When Villains Rise (Market of Monsters #3) - Rebecca Schaeffer Page 0,110
couldn’t see the truth anymore, couldn’t understand what his own emotions were, had let them all be replaced by whatever person he needed to be in any given moment to survive.
Nita sighed softly and went to Kovit. She took his hand in hers and looked up at Fabricio. She would never forgive him for selling her on the black market. But she didn’t have to forgive him to leave him alone and move on with her life.
“Goodbye, Fabricio,” Nita said. “Let’s never meet again.”
He smiled softly and turned away, walking toward the door. “Goodbye, Nita. Goodbye, Kovit. Good luck.”
And then he was gone.
Forty-Four
AFTER FABRICIO LEFT, Nita went to the nurses to get a wheelchair and told their guard they were going to go for a walk in the hospital garden. Nita wanted to talk to Kovit, and she didn’t want to risk the guard overhearing. She wasn’t even sure their guard spoke English, but that didn’t matter. She just operated on the assumption the room was bugged.
Nita helped Kovit into the wheelchair, and the guard followed as they made their way to the elevator and down to the first floor. Kovit was conscious and in control now, so even though the pain flowed into him from all sides, it was only rarely that the shaking ecstasy from other people’s agony was too much for him to suppress and he’d give a soft, low moan of pleasure, before they passed away from the patient out of range and he’d settle again.
Behind them, the officer shuddered every time he heard Kovit’s voice.
It was still raining outside, but part of the garden was covered. Nita politely asked the guard to give them some privacy, and he agreed, looking askance at Kovit. Nita ignored his looks and wheeled Kovit into the garden. The flowers were in full bloom, massive pink and purple blossoms perching on bushes and small white flowers in trees.
The rain washed a petal off a tree, and it fluttered softly to the ground under Kovit’s pensive gaze.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Nita asked, sitting on a bench beside him.
He blinked and looked up at her, eyes soft. “Just thinking.”
“About?”
“What’ll happen now.” He watched the rain fall. “Trials. Publicity. I’m never going to be anonymous again.”
“No,” Nita admitted. “Probably not.”
“And for the next while, the world will be watching. Even though I have Fabricio’s lawyer now, I’m going to have to be very careful. I’m going to have to behave like the person I’m pretending to be.” He made a disgusted face. “I’m going to have to be good.”
Nita burst into laughter at the horrified expression. “You are. No torture, no murder, no threats.”
He groaned softly. “Ugh. Really? Nothing?”
“Nope.”
“I could hide it.”
“There’s too many eyes on you. You’d be found out.” Nita smiled slightly. “You’re going to have to put on your tragic hero face and brood for the next few years.”
He sighed heavily. “If I must.” He looked up, toward the sky and grudgingly admitted, “Maybe it’s not such a bad thing.”
Nita tilted her head. “Pardon?”
“I wanted a way off the hamster wheel. I wanted a chance to force myself into a completely different life, just to get out of this toxic cycle. Well, there’s nothing more different than having to behave like a good person. None of my old habits are allowed. I’ll have to completely reform my image.”
She looked at him. “You’re not actually seriously thinking of becoming a good person?”
“God, no.” He burst into laughter. “Obviously, it won’t be real. I’d never actually be good. I like hurting people. Far too much to ever stop.” He shrugged. “But as long as I behave in a ‘moral’ way or whatever, no one’s ever going to know I don’t give a shit, right?”
Nita snorted. “True enough.”
“And . . .” He hesitated. “I need to prove something to my sister. To all of them.”
“What?”
“That I’m in control.” His voice was hard. “My sister thought it was lack of control that makes me hurt people. That I succumb to my need for pain in dark ways, like an out-of-control serial killer. But it’s nothing so excusable. I genuinely enjoy it. And I’m not going to stop.” His gaze was intense. “There’s a difference between not having control and hurting people because you can’t help it, and hurting people because you just don’t care. I don’t think my sister quite realizes how . . .” His smile turned bitter. “Well, to use her words, how ‘evil’ I am.”