Jay's POV
Amy: Ed betrayed us. That idiot was on a suicide mission all by himself. He wanted us to live at the cost of his death. I don't even know if that arsehole wished me dead or if he was paving the way for me to live.
Her eyes stayed down, fixed on her gun which was limp in her palm. She fidgeted, not being conscious of her actions.
Amy had revealed everything that had happened that day. I was beyond shocked. My eyes peered towards Eric, Mateo, and Carlos, who were seated against the couch, their expressions grim. They didn't speak and I noticed Amy's eyes twitching in anticipation of their next words. And it was the first time I saw fear in Amy's eyes. She was scared of the outcomes if they were going to blame and abandon her. But she held her ground, not letting her composture falter. The slight trembling of her fingers didn't go unnoticed. She was trying hard not to break down, maybe remembering that day when she faced the ultimate betrayal and sacrifice. My insides churned with Amy's revelation and Edward was no more; he died that day.
Eric: How did you survive, Amy? You were thrown in the middle of the sea; who saved you?
Eric's words were subtle and gentle. He was the most logical person in situations like this, and he was the calmest when things got nerve-wracking. He made sure to keep his tone composed and tender and not let his curiosity overpower him. He was genuinely intrigued about her survival in such extreme conditions. Even if she managed to swarm up, the debris falling off the burning building would have cut any chances of help.
Amy: It was pure fate; they were militants who were patrolling that day and maybe saw the factory blowing off. I had somehow floated to the surface or maybe they saw me drowning. I was in a coma for months. When I woke up, the doctors said that my organ had been damaged; luckily I had a donor and the impact on my body when I hit the sea affected my brain. I had fewer chances of survival. Yet I lived.
She spoke in a dead voice, as if being alive was the last thing she wished for. Her accent felt different. Mateo was the first one to point.
Mateo: What's with your accent?
The rest of us frowned at his remark but didn't deny it.
Amy: Don't ask me; my brain got hit by the sea. Now my accent sounds like shit.
Amy looked annoyed. Her accent sounded more Italian. She tried her best to consciously pronounce words. She sounded hot with that voice.
Carlos: Sounds funny.
He cracked a cackle, trying hard not to laugh.
Even though they all had lost Edward, they were trying to contain it all, none of them wanting to dwell on it. There was a moment of silence.
Amy: Edward had left a message. That punk recorded himself and wanted us to watch it together. I don't know what's in it.
She spoke quietly. Her eyes lifted towards one of the guards, who quickly brought a laptop, placed it on the table and attached a pen drive. The still-home screen came to life, and Edward popped onto the screen with a click on the file. His face did not display any emotions, like his usual self. His reddened face said he was drunk. The video buzzed with silence, with Edward blankly staring at the camera. And after a long silence, he only sighed. A bottle of alcohol came into view. But his composure remained intact.
"I don't know what to say...I know that till the time you guys see this video, I won't be there. I would be far away. You guys might curse me for this. I know. I have made this hoax of a plan. Because we can't reach freedom without sacrifice."
His lips pursed into a thin line, contemplating his next words.
"It's for the better. Do not mourn me. I know I have been selfish and arrogant and have hurt you all. I have been foolish enough to be blinded by power and drag you all down with me. But this won't happen any long."
There was a long silence again. He looked at his lap, and small noises of his fingers tapping against the wooden surface of the table could be heard. He was anxious. His eyes darted back at the screen while he chugged some liquid from the bottle.
"Eric you have been the sane one among us, you have been like an elder brother guiding me and dealing with my short-tempered ass."
His words escaped with a forced giggle as if he was trying hard to keep calm.
"Mateo and Carlos. You guys always had my back, no matter how shitty decisions I made. But you'll be free now from my troubling self."
He laughed masking the pain, the smile on his lips didn't reach his eyes.
" Ash. I ....I. I love you. I am going to hurt you badly, but I know you will survive. You might prefer death over my betrayal but do not lose your calm. I know you will live after me. I...I am kind of toxic. I don't want to let you live nor let you die in peace. "
His eyes peered at the camera looking straight as if he was staring through her soul.
" Life had always been unfair to me. People took advantage and left me on the brink of death. I guess it kind of messed up my brain. If I wanted anything, I would make it mine."
