Unstoppable (Pretty Liars Book 1), page 15
That actually terrifies me, but with her note burning a hole in my pocket, I stop before her, blowing out a breath. We are night and day. Two very different sisters.
“Of course you wouldn’t think I was. I protected you from it, Ana,” I tell her softly. She jerks and meets my eyes with derision. I rush forward, knowing she’s the only person in this world who could flay me alive anymore. The anger in her gaze makes me raw.
I want her to believe me, but I made my decision, and now she needs to make hers. I will give her all the facts, knowing she will need them. Her scientific brain is unable to accept anything but evidence.
“Father hurt me, Ana.” Her mouth opens on a rebuttal, but I surge ahead. “For years. He was not the man you knew, sis. He wanted me to feel like this. He wanted me to feel isolated, ashamed, helpless, and alone. I was scared to tell anyone, scared to tell you because I needed to protect you, even if it meant hurting myself in the process. He knew that by separating us, it would turn us on each other. Ana, you know deep down what I’m saying is true. You know he was capable of being cruel and cold if it got him what he wanted. You must have noticed the changes in me. I tried so very hard to hide the evidence, but I know you saw it, even if you didn’t understand it.”
“Stop,” she demands, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you are trying this.”
“What?” I ask, frowning. I feel the guys step closer behind me to protect me.
“To disparage his name and make me think he was evil. He was a good father. It’s not his fault you are a selfish bitch who skipped out on her family. You can’t come back and spin these lies now because you aren’t the favourite anymore. Did you know that? You were always his favourite. Whatever I did was never good enough and could never hold his attention while you were around. When you left, it was like you died. Those were the best years of my life because he finally paid attention to me.”
Fear pounds through me at the fact that I might have missed him hurting her like he did us, but when she carries on, I realise he didn’t.
“He finally loved me,” she confesses. “Just because you messed up, that doesn’t mean you can concoct these stories. You are probably doing it for money.”
“I don’t want money, Ana,” I reply sadly, rubbing at my aching heart. “I just wanted you to finally know the truth because I hate this. I hate you thinking the worst of me. He knew you would. He encouraged it, knowing that even if I was protecting you from afar, he was driving a wedge between us. It was a final blow to me, the only way he could hurt me anymore. I never should have left you with him, Ana, and I’m sorry. I ran because I was scared. You’re right. I was scared he was going to go too far and kill me, but I protected you. I promise.”
“I don’t need your protection!” she screams.
“You did! He was a monster!” I yell, ripping up my shirt to show her the scars he left behind.
“Those could be self-inflicted. You are so delusional.” She looks away.
I realise she will never believe me, too blinded to what truly happened, or maybe her mind is rejecting it to protect herself. Nothing will change her mind, unless . . .
My shoulders sag at what I’m going to have to do. I was a fool to protect her from this for so long, but I refuse to lose her again. I refuse to let him win on this. “If you don’t believe me, then let me show you.”
“Nova,” Louis snaps and turns to me, searching my eyes. “You don’t have to prove anything to her. If she doesn’t believe you, then that’s on her. She knows deep down what her father was; she just doesn’t want to see it. She doesn’t want to confront the fact that she let you be hurt over and over and did nothing about it.”
I cup his hands, leaning into him for a moment. “I have to do this. She has to see. She deserves the truth as much as we all do.” I look back at her. She’s watching us with a confused expression. “Give me five minutes. If you still don’t believe me, you can leave and continue to hate me. I will leave you alone.”
“Five minutes,” she agrees. “Lead the way.”
I turn and find Bert there. He steps forward and takes my hand. “For what it’s worth, Miss Nova, I never doubted you, but Master Louis was right. I was scared to tell the truth, for it meant that I was involved in something so terribly vile. My excuses and apologies don’t matter. I let him hurt you, and I never did anything. For that, I will spend the rest of my life apologising.”
