Ryan didn't answer immediately.
His hands were clenched so tightly his nails bit into his palms, but he didn't seem to feel it. His chest hurt—not sharply, not enough to scream—just a constant, crushing weight, like breathing through water.
He had spent years running from this moment.
From being seen.
Finally, he let out a breath.
A controlled one.
Too controlled.
"You're right," he said.
Liam stiffened. "Ryan—"
"You're right," Ryan repeated, softer this time. "About all of it."
He lifted his head, and Liam flinched—not because Ryan looked angry, but because he didn't look anything.
"No excuses," Ryan continued. "No rewriting it. I killed because I was told to. I survived because I learned how not to feel."
His throat worked, just once.
"And I don't get to pretend that disappears because I found someone who looks at me like I'm human."
That—that—was where it hurt.
Liam swallowed. "Then why are you risking—"
"I'm not," Ryan said quietly.
He stepped back, putting space between them, like he already knew this version of himself couldn't be allowed too close to anyone.
"I won't let them reach him," he said. "I won't let them look at him and see leverage. I won't let my children grow up knowing they were hunted because of me."
His voice didn't shake.
That was the worst part.
"So I'll end it," Ryan said. "Cleanly. Completely."
Liam stared at him. "And Kia?"
Ryan's jaw tightened—not in anger, but restraint.
"Kia gets to keep believing the man he loves is real," Ryan said. "Because that man is real. He's just built on top of everything I buried."
He turned away.
"If I have to disappear again," he added, almost inaudible, "I will."
The door closed behind him.
And for the first time since they were kids, Liam felt afraid—not of the organization—
—but of the fact that Ryan had stopped hoping and that was not what he wants, he just doesn't like kia because of his own selfish desires and wanted to talk so sense into Ryan but that seems to backfire.
The Ryan that just walked out now is the one he knows and he knows that he is very dangerous at the moment. The one that walk away now has no emotions even when he kills and the funny part is that even as a omega he can kill an alphar with the training he passed through
Shit, what has he done, he just fucked up, if he had new that this is what will happen, he would have shut his own mouth up before he even said anything.
He should be happy that Ryan is back but why did it feel like he just make the greatest mistake of his entire existence
Author pov: good morning my darlings 😊