Alexis was having trouble breathing as she pulled into her driveway. She looked at her house and took another unsteady breath as she exited her car. She was trying to process everything that Cammie had told her. She noticed her hand shaking as she unlocked her front door.

"Nicholas?" she called out. No one answered. She tried again, "Luke? Anybody home?"

The house remained quiet. Alexis looked at the staircase that led to all the bedrooms and began climbing the stairs.

She thought of Cammie's parting words, "I'm not lying to you Dr. Reyna. Be careful who you trust."

Alexis trusted many people. Chace, Nicholas, Luke, Gabby, and Mack. How could she think the worst of any of them?

She opened the door to the bedroom and peered in. It was empty so she stepped inside and looked around. The bedroom looked exactly as she had remembered it. A green and white comforter on the bed, a couple of boxes in the corner, and an empty bookshelf. She noticed a suitcase in the corner.

She looked around and rubbed her clammy palms on her pants before stepping over to it. She quickly unzipped it and saw...nothing.

"Why the hell am I listening to her anyway?" Alexis asked herself.

She looked over to the closet. It was a walk-in closet with double doors. She opened one of the doors and saw clothing on the floor.

"Messy," she whispered to herself and was about to leave, when she noticed a small pink box in the corner. She thought it was odd and decided to take a look at it. She carried it to the bed and opened it.

She could feel herself shaking in fear as she lifted the contents out of the box. An instruction manual for a high-tech baby monitor, red envelopes, and pictures. Pictures of Alexis taken from the baby monitor.

"Impossible," she whispered. "I don't believe it."

"Why are you looking though my things?" a familiar voice asked from the doorway.

Alexis spun around, "Nicholas!"

He looked past her to the pink box and frowned, "Who told you to go through my stuff Alexis?"

She seemed taken aback, "Don't you know what I found Nicholas?"

He shrugged, "Pictures of me and my old girlfriends?"

"Yeah right. I found this!" she held up the manual for the baby monitor.

"Why are you showing me that?" he asked, a confused expression on her face.

"I found it in your box Nicholas. Tell me why it was there!"

"I don't know what you're even talking about!" Nicholas shouted back.

"You're my brother Nicholas! How could you do this to me?"

"Do what to you?"

Alexis was near tears, "How could you do this to me and my friends? Deandra and Ivy!" It was at that moment that she realized she didn't have her cellphone.

"Alexis, I don't know what you're talking about," Nicholas said, his hands in front of him defensively. "

"Stop lying to me Nicholas! I met Cammie at the grocery store!"

Nicholas stopped moving forward, "Cammie? You met her? What did she tell you?"

"That you're a liar," Alexis hissed.

"What?"

"You heard me. I know everything Nicholas. She told me that you were her abusive boyfriend. You!"

"And you believed her?" Nicholas asked, incredulously.

"Who else am I supposed to believe? You? My brother with a secret stash of stalker crap hidden in his closet?" Alexis asked bitterly, tears seeping from her eyes.

"I'm not stalking you Alexis! How could you even think that?" Nicholas ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "You shouldn't believe Cammie. She's a nut-job. She used to tell Luke I cheated on her and then she'd tell me Luke hit her. I almost stopped being friends with him because of her."

Alexis didn't know what to believe. She loved her brother and up until Cammie made a tearful confession next to the bell peppers, she had always trusted him as well.

"Why is this stuff in your room, Nicholas?"

"I don't know. Maybe somebody put it there?" Nicholas shrugged.

"Who could possibly be able to come into your room and hide this in your closet?"

Just then, they both heard Luke from downstairs, "Nicholas! Alexis! I'm back!"

Alexis gulped as she looked at her brother who signaled for her to be quiet. "I'm upstairs!"

They could hear Luke slowly walking up the stairs.

"I want you to run downstairs and call the cops," Nicholas whispered to his sister.

She nodded and they both waited for Luke to reach the top of the stairs. Once he reached the top, Alexis ran past him, surprising him.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Luke asked.

"She knows the truth," Nicholas answered.

"The truth?" Luke asked, not understanding what was happening.

"About Cammie," Nicholas insisted.

"Who?" Luke asked as he looked down to see Alexis looking for her cellphone.

"Nicholas what the hell is-"his question was cut off as Nicholas pushed him. Luke lost his balance and stumbled down the stairs.

Alexis gasped, "Luke!" She ran over to him and groaned. It looked like his neck had been broken in the fall. "Nicholas why did you push him?"

"I didn't push him. He fell." Nicholas calmly started walking down the stairs, causing a shiver of apprehension to trail down her spine.

"Nicholas, I saw you push him. Even if you didn't mean for him to fall, he's dead!"

Alexis was having a hard time keeping herself under control. She wanted to cry but she was too scared. "Where's your phone Nicholas? I can't find mine."

"Don't worry sis, I have your phone right here," Nicholas said as he pulled it out of his back pocket.