I shake my head and kiss his cheek. “It only would have gotten you hurt, my friend,” I admit honestly. “I often begged for someone to notice, but I was selfish because it would have ended their life. You do not take responsibility for the vicious, cruel nature of that man, do you hear me? We are all victims here.” When he nods, I look back at Ana, who looks unsure.
Bert straightens. “I can help you now.” He looks at Ana then. “Miss Ana, everything Miss Nova is saying is true. Please do not make her relive this for your own peace of mind. She has already suffered so much. If I could protect you both from this, I would.”
“I need to see,” she responds, and he sags. I pat his hand as I pass, heading to the lab.
She follows me, as do the others, and at the door, she hesitates. “I didn’t know this was here.”
“No, he never wanted you to. This is why you never saw or heard it. This is the place of my nightmares,” I tell her coolly as I step inside. I don’t look around as I sit at the computer and pull up what I need, but when I look up, I see her staring at my cell in dawning horror. When she looks around and then back at me, there is fear on her face—a child’s fear that the man she loved, the man she looked up to as a hero, was actually a villain.
I have to burst her bubble, but I nod at the screen. Slowly, she steps behind me. I meet my guys’ eyes in the doorway. They crowd the entrance, offering me their friendship and love.
“I don’t want your pity or sympathy, sis, only for you to believe me. You are the only person in this world I care about believing me. After, I will answer everything you want to know.” I hesitate before pressing the button. It’s a random video file of me. My dad is there, talking and introducing it before it pans to the cell.
Ana gasps, the pure horror in the sound making me curl into myself. There is a surly, angry teenager strapped down to the bed. My head is turned as I glare at him, and he stops before me, device in hand. My eyes spit fire at him, even as he touches it to my chest and my body jerks with the shock, a scream leaving my lips.
I pause it, but she pushes me aside, her hands shaking as she clicks another. I don’t watch what’s playing, and instead, I watch her. Her face is pale, and horror and agony are written across her features as she watches video after video of me being tortured by our father. I was experimented on under her nose. I watch the moment her life crashes down around her and all the lies are unveiled. Her eyes dart to mine, filled with tears, as her lips quiver. Her gaze silently begs me to protect her from this.
For a moment, she’s the little girl I used to hold as she slept. She’s asking me to protect her from the monsters in the dark again, but I can’t, not anymore, because the monsters are real, and they got me.
“Ana, it’s okay—”
“How can you say that?” she screams, but it has an edge of hysteria to it. “I can’t breathe. Oh my god. I need to get out of here.” She rushes to the door where my men are. They look at me as she beats at them blindly, trying to get them to move. When I nod, they step aside, and she rushes out. I hurry after her in time to see her burst out of the front door. I step out after her as she falls to her knees, gripping the gravel like a lifeline. An anguished scream rips from her throat.
The sound burrows into my heart, another scar to add to my collection.
I stop before her, kneeling as her tear-stained face and hopeless eyes lift to see me. “I-I didn’t know,” she whispers, her voice ragged. “I swear, Nova, I didn’t know.”
“I know you didn’t.” I take her hands in mine, brushing off the gravel and rubbing them to stop them from hurting—an automatic response to her pain. “I never wanted you to. I thought by not knowing, I could protect you from it. From him.”
Her eyes close for a moment. “Everything was a lie.”
Leaning in, I press a kiss to her head like when we were kids. “Not everything, sis. Not us. Never us.”
I simply hold her as she cries into my chest, her hands pulling me closer as another piece clicks into place in my heart. I look at my men who are gathered at the door, protecting me from afar.
And since I arrived, I smile for the first time.
THIRTY-TWO
Ana’s hands shake as she grips the mug and takes a sip. Her face is still pale, and she’s in shock. Her eyes go to Nova, as if she’s worried she will disappear. I know the feeling. She sits in silence on the sofa. I’m opposite her on the other one, and Jonas is stretched out next to me, still glaring at her.
