I lunge towards Melissa, trying to grab the knife out of her hand, but it's too late. The knife makes one long slice across my father's neck and the crowd begins screaming, people running towards the exits. All I can do it stand and stare in complete and utter shock as the blood flows like a river.

My mind is going a million miles per hour, what did I just witness? Melissa just killed my father. My father lays lifeless, blood pooling around him, at the hands of someone who I thought was one of my closest friends.

"Who... are you?" I question, disbelief clear as day in my voice. Her head slowly turns to face me, a smirk tugging at her crimson lips.

"If you want to live... I suggest you all shut your mouths!" Melissa shouts, her eyes never once leaving mine as she rises. "The whole facility is surrounded, we know about your little games... we are always one step ahead," the crowd goes silent and I look over my shoulder to see the many tear stained cheeks and wide eyes of the people.

"Who is "we"?" I dare ask and she cackles, an awful sound that makes me want to burst my own eardrums.

"You know exactly who we are and we've had enough... now the only thing in our way is you," she points her finger at me and I feel the panic rising in my chest.

My eyes meet with my father's cold, limp body. He barely put up a fight, no one in this room even tried to stop Melissa. She killed him, not me, her. I'll never get the chance to give him the death that he deserved. It was too quick, too kind.

But worst of all it was at the hands of the wrong person.

"Come with us and we'll let everyone here leave unscathed and untouched," Melissa says but someone cuts through the crowd. My eyes dart to him.

"Take me instead, please," Colton pleads and it feels as though someone has pulled my heart from my chest. There is no way in hell that he is going with them.

Melissa's smile only grows, becoming more sick by the second. This is exactly what she wanted.

"A hard bargain you drive Colton... don't get me wrong, I'd love to bring you along for the ride but you simply have no value," she shrugs and I thank whatever higher power for not letting Colton get involved in this mess.

"There is not a chance I am letting you take her," Colton says, his hand inching behind him. I meet those evergreen eyes and plead with him. I give him a look saying, don't make this any worse but he shakes his head, dismissing my pleads.

"Be careful Colton... one word and you're all dead," Melissa's smug grin returns and I feel the bile rising in my throat. Colton begins to step closer to the dais, where we stand, and everyone's eyes are on him.

"How long have you sided with them for, been their lackey?" Colton spits, rage burning in his eyes as he still moves closer. I find myself inching away at the sight.

"Does it really matter?" Melissa sighs and wipes the bloodied blade on the skirt of her gown. The blade she used to slice my father's throat open. "The lead commander needed to be killed, he wasn't the kindest of people, Rose would know that wouldn't you?" the words hit me like a blow to the head.

My eyes meet hers and I have to stop myself from reaching into the opening in my skirt, unsheathing the dagger and placing it firmly in her gut. For everyone's sake, I ball my hands into fists at my sides to stop them reaching for something they shouldn't.

"I knew you were stupid Melissa, but I didn't take you for a fool," Colton smiles, although I know there is nothing sincere about it.

Melissa's face twists in confusion before responding, "How do you mean?" and Colton laughs as he finally reaches the bottom of the dais, mere footsteps away from me.

"While you've been here, spending your precious time with empty threats... my men have been disarming yours," it's my turn to smile now. Too much planning went into tonight, we had been prepared for every possible situation.

Melissa looks around frantically, probably trying to spot her fellow friends in the crowd but to no avail. "I didn't want to have to do this," she says, her voice laced with malice. "But you leave me no choice..." Melissa trails off and turns to me.

Before I know it, Melissa is charging towards me, knife at the ready. Everything seems to move in slow motion as she plunges the knife towards me.

It just about skims me before she falls to the floor. I didn't hear it at first but a loud bang resonates through the hall, sending a shooting pain through my head. My ears ring and my vision goes slightly blurry.

Looking before me, Melissa lays on the ground, motionless, blood gushing from her head and staining the floors. I've seen enough blood today to make me feel sick to my stomach.

Snapping my head to the side, I see Colton standing there - gun raised. He shot her.

The room is filled with such a thick silence, it feels as though you could choke on it. This night has gone not one way I had envisioned it and I'm not sure if this was a blessing in disguise or not.

We really can't trust anyone.

***

Colton

I block out the guilt that surges through me, I act as though it doesn't bother me killing people but it's only because it bothers me too much. The first time I had killed someone I was 13. It was apart of the trials my father had put me through.

I still sometimes find myself waking up in the middle of the night, find myself having nightmares about that day. I've never forgiven my father for it and I don't ever plan to.

Everyone in this room has seen enough death to last them several lifetimes. Rose's father just got killed in front of her along with someone who she thought was one of her closest friends. I saw the way they were with each other, I knew that Rose really believed that she had a friend in Melissa.

I cannot stand seeing her being wronged by some asshole yet again. Out of all of the people it had to be Melissa who had sided with the rebels. The irony is not lost on me.