There was a pause, while his eyes flickered between the camera and his hands.
" I have been an asshole since the day you entered my life. I thought I manipulated you to join the clan, got you tortured to death, made you cold and dead only to make you breathe again. I know. I am a sick bastard. I wanted you to be mine and make you live at my mercy. I moulded your scared 13-year self into something unimaginable. I thought I had you in the palm of my hand. You followed what I commanded ever so faithfully, it made me think I was in control."
His words held a weight, it was his dark demeanour, it was suffocating. Most toxic and mentally screwed men wanted women as if they were dolls or objects meant to be kept for showcase, used and thrown away. But Edward was more twisted than I thought, he made a killing machine out of Amy. Made her think that her life was nothing without him. His hidden intentions made me sick to my stomach.
"But now I realise. I was under your control, you were playing with me all this time, and you beat me at my own game. You are a 'Joker' in the house of cards, Ash. An unpredictable bitch."
He snorted at the last remark.
"It was you who had me at your mercy. You fucking manipulated me, screwed my brains ever so ruthlessly. I was obsessed with you. But one day, I saw you with Conor. You married him and looked at him in a way like you never looked at me. You dared to choose him over me. I hate him to the guts. It made me go bonkers while you ripped my heart into shreds. All this time I thought I was the one writing your fate."
He chuckled darkly, his eyes holding raw emotions while my brain slowly processed his words.
"I am sick. But I can't help but feel my insides burn. You used me however you pleased, you pulled the strings in your favour, and you never joined the clan because of me. You wanted revenge. Your actions were calculated based on your needs and desires. I did investigate you. I thought your broken self was easy to shape but how wrong I was. You always had a plan. I was such a fool to get caught by your innocent face, your naive attitude....shit. A trap that I walked right into. I must say you are an excellent actress to keep your intentions hidden. All this time. You are sick too, more than me, ruthless, heartless and a manipulator."
He kept laughing. Laughing at his misery. His eyes turned bloody red as he confessed.
" I wish you stay happy with Conor. By now you must have achieved whatever you wanted. "
He smiled genuinely this time.
"Always remember. I love you."
He continued chugging down the bottle of alcohol. With that, the screen went blank.
There was an eerie silence. Amy was caught off guard by his words, and her surprise was evident.
Eric, Mateo and Carlos looked shocked.
Eric: I never knew, your relationship with Ed was this twisted.
Amy: I didn't know either.
They both held eye contact. The silence was eerie and filled with tension.
They all were coming to a realisation.
Carlos: Ed had been mentally sick all this time. It's just that we never realised, how broken he had been on the inside. He had his emotions well hidden and when he lost his composure it was just extreme anger, the only emotion he ever showed after arrogance.
Amy: Idiot wanted to die as a hero all this time.
She uttered quietly.
Mateo: I wish we could have understood him back then. He needed us.
His words came as a whisper, his eyes stared at nothing.
Silence. That was it. None spoke. The peace stung like daggers, overwhelming and ground-shaking reality. It lasted long, for more than 5 minutes. All I could do was awkwardly stare at my lap and take steel glances at them, wanting any one of them to speak and break this silence.
I wasn't bothered about Edward's death. If he didn't like me, I did not like him either. But it pinched me at the fact that Amy was a master at manipulation who knew how to take any shitty situation to her advantage. And Edward claimed the same. He wasn't wrong.
My thoughts were only starting to develop when Amy broke the silence.
Amy: How did you guys get in here?
She asked.
Mateo: We have been following Jay.
He mumbled in one breath, making my eyes widen and Carlos immediately smacked his head, wanting to keep it a secret. Amy frowned, not understanding the context.
Eric sighed, finally revealing the truth.
Eric: After you left, your man had gone nuts. He even tried to commit suicide which we miraculously avoided and the most difficult part... he was still on the target list—a bounty on his head. The dead ones had families who had been seeking revenge since that day. We didn't want to lose him after we failed to save you and Ed. So when we found out he had been missing from the event, we tracked him down.
Carlos: I got intel that some military agents blew up those syndicate guys at the event, rescued the girls, and vanished. Not a trace of their identities! I had a hunch that Jay was captured by those guys and the tracker on him helped us land here.
