Page 16 of The Pretty Psycho

Arseniy dragged his hand over his face, and it was only then that I noticed how tired he truly looked. I refused to acknowledge the fact that I looked just like him. His emerald eyes were the only difference in our physical appearance, and while he might have looked rugged, slightly older than me, everything else was the same. The same high cheekbones, the same hair color, eyebrows, even the shape of our eyes.

It was like looking at my identical twin, and I knew that if anyone else saw us together, they would know almost immediately what we were to each other.

"I don't want your empire, Arseniy," I said slowly, almost whispering as I pressed my fingers to my stomach. "I just want to be left alone. I want to forget that any of this has ever happened, and I want to go somewhere far from here, where no one could find me. I understand why you might fear what I represent, but I want nothing from that empire our father created. Please believe me that I didn't know who my father was up until a few days ago. I have no idea how my mom ended up with him, but if you're going to kill me, I at least want you to know the truth."

"Kill you!" Arseniy whispered loudly, his voice hoarse, followed by a coughing fit that had him jumping up from his chair, confusing me further. Dimitri stood after him, speaking in hushed tones too low for me to hear, but the way Arseniy spoke…

Holy shit.

Dimitri turned toward me, his eyebrows pinched together, and slowly sat back down just as Arseniy's coughing calmed down.

"He doesn't want to kill you," Dimitri started as Arseniy's hand landed on his shoulder, and the man himself sat down, looking at me expectantly. "Arseniy has spent years looking for you."

"But why?" I asked, my eyes never wavering from my half-brother. "I was never a threat to him. You already know that I used to be a part of The Schatten, but we never targeted your organization. I didn't do anything to you."

"Vega," Dimitri chuckled, "Arseniy wasn't looking for his enemy." He looked at him, earning a tiny nod from Arseniy. "He was looking for his sister. He was looking for the only member of his family he wanted to have in his life, because when he found out what his father did to your mother and learned of your existence, it was already too late. We had no idea you werepart of The Schatten. We had no idea that this life you led was nothing like the life he imagined you'd have."

"W-What?"

"Arseniy… He—" Dimitri cleared his throat. "He can't really talk." But… But he just talked, didn't he? "I can see why you might think differently, but what you heard cost him more than you could imagine. Most of his vocal cords were damaged when he was just a kid." My eyes volleyed between the two of them, while Arseniy's never once wavered, as if he truly wanted me to see him. To see the truth in his eyes. "Oleksandr Morozov was a brutal man, and we are both extremely grateful that you didn't have to grow up in that house. I know your upbringing was far from perfect, but it was better than living with the man who was supposed to care for you, only to torture you day and night, trying to mold you into this perfect little soldier that would only do his bidding."

"Fuck," I whispered.

"Arseniy was just a child when he angered his father at the dinner table, because he asked where his mother was. You see, Mariya Morozova was barely seventeen-years old when Oleksandr came to her village in Russia and set his eyes on her. Her family had no problems selling her to the great Oleksandr Morozov, which in turn crushed the spirit of the girl that once dreamed of seeing the world. So you see, Arseniy never really had her. Oleksandr sent her away once he was done with her, and for a child who only wanted his mom, it was difficult to understand why she wasn't there."

I could already see where this was going, but instead of interrupting him, I let him speak, soaking in every single word, my heart slowly breaking for the child Arseniy was.

"He took him outside," Dimitri murmured, obviously hating this story. "And put him down on his knees right in front of their house. I still remember the sound of his screams, Vega. Ilived in that house with my mother, Vera, who was one of the housekeepers, but Arseniy's pleas fell on deaf ears. Every single person in that house was absolutely terrified of Oleksandr, and as he took out his knife, slicing it over Arseniy's throat, not a single person tried to stop him. And I," Dimitri shuddered, a haunted look passing over his face. "I couldn’t fucking help him."

My… He…

"No." I shook my head, looking at the man sitting next to Dimitri.

His eyes filled with hatred, mixed with a sorrow the memories of this story brought out in him, and I just wanted it to stop. I didn't need to know more. I didn't need to hear more.

"Stop it. I don't… I don't want to know."

"But you do," Dimitri pushed, and before long, he continued telling me how he almost died.

How the gardener dared to take little Arseniy to the hospital.

How he choked on his own blood.

How the doctors barely saved his life.

How he never managed to speak properly again, because that knife damaged his vocal cords so badly that he could only whisper, and even that came with a great amount of pain.

I had no idea how or why, but I saw myself inching closer to him, trying to erase the sorrow etched in every single line of his handsome face.

He had been all alone, terrified, living with that monster, and if Oleksandr Morozov wasn't dead already, I would've killed him myself.

"I'm sorry for having to share this with you so soon after your own accident," Dimitri said, but I understood why I needed to know. "I hate talking about it, but he thought it would be important for you to know, so you'd understand why he spent so much time looking for you."

"I get it."

"He killed him," Dimitri said proudly, placing his hand on top of Arseniy's left shoulder. "And I sleep easier knowing that the monster who hurt so many people would never again be able to hurt anyone else."

I understood that too, and I was only sad that I couldn't erase just a little bit of the pain Arseniy had to live with. But the most important thing was that Oleksandr wasn't here anymore.

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