Victoria pov
MEMORY -
I'd asked Brighton once why he hadn't just killed me immediately.
He'd thought about it for a moment. Actually considered the question.
"Because I wanted someone to know what it cost me. What you took from me. What it felt like." He looked at me. Something almost human in his expression. Underneath all the cruelty. "No one ever knows. What powerful men sacrifice. What it costs to build what I built. Everyone just sees the result. Not the price."
I stared at him.
"You are pathetic" My voice was flat. Empty.
He hurt me for that.
But the memory of what he'd said stayed.
He wanted to be understood.
Not feared. Not obeyed. Not controlled.
Understood.
That was the deepest loneliness I'd ever heard.
And also the most exploitable.
I understood him now.
Better than he understood himself.
