Victor: Her Ruthless Crush by Theodora Taylor (beach read book TXT) 📕

I watched Victor and Phantom “talk.” Well, I watched Phantom talk. He did the same thing Victor’s father had downstairs. Blocked my sight of Victor’s hands so that I could only hear the Cantonese side of their conversation.

And I don’t want to accuse Cantonese of sounding super aggressive in general—I’ll just say that after months of listening to it, I still hadn’t been able to figure out if the speaker was happy or angry without facial cues. So with Phantom’s back turned to me, I couldn’t tell for sure how he felt about whatever Victor was telling him.

But eventually, he shoved my backpack at Victor, tossed me one (maybe final) glare, and walked out the front door.

Leaving Victor and me alone. For the first time since we’d had sex.

And he did not look nearly as happy as he had this afternoon.

Without giving me any signs whatsoever, he opened my backpack and started pulling everything out of it. The books, the art supplies, the casual clothes, and the second uniform I’d packed…

Funny, earlier this evening, Dad had reminded me of Victor when he was stomping on my phone. Now Victor reminded me of my dad as he threw everything inside my backpack to the floor.

And it felt like some kind of strange déjà vu when I demanded to know, “What are you doing?”

He dropped the backpack to sign, “What is this?”

“All my stuff,” I answered. Rising from the couch, I grabbed my backpack off the pile of my tossed-out belongings.

But before I could begin putting everything back into it, he grabbed me roughly by the chin so that I could see his other hand as he signed, “Why is all of your stuff in there?”

“Because I got into RhIDS!” I exploded, shoving his hand away from my face. I was so pissed, I threw the backpack down, so that I could sign as angrily as he was.

“I got into RhIDS,” I told him. “But my dad said I couldn’t see you again, so I came here thinking, I don’t know….”

I paused to rub my temples, still aching from everything I witnessed that night. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I guessed I thought maybe I could live here with you or something until it was time for us to go to college? To tell you the truth, I didn’t really have much of a plan past getting here.”

I shook my head, feeling dumber than dumb as I told him this out loud.

He looked down at me, probably also thinking that I was a total idiot.

Then he made a question with a sign I didn’t quite recognize.

He must’ve read the confusion on my face because he spelled out the sign when he asked his question again, “Tell me the truth. Are you a S-P-Y?”

“No!” I answered. “Before tonight, I didn’t even know there was something to spy on when it came to you. I thought your father kept you out of that stuff. Just like my dad did with me.”

For a moment, Victor stared at me, his expression furious.

But then he suddenly deflated.

“I’m sorry,” he signed. He hit me with a look that I could only describe as ravaged. “Your father hid this world from you. I hid this world from you. I wanted you to stay innocent. But I cannot make you not see what I did. What I am. Do you understand?”

Weirdly, I did understand. I also wished more than anything that I could stuff that genie back into the bottle.

“I’m sorry, too,” I signed, with extra emphasis because I meant it so much.

We stood there silent over the pile of my belongings, the shift in our relationship rocketing through us.

“You’re not going to let me go, are you?” I asked. “Not even if I promise not to tell anybody. I mean, who could I even tell? My dad is one of you.”

“He is not one of us,” Victor corrected me. “He is a criminal. But for Japan. Not for our China group. Also…”

His expression gentled, which made his next words all that more horrible. “There are many people you could tell. Many people who can use what you saw to hurt us. That is why I can’t let you go easy as you want. That is why my father told me downstairs that I had to choose. It is either Red Diamond or you.”

I nodded, wishing I didn’t get it but getting it, nonetheless.

Victor had come up here to kill me.

Strange, I almost felt numb. I always thought I’d be like that guy in the garage when faced with my own demise. But I didn’t cry. I didn’t freak out like I was thinking of in the elevator.

I just raised my chin high to ask, “May I at least have a weapon? A knife or something to defend myself?”

Victor looked at me like I was crazy.

“Dawn…” he started to sign.

“I know I don’t stand a chance,” I interrupted before he could finish. “But I don’t want to go out on my knees. If I die like that other guy, I want to go down fighting, not crying. Though, obviously, this makes me totally sad.”

It was a masochistic request. I knew how Victor operated. I’d seen it in graphic detail downstairs. He’d probably just make me turn around and put a bullet in my head. But I had to try. I thought of my parents. How they’d never know for sure what had happened to me after I ran away. They deserved better than a daughter who didn’t at least fight until the end.

“Dawn,” he signed again. “I’m not going to give you a weapon.”

Of course, he wasn’t. No surprise there. And still no tears. Maybe this was what I deserved for loving so hard and so stupid.

I ruined everything. Including my life. In the space of a few minutes. I should turn around and let him have the life Red Diamond was demanding. Just give up.

“But I liked your first plan,” Victor signed before I could. “I choose