TAINTED | Zayn Malik

Chapter 66 | Falling Down

There has never been a moment where I've regretted anything that's happen, even the horrible stuff I learned to always be optimistic. Even if it was bad, there was nothing I would give to replace any of it. I got what I deserved, there was no part of me that would've thought otherwise. You got things based on the path you took, and sometimes it was just set in stone that it couldn't be changed even if you wanted it to; But right now all I was feeling is regret.

When confronting Linda Brown, it wasn't my plan to talk about anything other than allowing Harry to stay with Erica. Because her family wasn't in town, he didn't have access to see her without them. Yet, he refused to leave her alone in this place. Which is understandable from my end, had it been Ryder. She wouldn't be out of my sight, ever. I could just the imagine everything he was feeling right now, so as a good friend. Getting him to calm down was one thing, compromising with Linda was another.

I had expected her to be more professional, focusing on the looks of Erica as her patient. But this was just a opportunity for her to say things, things she has been waiting years to say to my face. And knowing she had the higher belt in this situation, it was easier for her to get away with it. Not only was she a skillful doctor, it was also guaranteed that she was a favorite of Brooks. Not just any favorite at that, she was the one. He was crazy about her at one point, learning about that wasn't hard at all. Finding out that Ryder was his daughter was, because they kept that locked down and sealed.

By miracle I had found out that information 3 years ago, right after my son had been taken. I spent months planning out everything, in such a low moment in my life. It seemed almost impossible to find anything on him or that family, until one night after camping outside their house and seeing her mom leaving. I wouldn't have thought anything else about it if I didn't notice her wearing the hospital lab coat, which was interesting. She had the day off, and really didn't work in the testing lab besides once a month...

Following her was easy because she didn't do much to hide, doing the amateur thing. Taking shorter back routes, not checking to see if any given car was anyone she had known. It took thirty-five minutes until we were outside of a random hotel. I didn't think anything else of it, not until Brooks met her outside and she greeted him with a passionate kiss. Ryder's mom been having a affair.

At the time I knew it was a lot I could do with that information, leak it for everyone to see. Destroy her marriage, use all of that to taunt Brooks and his weakness. Show his image around the streets, exposing it all and giving the most wanted man in America a face. But I decided not to act on spite, using my anger to make the decisions wasn't smart. It just caused any fucked up problems in the end. So, I planned and did it all to have everything happen perfectly. But then, his daughter.... became my weakness. And I tried everything in my power to keep this information away from her, but it didn't work.

I wasn't surprised to see Ryder's brown eye gazing at me through the split in her mom's door, especially after she just screamed something that wasn't meant to be said. Ever. All I could do was feel sympathy for her, finding out a parent you've had all this time wasn't your actual parent is really hard to deal with... And in this moment, I just wished I could take her away from here.