to stand in front of you it’s like a thriller movie
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"You knew."
Those were the first words that left my mouth. Not a sob. Not a scream. Not a word speaking of heartbreak. Simply you knew, two words that held every single emotion the other three couldn't include in themselves.
"Yes. I knew." The coldness faded from Vernon's expression, replaced by a look that one bore when dealing with the consequences of an action. Acceptance. "I knew everything."
"And yet you never told me," I whispered. If it hadn't been for the silence shrouding the room, he would have never heard me. "You let me be in the dark. Blame myself for everything that happened."
The spark of relief I had felt when he'd first shown up had washed away swallowed by a choking, poisonous disbelief. I didn't want to believe that this was real, that Lay was dead.
"There are some things you're better off not knowing," he said, a familiar sadness overtaking his voice, which would have sounded like dullness to someone who hadn't heard it from him before. "Did you enjoy getting to know about your mother's involvement with the racers?"
His question had the desired effect, leaving me struggling to breathe. No, I wanted to say, but I was childishly stubborn, wanting to know more rather than less even if it left me feeling more trapped than ever. "So it's true."
"So is your father's business with us, which you wouldn't have had to know about if you'd never listened to Baekhyun," he said. He still sounded aloof, which I suspected was limited only to the delivery of facts.
Now I was alert, planting my feet in a more defensive stance as soon as Baekhyun's name left his lips. "You know what Baekhyun told me?"
"I wasn't supposed to, but there are only a few things that I don't know about," Vernon replied, looking at me steadily. "The right hand is usually more informed than the informant. It sounds ironic, I know—but some secrets, even if they're not mine to hide, are mine to keep. Byun Baekhyun was never supposed to know about your mother."
Mine to keep. It sounded so much like what he had told me in the hospital, about doing things no one else would do. It all added up. His secretive behaviour, irregular absences, Seulgi's words about him being the worst of us. Vernon was Jungkook's right hand.
But if my mother's involvement had been one of the secrets that he had to keep, what lengths would he go to hide it? And if Baekhyun had found out...
The realization that dawned on my face must have been obvious, because he spoke before I could. "Yes," Vernon said dryly, sounding tired. So, so tired. "I killed Baekhyun."
I was on my knees before he could finish his sentence, already knowing what he was going to tell me as I felt along the ground hastily for the gun I had dropped. It was laughable, really, because what was stopping him from killing me? I was helpless, unstable, physically and mentally.
