Page 87 of The Pretty Savage

"No," she answered calmly, putting on her boots that were placed next to the door. "I'm not going to stay and let you sway me with your lies. I don't trust a single thing that comes out of your mouth and I never will. Now, I'm going to leave and you won't follow, Adrian. I'm going to disappear from your life and you're going to give me the same grace and disappear from mine. You won't like what happens if you don't leave me alone."

"I can't leave you alone," I murmured, my chest constricting. "You're mine, dammit. You're?—"

"I am not yours!" she screamed, her eyes wild. "I belong to myself and no one else, and you better fucking remember it. If you do follow me, trust me," she lowered her voice, her words laced with promises I didn't like, "I will shatter your perfect little world and leave you with nothing but shards. Do not mess with me, Adrian, because you have no idea what I'm capable of."

She stunned me. Even in her anger, even with the poison dripping from her words, she stunned me, and I knew there would never be another woman for me. She was it.

My present, my future, my ending, and I'd be a fool if I let her go.

But I knew she wouldn't stay now. She wouldn't listen. And instead of trying to stop her, I let her go. I let her walk out of my cabin, making her believe she got what she wanted.

But my girl should've known I would never let her go.

She could run for now, but I would catch her, even if she hated me until the end of our lives.

I belonged to her, and she should've known better than to run from a predator.

32

VEGA

I had no direction, nowhere to fucking go, and instead of walking straight to my dorm, I lingered around the cemetery, walking mindlessly, freezing, but even the wind was a more welcome companion than the bitterness swimming through my veins.

I had no idea where to go from here, what to do. I had plans, I always had a backup plan, but my heavy heart refused to believe that this was it. That we would walk away from him as if he never mattered at all. The truth was, Adrian mattered more than he should have. If he hadn't, this betrayal wouldn't have hurt as much as it did.

It wouldn't have made me feel like I was trying to claw out of my own skin, trying to find a way to continue pushing through. He threw me off-balance and I prided myself on always being in control. Always understanding my surroundings and the people around me. But I dropped my shield for him. I allowed him to see glimpses of the real me that I hid from the rest of the world.

I granted him access to my heart, to my smiles, to my very soul, and I only had myself to blame for this heartbreak and devastation I was feeling. I gave him what no one else got from me, and those actions brought me to this very moment.

He listened when I told him to stay back, to let me go, and as much as it pleased me that I wouldn't have to deal with him, a part of me expected him to fight, to show me he didn't lie. I expected him to pull me back, to hold me tight, to never let me go. But that was the part of me that still wanted to believe in happily ever afters, and I needed to silence it for good this time.

Happy endings rarely ever existed for someone like me, and this was only the proof I needed to stop dreaming about things that would never happen. I should've known from the first look, first touch, that he would be the end of me, but I thought I could control it and still come out of this unscathed.

I was wrong.

The ice-cold wind dug deep into my bones as I crossed the campus, thankful for the darkness that had slowly descended on the grounds, hiding my tearstained cheeks as I ignored the people passing by me with only one goal in my head—get to my room and get the fuck out of here.

Adrian still had my phone, but he could do whatever the fuck he wanted with it. I didn't need it anymore, since there was no way I would be contacting Alena or anyone else at The Schatten. There was a lot more to the story than what I just previewed from the files Adrian had, but I needed time to figure it all out. My head was a mess, my heart was like battered meat, and I needed to think clearly. I needed to collect myself if I wanted to do anything about this betrayal.

What Adrian did was fucked up, but The Schatten… They were supposed to have my back no matter what, and they betrayed me as well.

I shivered as I reached my building, storming through the common area with my eyes firmly to the ground, just trying to reach my room. Trying to keep myself in check before falling apart away from the eyes of others. But I should've known my plans would fall to shit when a singsong voice I knew all too well screeched just as I started climbing up the stairs.

"Vega!" Yolanda yelled out again when I failed to stop, rushing to get up the stairs. But just as always, my friend didn't stop. She was relentless in her pursuit, and given that I had no power in me to run up the stairs and try to get away from her, I stopped, giving her my back as she reached me, wrapping her arms around me. "I missed you so much. I tried visiting you, but Adrian…" She stopped talking as she climbed on the stair ahead of me, looking down at my face. I could feel the confusion emanating from her. I could feel the worry as she placed her fingers underneath my chin, forcing me to look at her. "Oh, Vega," she murmured. "What happened?"

I wanted to tell her nothing. I wanted to say a million different things, but as I opened my mouth to speak, instead of words a sob escaped, rendering me speechless and overtaking my body. A fresh wave of tears rushed down my cheeks, crashing into a puddle of despair.

Yolanda wasted no time and instead of asking me again what was happening, she pulled me up the stairs and all the way to my room, wordlessly asking for the key before opening it up. I was glad my key stayed in my coat pocket, otherwise I would've been fucked in more ways than one.

"Come on, babe," she mumbled, leading me toward the bed. "Sit down. Calm down." But I couldn't calm down.

I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't think.

I could only hear the sound of my sobbing while my mind kept pushing images of Adrian standing in front of me over and over again. I wished I could tell her. I wished I could explain, but I didn't trust myself.

I didn't trust my judgment.

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