I know that feeling too. He’s still angry at the woman who hurt our Nova, but she was a child, and she didn’t know better. Then I remember how adamantly she fought her, and how she didn’t even believe her for a moment, and that anger does not fully dissipate. Nova might love her, but that leaves her open to getting hurt, so we will protect her from everyone, even her sister.
Nico blocks the door, as if worried she will run again. Isaac watches her worriedly before looking at Nova with open admiration. Dimitri is tapping his fingers in the corner, clearly wanting to be at the computer but staying for Nova, who hurries back in and wraps a blanket around Ana, protecting her yet again.
But did she ever protect Nova?
No.
After five more minutes of silence, Ana lets out a breath, places the cup down, and turns to her sister. “I need to know everything.”
“There is a lot. Ask whatever you want. I have no secrets.” Nova sits opposite her sister on the sofa, one leg bent up with her arm thrown over the back. She appears casual, but I see the tremble of nerves and the tightness of her body. I wish I could lessen what she’s feeling.
“Do not harm her more than you already have.” I lean forward, and Ana jerks her gaze to me. “Remember, Nova still has to live with this, so do not make it worse just to settle your curiosity.”
“Louis.” Nova sighs, but I shake my head.
“No, I don’t care if she is your sister. She doesn’t have our loyalty; you do. We will protect you, even from her.” I want her to realise how serious I am, and the smile that curls up her lips steals my breath.
“Then let’s start with who they are,” Ana says, nodding in understanding at me, so I settle back. If she takes this too far, she’s gone.
Nova hesitates and looks at us, so I incline my head, telling her to let her in on the secret. “The other children.” She blows out a breath. “I wasn’t the only child Father experimented on. He had children all around the world, from different walks of life, but they had one thing in common—no one cared if we were hurt or missing.”
“But why?” Ana asks.
“He wanted to expand the human mind,” Nova repeats before she shakes her head. “But the truth is, he used us, experimented on us, for his own gain. For research. He liked playing God. There were more, but they didn’t make it. For the last few years, I’ve been on the run to avoid him and his clutches, just trying to survive and keep you safe, but with his death, a chain of events was set into motion. They found me”—she grins at us—“and chased me down to prove who they were. Together, we are going to stop his research once and for all.”
“But he’s dead. It’s stopped,” Ana protests.
“No, it hasn’t. It’s still happening. Children are still being hurt, and we are going to put an end to that. We are going to destroy it all, and his name will go down in the history books for what he truly was. That’s why we are here, in his lab, looking for our next location, our next research facility.”
Ana looks shocked and seems to be absorbing it before she looks around. “He hurt you all too?”
I incline my head. Nico grunts, and Isaac offers a gentle, “Yes.” Dimitri just looks away, and Jonas snorts. “Quick on the uptake.” He looks at Nova, his eyes softening. Later on, I need to address where they were and why they came out looking rumpled. Jealousy roars through me before I seal it up. “Are you sure she’s your sister, baby?”
Ana blinks. “Baby?” she repeats.
Nova flips Jonas off, but he just laughs. “Questions, Ana,” she reminds her.
“Right.” Ana sits up, flicking off nonexistent lint, and I see the calculation in her gaze. She’s now the scientist, not the scared child.
For the next hour, Nova answers question after question about the science, their father’s co-workers, the experiments, and everything and anything in between. I butt in when it gets too hard for her, and Ana deftly avoids those conversations. That’s when I realise something else. She recognises the signs of PTSD and abuse now, and she seems to know how to deal with them. Strange. Why didn’t she notice them before? Or was she purposely blinding herself to them with her hatred?
Ana finally sits back, drained of questions and looking exhausted. “I just can’t believe”—she shakes her head—“that he did this, that he got away with it. That I never noticed.”
“He was good at playing the perfect, doting father,” Nova comforts her, easing her guilt when she shouldn’t. Ana was a kid, that’s true, but so was Nova.
“So what now?” Ana asks.
