Infodump

'Hey. Come in. How are you doing today?

'A little bit better. Though I'm still on edge.'

'That's no surprise at all. Still, at least your mood's improved, even if it's just by a tiny iota. Take a seat.'

'Well, I have to try to be strong. For Roxxi and the kids' sake.'

'How old are the kids, anyway?'

'Which ones? All of them? You know how it is.'

'Good point. The triplets.'

'Ah. They're sixteen.'

'Jesus Christ. That's no fucking age.'

'I really didn't think Miles could sink that low. Of course I knew what he was capable of, but... children!'

'No, that's a whole other level of depravity. God. I don't know them, but my heart goes out to those poor kids. Their mother, too.'

'Yes, mine as well... The poor woman's been through enough. They all have. Living with Tate certainly doesn't help matters.'

'God, I bet. Just those few minutes stuck with him round yours was bad enough. I can't imagine living with him.'

'Fortunately for me, I haven't had to do it for a long time.'

'Nalini... you don't even know the half of it. What happened to me... it was Tate's fault.'

'...You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but...how?'

'Tate used to be an assassin.'

'Jesus. Make all the "politicians are all assholes" jokes you want, but that's – wow.'

'You're not joking. So, he was hired by our family friend to kill her husband for the inheritance. Only, her husband had a son, so to stop him from getting his share of it, she falsely imprisoned him in a illegitimate mental hospital. That was Miles. He was there for sixteen years before the place was shut down, and then once he was freed, he wanted revenge.'

'...And Miles used you to get it?'

'That's right. He broke into my apartment, lay in wait then ambushed me. He...he tied me to a chair, and set up a video feed back to Tate. When Tate came on, Miles gave him the option of either repaying him, or I would get it. On that day, I learned what mattered more to him.'

'..........................................'

'He just turned it off. Even Miles was shocked... He didn't actually expect that. B-but he told me he had a lot of pent up anger, and he had to take it out on someone...'

'I hope someone rips his fucking head off.'

'I...I didn't think he was going to stop... He did my throat last. He even made me watch... I thought that was it. I thought I was going to die...'

'Sorry, you don't n-need to hear this.'

'It's fine.'

'S-so I was in the hospital for quite a while. When I finally got out, I couldn't do anything. I had nowhere else to go, so I had to go back to the place where it happened. I was too traumatised to work. All I did was stay locked away, losing my mind... Not long after, Tate turned up... he wanted me to help him pay off Miles.'

'...I'm guessing you weren't in a state to give him a well deserved "fuck off".'

'No, but even if I was, it wouldn't have mattered, because he threatened me at gunpoint.'

'...Fucking Christ.'

'And he took everything. I was completely powerless... All my money, my car, my apartment. Everything that had value.'

'And left you completely desolate.'

'That's right. For a while, I squatted in the basement of a different apartment block, but I was found and turfed out. And it was all for nothing, because Miles wouldn't accept any of it and he went back and tortured Tate.'

'...I'm so sorry. I keep saying that, but... My God.'

'Thank you. Well, Miles was interrupted by an eight-year-old Aria. Otherwise he'd have done so much more. And because of that threat looming over him, Tate had no choice but to give in, and he was made to bankrupt himself. Justice, right? Not really, because he moved to Sunset Valley and I didn't get to see the kids for ten years...'

'I don't know what to say. I really don't.'

'...God help me Nalini, I nearly ended it all. But instead, I became an alcoholic hobo.'

'No wonder. I hope this doesn't come across as patronising or anything, but I think you're really brave for getting through it all.'

'It wasn't easy. I'm still plagued by it all. Some days, I want to do nothing more than stay in bed and not face anyone. Other days, I'm so tempted to reach for a drink and just make myself forget everything. But slowly, I'm getting there. I have my son to think about.'

'So...it turns out we have a lot more in common than initially thought.'

'Do we?'

'You don't get a face like mine without experiencing some trauma.'

'Oh, Nalini. Well, for what it's worth, I think it's a lovely face.'

'Thank you. So is yours.'

'...Like I told you, I have more scars than what's visible on my face. In fact, the entirety of my body is covered in marks even worse than what you can see on my face. I, uh...I was burnt alive in my teenage years back in the dark ages for being a vampire.'

'Jesus, I'm so sorry...'

'...Thank you. ...I also understand what it's like to have someone closely related to you, who is so toxic that all they do is take and destroy and leave shattered remnants of lives in their wake.'

'Oh God. Poor you... Who, if that's not too personal to ask...?'

'...Well...talking about family to you and Ellis when he invited me over, I...wasn't entirely truthful. I lied. By omission, but still... There's my daughter, Zaryn, but she has a younger brother. Or did, anyway. He's dead now, and as unforgivably callous as this will sound...it's no bad thing. Zack, he was called. We'd always had a bad relationship, but he got downright horrific once he hit his teens. I don't really want to go into all the gory details about every nasty thing he's done, because aside from the fact it'd take too long, it won't do either of us any good. Suffice it to say that his list of crimes stemmed from kidnapping and assault to torture and murder.'

'Fucking hell. I've heard of him...'

'...Ugh, that doesn't surprise me in the least. What's really stupid is I'm not entirely sure what his end goal even was; for all I know it could've been purely spite. He hated me with every fibre in his being, and damn he had no issues in showing it. He did everything in his power to make not just my life a complete misery, but the lives of my loved ones, too. My friends, their families, his own sister's...'

'That's... I can't even find the words. Christ.'

'I won't go into the details of any run ins between him and Zaryn, it's not my place to do so. Let's just say the image of the cute but troubled baby brother she adored was completely destroyed. It was fucking heartbreaking; before it all started, you'd never think anything would be able to separate them. They were best friends.'

'I really don't understand how anyone can be like that. That kind of betrayal...'

'I don't think he genuinely felt anything for anyone. I suppose any warmth felt from him was all faked so he could look as normal as possible until, shit, I don't know. He just snapped? He had...a very silver tongue. He was always dangerously charismatic. So it wasn't much of a surprise that he found people as equally unstable as him, and rallied them to his "cause". That's another reason why I moved in the first place. Not just to get away from my ex-husband, but to avoid Zack's "friends", too. Only a handful of people know where I am now, people who I've known for years and would trust with my life. So I'm not worried about anybody undesirable locating me. Rest assured, I don't think I'm about to bring even more danger to Sunset Valley.'

'That's good...'

'I don't know if I could've done anything differently in his youth. Probably. We argued a lot, and with my hot temper and his remarkable ability to hit where it hurts, there was a hell of a lot of screaming. To be honest...as much of a reprobate parent as I know this makes me, I never felt any sort of bond with him. I tried faking it, but everything about him was traumatic for me, right from the very start. I don't know. I wasn't happy when I discovered I was pregnant with Zaryn, but I still loved her the moment I knew she existed. ...Sorry, this is getting off topic now.'

'There's nothing you can do to change someone like him. People don't just raise murderers, not like that. Sometimes, a person is just born evil...'

You're right. Logically, I know that. I just have an unfortunate tendency towards self-flagellation. I'm sorry to drop all of this heavy shit on you. I just...wanted to emphasise that I do understand the kind of shit you've had to go through.'

'It's fine. I'm glad you felt you could confide in me.'

'I wouldn't, normally. Despite all the emotional vomit I've just poured all over you, I actually have some fairly bad trust issues.'

'Oh, I see... Well, it's good that you did. I'm just sorry you had to go through that. It's hard not to lose faith in humanity, especially at times like this...'