Mateo: It's so unexpected to see you. Most important question! How did you get to this place? And how did you get Jay? Don't tell me...
Amy: I am with the military.
One sentence and three of them were silent. However, the erupting questions kept them going with the interrogation.
Eric: Military, how?
Amy: You guys forgot I was famous. That day those militants found me half dead, they knew my identity. When I was in a coma, they investigated my background and kind of got to know about the bullshit of the clan in which we were. Once I was conscious, they wanted to throw me in prison and execute me. But they had an offer. They would let me coexist with a new identity if I helped them in their missions. They want to use my skills. And if I denied it, they would torture me to death to get the names of other clans out of my mouth, which would be a total waste of my energy to bear that bullshit. I would have killed their pitiful selves in the end. So I chose to help; I didn't want them to die for such useless leads. Wanted to be a good person for once.
I was conflicted by Amy's words against the officials. She almost deadpanned that her capabilities were more than those of the military officials. Egoist- was one of the terms to define her.
Carlos: So you rescued those girls.
Amy: Kind of teamwork, Doctor and his minions were a help.
She glanced towards me.
Mateo: Wow, that was unexpected.
He looked at me as if I had grown two heads.
Eric: That sounds interesting. It must be nice being the hero.
He genuinely stated.
Amy: It's boring; it's just that they work on commands given by their so-called chiefs, who blindly let their comrades die for one mission. I hate the concept of blind faith.
She paused, a smug smile creeping on her lips.
Amy: I kind of prefer our methods of giving the option to die for us with money or nothing. We wish, command, and rule.
Her smirk remained intact. Each word slurred with a lurking menace, and her pupils darted in a certain direction. My eyes followed her gaze and landed on Drake standing in the corner, gritting his teeth.
Amy: I don't have any personal beef with the military but that jerk annoys me.
Drake almost pounced himself on Amy while she continued to provoke him with her smirk and that 'try me' gaze towards him. A sheer rivalry.
Eric smiled, greeting Drake with a handshake, which Drake calmly accepted.
Eric: I see you got company.
Amy: I was bored; he is a little entertaining.
And again, they start to bicker.
The tension eased as their conversations continued, and I somehow became invisible. But my mind had been busy linking the chains with everything that had occurred. Edward's confession and Amy's revelation had hit me like a ton of bricks.
Amy had full liberty of returning to me; she wasn't bound nor enslaved to anything. She worked with the military; she had the liberty to lead and yet she never once tried to contact me, even after those months when she woke up from the coma. She could have contacted me. Even if communication was restricted, I knew this woman did not give two shits about the rules or commands of the military chief. She created her own rules and that made her dominant and selfish.
My brain thought through and through, but it came back to one simple conclusion every time. She didn't give a damn about her so-called promise to me. Even though I had pushed that promise to her face, she never came back for me. So. It only meant...I didn't matter to her. I was just a toy meant to entertain her. One she took advantage of and used as she pleased. I was no one to her. I doubted if she was ever in love with me.
Guess what? She wasn't.
I remember the times when she openly claimed me as her man to people as if she was marking her territory. She wanted me. She was obsessed with me. I realized. She never spoke the word "love." It was possession—a silly infatuation that she chose to shun away over time while I struggled to get her out of my memories. I was a fool to think she loved me and that being territorial over me was her love language. I was so blind. Being territorial was her nature. She never shared. I was one of the things that she didn't like to share. I was a mere want and she did not need me.
Was I overthinking or were my medicines acting up? I had made my decision.
I wanted to curse so bad. The conclusion stung, hitting me in the gut, pricking and making me bleed in misery, rage, and disgust.
Disgust over myself.
Self-loathing was a better word to describe.
I was foolish and desperate. But now the answers were clear. And I wasn't going to commit one mistake twice. If she thought I was some small little pet of hers to follow her like a lost puppy. Then she was wrong. I made a mistake to hold onto something I was never worthy of. It was clear now. I would now follow my ways and whatever life awaited to teach me next.
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Hey guys, it took me a while to be back with another update. Hope you enjoyed the story! Stay tuned 💜
Thank you
Peace ✌️
