Chapter 90: #NINETY

NICHOLAS’S POV

I spent the first few minutes after waking up simply staring at the ceiling, trying to remember where I was.

This wasn’t my... room, was it? The room itself was large, clean and carefully prepared, with fresh sheets, a wardrobe that had already been stocked with some of my clothes and a large window overlooking the city.

Then I remembered what Adrian had told me.

They had brought me to his penthouse because they wanted me to recover somewhere quiet.

I sat up slowly and looked around again, and something inside me loosened. Maybe they really did care. Maybe everything that had happened had made me unfair toward them.

They had gone through a lot to get me home. And I hadn’t even properly thanked them for not leaving me.

Maybe I had been wrong to keep pushing them away.

I got out of bed, changed into a clean pair of sweatpants and a loose shirt, then stood in front of the mirror for a moment. I looked tired, but at least I looked like myself again. I didn’t want to spend another day hiding in the room while everyone else worried about me, especially when they had gone to all the trouble of bringing me here.

I opened the door and walked downstairs.

The penthouse was quiet as I walked around.

I checked the sitting room first and found it empty. I looked toward the kitchen and found nobody there either. I was beginning to wonder whether they had gone out when I heard voices coming from farther down the hallway. I followed them until I reached another room with the door partially closed.

I stopped and frowned at the voice — it was Elijah.

I could hear Adrian and Cassian speaking too.

I wasn’t deliberately trying to listen to them at first. I simply stood there because I didn’t want to interrupt whatever they were discussing. Then I heard my name.

I remained where I was.

"...Nicholas can’t know everything yet," Adrian was saying from inside the room, his voice low but serious. "If we tell him everything without knowing exactly how much Dad has been involved in, we’re going to put him in a worse position. He needs to stay here."

My stomach tightened.

Cassian responded, "He’s going to find out eventually, and when he does, he’s going to ask why we kept it from him. You know what he’s been through. The last thing he needs is to discover that everyone around him knew something was wrong and decided not to tell him."

I pressed myself slightly closer to the wall.

What were they talking about?

Elijah’s voice came next, and there was something strained about it. "He deserves to know if Dad actually tried to have him killed. I don’t care whether we’re trying to protect him or not. Nicholas has already had enough people making decisions about his life without telling him the truth."

My heart began beating faster.

I wasn’t sure I had heard correctly so I stayed there, listening.

Adrian sighed before answering. "The investigator confirmed the connection between Dad and Jayden. We know they’re brothers, and we know they’ve been meeting secretly. We know Jayden wasn’t lying about knowing him. What we don’t know yet is how much Dad was involved in what happened to Nicholas, and we need to be certain before we tell Nicholas that his own stepfather ordered someone to kill him."

I stopped breathing for a moment.

The hallway seemed to become completely silent around me even though they were still talking.

My stepfather. My own stepfather.

I stared at the closed door, unable to move. The words kept repeating in my head.

Dad was involved. I wasn’t crazy when I had heard his voice on the phone call.

I pushed the door open, walked in and all three of them turned toward me immediately.

"What did you just say?" I demanded, stepping into the room as my hands began shaking. "I heard what you were saying, so don’t stand there and tell me I misunderstood you. I heard Dad’s name, I heard Jayden’s name and I heard you say that my stepfather ordered someone to kill me. I want to know exactly what you’re talking about because I’ve already had enough people deciding what I deserve to know."

Elijah immediately stood from his chair and moved toward me. "Nicholas, you weren’t supposed to hear that conversation this way, and I know this is going to sound terrible, but we were trying to find the right way to tell you without making you panic. Nobody wanted to hide the truth from you forever, and we certainly weren’t trying to make another decision about your life behind your back."

"Then tell me now," I demanded, stepping back from him as anger began replacing the shock. "Don’t tell me you’re trying to protect me, don’t tell me you need more time and don’t tell me I’m not ready. I’ve already been kidnapped, drugged, threatened and dragged from one place to another while people decided what was best for me. If you know something about the person who wanted me dead, then tell me."

Adrian exchanged a look with Cassian before finally standing.

"We found evidence connecting Dad to Jayden," he said carefully, keeping his voice controlled even though I could see the tension in his face. "Jayden told us that Dad hired him to get rid of you. At first, we thought he was lying because it sounded impossible. We investigated Dad’s family history, and we discovered that Jayden really is his brother. We also found evidence that they’ve been meeting secretly for years. That’s why we brought you here without telling you everything immediately."

