My whole body trembles with fury. My voice speaks in a harsh whisper. "How could you?!" Though it's less of a question and more of an accusation.

Steve takes a few steps back. "Peyton, please, you have to understand—"

"Understand?!" I scream nearly hysterical. "Do you think I'll ever understand why someone I cared so deeply about would betray me like this?! Do you think I even care?!"

Jacklyn takes my arm. "Princess maybe this isn't—"

I push her off me. "You put me in that coma, you told the people who hate me my most painful secrets, and you care nothing for me so stop pretending that you do!"

These realizations put an arrow through my chest. They pierce my heart, and not in the lovestruck way, the way that makes you want to curl up and sob until you can no more.

But I'm far, far too angry to crumble.

At my accusations Steve's face fills with anger and hurt. But I don't care, I want him to hurt. Just like I hurt in that hospital bed for three years.

"You think I made you fall into that coma?! You think I was pretending to care about you?! Because you've got it all wrong, that's your other boyfriend." He says in disgust.

His words take me by surprise, though Jacklyn's the one who answers, "Kevin?"

He scoffs. "Don't even try to deny it anymore. I'm done playing the nice guy and waiting for this man to confess to his crimes. You wanna know what he did then fine, I'll tell you."

I glare at him. "I don't want to hear anything from you."

"Well too bad because I'm going to say it. You want to know the truth behind Kevin? Why we all hate him? It's because of you. Well you and his maniac brother."

I furrow my brows. "Excuse me?"

Jacklyn puts her hand on my shoulder. "Maybe we shouldn't do this right n—"

But I push her away again. "No! I need to know this, even if I hate that I'm hearing it from him."

He rolls his eyes. "Yep, just, you know, your boyfriend."

I snort. "Not anymore."

When he raises his eyebrows I nearly laugh with disbelief. "You didn't actually think I would still date you after all this, did you? In case I need to clear it up for you, this means plotting against me, lying to my face, blabbing my most personal secrets, working with people who want to kill me, and blackmailing me, who is just, you know, your girlfriend."

He steps towards me and Jacklyn positions herself between us. His voice begins to rise. "I am not the bad guy in this story! He is! You wanted the truth so badly so here it is Peyton: Kevin's brother is the one who put you in that coma. He was drunk and Kevin let him drive anyways. Kevin could've done something, anything to stop him but he didn't. Instead he got in that truck with his drunkard of a brother and let him hurt you. There, that's why we all hate him. He's the reason we all thought we were going to lose one of the most amazing people in this town."

I step away from him.

This—this is what Kevin has been hiding for so long? This is why everyone acts so weird when I'm around him? No wonder Rachel was always so protective around him...he looks exactly like the man who nearly killed me.

But...he's the one who hit me, not Kevin. So why does everyone act like he was the one who committed the crime?

Steve said that he could've stopped him, he's still halfway to blame.

Do you really trust Steve?

No

Even though I don't blame Kevin, my eyes still fill with tears...though it's not because I just found out someone I really care about was involved with the coma.

It's because they hurt him.

They hurt Kevin. I may not know what exactly went down that day but I know him. He would never hurt anyone, especially his own brother. What else could he have done? Something must have happened for him to get into that truck with his drunk brother...

But what?

My hands start shaking with fury. My whole body is filled with radiant, white hot anger. I clench my jaw and whip back around to my ex-boyfriend.

"That's it, huh?"

"What?" He asks in confusion.

"You've hated him for years, everyone has, and he didn't even do the crime?! And you really expect me to be angry with him!" I yell.

"He took away the person that meant the most to me!" He shouts back.

Those words seem to push me back, but I still stand my ground. "He didn't! His brother did! I don't know what went down in that truck but I know Kevin, he wouldn't hurt anyone, that includes his brother! Steve what was he supposed to do?!"

Steve's hands tremble. "He could've called the cops! He could've disabled him! He could've—"

"Steve what if it was Sadie?"

He's taken aback. "What do you mean?"

I look him dead in the eye. "What if Sadie came home drunk one day and was out of control, would you have hurt her?"

"Of course not! But that's beside the point—"

"Is it? Steve she's your sister! And he's Kevin's brother, it's nearly impossible to hurt your family, it's unbearable to even think about it." I emphasize.

He pauses for a minute, staring at the ground with a hard look in his eyes. Eventually he asks, "So you choose him, don't you?"

I blink in confusion. "What do you mean by 'choose'?"

