Chapter 149: The Deplorables (1/2)

”I don't know…” I chanted. ”But you're wrong about one thing. He's closer to my age that he is thirty-five.” I didn't want to talk about the implications, so I added in my deduction. ”Alicia was a couple of years older than me. And if she had a partner, it would be someone who was closer to her age. She wanted a family… she wanted love stories… and that's why she would choose someone who she could see herself in a romantic relationship with.”

Sebastian furrowed his brow.

”What are you thinking about?” I whispered.

”I have this feeling that I know something but I just can't grasp it. I don't know what it is.” He tugged at his hair harshly and I stopped him.

”Okay, don't do this to yourself,” I hissed. ”We can slowly figure it out, okay?”

He patted my hand and smiled. ”Well, I'll keep thinking about it. Can we go home now?” he pleaded.

I snickered before nodding. ”I'll just take a picture of this and go with you.”

And I did just that.

As we walked out of the station, the people on night duty bid us goodbye.

”How is the BTS case going for you?” I asked as we neared the car in the parking lot.

Sebastian sighed. ”They won't allow me to work outside the station and won't allow me to talk to anyone. Whatever information I had is still constant. I haven't found anything ground breaking to find the identity of this person.”

He opened the passenger's side and watched me slide in. He jogged over to the other side and slid in.

I found myself surreptitiously looking at the mirrors to see if anyone was lurking in the distance. I could see no one who stood out. But that was the problem, this guy didn't stand out.

”Stop looking at the mirror,” Sebastian said firmly.

I jerked up, my train of thought broken by his words. I hummed.

”This car is bullet proof. I never told you this, but I bought it with the intent that it couldn't be destroyed. Even if he comes at it with tools or fires at it, he won't be able to get to you,” he assured.

I looked at him with surprise. ”I didn't know that. You should have told me earlier,” I said.

”I also asked the security guard to not allow any delivery people or anyone who doesn't live in the building to come in,” he said. ”I even have a list of the residents with me. No one is coming near our house ever again.”

”You took a lot of effort to get this, didn't you?” I asked.

”My dad is in the security business. He was in the military for a while and he owns his own business. He is a guest professor at universities, too. I learned from the best,” he added with a light smile.

I could hear the strain in his voice. I had never really heard him speak about his dad. We had been together for so long and he had asked me to marry him, but I had never seen his family.

”Don't you have a good relationship with your family?” I asked. One of my motives was to find out more about him. I never pressured him into talking, so this was a good opportunity to make him speak when he was ready to open up. Another motive was to keep my thoughts away from the danger that lurked under the shadows.

”It's not like we are on bad terms, just that we don't talk to one another much,” he started. I nodded at him to coax him into continuing. ”My dad is a genius in his own right and my mother is a highly intelligent woman. Their genes did a wonderful job at creating a perfect specimen like me.”

That comment made me smile.

”But as a young boy, there were high expectations from me. I was way ahead of any student in school or even the teachers at the time, but it was not enough. He pushed me to be my best self. Emotions were a hindrance and had no use in the world. He didn't let my mother coddle me or do it himself. It was like living with a matron all my life.”

No wonder he turned out so isolated.