Page 256 of Fatality

Thin, aggressive strokes branch outward and downward, balancing symmetry with controlled irregularity.

Instead of ending at his shoulders, the design flows seamlessly into the tattoos covering his upper arms.

“If you don't like it, if it's too much to swallow…” He grins. “Run, little troublemaker.”

With that, he leaves the bathroom, leaving me alone with the weight of his revelation.

With that chilling, terrifying grin.

I stay there for—I don't even know how long.

I'm processing his past, comparing it to mine. Not as a competition, but because of how enormous the gap is between our worlds.

I was born rich. I definitely wasn't loved by my parents or spoiled, but they fed me.

Evren's parents raised him to survive. The Lower Layers were advanced—not as much as the Upper Layers but from what he said, if you didn't have any credits, you survived by any means necessary.

A shiver runs down my spine at the thought of how creepy, how dangerous, how awful his life was.

I jump off the counter once I feel more composed and step out.

Evren is slumped on the couch, his legs spread, a Nitro can in one hand as he sips from it while staring at the Smart Panel on the wall.

I walk quietly behind the couch, right behind him, the pads of my feet leaving damp footprints.

He doesn't even glare at me.

I open my mouth to speak, but for once, I have nothing to say.

What do you even tell a murderer who just revealed his past to you? Someone who became a murderer because he had to but also enjoys it?

I'm fucked, he is fucked.

Completely fucked.

“Still here?” He let his head falls back on the back of the couch to be able to meet my eyes “So, the monster it is?”

“You’re fucking insane, you’re a psychopath, you are a monster,” I sigh completely resigned “But I rather be near the monster who knows he is than one pretending he isn't.”

I see his eyes starting to glow. My hand moves before my mind can catch up, and I slam my palm over his eyes, covering them.

“But,” I snarl, “it doesn't mean I like you. I don't—at all. I genuinely think you're deranged, but you told me to use you as a tool for my brother, so I'll use the monster.”

His free hand lifts and slips between my fingers, just enough to part them so one eye can look at me.

“Is that a proposal?”

My face flushes bright red, and I slap my hand back over his eyes.

“No!” I shout and squeal at the same time. I don't even know how that's possible. “Are you an idiot?!”

He laughs, a low sound as dark as his soul probably.

It’s not the manic laugh he has when he is amused.

“Yes.” He pauses “I'm your monster then.”

CHAPTER 54