Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Achilles
you broke me first – Tate McRae
If someone made a painting of this, it would portray the biggest treachery in the history of humankind.
Forget The Last Supper, where everyone was na?vely trusting their own.
This Judas is facing his sins without shame.
This is tearing people's hearts out in the most savage way.
The mix of confusion, betrayal, and denial should be enough to trigger apologies to flow from my lips, but they get nothing.
Hanging jaw from Alex, tears in Ella's eyes, Chris’s expression so cold, he might have frozen in time. Peach's mouth is opening and closing like a fish out of water. Even her fiery personality can't handle this one. And Wren…I've never seen such fury on someone's face.
"Hate me all you want. I can take it," I say with a voice that shows no regret. Probably because I have none. "But leave Nyx alone."
It's Peach who says the first words, since she's the warrior out of all of us.
"I can't believe it… That's not possible."
I pull my phone out, log into the account, and turn the screen toward them. "It's the truth whether you want to accept it or not."
"All those things you've said about us," Ella croaks, blinking tears down her face. "The horrors, the secrets…"
I let the silence fill the room as I put my phone back in my pocket, and that triggers Peach.
"Say something," she hisses. "You betrayed us!"
I run a hand through my hair, messing up the black locks.
"I'm not saying anything because I know what you want to hear, and I can't give it to you."
"What do we want to hear?" she insists.
Alex takes an instinctive step back when I move forward, and I'll admit, it hurts.
I look at all of them as I say, "You want apologies that you're not going to get.
And you want to hear that I'll stop when I won't. I have my reasons for my actions, and they're more important than you or our friendship.
You knowing doesn't change anything. I only told you so that you wouldn't go after Nyx. "
"Why would you do this? H-How could you fuck us over like this?" Wren mumbles, more to himself than to me. He's looking for the reason, and he won't find it.
He looks at me, then Peach, and when his eyes are on mine again, they burn with hatred.
"The things you put Peach through—"
He barely finishes his sentence, jumping me and tackling me to the floor.
"Wren!" Ella shouts.
I manage to avoid his punch and push him off me. I don't want to hurt him; I've caused enough damage, so I put an arm in front of me as we both get up.
"Don't! Guys, please don't," Alex rushes out as she tries to get between us.
It's Chris who ends up holding him back.
"Not helping," he says to him.
"I don't want to fight you," I tell him. "I know how you're feeling. And when I'm done taking down the Circle, I'll explain. Fuck, I'm getting us all out. I can't stop when I'm so close to my goal."
Wren doesn't dare push Alex out of the way as he jerks himself out of Chris's hold.
"When you talk about taking the Silent Circle down, you know it includes us.
" Ella's voice is weak from the betrayal.
"You spent years building that account, only talking about members of the Circle in your posts just to keep attention on us.
Just to get to the point of outing us slowly.
What do you have that's going to end us? "
"I know it's a lot to ask, considering what you just learned, but I need you to trust me."
"You don't want our trust," Peach spits out.
"You don't trust us, or you would’ve told us your plan and your motives from the beginning.
Instead, you kept us out. You want to fight this on your own, Achilles?
Okay. You don't need us then. After everything you put me through last year, the blackmail hiding behind Hermes… Fuck you. Don't ever talk to me again."
Peach is the first to leave, followed closely by her fiancé, who barges into my shoulder as he stalks past me. Ella and Chris are out the door next without a word. She's too shaken, and he thinks before he acts. He won't do anything until he truly grasps what's going on.
Only Alex is left behind. She looks up at me with her hazel eyes full of mercy.
"I know who you are deep down. You don't think lives are disposable like that.
Whatever reasons you might have, I believe that they're important enough to ruin our friendship.
So I want to tell you something... We're not the only ones who thought Nyx was Hermes.
People from the newspaper were threatening to out her.
Evelyn started spreading rumors while you were in New York.
And you know her and Calvin Park are initiating this year.
I wouldn't be surprised if she told people in the Circle.
Nyx isn't safe, and it's because of you. "
I follow her with my gaze as she walks away but stops before reaching the door. She looks over her shoulder and pinches her lips, clearly stopping herself from crying.
