real daughter and not me!”

I was angry.

But he was angrier.

He stood up from his chair and hit the desk, as his lips started trembling.

“She didn’t go through what you went through, Annalise! Don’t fucking make me say it!”

He knew about Sylvian and what he had done to me. He knew about it.

My mouth fell open as I tried to search for the right words to say now that we hit the most vulnerable part of our discussion. Should I say something about it to make him say everything he knew?

“I won’t make you say it, but it wasn’t fair for me. I—I didn’t remember anything until —”

Fuck. I shouldn’t have said that.

“Until what?”

He pinned me with his eyes and I felt defeated, even though I didn’t want to.

“Until I saw a picture of him, and I remembered everything.”

If he could light the entire place up in a fire, he would’ve done it without any hesitation.

“Where did you see the picture?”

“I found it.”

“You’ve been to Lydia’s house all this time, haven’t you?”

He knew the truth, he only wanted me to say it. And I couldn’t lie anymore, so all I could do was say the truth and play with it in my favor.

“Yes, I’ve been there because she was the only person I could feel at home with when neither of the people I called family could be there for me.”

Considering how his entire facial expression changed, I knew I hit where I needed to.

Annalise 1. Lukyan 0.

He remained silent and sat back on his chair, trying so hard not to look at me. The entire situation was making me uneasy.

“I—I didn’t know what to do better when I found out, Anna. I noticed you were acting differently, and Maksen was always around you as if he was trying to protect you. I noticed everything was odd at that point, and with each day you were spending there with him, you were changing into the child I wasn’t recognizing anymore,” he explained, his voice shattering with each word he spoke.

“H-How did you find out?”

I was scared of his answer, but he seemed like he was scared to say it too. He just sighed and gripped the edge of the table between his fingers, trying so hard not to hit it again.

“He told me, and it was Lydia who managed to calm me down so I didn’t kill him at that exact moment.”

I was shocked to hear that Sylvian had the courage to tell his own brother that he abused his daughter — well, not daughter, but adoptive daughter.

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