Page 12 of Outcast’s Return

“Yes. We were. I thought you would figure it out. You’ve always been smart like that.”

“And you hate her now?” he asks me.

I raise an eyebrow.

“It’s a long story.”

“And obviously, Clement?”

“He doesn’t know,” I mutter. “He’s never known.”

“Yeah. Good. And I wouldn’t tell him if I were you, even if it were in the past, not unless you wanted to die.”

“Yep.”

Baptiste watches me for a moment like he’s solving a difficult equation.

“She broke your heart, didn’t she?” he asks quietly.

I growl and look away.

“She’s why you’ve sworn off women, isn’t she? She ruined you.”

I swallow. Too long I’ve kept her away from everyone else. I kept all that suffering inside, even from my closest friends, for years.

Now he knows.

“She made me the man I am today,” I whisper, “the good and the bad.”

Baptiste shakes his head.

“This is a fucking hard test, Fabien, but this is what will make you a Castaway. Remember the Code. They are always watching. They obviously picked her for you because they know about you two and your history. They knew it would break you.”

“It was Leopold,” I say. “He set this up.”

Baptiste chuckles knowingly.

“Ah. The asshole wants to fuck you up. He did the same to me.”

“And he’s fucking succeeding,” I reply. “I walked out of there when they showed me who she was. I couldn’t bear seeing her face. I had to leave. It was instinctual.”

How could I be so fucking weak?

“And you just have to spend a week with her?” Baptiste asks.

“Not just that.”

Baptiste leans back.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck Leopold,” he snarls.

“There are so many things I wish I could do to him, Baptiste.”

My friend nods, contemplating.