Chapter 48 Psychopath

Chapter 48 Psychopath
My lips trembled and Nina let out a shrill laughter.
I just couldn't believe my ears. I desperately wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole.

"You...you knew all along?" I stammered, obviously frightened and at the verge of tears.

Nina shrugged. "at first, I had my suspicions. Then I needed to confirm it." Nina paused. "do you think Kevin wrote that note that made you scramble all the way to the club that night?" Nina snorted. "And then I had to watch you both closely and I discovered you both were deep in your pathetic romance..."

I scoffed and tried to blink back the tears in my eyes. "if you claim you know everything, then you must also know that I and Kevin were involved even before this whole arrangement." I said as if trying to prove a point.

"You mean your pathetic one night stand? I knew about it too but that's not the point, and it doesn't even matter now." Nina said mockingly.

"It does matter and everything can be resolved because Kevin is not even your real son to begin with." I said.

Nina's brows pecked up in surprise. "I see he already told you... And here I thought you both are just two horny bastards. Who knew your affair would run this deep?"

Nina was impossible and I was lost for words.

The air around me thinned so fast I felt like I’d been shoved underwater without warning. My mouth opened but nothing came out, just a shuddering breath that tasted a little like panic and a lot like humiliation. I had thought I was already drowning in everything she’d said so far, but this—her reaction, her tone, the way she dragged every piece of my life out like dirty laundry—this felt like someone pushing my head deeper into the water and holding it there.

I stared at her, my throat tightening until it burned. My mind kept scrambling for something to say, something to defend myself with, something that would make her stop talking, but my thoughts were a mess—scattered, trembling, bleeding at the edges.

I had known Nina was cruel, manipulative, twisted in ways that made my stomach churn… but hearing her speak about me and Kevin like we were some entertainment she’d been waiting to expose, like our pain was her personal victory, made something inside me collapse.

“I…” The word barely escaped. It felt useless. Small. Pathetic—exactly how she wanted me to feel.

Nina’s smile sharpened. She thrived in moments like this, I realized—moments where she could watch someone unravel slowly, painfully, beautifully for her enjoyment. Her eyes sparkled with a satisfaction that made my skin crawl. She didn’t just know the truth—she loved knowing it hurt me.

A tremor ran through my hands, so I hid them behind my back, but of course she noticed. She noticed everything. Her gaze flicked down and then back up to my face with an expression that said good… keep breaking.

My chest tightened again. I swallowed, but my throat felt like sandpaper. My voice was barely audible when I tried to speak. “Why… why would you go so far?” It wasn’t really a question; more like an exhausted whisper that leaked out without permission.

Even I, didn’t fully understand what I was asking. Why pretend to care about my father? Why marry him? Why use Kevin? Why watch me like a hawk? Why turn every part of my life into a weapon?

Her lips curled, but she didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. The silence said enough—that she had no intention of explaining herself to me, no guilt, no shame. She enjoyed this too much.

I felt myself retreating inside, like I was trying to fold into the smallest version of myself just to escape her shadow. It was the same feeling I had as a child hiding under my bed during thunderstorms, except this storm had a name, a face, and a smile sharp enough to cut skin.

My heartbeat echoed in my ears, too loud, too fast. I pressed my lips together hard, trying to hold back the hot tears threatening to spill. She had already taken too much from me today. My dignity was hanging by a thread—I wasn’t about to give her my tears too.

But the truth was brutal:
She knew everything.
She had been watching.
Manipulating.
Pulling strings I didn’t even know existed.

And I was only just realizing how deep her claws reached.

I felt small, maybe just too small.
Like she’d peeled back every layer of me and exposed the most fragile parts without even blinking.

My voice failed me entirely.
My courage disappeared.
My breath hitched.

And still… she stared at me like she was only just getting started.

She continued. "If he told you that then you must also know that he's obviously in a pickle because of his father, which I must admit you are in the same shithole now," Nina said with a sly smirk.

Horror masked my expression. I felt it stretch across my face like something involuntary, something primal—fear, disbelief, cold dread rising all at once. “What did you do to my father?” The words came out thin, almost shaky, my voice sounding like it belonged to a much younger version of myself.

Nina tilted her head slightly, almost playfully, as if my terror amused her. “Nothing. Except that he found out that Kevin isn’t my real son and that I’d been lying to him all along about the merge.” She giggled—actually giggled—and the sound made my stomach twist. “Your father now knows that my company’s proposal for a merge isn’t really a merge but an acquisition. You should have been there to see the look on his face…” She laughed cynically, a sharp, metallic sound that didn’t belong in a hospital corridor. “That’s why I blame you… because you did that to him!”

Her tone changed so abruptly it felt like a slap. Heat rushed through my chest, then cold, like all the blood in my body was trying to retreat at once. My breath stuttered.

“If I didn’t find out about you and Kevin maybe it would have just been a merge and this whole thing wouldn’t have happened, but you brought this upon yourself, you brought this upon your father!” Nina hissed under her breath.

I flinched, my whole body tightening, and the tears I couldn’t blink back finally threaded down my cheeks. I hated that she could see them. I hated how powerless I felt under her gaze, like I was a child again, caught doing something wrong—even though I wasn’t the one who’d done anything monstrous.

I shook my head slowly, like my mind was wading through something thick and suffocating. A gnawing sense of realization—or maybe fury—started to coil inside me. “It’s not me, Nina,” I whispered, though every word scraped against my throat. “It’s you. You would have carried out your plan anyway because you are one greedy psychopath.”

Her expression twisted instantly. “How dare—”

She was about to hit me, her hand already lifting, when the nurse approached us.