Page 100 of The Pretty Psycho

My God, I should've left him. I should've left with Vega and Aydin, but something was pulling me here. Something told me I needed this, to see him, to destroy him. My own ego fucked me over, because I wanted to be the one to kill him. I wanted to be the one that would see the light going out of his eyes.

And for what? For some petty revenge that wouldn't give me absolution. A revenge that couldn't bring back my mother or my childhood. So instead of fighting with him, instead of aggravating him further, I said the last words I ever thought I would say to him.

"I forgive you, Father," I said, looking straight at him. "I forgive you for being incapable of love when I needed it the most and I forgive you for taking almost everything I ever loved away from me." I came closer, pulling him into my arms. He was tiny compared to me, fragile, and I knew that this was the end. I had no idea what to do with the war raging inside of me, where my anger and my sadness went against each other.

I spent so much time being angry at this man that I forgot that once upon a time I used to love him. Once upon a time he was my best friend. Once upon a time I couldn't wait to get homefrom school just to show him everything I’d done, or to tell him about the things that had happened.

Once upon a time I looked up to him, asking him for advice, because he was my father. He was my dad, and it took me a long time to realize that he wasn't the saint I painted him to be. I think the worst part was the anger that consumed me, because it once used to be love I had for him, and there was nothing worse, nothing more painful, but a child's love turning into anger, eating you from the inside out.

"I forgive you for showing me way too early what monsters are made of, and I forgive you for wanting to control me more than you wanted to love me. I forgive you, Dad." I squeezed him tight even when he tried pulling back. I squeezed him even as the tears ran down my cheeks, allowing me to release everything I held for so many years. "I'll always be thankful for the things you taught me, even when you maybe didn't want to. Even when you taught them through pain and suffering, because they made me the man I am today."

"Adrian," he mumbled. "I-I…"

"But I'm not going to die for you. I'm not going to die for this family, Dad. I'm not going to destroy myself just to appease you. So, please," I took a deep breath. "Please let me go. Please let me get out."

"No." He shook his head.

"Please."

"No!" my father bellowed, pushing me away as he stumbled backward. "You belong with us! With your family. Your mother?—"

"My mother is dead!" I yelled out. "You killed her. You squeezed her neck right in front of my eyes."

"No, no, no." He kept shaking his head, moving backward.

"You created a monster when you pushed Dain out, and I had no idea what you did to him after that, but whatever it was had pushed him into a state of insanity."

"You're lying."

"I'm not, and you know it. And instead of letting me go, instead of letting me live my life, you're trying to kill me as well."

"I'm saving you!" he roared. "This world is filthy. It's scary. It's?—"

"It's the world you created, Father. The rest of us are just figuring out how to play in it." He opened his mouth to say something, when the unmistakable sound of the door opening behind me tore through the room. "Wha?—"

The door opened fully, revealing my angel. My little savior, whose brows were pulled into a frown and those eyes blazed with so much anger directed at me, that it took me a second to see the rifle in her arms.

"Vega?"

"Stop fucking talking," she bit out, focusing on my father. "Move it, Adrian."

"What?"

"Move your ass, babe. I love you, but right now I want to kill you. So move your fucking ass out of this room. Right. Fucking. Now!"

I took a step toward her, but I should've known my father wouldn't like it.

"No!" he screeched, running toward us. "You can't take him. He's mine. He's my son. We're supposed to be together. We're supposed to—" The sound of the two gunshots reverberated through the air with the sound of a body falling to the ground seconds after them. My father screamed in pain, and as I turned around, I saw the wounds on his thighs, bleeding as he knelt on the floor.

"Listen, old man." Vega stepped inside, holding the door open. "I've had a couple of fucked-up months. Like," she chuckled darkly, "really, really fucked up. So that whole 'look at me, I'm insane' game, doesn't really do anything for me. As a matter of fact, if you'd really like to see insane, I can play that game as well, but let me make one thing clear." Her eyes filled with so much hatred toward him. "Adrian does not belong to you, you psycho. Do you know why?" She laughed. "Because he belongs to me, and there's only enough space for one unstable person in his life. I'm sorry to say that the spot has already been filled by me. So if you don't mind." She looked at me this time. "Move your motherfucking ass, because we have less than five minutes to get the fuck out of here."

"No!" my father yelled out. "You can't. You cannot take him. You can't—" But his pleas fell on deaf ears, and before I could change my mind and try to save him, Vega was pulling me out of the room, letting the door close behind us.

She didn't speak, didn't say a single fucking thing, as she started running, pulling me with her, leading us toward the exit. But we weren't fast enough.

We were almost there, almost completely out, but just as we stepped through the exit door, everything went to shit.

The sound of an explosion coming from an area where my father was had me wrapping my arms around Vega, and as the blast hit my back, I made sure to protect her even if it killed me.

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