Steve shuffles his feet. "You choose Kevin over me."

Another course of anger rushes through my body. "Steve there is no choice! This whole thing isn't about you, or Kevin, it's about me! And keep in mind, you betrayed me, not the other way around." I remind him angrily.

Steve storms towards me. "You think—"

"Whoa there buddy, I'm going to have to ask you to backup." Jacklyn says threateningly, stepping between me and Steve. Honestly I had forgotten she was there and I think Steve did too. She may be the shortest one here, but the look on her face let's you know that she's not one to mess with.

"I'm fine Jacklyn, thank you, but I'm okay. I can handle him." I assure firmly. Jacklyn glares at Steve but eventually backs off.

Steve continues. "Do you really think that I wanted to betray you?! To work against you?! Because I can assure you that I never planned it this way, and maybe if you weren't so stupidly curious and stubborn we wouldn't be in this situation!" His voice begins to echo throughout the halls.

I get closer. "You didn't want to betray me, huh? Go read the note then. The note that you wrote."

He hesitates. "Peyton whatever I wrote in that note doesn't mean that I wanted to hurt you."

"Read it!" I snap, no longer having any patience.

Without saying a word, he reluctantly walks over to my locker, does the combination, and pulls out a crumpled piece of paper.

His face is a mix of rage and something that could be detected as guilt. But his voice sounds loud and proud when he reads the horrid note.

Dear Olivia, ready to play? We sure are. Nobody can know about your double identity, huh? Too sensitive of a topic for ya? You told us to name our price so here it is: Cut ties with Kevin Helms. He's in the way and we need the path clear. If you don't severe your connections with him then we'll have no choice but to remove him ourselves, and your precious little secret will remain hidden no more.

He looks up and into my blue eyes. "Peyton they're not joking around, they really will—"

"Oh don't even do that Steve!" I snap in disgust.

His jaw is clenched. "Do what?"

I glare at him. "Say "them" like you're not a part of their little organization. Like you didn't write the note, I was there Steve, I know you did."

Startling alarm fills his green eyes. "So that was you! Peyton you have no idea how much trouble you could've been in!"

"Don't do that either, pretend to care about me I mean."

He slams his fist into a locker. "I'm not pretending! I do care about you! I always have! Just now..."

I step closer. "Just what Steve? I'm listening, go ahead tell me what your excuse is."

Now intense anger flares in his eyes, making me back up. "You have no idea what they said they would do, because of your idiot mistakes. You know what Peyton? You are the reason I'm in this organization in the first place. I didn't choose this okay?!"

"Tell me then. Tell me what I did to them and make me understand." I order.

He opens his mouth, closes it, and opens it again. "Fine. Back when we were fifteen, X, the organization I'm in, was a large, terrifying group that was all over the news. People were afraid of them, even to the point that they would move away in fear.

"But here's the thing, they were all teenagers, with a few exceptions. Teenagers who had been deemed as disappointments, failures, and lost causes. They tagged buildings, set fires, even hurt a few people...then you came in." He looks into my eyes, looking unsure whether to tell me whatever the heck happened.

But I give a slight nod. "Keep going."

Jacklyn stands by my side quietly, letting Steve and I do the talking as usual. I really appreciate her silence, this is between me and Steve, I don't want her getting in the middle of it.

Steve sighs. "They really wanted you to join Peyton. You were pretty reckless and always took risks, not to mention you were loved by everyone, you'd be perfect to get them out of any situation. We both befriended Syla at a party, though you both disappeared half way through the party, worried me sick. You showed up at my window at three in the morning and told me everything."

"And everything was..." I prompt.

"Syla had tried to recruit you right then and there, she took you to the hideout and introduced you to everyone, so even if you didn't want to join you'd have to, and if you didn't you would get hurt for knowing too much. But the thing was, you wanted to join. Not because you enjoyed hurting people or anything, but for some reason you'd decided that'd it'd be fun and clever to pretend to be part of their little group so you could eventually get the police involved.

"I told you not to do it Peyton, I told you so many times but, of course, you didn't listen. See that's the problem with this whole thing, you never listen!" He roars, suddenly overcome with rage. Though when I flinch, he takes a deep breath. I use this silence to think.

Why on earth had I thought that I, fifteen year old Peyton Comber, could take down an entire organization by myself? How stupid was I?! I have a sickening feeling on how this is going to end...