"This hurts. And I'll miss the man I thought I could trust with anything."
She leaves me speechless, as she's the last one to walk away.
Maybe Nyx's good-girl effect had more impact on me than I thought.
Maybe I was never the asshole everyone calls me.
Or maybe I have such a broken family that those guys are all I have.
All I know is that betraying my best friends feels like I just lost a piece of myself.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out to read a text from Nyx.
Mon trésor: Can you meet me there? I've been thinking.
There's a live location attached, and I click on it. It's somewhere in the woods of the North Shore. Good. I've had enough of the South Bank.
I'm driving over the bridge that leads to the North Shore when I receive another text from Nyx.
Mon trésor: Dontco dont'. comnee. Don't come. Ilovyou
My heart plunges to my stomach. The live location has ended, and the text is as ominous as one could get. She was clearly struggling to type. Either shaking or moving. Something's wrong.
I'm just glad I already put the location in my GPS. I'm going right where she is. Could it be that someone who thinks she's Hermes is hurting her? My friends aren't the only ones who believe the only intruder in our college is Nyx, and that she must be the one who’s taking her anger out on us.
Stupid fucking rich kids.
I'm zooming through back roads, entering the forest, and not slowing down until I'm seeing the tree line.
The pavement turned into a dirt road a few minutes ago, and it's just stopping in the middle of the forest. Leaving my lights on, I jump out of my car and hurry to where Nyx's is. But she's not there.
"Nyx," I call out.
I run toward the trees, panic gripping my chest. What if she's hurt?
I'll kill them. I'll puncture tiny holes in their bodies and hang them upside down. I'll watch them slowly bleed to death for days and make them repeat over and over what happens when they touch my girl.
"Nyx!" I roar through the trees.
Leaves rustle to my right, and she appears out of nowhere, as if she was purposely hiding in the darkness.
"Baby." I let out a relieved breath as I jog to her.
"What are you doing here?" she says, voice trembling. "I told you not to come."
I take her head between my palms, holding her still.
"Fuck," I breathe out. "You scared me. I thought something happened."
"Achilles—"
"We need to leave. I'm worried." I press my forehead against hers. "I'm worried because I fucked up, and now people are going to want to hurt you."
I don't know why I'm talking so fast, so out of breath, like she's escaping me, and I must keep her by my side.
She looks into my soul, her wide eyes gripping me.
"My friends thought you were Hermes. I'm the one who made them doubt you at first. Because I thought you were sent by my father as some sort of bait, and the way I treated you…they thought you wanted revenge. Now other people think that too. Look…"
I huff, worried if I spill everything, she'll run away, but if I don't, we'll never move forward. We'll never be able to fully trust each other. I'm close enough to taking down the Circle that I can share this with her.
But how am I supposed to put my thoughts together when everything is falling apart, just when I was so close to my goal? It's too late to come back now anyway, and if one person can help me survive this, it's my treasure.
My ears are ringing, my heart beating so loudly in them when I look straight into her eyes.
"I'm Hermes, Nyx."
She takes a step back, her face falling, but I grab her hands, not wanting to let her get away. I'm never letting her go.
"What?" The shock and betrayal in her voice slashes through my gut. "You were the one behind those horrible posts about me?"
"I–"
"You asked everyone at SFU to make me feel unwelcome before I even stepped foot there." Her tone tells me she can hardly believe it, so I justify myself.
"I thought my father was sending you after me. I was trying to deter you from coming to our college."
She shakes her head, jaw hanging. And I see the second something else comes to her mind. "You shared that CCTV of us. The one in the music hall, when you kissed me."
"I was selfish," I admit. "I knew I could use it to blackmail you, to threaten you when it came to Chase."
She looks up as if she’s trying to blink back tears. "We never should’ve met. We should’ve stayed out of each other’s way. This," she says as she points between us, "was doomed from the very first second." Her eyes are on me again, bright with unshed tears. "You’re Hermes."
This is worse than coming clean to my friends.