I stared at him. "No." The word came out before I could stop it.

Adrian continued, "Nicholas, I know you don’t want to believe it, but we have records that prove Jayden and Dad have been connected for a long time. We’re still investigating exactly what happened between them, but the evidence is serious enough that we can’t ignore it."

"No," I repeated, shaking my head as I backed away. "You’re wrong. You have to be wrong. He wouldn’t do that. Whatever else he is, whatever mistakes he’s made, he wouldn’t try to have me killed. He wouldn’t hire someone to take me away and do those things to me. You don’t know what you’re saying."

Cassian moved toward me but stopped when he saw how tense I had become. "We’re not asking you to believe it, Nicholas. We’re telling you what we’ve found because you deserve to know. We don’t have every answer yet, but we have enough evidence that pretending nothing happened would be irresponsible, especially when Jayden himself has already admitted that he was working for someone."

I looked at Elijah. He wasn’t saying anything and his face told me enough.

"You believe them," I said, staring at him. "You actually believe that he wanted me dead."

Elijah’s eyes filled with emotion as he stepped closer. "I don’t want to believe it, Nicholas. I don’t want any of this to be true, and I’ve spent the entire morning hoping we’d find something that would prove Jayden was lying. But I can’t stand here and lie to you just because the truth hurts. We found things that we can’t explain away, and until we know exactly what Dad was involved in, we have to assume you’re still in danger."

I shook my head harder.

Everything inside me felt like it was collapsing.

My step father? The man that my mum had married hoping I would be safe under his roof wanted me dead? I had never imagined that he could be behind something like this.

Jayden’s voice came back into my mind.

I had thought he was manipulating me. Now I wasn’t so sure.

"Why didn’t you tell me?" I asked, looking from one brother to another as tears began filling my eyes. "Why did you bring me here and let me think this was some kind of vacation? I woke up thinking you were finally trying to make me feel safe again. I thought maybe you actually wanted me around. I thought maybe I had been wrong about all of you."

Elijah immediately shook his head.

"You were never wrong about us caring about you," he said, moving closer despite my attempt to retreat. "Nothing about what we’ve discovered changes that. We brought you here because we wanted you somewhere Dad couldn’t easily reach you. We didn’t tell you because we were trying to confirm everything first, not because we wanted to deceive you."

"But you still lied to me." I gritted out. "When will you all stop doing this?!"

His face fell.

I couldn’t stay there anymore, so I turned around and walked out.

"Nicholas, wait," Elijah called after me as he hurried toward the door.

I didn’t stop, I just walked faster.

By the time I reached the elevator, Elijah was behind me.

"Please don’t leave like this," he said, following me into the hallway. "You don’t know where you’re going, and you’re not in the right state to be walking around alone. If you’re angry with us, then be angry with us here. Yell at me, tell me I’m an idiot, tell me you hate what we did, but don’t run outside without knowing where you’re going."

I pressed the elevator button repeatedly.

"I need to get away from all of you," I said, wiping my face with the back of my hand as the doors opened. "Every time I think I’m finally somewhere safe, someone tells me there’s another person who wanted something from me. I don’t know who to believe anymore, and I don’t want to hear another explanation from any of you right now."

Elijah stepped into the elevator after me. "I understand that you’re angry, but you’re not thinking clearly."

I turned toward him. "Don’t follow me," I said firmly, stepping backward as the elevator began moving. "I’m serious, Elijah. Don’t follow me. I need to be alone, and if you actually care about me, then let me have that."

He looked like he wanted to argue but instead, he stayed silent.

The doors opened downstairs, and I walked out before he could change his mind.

I left the building and started walking, moving faster when I realized Elijah had come outside. I crossed the street, turned into an alley and kept going without looking back. Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to stop. I didn’t want him catching up to me. I didn’t want anyone catching up to me.

I kept walking until the sounds of the main road became distant. Then I heard footsteps behind me, and without thinking, I ran.

I turned into another narrow alley, nearly slipping as I pushed myself forward, but the footsteps became faster.

Someone grabbed me from behind and I screamed and twisted violently, trying to break free, but the person caught my arms and forced me down onto the ground. My cheek hit the pavement, and I struggled beneath him as panic took over.

I couldn’t see his face, neither could I tell who he was.

And before I could scream again, a hand clamped firmly over my mouth.