Page 85 of The Pretty Psycho

"No," I said, putting the gun back into the holster. "He was a foot soldier, useless to us. He was here to guard the area, that much I already knew."

"But—"

"And I didn't want to listen to him." Especially, since he was one of the men that had put me in the hospital a couple of months before I came to the Academy. I was starting to think my father ordered that hit as well, but I couldn't be entirely too sure, especially since I had no idea how long he had known about The Brotherhood. Judging by what Nathan had said, he'd known for quite some time, but he didn't do anything about it until I refused to come back home and pretend to be his dutiful son.

"Let's go," I said, moving away from the group. "We need to get to the main building." Ethan had managed to get in touch with one of the students who were hiding in the control center, and it seemed that my father's soldiers had decided to use the main building as their base.

I had no idea what the point of this attack was, if it was just a warning or a full-blown assault, but whichever it was, we needed to deal with it. I couldn't allow my father to take over the Academy.

That was out of the question.

What worried me was the fact that someone must have let the soldiers in. Someone from the inside, because there was no way they'd be able to gain access otherwise.

Javier, the kid who spoke with Ethan, told him there was no forced entry. The guards at the main gate were killed by someone from the inside and we either had a mole among our ranks or my fucking brother had managed to sneak inside without us noticing. Considering that Dain knew the Academy better than I did, it wouldn't surprise me, but Javier had no idea if he was there with the soldiers.

The more we unraveled this whole spiderweb, the more pieces of the puzzle started falling into place.

It was clear to all of us that my father and Heinrich worked together now, and that my brother was involved with them as well. The agents we've had around the globe had confirmed as much, and we were too foolish not to check it all out before. Truth be told, I hadn’t thought much of my brother until Vega confirmed that Tyler, in fact, was Dain.

I should have expected something to happen, but I still had so many questions and not enough answers. All those years I thought he had died, or was locked up somewhere, far away from all of us, when in reality he was probably working for our father, infiltrating The Schatten. Or more likely, Heinrich already knew who Dain was, and had used it to get closer to our father.

Whatever it was, I wished that Heinrich had destroyed my father if and when he had the chance instead of working with him. It bothered Vega that the only people she had ever known were the same ones trying to eliminate her. It bothered her that the motherfucker who took her in, who practically stole her from a regular life, was the same one who wanted her gone now.

After all these years, after all the sacrifices she'd made, you would think that an organization such as The Schatten would appreciate its people just a little bit more. Unfortunately, if therewas one thing I’d learned in the last couple of years, it was that each and every one of us was expendable.

We were replaceable.

She was one of the strongest people I knew, but it was clear as day that this news wasn't something she expected to have. Vega obviously wanted to leave, but just because she wanted to leave didn't mean it didn't hurt her knowing that those she considered a family, once upon a time, were the same people who presently wished her harm.

"Get down!" Raffaela suddenly yelled out, pulling me back from my own thoughts, just as Donato slammed into me, knocking me down on the ground. The sound of gunshots tore through the quiet afternoon, scattering the birds and destroying our cover.

"What the fuck?" I gritted out, moving slowly from underneath Donato. "Where did they come from?"

I looked up, seeing the walls of the main building but not the location of our shooters.

Movement to the left pulled my attention, gripping my heart in a punishing vise when I realized who it was.

Vega ran across the clearing, pointing her rifle upward. My eyes tracked the path her rifle was pointing when she shot one, two, three times, followed by the sound of screams echoing around us. Two men that were perched on one of the balconies higher up fell down, their bodies smashing against the ground.

I jumped up as my three companions screamed for me to duck down. There was still one more shooter aiming at us, but I didn't care.

There were trees covering us, but Vega—Vega was completely uncovered. Exposed.

She rolled down on the ground and started crawling toward the wall of the building, but it was no use. If the shooter had a clear view of her, they could?—

"No!" I thundered as the person targetted her, and seeing the bullets raining down around her only had me running faster.

Someone came up behind her, pulling her back, but she fought against them. I recognized the person immediately as one of the soldiers she took off with, but where were the other two?

The sound of a shot being fired from behind me had me freezing on the spot. I turned around slowly only to see Ale with his rifle aimed at the person we could now see bent over the small fence placed in front of the window.

"Holy shit, man," I wheezed. "A little warning next time, maybe?"

"There was no time." He shrugged. "Come on. Your girl was over there, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, jogging toward the place where Vega was just a moment ago, but when I looked at the spot again, I could no longer see her. "Where the fuck did she go?"

Raffaela, Donato, and Ale all followed my lead as we scanned the windows on the building, but none of the soldiers were there. If this was a full-blown attack, they would have placed more people around. So far we had only encountered Nathan and a few other soldiers strolling around, plus these three that were shooting at us.

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