“Now?” Nova repeats in confusion. “Now nothing, you go back to your life—”
“I can’t do that.” She sits up, forcing Nova to blink. “I can’t. I need to help. I need to make this right. Our father—he was a monster; you’re right. We need to stop what they are doing.”
“We?” I repeat, looking her over. “You have no skills that are of use to us, and everything you know is from us. You don’t know the locations or anything of use. You aren’t as fast, strong, or capable as us. Go back to your life.”
“No.” She meets my eyes, and I see a spark of Nova there. “I will make this right. I will protect my sister.”
“Ana,” Nova starts, but I lean forward, a tiny spark of respect starting to form for the younger woman. She might not have known then, but she does now, and she’s choosing to help us.
“I can read my father’s research. I worked with him for years—not on this, but I can read it. I can help,” Ana reasons. “Please, let me make this right.”
I can see Nova doesn’t want her involved in this and wants to protect her, but she deserves the same rights as us. “Fine, you can help with the research, but that is all, understand?”
She nods quickly, determination on her face. “I can help.” She seems to be telling herself that.
“You won’t get in the way, do you understand?” I demand, and she nods again. I see fear in her eyes as she looks at us. Good, she should fear us because her sister is quickly becoming our whole world, and we won’t lose her, and anyone who stands in the way of that or jeopardises that won’t have our mercy. “What kind of scientist are you?”
“I work with the brain.” She blushes. “Mainly the effects of war and PTSD. I work with veterans . . . ,” she trails off. “Ironic, I know.”
Tell me about it.
Nova looks at her sister with nothing but pride as I sit back. “Dimitri, show her to the lab.”
He turns to face me, not looking at her. “I won’t work with her there,” he snaps.
“D, please.” Nova stands, going over to him.
“No, Nova,” he retorts. “She hurt you. She didn’t believe you. I won’t.”
Ana looks like she’s about to cry, but we all watch as Nova stops before D and their heads bend together. They whisper before she sighs and looks back at me, defeat in her expression.
“Fine. Ana, you will take the research to your room here.”
Ana nods, looking at Dimitri in shock before bowing her head, shame in her expression. I stand, and Dimitri slips from the room. I follow him before nodding at the others. I need to talk to him. He’s hurting, and he’s protective of Nova, but I can’t let him get lost in his grief again. Not like with Bass.
“Nova.” I look back at her, silently communicating for a moment before speaking. “Look after them for a moment.” I narrow my eyes on Nico and Jonas. “Do not kill her sister; it would hurt her.”
It’s the only thing that would appeal to them. I know that. If I’d said it was wrong, they would have laughed. If I’d argued she didn’t know, they wouldn’t care.
They will do nothing to hurt Nova, however, and I see my order hits its mark, even as Ana pales, realising she’s surrounded by killers.
“Now, back to our mission. We have information to find, so let’s not waste time.” I slip from the room, intent on protecting my family.
Including Nova.
THIRTY-THREE
I watch Louis go, my heart racing from the look he gave me. It told me he would protect me no matter what. I look around and realise they all would, even from her. Dimitri was so adamant about hating her for what she did to me, he refused to listen to reason, and even gentle Isaac doesn’t seem happy with her.
“Would . . . Would they really kill me?” Ana asks, fear in her voice.
“Yes.” I won’t lie to her. “So don’t give them a reason to.” I move to Nico and meet his angry gaze. He eventually looks at me. “He’s right. If you kill her, you will ruin me in a way my father never could.” He flinches, and I kiss his cheek.
Jonas watches me stride towards him, his eyes hazy with madness and lust. I straddle his lap, uncaring who’s watching, as I grip his chin and force his head back to meet my eyes. I need to penetrate that fog and make him understand. After all, he’s the wild card.
“You touch one hair on her head, and I will chop off your dick.”
“I knew you liked it.” He grins, gripping my hips and tugging me over his hard length. I try to swallow my gasp as I narrow my eyes. “Though chopping it off to keep for your pleasure is sexy as hell, I’ll admit to liking it where it is.”
