Page 55 of The Pretty Psycho

"I wanted to," I sighed. "I wanted to so badly, but there never was enough time to talk about these things. There was a lunatic obviously obsessed with you and instead of telling you what was happening, I tried waiting for the perfect moment. But then you were attacked," I murmured. "And I forgot all about those files until I saw your face that day."

"And then I ran," she murmured, finally voicing what had happened. "It was wrong of me to run away from you like that, but… I was just so hurt and so confused."

"I know. I'm pretty sure that anyone in your situation would've done the same thing, but I want you to know that I didn't hide all that information because I had sinister intentions. I was waiting for the right time to share that with you."

"Now I know." She smiled. "Thank you for telling me."

I could stay here forever, wrapped up in her, ignoring the rest of the world, but we couldn't hide from our responsibilities indefinitely and she had to know what was coming.

"We still don't know who or where Tyler is, Vega," I said slowly, gauging her reaction. She flinched, obviously hating even thinking about him, but she had to know what was discussed. "After you left with Yolanda, we had a meeting with the generals of The Brotherhood."

"The generals?" She frowned.

"Yeah, the generals. We have people spread around the world who are in charge of recruiting other individuals we could have in the organization. Anyway," I cleared my throat, "their troops are arriving soon, but one of the questions we've been discussing was Tyler. None of us have ever met him and we have no idea who this person is and why he has a vendetta against me."

She huffed, closing her eyes. "I don't know, Adrian. He was definitely mentioning your name, hating that the two of us were together."

I tightened my hold on her, hating that she had to discuss that piece of shit, but there was no other option.

"I've combed through my memories, but the person you kind of described to me is not someone I know. We have sealed shut that entrance into the underground tunnels, since it would seem that he knew his way around. There's no Tyler in any of the records at the Academy, and trust me, I've checked it myself."

"He's a fucking ghost," she bit out. "I just… I have a feeling that The Schatten would know more about him. Maybe he was using a fake name or something like that. I don't know. I just don't fucking know what to feel, what to say. I don't understand how I could’ve been so blind. I don’t understand why they would fake this."

"You were just a child."

"I know," she grumbled. "But I'm still pissed." Good.

Her anger was better than her completely breaking apart because a person she once trusted turned out to be the person who hurt her.

"Come on," I patted her butt, pushing us slightly away from the table. "I promised you the story about my family, but you gotta see the pictures."

"You have them here?" She perked up. "Do you have any pictures of you as a little boy?"

"Ha!" I laughed. "You wish. Those are safely tucked somewhere in one of the houses my mother has. She and my father don't really live together, but they are staying in this sham of a marriage. Anyway." I stood up just as I lowered her down. "They're right here," I said, walking toward the drawers next to my bed. The wood creaked as I opened the drawer, pulling out the stack of pictures I had prepared even before her attack.

The first one was of me from several years ago, wearing tactical gear, ready for a mission. I handed it over to Vega, who kept smiling widely and teasing me about the short haircut I had at the time just as she sat down on the chair we were occupying moments ago.

We went through the photos of my father, my mother, some of The Brotherhood when we just started, until I came to one photo I could never get rid of.

Dain and I stood by a lake in Switzerland, both of us serious as we stared at the camera. I was definitely younger than I amnow, but Dain was already starting to fit into the uniform he wore, resembling our father more and more with each passing day.

"This is Dain," I said, slowly handing the photo over to her. "It was taken a little bit before he disappeared, but it's the only photo I have of him."

Vega's eyes softened, her hand in the air, ready to take the picture.

"Please keep in mind I was still just a teenager here." I laughed, finally giving her the photo. Her eyes stayed on mine, soft, happy. I wanted her to always look like this—relaxed, happy, content. But the emotions I saw on her face quickly vanished when she took a look at the photo.

Her hands shook, her lips parted and closed, and she looked up at me. The sorrow she had on that first day after she woke up was back in full force, telling me something was wrong.

"Vega?"

Tears filled her eyes, making me drop down on my hunches right in front of her. My hands landed on her knees while desperation coursed through me. "What's wrong, Bambi?"

"That's Dain?" she asked, her voice trembling, her hands still holding the photo.

"Yes." I nodded, unable to understand what was happening. "Vega, you're scaring me."

"T-That," she stammered. "That's not just Dain, Adrian." She took a deep breath just as the first tear rolled down her cheek. "That's Tyler." Had she punched me it would've hurt less than what just came out of her mouth.

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