Steve continues. "They had you do a bunch of dangerous tasks for initiation. I told you to stop, that it was getting too dangerous, but you simply said that you were already in too deep to stop now."

"It's too dangerous, you need to stop!"

"I'm in too deep to stop now!" Faint echoes of voices ring in my mind.

"You were so close to getting them caught, I don't know how you managed it, but somehow you did. But then it happened: Someone found out. Maybe your plan slipped or maybe they knew from the beginning, but you were caught. They—they tried to kill you Peyton." He tells me quietly.

My heartbeat is suddenly in my throat.

"You ran as far as you could but...you got hit. And they thought they had succeeded, until about seven months ago when you woke up with a whole new set of memories." Steve says, with a note of finality.

"Wow." I whisper to myself.

"Wow is right." Jacklyn mutters beside me.

This...this is too much for me to handle. I need to get out of here and think. Get out of here and tell Kevin everything.

Wait...can I even do that? They want me to sever ties with him and if I don't, they'll hurt him. I know that for sure now.

But before I can even think about that, I realize Steve hasn't answered my question in all of that.

"Steve how does that relate to your involvement? How did you get in with them, I mean, since you were so against it." I ask.

He sighs and massages his forehead. "Here we go I guess. The reason is...they threatened Sadie. They threatened to take her away like they took you. It was about the second year anniversary of you falling into the coma when they found me and asked for information. They wanted me to be their inside source, which I, of course, refused at first. But then...they threatened her. And no matter how much you mean to me Peyton, Sadie will always mean more.

"So I did what they asked, and I found myself agreeing with some of their points. Just...believe me when I say I didn't exactly choose to do this." He says, looking at me with a glimmer of hope.

A battle of emotions are fighting for my attention. I can't tell if I'm sorry, angry, upset, or...relieved. Not that they threatened Sadie of course, but that Steve didn't want to join them. That he didn't want to betray me.

But couldn't have he...

"You okay Princess?" Jacklyn whispers in my ear.

"Yeah," I sniffle, wiping tears away that I didn't know were there. "I'm fine. It's just...a lot."

Steve gets closer. "I know, but at least you get it now, don't you? There wasn't anything else I could've done, now was there?"

My voice slightly shakes when I say, "Yes, yes there was Steve. There were so many things you could've done."

Anger flickers in his eyes. "Whoa now, don't even do this! You didn't blame Kevin for not calling the cops, but you blame me? How is it that he gets to hurt you and get away with it but not me?" He nearly yells at me.

I choke back a sob. "Because you wanted him to hurt his brother, to disable him, that's what you said Steve. But you? You never had to lay a finger on Sadie, all you had to do was pickup the phone and dial a few numbers."

He bangs his fists against the lockers in rage. "No! Peyton that's not fair! Why can't you just forgive me?! I don't want to lose you!"

This time the sob escapes my lips. "You already have." I say barely above a whisper. "You lost me the moment you decided to tell the people who are most against me my heaviest burden, and not only did you betray my trust, you gave them something to use against me. And that, Steve, I just can't forgive."

"I can't believe you Peyton! I—"

"I think it's time we left." Jacklyn says in a hard, stern voice. One that lets Steve know that she's not suggesting it, but telling him.

Fortunately Steve doesn't try to fight us. Instead he stands there in a tense silence while we hurry toward the door before I break down completely. But before we get there, Steve yells one last thing out to me.

"Wait! Are you going to do it?" He asks me from the other end of the hallway.

I whip around to face him. "Do what exactly?"

"Cut off connections with Kevin."

I glare at him. "Oh you'd just love that, wouldn't you? But to answer your question, no, I'm not."

"Then you know what we'll be forced to do." He calls back in a grave voice, no longer referring to himself as something separate from the wretched organization.

Rage hardens my tears at this threat. "Then do it! Spill my little secret, see what happens! But if you lay a single finger on him, I swear to God I will lay all ten of mine on you."

Steve just stands there in a stunned, pained silence.

Then Jacklyn and I hurry out of the school, leaving behind the boy who I used to call my boyfriend. These revelations have hit me hard, nearly knocked the breath out of me. But if these people want a fight, a fight they'll get.

And if they couldn't handle Peyton Comber, then just wait till they see what Olivia Wright has to offer.

Because maybe, just maybe it's time to accept her back into my life.

Hope you enjoyed that!! I know it was a lot of new information but I hope you were able to keep up lol. This book is finally starting to come to an end so hang on tight and get ready!! -Vanna✨