All of our plans had been leaked, really we were too blinded by feelings and hope that we couldn't see clearly. Couldn't see what was right in front of us. Feelings make you weak, they cloud your judgment. That's one of the many reasons I had forced myself to withdraw from Rose so many times.

Rose's eyes are glued to the two bodies laying before her, as if she can't look away. Nothing resides in those eyes that are usually full of fire and life. The stars usually at home in them... winked out.

"Let's go," I say softly to her and grab her hand but it's cold to the touch. Her icy fingers lace through mine and she nods slowly. "If the sector leaders could meet in Andrew Grey's office it would be much appreciated... we have a lot to talk about," I say to the crowd, that is still stood still in pure shock, before leading Rose away.

We walk in silence down the corridor, I don't want to push her for answers about what was going on with her tonight but she needs to tell me at some point. I think she knows that too.

"I can't believe that it was Melissa all along," she whispers and I want nothing more than to whisk her into my arms and carry her away from this life, from these people.

"It was bound to be someone close to us... the things the rebels were revealing about us, it was too much to be anyone on the outside," I admit the thing we have both been dreading. We knew that it was going to be someone close to us but suspecting things and having them be confirmed to you are two entirely different matters.

"Who do you think she was reporting these things to? Melissa was always here, she rarely left..." Rose trails off and we both glance at each other.

"If there's already someone on the inside there's most likely more," I run my hand over my face in frustration. It hits me then. There's one person I know who hates the government just as much as the rebels and would want them to be taken down just as badly. "My mother," I say just below a whisper.

My mother has despised my father's work for as long as I can remember. It's the reason why I never see her anymore, she said that she had wanted nothing to do with me when I had first joined the facility and began helping my father run it.

Either way, she has access to all of the documents, every file known. We've practically left the door wide open for her and not even thought twice about it.

"Why would your mother be siding with the rebels?" Rose halts, twisting to face me, her eyes filled with nothing but confusion. I've never spoken to Rose about my mother before and this is the exact reason why.

"She's hated the idea of sectors and the facilities for as long as I can remember, she cut off all ties to me when I came here," I explain, not allowing my voice to show any emotion. I don't have the time for vulnerabilities and uncovering my past.

"That doesn't explain why she would go out of her way to try to kill us all," Rose says, deep in thought.

"It's most likely to get revenge on my father... he refused to give up the title of being leader for her and she's never gotten over it," I sigh and tug at the roots of my hair.

How could I be so blind? How could I let this go so far without realising?

"What do we do?" Rose questions and I let out a long breath before responding. What do we do?

"We keep this information to ourselves for now, if we tell everyone else they will go after her without a second thought. We need to make sure we can confirm this before alerting anyone," I explain and Rose nods. "Not even Zach," I say and she rolls her eyes.

"I promise, I won't tell anyone," she says and I nod before placing a kiss on the top of her head.

Rose sighs and leans her head against my chest. I bring my hand to the small of her back and rubs small circles. Closing my eyes, I bask in the feeling of her being so close to me. The feeling of her being in my arms, not in harms way.

"Are you okay?" I question. I know she hated her father but seeing him be murdered in front of her couldn't have been easy to stomach.

"I was going to kill him tonight," she whispers and I'm sure I heard her wrong. Rose would have at least warned me in some way if she was planning on murdering her own father. Wouldn't she?

"Kill your father?" I question, needing her to confirm it. She nods a little against my chest and my breath gets caught in my throat. How long had she been planning this for? At least that explains why she was acting so strange tonight.

I can't help my anger when I say, "Do you know how stupid that would have been if you had killed him? If they found out... they would have thought you was with the rebels, they would have taken you away from me," I can't help but be angry with her, at her recklessness.

"I wasn't thinking straight, I didn't know what I was doing," she says frantically but I can hear the lies spewing from her mouth.

"That's why Maximus was here?" I question. I had seen her trying to sneak him in but chose to ignore it - another lapse in judgment.

"You saw him?" she pulls away and furrows her brows.

"That was supposed to be a secret I am guessing," I say and she pinches the bridge of her nose in what I am guessing is frustration. "Sloppy work, my love," I say and she snaps her head up, glaring at me.

"It was planned out very well, thank you, until you decided to have me glued to your hip the whole night," she scoffs and I can't help but laugh at both her idea of planning and her outing herself.

"One, if you had just told me that you wanted to kill your father I would have handed you the knife. Two, I thought you didn't know what you was doing?" I mock her and she swats my chest.

"I thought you would have hated me for it," she says and I can't help but feel guilty at the thought of her not wanting to tell me something in fear of me hating her.

"I could never hate you, my love, just tell me the next time you get the urge to kill someone," I say and tuck a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Noted," she laughs a little and I thank whoever granted me her love. Whoever granted me this feeling of pure happiness that I get whenever I am with her.