25 #3
Her mouth opens. Closes. No sound comes out.
I leave her there. Broken and terrified in her perfect office with a dead body bleeding out on her perfect carpet.
The four of us walk down the executive hallway in silence. Past the expensive art. Past the other security guards who take one look at our faces and decide not to intervene.
We get into the elevator. The doors close.
And then—
"What the fuck was that?" Lucius's voice explodes into the silence. "Landon, what the actual fuck—"
"I removed a problem," Landon repeats calmly. "He was going to escalate the situation. I de-escalated it."
"You murdered him!" Tristan's voice is sharp. Clinical. "You drove a fountain pen through his carotid artery and watched him bleed out!"
"Yes." Landon looks at him with those empty eyes. "I did."
The elevator is descending. Floor after floor. The numbers counting down above the door.
I'm staring at Landon. Really staring at him. Trying to reconcile the man I've known since childhood with the person who just casually executed someone and then threatened to murder my mother.
"How long?" I ask quietly.
He looks at me. Tilts his head slightly. "How long what?"
"How long have you been like this?"
Understanding flickers across his face. "Like what, Evander?"
"A psychopath."
The word hangs in the air. Brutal. Clinical. Accurate.
Landon doesn't flinch. Doesn't deny it. Just smiles that terrible, empty smile.
"Since birth, probably," he says conversationally. "Genetics, you know. My grandfather on my mother's side was diagnosed. Never treated, of course—too wealthy for that. But the traits run in families."
He pauses.
"I learned very young how to hide it. How to perform empathy. How to smile and say the right things and make people think I was the golden boy instead of what I actually am."
"And what are you actually?" Lucius asks. His voice is careful. Wary.
Landon's smile widens. "The thing in the dark that even monsters are afraid of."
The elevator reaches the parking garage. The doors open.
We step out into the concrete space. Marcus is waiting by the car, his face carefully neutral.
We get in. Same configuration as before—me, Tristan, and Lucius in the back. Landon in the front passenger seat.
Marcus pulls out of the garage. Heads back toward campus at more reasonable speeds this time.
The silence in the car is suffocating.
I'm processing. Trying to understand. Trying to reconcile ten years of friendship with the realization that one of my closest friends is a genuine psychopath who just murdered someone to protect me.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Landon says quietly. He's looking straight ahead, not turning around. "Any of you. You're my family. The only people I've ever actually cared about."
"Cared about," Tristan repeats slowly. "Or found useful?"
"Both." Landon's voice is honest. Direct. "I care about you the way I'm capable of caring. Which isn't the same way normal people care. But it's real. In its own way."
He pauses.
"I killed that man because he was a threat to Evander. I threatened Aunt Laurent because she was a threat to Evander's happiness. Everything I do is calculated. Controlled. Designed to protect the people I've decided matter."
"And everyone else?" Lucius asks.
"Everyone else is just... scenery." Landon says it so simply. Like it's obvious. "Background characters in the story of my life. They don't matter."
The car drives through the city. Past buildings and traffic and people who have no idea that four young men just committed murder and threatened a billionaire matriarch.
"Are you going to tell anyone?" Landon asks. Still not turning around.
"No," I say immediately.
Tristan and Lucius echo the sentiment. "No."
Because what would we tell them? That our best friend is a psychopath? That he killed someone to protect us? That he's been performing empathy for twenty-one years and we never noticed?
And more importantly—do we care?
I think about the security guard. The one Landon killed. Do I feel bad about his death?
No.
I feel... nothing. He was a threat. Landon removed the threat. Problem solved.
Maybe that makes me a monster too. Maybe my mother was right about what she created.
I don't care.
The car pulls onto campus. Drives through the main gates. Heads toward the Elite housing buildings.
My phone is heavy in my pocket. Aurora's number is saved. All I have to do is call her. Tell her what we found. Tell her she's safe now.
Tell her to come back.
But I'm afraid. Genuinely, deeply afraid.
What if she meant what she said? What if it wasn't just a script my mother forced her to deliver? What if Aurora actually wants to be done with me?
"Call her," Tristan says quietly. "Before you lose your nerve."
I pull out my phone. Stare at her contact.
Aurora Lane. The girl who told me to fuck off in the library. The girl who stabbed a pen through my notebook. The girl who kissed me with desperate fury in a locker room.
The girl who looked me in the eye and said I meant nothing.
My thumb hovers over the call button.
"She was lying," Landon says. He's turned around now, looking at me over the seat. "I watched the video footage from the courtyard cameras. Every word she said was scripted. Rehearsed. She didn't mean any of it."
"How do you know?"
"Because I know what real performance looks like." His smile is softer now. Almost genuine. "And she's not that good at it. You just couldn't see it because you were too close."
The car pulls up to my building. Stops.
We all sit there for a moment. Processing. Adjusting to the new reality where Landon is something other than what we thought.
"I'm still the same person," Landon says quietly. "I've always been this. You just didn't know it."
"That's not reassuring," Lucius mutters.
"It's not meant to be." Landon opens his door. Steps out. "It's just the truth."
He closes the door. Walks toward his own building without looking back.
Tristan and Lucius exchange a look.
"That just happened," Lucius says.
"Yes."
"Our best friend is a psychopath who murders people."
"Yes."
"And we're just... okay with that?"
Tristan is quiet for a long moment. Then: "He's been this way for twenty-one years and we're all still alive. I think we're safe."
"That's a low bar for friendship."
"We're not exactly normal people, Lucius." Tristan opens his door. "None of us are."
He gets out. Lucius follows.
And then it's just me in the back of the car. Marcus in the driver's seat. Aurora's contact still pulled up on my phone.
"Sir?" Marcus says quietly. "Would you like me to drive somewhere else? Or are you going to call her?"
I stare at the screen. At her name. At the proof that I could reach her right now if I just worked up the courage.
"I'm going to call her," I say.
"Good." Marcus doesn't elaborate. Just waits.
I take a breath. Press the call button.
It rings once.
Twice.
Three times.
And then—
"Hello?"
Her voice. Rough. Like she's been crying. Or hasn't slept. Or both.
My throat closes up. Can't speak. Can't form words.
"Evander?" Quieter now. Uncertain. "Is that you?"
"I know what she did," I manage to say. My voice is hoarse. Raw. "I know my mother threatened Liam. I know she forced you to leave."
Silence on the other end. Then a sharp intake of breath.
"How did you—"
"It doesn't matter." I close my eyes. "Are you safe? Is Liam safe?"
"I—" She sounds confused. Off-balance. "I'm at Mrs. Calloway's. Liam's asleep. We're fine."
"My mother won't bother you again." The words come out flat. Final. "She won't threaten Liam. Won't touch you. Won't come anywhere near you. I made sure of it."
"Evander, what did you do?"
"What I should have done years ago." I open my eyes. Stare out the car window at the campus I'm probably going to leave. "I chose you over her. Over Laurent Global. Over everything she spent twenty-one years conditioning me to prioritize."
Another silence. Longer this time.
"I didn't mean what I said," Aurora whispers. "In the courtyard. I didn't mean any of it."
"I know."