“You’ve gone soft, Victoria.”
“It’s Paige. You shouldn’t have taken him. He has nothing to do with this.”
The corners of his mouth slightly curved upward.
“Untie him,” I demanded.
A soft chuckle erupted from him. “That’s not how this works. You know better than that.”
“I know what you did. How could you? You were my father’s best friend. You were like a brother to him.”
“Your father was weak. You weren’t supposed to be in the car that night. But when I got word you were and barely alive, I had them bring you to me. You were our first, Vic—Paige.”
“You had no right!” I shouted.
“Oh, please. I can do anything I want. I honestly thought we perfected you. Then, after a few years, your old memories started to resurface, and I couldn’t have that. It was the one thing we realized we hadn’t perfected yet. The others were successfullyeliminated. I thought you were, too. Imagine my surprise when I saw you standing in my gallery. Clever girl, leaving some of your teeth scattered amongst the ashes so the medical examiner could identify you.”
“You built and taught me to eliminate threats. You were a threat to me,” my voice was steady.
“I taught you control!” He shouted, his fist slamming against the wall. “What you’re feeling right now, this need to protect him,” he pointed at Parker, “that’s a flaw. You were almost perfect. Unbreakable. And then you let something as weak as emotions compromise you.”
“Say that again,” I said.
“I said?—”
I held my gun up in the air and fired. The bullet hit the metal beam inches from his head.
“I’m not the same person you created, not anymore. And you don’t get to stand there and pretend you still control anything.”
His hand reached inside his suit coat pocket, and I fired a bullet into his right leg. He screamed and dropped to the ground, gripping his leg.
“You think walking in here, alone, driven by emotion, is control?” He muttered.
“Yes, I do. And now I’m going to end you and all traces of Hearthstone and Project Nightfall. Nobody will ever do again what you have done,” I spat through gritted teeth. “You took my life, my family, everything!” I shouted.
“I gave you safety!” he spat. “I turned you into a weapon so nobody could ever hurt you again.”
My brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Ah, those memories never resurfaced, did they?”
“What memories?”
“The one where your father snuck into your room in the middle of the night.”
“Shut up!” I shouted.
“It only happened once because he told your mother what he had done. She was distraught and told me what had happened. She begged for my help. Any man who could do that to a child, let alone his own daughter, didn’t deserve help. He deserved to die. Unfortunately, your mother was caught in the crosshairs of my decision. She wasn’t supposed to be in the car that night, and neither were you. I was saving you from that monster.”
“You’re lying!” I gritted my teeth.
“I can assure you I’m not. You were dying. I had no choice. There wasn’t a doctor in the world capable of saving you, not like we did.”
“That wasn’t your choice to make!” I shouted, jamming the gun into his forehead.
He breathed out a laugh. “Don’t you see, Paige? I made it so you wouldn’t relive that horrible moment again and again over the course of your life. At least I removed what would have destroyed you. I took that from you. The memory. The pain. I made sure you never had to carry it around. But when I learned your memories were starting to resurface, I became worried. So again, I had to make sure you never remembered what happened.”
“Bullshit!” I shouted. “You were only worried for yourself and your operation. You wanted me dead so I couldn’t talk or tell anyone what you were doing.”