Leo
"I am so tired of listening to your bullshit!" I yelled at him, the sound echoing off the walls of the dark villa.
I tried to violently twist my body away from his grip, but he held onto me even tighter, trapping me in place. "Miller, please, just let me go."
Miller completely refused to release me. Instead, he used his size to pull me tightly into his arms, crushing my chest against his. "We promised that we wouldn’t let anything get in between us, Leo. We promised we would always resolve things together. Which is exactly why you need to know what happened, and that’s exactly what I am going to tell you. I... I just..."
He stuttered yet again, his voice faltering. Even though I was entirely ready to give him a second chance at that moment, even though I was actively waiting to listen to his explanation, his hesitation spoke volumes. He was stalling, and it only proved that my instincts were completely right. He had gone to Gerald to gossip about my family’s dark history.
"Stuttering," I said slowly, my voice turning cold and clinical. "From a psychological and physiological standpoint, when an individual stutters during a confrontation, it indicates a severe cognitive load. It means the brain is actively working to construct a fabricated narrative to hide the truth."
"It’s not a fabrication, Leo—"
"Then why won’t you just tell me!" I yelled out loud.
The anger that I had been building up all night long completely exploded all at once. "Why do you keep lying to me like everyone else does!" My screams grew louder, the pure rage entirely shattering the mental blocks I had spent days constructing.
I could feel my control slipping away completely. The dark, heavy walls inside my mind crumbled, and my pheromones came rushing out of my body like a flood.
A thick, suffocating scent of black charcoal violently filled the entire living room, heavy and completely overwhelming.
In a blind fit of rage, I slammed my palms against his chest to push him off me.
The physical strength behind the shove was immense, fueled entirely by the sudden release of my pheromones as my Enigma side took complete control over my body.
"I am so tired of you lying to me when you could have just told me the truth!" I yelled angrily, my chest heaving as I blinked through the darkness.
But as the smoke of my anger cleared, I suddenly realized that Miller was no longer standing in front of me. I looked across the room, and my heart completely stopped.
He had been flung backward with terrifying force, his body colliding hard against the far wall before sliding down onto the floorboards.
I didn’t shove him that hard, did I? I wondered frantically, my mind spinning into pure panic as I looked closely at him.
My eyes widened in absolute horror when the light caught his face. A dark stream of blood was trailing down the side of his temple, dripping onto his jaw.
"Oh my God... Miller," I screamed.
My knees shook violently. I wanted to take a desperate step towards him, to help him up, but my boots felt like they were glued to the floor. I remained frozen on the exact spot where I stood.
"I did that to you," I whispered, lifting a trembling hand and hitting my own chest. "I pushed you... and now you are hurt because of me."
Tears instantly welled up in my eyes, completely blurring my vision as the sheer guilt crushed me, and I just let them fall.
Miller slowly stood up from the floor, using the wall for support. He reached up, wiping the blood streaming down his face with the back of his sleeve, his eyes fixed on me. He didn’t look angry; he just looked deeply concerned as he started heading straight towards me.
But the moment he moved, I took a panicked step backwards.
"Don’t come closer!" I shouted, my voice cracking with pure terror. "Don’t come near me, Miller! I could hurt you again!"
I gripped my head in my hands, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps. "I told you, Miller. I told you that coming to this island was a bad idea. I told you that this would never work. And now... now I have actually hurt you with my own hands. I pushed you and..."
I gasped for air as I stared at the blood on his face.
The dark, terrifying memories of my father suddenly flooded my brain—memories of him losing control, using his immense Enigma strength to hurt the people he loved just to vent his own internal anger.
It was happening all over again. I was turning into him.
I couldn’t stand there for another second.
As Miller almost reached me, his hand extending out to grab me, I panicked completely.
"I... I can’t be here," I choked out.
Before he could touch me, I shoved past his extended arm, turning on my heel and rushing straight out of the front door into the pitch-black night.
I couldn’t stay in that house with him, not after what I had just done, so I fled into the darkness.
I ran blindly into the night, the humid island air rushing past me as I sprinted away from the villa, having absolutely no idea where the hell I was even going.
What the hell have I done?
The question rang repeatedly in my head, over and over like a cruel loop. I had hurt him because I couldn’t contain my anger.
I was just so terrified that he would find out about my family’s dark past and end up hating me for it.
I had tried so hard to hide that monstrous side of myself from him, but because of my own fear, I ended up doing the one thing I promised I never would. He was bleeding, and it was entirely because of me.
Because of me