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XI
Mastermind – Taylor Swift
Alex was not surprised when I told her the truth. She didn’t want to hear it because she wanted to keep us in a bubble of ignorance. She never wanted me to confirm something she already knew.
No one could love another knowing what you’ve done.
She hates herself that she does. She kept it to herself and carried on loving me despite knowing.
“How long?” I repeat.
“Since the night I found out you were part of NSC."
I shake my head, hardly believing what I’m hearing. She was aware all this time. She…she told me she loved me, and she already knew.
“Since the night at the warehouse? How? My eyes? My voice? Did you finally remember?”
She shakes her head. “Trauma is a bitch. I never recognized your eyes or your voice because so many things about that night are unclear. Although maybe that’s why I always thought your eyes were so mesmerizing or why I felt so comfortable with you. Perhaps, subconsciously, I knew you were the one who had changed my life.”
I have to physically swallow the information she’s giving me. “If not that…then how?” I insist.
“You have a tell, do you know that?”
I feel my eyebrows lifting. My hand is sweaty around the gun, my arm starting to shake from holding it out.
“Every time you lie.” Her tongue darts to her two front teeth, and I recognize it as exactly what I do. “Do you remember when I asked if there was anything else you’d lied about?”
Like it was yesterday. She was trying to break up with me.
Her tongue grazes her teeth again as she repeats the lie I told her. “No, baby. You know everything.”
I close my eyes, hating myself. Opening them again, I watch helplessly as she grabs a fistful of my t-shirt.
“And then I saw them.” She lifts it to show my lower abdomen. “The three scars. The only thing I remembered about the monster who had kidnapped me.”
My eyes flick down and I lick my lips. I made sure to never take my shirt off in front of Alex. I didn’t want to do it until I was ready to tell her everything. But the night she learned about NSC, I was too focused on not losing her. I didn’t realize I was topless when she left. I didn’t realize she saw the scars.
Flashes hit me so hard I sway.
I’m excited for your dad’s birthday party, Ella.
Alex is the one who brought up the topic of Gerald Baker’s birthday party. She pretended it was an accident, that it slipped. She had Ella invite me so it wouldn’t be obvious she was desperate for me to come.
“You wanted me here tonight,” I murmur.
I look around at Tamar, still sitting at the desk, the phone right there. Delacroix was shocked when he saw it in the safe.
“You’re the one who put the phone in the safe.”
“This morning.” Her devilish smirk is magnificent.
She’s just standing there, right next to me, her gorgeous blonde hair disheveled, her cheeks red, and her hairline damp from sweat. Still, everything is in her hazel eyes. They can never hide anything from me.
She is so beautifully powerful at this moment.
“You knew…you knew your dad orchestrated your kidnapping,” I rasp.
“Yes,” she says calmly.
