The Little Dove #3 ✔️

39. No More Lemon

I purse my lips, "That's not an answer."

"I was abused, time and time over, lemon. I didn't want you to see that or even know about it the closer I got to you, I just wanted you to see who I am now and that nothing before mattered, I never want you to see that side of me because...I am afraid, I'll admit that. I'm scared shitless that I'd lose you if you saw how violent I could get, if you'd be scared that I'd get that way with you, when I know I never would, I never even could because of how far I'd go to protect you, lemon. How far I've fallen in love with you." He whispers the last part, giving me a narrow-eyed look but I knew it was one of soft texture, his look that was indecipherable, meant to show me how he does feel about me, I guess.

I fold my arms, "You lied to my face, regarding Oswald, regarding the brotherhood. What did they make you do at that institute?" I ask him, knowing the answer, but waiting to see what he would answer with.

He clenches his jaw, "Why do you want to know?"

"Because it's a part of your life-" He cuts me off, harshly.

"-that's in the past. The kind of past that I don't want to fucking remember, Melanie. I hated that part of myself, I've never wanted to look back, not once. I know that you believe seeing my past will get to know me better, but I despise that part of me. You really think I want to show the woman I'm in love with regarding the part of me I hate the most, the weak one who's only ever been beaten close to death on multiple occasions and has only ever once felt happiness and that's when I'm with you." He points at me, emphasising his words.

I pinch the bridge of my eyebrow, "The night you made me a candlelit dinner, I lied about where I was. Jamison didn't give me any reports to edit, nor was I at that precinct for as long as I implied. The abandoned asylum, I went there and gathered more files of what I could on the case, it's why I was late. I've cleared my lie, I didn't involve you because yes, these cases were handed to me through Erik, whom I couldn't find until I brought Marvin in and you got sloppy when hiding your information. You didn't even try to work with my brother, you covered up countlessly with Iris and Erik, even when I accused her and was right, the bitch fought back and you covered up for her before giving me this bloody necklace, as a tracker. I'm a hypocrite since I hijacked your phone, which was a good idea considering you were a part of the crap I went through here. I worked alone to protect you, I hid from you to ensure your safety and your friends' safety was intact, you lied to me to protect them, not me and I don't think you even realise that, Edmund, I really don't." I tell him, speaking the truth and nothing but.

He closes his eyes, "I did not intentionally or deliberately try to put you in the line of fire, lemon. Talon was suppose to protect you in that library, he ran before we heard Claude Borne had punched through the ladder you were on. Forthright's must have been close by, Iris never contacted him or anything when Talon got back to us on the beach and we came straight to you." He says to me.

I give him a pissed off look, "I reached out to you, scared Forthright was going to do something and this entire fucking time, you knew it was Borne who did that to me and you said nothing?" I spit his way. He stands there stoically, pursed lips, watching me, taking the grunt of my anger. This was fair.

What wasn't fair was him just standing there. Saying something as if it would make me angrier.

"You were protecting Talon, Edmund. There's your bloody answer. You even made your friends lie during the time they exposed the fact your ID number was used, which was stupid considering Talon should have his own, but I'm going to take a wild guess and assume he forgot his card number but just used his." I wonder, gesturing with my hands.

He pinches the bridge of his nose, "I am on the student's advisor's committee, students cannot enter the library after ten unless they're on the committee, which is why he used my identification number to get in and that's why I don't understand how you got in when you're a freshman here." WHAT?-he could have said that more delicately.