Page 85 of The Pretty Savage

Which was why Vega was sent here.

And Heinrich wanted her dead.

My body shook with unreleased rage at the mere thought that they would want her harmed, but Vega wanted to get out of The Schatten and Heinrich didn't like it. An operative Dante's men managed to catch told us as much, as Heinrich was an asshole who considered his people as toys, and when one of his toys started malfunctioning, he decided it was time for it to be destroyed.

He sent her here knowing that if she tried to attack me, if she tried to do anything, she would end up dead, and that way he wouldn't have to clean up his own mess. It worked for him. But Vega wasn't exactly following The Schatten’s directions, and instead of reporting everything she found out about me, she went silent, which was when Heinrich went to my father, telling him about our little relationship.

We had a mole inside the Academy, and I would find out who it was even if it was the last thing I did.

But Vega wasn't safe, even less now. I thought The Schatten wouldn't want to destroy her and make her disappear, but I was wrong. She was in more danger than I was, and instead of picking up breakfast, I rushed to her, terrified someone would try to harm her while I was away.

My heart hammered in my chest as I opened the door to my cabin, expecting to see her sitting on the bed, which was her usual spot, but she wasn't there. My eyes flickered to my left, seeing her standing next to the kitchenette. I smiled at her, but that smile slipped rather quickly from my face when I saw the state she was in and the knife clutched in her shaky hand.

Her face was blotchy, her eyes red, and as she took a step back when I stepped in, I knew something was wrong.

"Vega," I murmured, frowning at the pure hatred shining in her eyes. "What's going on? Did something happen?" I didn't like this. I didn't like the distress on her face. All I wanted was to scoop her up in my arms and hold her until whatever it was that bothered her had disappeared, giving me back the girl that kept smiling at my idiotic jokes. The girl that rubbed her hand over my back as I told her about my brother and the fucked-up life I led.

"Stay back!" she practically barked, moving farther away from me just as I closed the door. I didn't understand what was happening, but something was wrong.

Something was really, really wrong.

"Baby girl, it's me," I started, softening my voice. "Put down the knife. There's no one here that could hurt you." But if I thought she would listen, I had another think coming.

She started laughing, her broken voice mixed with sobs that racked her body, but she kept her hold on that knife, pointing it straight at me. "You mean there's no one here that could hurt me, except for you."

Confusion took over, and I stopped where I was, really looking at her. This wasn't the girl I spoke with yesterday. This was the girl I met at the beginning of this school year, hardened, angry, distrustful, and I hated every single thing about it.

"I must say," she grinned, but it looked more like a grimace than a smile, "you really had me fooled, Adrian. I mean, I would clap but I kinda don't want to lower my knife right now."

"What are you talking about?"

"How long have you known?" she attacked, her words filled with bitterness and vitriol, striking me like a viper. "How long have you fucking known that I worked for The Schatten?"

My entire world crumbled, understanding dawning on me as I glanced at the table where that motherfucking file used to sit. It wasn't on top of the pile but on the side and I didn't even have to ask to know that she had read it.

"It isn't what you think, Bambi," I murmured, hoping against hope that she would really listen. That she would really hear what I was trying to say. "It isn't?—"

"What?" she bellowed. "The truth?" Her maniacal laughter echoed around the cabin, hurting me in more ways than one. "Spare me your lies, Adrian, because there's no need for those anymore. Was any of what you told me actually the truth?"

"It was." I took a step forward, and she scurried back, plastering her back to the wall behind her. "Baby girl, please. I never lied to you. Everything I told you was the truth. Every single thing."

"How grand of you," she spat out. "You just failed to mention that you were buttering me up only to kill me. Isn't that right?"

"No, I?—"

"You were buying yourself time, hoping I would share some valuable information about The Schatten before you could kill me. You and your friends played me." Her voice broke as a fresh wave of tears ran down her cheeks, making me hate myself all the more.

But she had it all wrong. All fucking wrong.

"You read through my file, saw my psychological evaluation, and thought you could get some pussy while at the same time gathering information from the broken girl before you kill her."

"No!" I thundered, getting angrier by the second. At her, at myself, at this entire situation. "That's not true. I never wanted this. I never wanted to hurt you. I wasn't lying to you."

"You just failed to give me all the facts, before you locked me inside your cabin, isolating me from the rest of the world. I must say, though," she murmured, "you're good. Really, really good. You knew how desperate I was for someone, how much I wanted for one person to care for me, to really see me, so you gave me all these stories about your family, about your own misery, because that's exactly what my last psychological evaluation said, didn't it? Vega Konstantinova, eighteen years old, has abandonment issues, wishes to have a family of her own one day." She laughed through her tirade, breaking my heart bit by bit with the amount of sorrow emanating from her.

"Vega, please. That's not what I was doing and you know it."

"I don't know anything, Adrian!" Her eyes were wild, her hair spilling from the bun she fell asleep in last night. "I only know that you used me, that you aren't who I thought you were. I only know that you took the knife and plunged it deep into my heart, because that's who we are. Soldiers, monsters." She was throwing my own words back at me, knowing how much it hurt hearing her say it. "We are just chess pieces on this massive board, and I was nothing more than a puppet to you, just so you could go back to your daddy and tell him what a good little boy you are."

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