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Y/N'S MIND WAS spinning as she sat on the edge of the couch, her hands gripping the armrest tightly. Nicholas sat across from her, his posture tense but his eyes soft. The tension of the room was suffocating. She could feel it pressing against her skin, the quiet thrum of her heartbeat louder in her ears than it had ever been before.
Everything he had told her before, broke her heart, they were just kids, confused and broken kids, exposed to a world at the hands of an abusive father and an emotionally absent mother.
She was stiff, and her press conference was the talk of the city—her stance, her defense of the investigation, everything was public now, and yet, something felt incomplete. The answers she needed couldn't come from the evidence or from Claire's doubts; they had to come from Nicholas.
But nonetheless, she needed answers.
She met his gaze, her eyes narrowed as she searched his face, looking for the boy she used to know. She could still see him, beneath the layers of time and guilt. "I need to ask you something," Y/N said, her voice cracking slightly.
click
Nicholas swallowed hard, his body visibly tensing as he braced for what was coming. "Go ahead."
Y/N took a deep breath, every fiber of her being resisting her verbal abilities. But she had to say the words, she had to ask the question. She was driven by curiosity, and regret.
"Did you kill them, Nicholas? Did you kill José and Kitty?"
Nicholas stared at her, his expression unreadable at first, but slowly, cracks began to form in his carefully guarded mask. He clenched his jaw, his fists tightening at his sides. His eyes shimmered with something she hadn't seen before—fear.
For a long moment, there was only silence, the consequences of her question hung in the air like a knife, sharp and deadly. Then, Nicholas exhaled sharply, a sound that was half a sob, half a bitter laugh. He rubbed his face with his hands, pacing a few steps before finally turning to face her, the weight of years pressing down on his shoulders.
"No, Y/N. I didn't kill José and Kitty."
His voice broke as he stood up, pacing the room like a caged animal. "We don't have a choice but to run away from it all, hide away, move into new places to start over because the press is ruining us. I can't believe they think we could do such a thing. They think Lyle, Eric, and I, murdered them together."
The word together hung like heavy fog, and Y/N felt a lump form in her throat. She had heard that word before, minutes ago, when Nicholas had confided in her. The way they said it, how his voice cracked when he told her about the torment and control his parents caused.
