Page 84 of The Pretty Psycho

"I love you, Vega Konstantinova." He pulled me closer one more time, pressing his lips to mine. "Never forget that."

I couldn't. I wouldn't, even if I wanted to, because after all this time, after all the running, I finally found what I was looking for.

I finally found my home.

27

ADRIAN

It waseasy going through life when the only person I had to take care of was me. But when you had someone you loved, someone you wanted to keep safe, someone whose happiness meant everything to you, it was hard not to think about anything else, least of all focusing on the mission.

But I had to.

Shortly after we exited from the car, Vega and I were split into two different groups of the four created, leading the men and women that came with Gabriela. With her and Ethan leading the other two, each group covering different areas of the Academy.

Vega refused to look at me as we started walking toward the back entrance of the building, and no matter how much that annoyed me, I understood. She was separating herself from the situation, from me, just like I should have done. But as we passed through the old gates that were thankfully still functioning, I couldn't help myself, pulling her to me and wrapping my arms around her.

"Come back to me," I grunted, squeezing her as hard as I could without hurting her. "Please, come back to me."

Her small hands rubbed over my back, slowly ascending toward my hair, playing with the strands at the back of my neck. "I will," she said. "I'll come back to you." She took a step back and I let her go, even when every single fiber of my being screamed for me to keep her close. To never let her go. "I'll always come back to you, Adrian."

She didn't let me say anything else before running through the forest and away from me, followed by the three soldiers Gabriela had given her.

That was an hour ago, and I still thought about her more than the mission at hand.

"Sir," one of the soldiers, Donato, called out for me as we passed my cabin. "What is that?" He pointed toward the dark figure not too far from us, his back turned toward us.

I pressed my finger to my lips and pointed for Donato, Raffaela, and Alejandro to circle around the figure. It was hard to see if it was one of our people, since they were wearing a tactical uniform with a balaclava over their head. But one of our people wouldn't be randomly standing not very far off from my cabin, with a rifle in their hands, scanning the area.

Donato went to the left with Raffaela, sneaking up on the figure, while Ale took the right side, with me somewhere in the middle, coming straight at their back.

The wind picked up, slamming into us from all sides, and I hoped the sound of the wind rustling the trees and the cawing birds above us would hide the sound of our footsteps as we came closer, and closer, and?—

"Down on your knees, soldier," I said, pressing the barrel of my own rifle against their neck. The person froze, their fingers tightening around the rifle they were holding, but with one nod from me, Donato came to their side, taking the weapon away, while Raffaela bent down to remove all the knives strapped to their thighs.

"On your fucking knees," I bit out, pressing the rifle harder into their neck.

They dropped down like a sack of potatoes, trembling from head to toe. "Please don't kill me," the male voice came out, and without even an instruction from me, Ale pulled off the balaclava, revealing a man I knew from the time I worked with my father. I walked in front of him, needing to see his face to confirm my suspicions.

"I would say it's nice seeing you, Nathan, but given that you were pronounced dead not too long ago, I'm not sure if I should be happy or scared since zombies tend to eat other people." Ale chuckled, trying to cover it with his hand and failing miserably. "So, are you a zombie, Nathan, or was this just another lie my father created to keep us all in line?"

His green eyes lifted up, looking straight at me, and for someone with a character known for his cockiness that made me want to kill him myself, he was awfully quiet and scared. Hell, the man trembled in front of me as if he truly didn't want to be here.

"I didn't have a choice!" he thundered. "They were going to kill me if I didn't do what Gerard wanted me to do."

"Which was?"

"Pretend I was dead. Join the secret team he was building behind your back." So, my father knew about The Brotherhood longer than I thought. "He wanted us to infiltrate your team, to infiltrate the Academy, and work in the shadows. I didn't want this, Adrian. Trust me, I didn't fucking want this."

"If I recall correctly," I said, crouching in front of him. "You were the bloodthirsty one, weren't you?" I smirked at the terror flashing on his face. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you were one of the soldiers who tried attacking me just before your mission."

"I was wrong," the fucker mumbled. "I was under a lot of pressure. I didn't?—"

"Spare me your explanations," I barked, standing up. "You joined that secret team for my father because you wanted to save your own ass, even though you knew what they were doing. You could have come to me. You could have explained and I would've listened."

"No," he shook his head. "You don't—" The gunshot went quietly, thanks to the silencer, and as Nathan fell back, his blood started oozing out of the gunshot wound in his forehead.

"What the fuck, Adrian!" Ale yelped, jumping in the spot. "He could have given us information."

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