"We need to talk, daffodil."

I shut the door behind me as tidals of emotion crash over me. Thomas. In a flicker of time, I fall in love all over again with him as he flashes one of his rare sweet crooked smiles, but it only fades as the harshness of our fate dawns onto him. Although his hands appear clean, all I see is Evelyn's blood.

"You need to hear me out," his low voice hums, but I sense the urgency within.

I narrow my eyes. "I have nothing I need to say to you."

"So you know then?" Thomas mutters, shaking his head slightly. "Did he tell you?"

He means Cato.

I nod my head, but don't give him the satisfaction of answering anything more.

"Fuck," he cusses before running his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. At once, his stone barrier sheds itself, until all that's left is the heart of a broken man."I'm fucking sorry, but I warned you from the start that I had blood on my hands, didn't I?"

He's right. I knew. He did warn me before I ever accepted that job as a seductress, but as I grew closer to him, I thought I'd never have to see it. I desperately wanted to be a part of his world, just to see a glimpse of it. With him killing Evelyn, I've seen too much of his dark heart.

I turn away as a whiff of Thomas' smokey scent brushes past me. It's a scent I always detested, yet a scent I sought comfort in because it belonged to him.

"Maureen," Thomas speaks my name, a word so foreign from his lips. I wish it were "daffodil". "I tried everything to make sure you never fucking knew what happened out there, but you would never stay."

I clench my fists, stepping towards him. We stand near now, but the only emotion between us is betrayal and frustration. "I told you why I wouldn't stay."

"I'm helping you."

"Yes, but you did everything for me. Escaping my mother's reputation... that's something I have to do on my own."

Thomas winces at the words. "You don't have too, daffodil."

"But you hired me for a job, to be a seductress, and yet all I've done is gone to that Gala. Do you really need me?"

He takes my hand in his own. Calloused fingers brush over my knuckles, soothing and soft, so unlike the hardness he possesses. "No," he confesses. "My operation doesn't need you as a seductress anymore."

"Then I quit."

"But I need you."

I pull my hands away. "You should've said that before you decided to kill Evelyn and before..." Before you said you loved me.

I turn away from him and wipe the tears that sting my eyes. Gods, this man. Everything about him sends my heart into a burning fire, and I crave the heat of him. I let myself get scorched to charcoal, and now all that remains is just a dying flame.

This is the fate of our love.

"Daffodil..."

He takes my shoulders and spins me to face him. He removes my hands from my face so he can wipe my tears. Instead, my eyes fall down to the bandages near the collar of his shirt. It's been a few days since he's gotten shot, and I wonder how his skin heals, what the scar will look like.

Unknowingly, my fingertips brush over his shirt fabric above the wound. Those blue eyes fall down to my touch.

"I sent Levi to get you the next day, and when he said you didn't come out, I was... I was a fucking mess," Thomas admits. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

"Then what was it supposed to be like?" I breathe. "When was I ever going to find out the truth about you?"

His jaw clenches, and a tendon in his neck pulses. The answer is clear. Never.

"I just can't stand them," he says. "The Leveque's. The Patton's. The Beaulieu's. Those rich bastards just make decisions and expect the world to fall at their feet."

But I know there's more to the story. Will he tell me about his family? About his mother and sister getting stabbed? About the death of his father? Larona told me his past play a role in his story and motives, so what is it that drives him? Why won't he tell me the truth?

"So then why did you kill her?

"I had no reason to be killing Evelyn Leveque, but Frank Patton..." He scoffs. "You take him down, the construction on the research centre stops. He was my target, not Evelyn."

"Why is that your solution to this? To kill him?"

"Nothing else fucking works," he spits. "It's not the first bullet I've put in someone's chest."

I take a step back away from his touch. The blood on his hands appears darker now, because it's not just Evelyn he's killed. There's others. I just can't count how many.

His blue eyes beg for forgiveness, and for the first time ever, there's nothing holding me back from seeing straight down into his soul. He wants to bring me back to his world where he can continue to shadow me from his reality, but I refuse to live a lie.

"To think I loved you," I breathe, and I watch the man before me get his heart cut out by five words.

"I loved you. Fuck it, I still love you."

"It wasn't real," my voice shakes with every word as emotion builds up in the back of my throat. "The moment you decided to keep me in this safe protected bubble, it became a fantasy. I need honesty, Thomas. I need—"

"Maureen?"

I pause, my head swinging over to my bedroom door. The voice who disturbed me doesn't belong to Thomas, but rather, the astronaut that seems to be pitted against him.

Cato told me to stay awake for him.

I'm guessing he didn't think I would have company.

Cato's green eyes widen as recognition sets in on the intruder. "Get the fuck out of this room."

Thomas grunts with a sly smirk. "You can't keep her away from me."

Cato launches himself towards Thomas—a sight in itself—but I step between him before Cato can collide his fist to Thomas' face. Behind me, I hear the safety of a gun click off, an ironic sound despite our earlier conversations. Thomas stands with the gun pointed straight at Cato's forehead.

I set my hand on Cato's chest as he heaves with anger, then turn around to face Thomas.

"Put the gun down," I order.

After a few seconds of watching the two men stare each other down as if they were two lions ready to attack, Thomas lowers the weapon and returns it to its holster beneath his shirt.

Cato attempts to step forward, but I keep myself in front of him. He could easily push me to the side due to his bountiful amounts of strength, but instead, he lets me tame him.

"Stay away from her," Cato bellows. "Or I'll just have to kill you myself."

Thomas only releases a cold chuckle at this. "And you think you're any better than I am? I know what you're hiding."

"Get off my property."

Although Thomas puts on a smug expression for Cato, his blue eyes beg for mercy.

But I look away.

Thomas perches himself on the window—his way of entry and escape. Hell knows what climbing up here did to his shoulder.

"My door's always open for you," Thomas tells me.

Then he leaves me alone with Cato.

Cato's embrace engulfs me as the cold air of the night filters through the open window. I nestle my cheek into his shirt as a small sob escapes me.

Cato kisses my temple, his voice a soft murmur. "I'm staying here tonight, alright?"

I nod my head as he carries me over to the bed. I lay against his chest, his heartbeat taking over the sounds of the night. Cato's fingers lazily stroke through my hair, not once catching on a tangled knot.

All I wish for now is for things to go back to the way they were when I was a child, when everything seemed alright. Back then, all I needed was Cato and I. Our friendship was invincible, untouchable. We fixed each other's broken hearts.

Slowly, I let Cato's comfort mend the bullet wound in my broken heart from Thomas.

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I'm sorry it's so short! I just didn't feel motivated to write this chapter :) I just find it so difficult to write Thomas in such a vulnerable way that keeps him in character.

Anyway, hopefully I can get the next update soon!

vote & comment & share & sleep in tomorrow :)