"What are you doing with my phone Nicholas?"

"You left it in your purse when you went upstairs to look through my personal belongings. Don't you remember?"

It was as if the world had stopped for Alexis as everything seemed to make sense. She thought of Cammie's explanation of why she was upset. Cammie had said, "That guy you call a brother is abusive. He used to hit me and threaten to kill me. I trusted him and he abused me. You call yourself a psychologist? How can you not know that your own brother is some kind of sociopath?"

"No," Alexis whispered as the thought of Nicholas being anything other than her sweet brother tore at her heart. "No!" she screamed louder as she covered her ears in hopes of stopping herself from hearing the thoughts that began playing through her mind.

Before he could speak, Alexis shook her head, "No. I don't believe it. Is this one of your stupid jokes? Because it's not funny Nicholas." She could feel tears coming out of her eyes.

"Well I guess you figured things out. It's too bad Alexis, we made a good sister-brother team."

"No! You're my baby brother! You're sweet and sensitive and you cheer me up when I'm sad. No! You cried when you ripped the wings off a butterfly. Remember? You couldn't do something like this."

Nicholas began laughing, "You still remember that butterfly? I wasn't crying Alexis. I was laughing. Didn't you noticed that tears weren't coming out of my eyes?"

Alexis took a step back and shook her head again, "No it can't be you. My stalker sent me a picture of you."

"I asked a friend to take a picture of me from far away. I was surprised you fell for that one Alexis. I thought you were smarter than that."

"What about when you got that black eye?" Alexis said as she began to slowly take another step back.

"I purposely hit my face on one of your stupid knickknacks. Alexis are we going to do this all day? Ask me something good," he smiled at her and she shuddered.

"Something good?"

"You know...like why? Why did you do this Nicholas? Why?"

Alexis was afraid she was going to start hyperventilating, "Why?"

"I'm so glad you asked," he said as if they were discussing something mundane like the weather. "I guess you could say I did it for revenge."

"Revenge?"

"All my life I've never had anyone love me Alexis. No one. Not even my biological parents. Suddenly I got adopted and I have new parents and a sister. But I t didn't feel real to me Alexis. None of it. I felt like a stray dog someone took in."

"What are you talking about? We loved you Nicholas. We all loved you."

"No!" Nicholas shouted, his face contorting in anger, "You pitied me! I have always had to look out for myself. I never had someone to look up to or someone that loved me back! I deserve better!"

Alexis was horrified by his expression. She couldn't help but think he had gone mad.

"I tried to let it go Alexis. I really did. I went off to college in a different state and I thought I could start anew. I thought things would be better. Do you know what happened to me?"

Alexis didn't answer but took another step back.

"I met a woman. A beautiful woman. Her name was Ingrid and I thought she loved me. I thought, 'Wow, I'm finally finding someone who loves me because they want to.' It was amazing Alexis."

"I don't remember an Ingrid," Alexis whispered.

"Well Ingrid made a big mistake Alexis. She cheated on me. So I had to get rid of her," Nicholas took another step closer to his sister.

"Get rid of her?" Alexis asked.

"C'mon Alexis! Stop acting stupid. Get with the program here! You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand what I'm talking about."

"You killed her?"

"No her cheating killed her! I found another girlfriend I was serious about. That was Cammie. I didn't want her to cheat on my so I tried to keep her in line Alexis. It's funny how they say it's a small world after all. She started listening to your show. Your stupid show where you spew love advice. She dumped me Alexis. She left me all alone and I hated her for it."

"Nicholas, this is no-"

"Shut up! I'm not finished! I met another woman. Susanna. I loved her too Alexis but guess who she just loved to listen to on the radio?"

Alexis stayed quiet, as she tried to figure out how she could escape.

"That's right! She listened to you. But this time I wasn't going to let her go. No one is ever going to leave me again Alexis. At least not while they're breathing,"

"That's no reason to kill Nicholas! Other people break up every day!" Alexis was starting to hiccup in fear.

"I don't care about other people Alexis! I care about myself! I deserve someone to love me. Don't you understand that? I deserve it!"

"You're crazy Nicholas!"

"Well if it's coming from you it must be true."

She needed to buy more time to get closer to the door. "So why pretend to stalk your sister? That was your revenge? To scare me?"

"Oh no sis. I love you. You're the only family I have. I just decided to let you know what it feels like to lose someone you love. Why else do you think I pushed you and Chace together?"

"You wanted me and Chace to date so that you can break us up?" Alexis took another step closer to the door.

"Not just that. I wanted you to lose your career. The picture to your workplace was a nice touch, wasn't it?" Nicholas began giggling and Alexis could feel herself growing queasy.

"I loved you Nicholas. How could you do this to me?"

"Because you did it to me. It was destiny. Chace suddenly began working on your show. He seemed attracted to you. I could feel the super power couple crap going on. I moved too fast though. You were starting to drift away from him because of the picture I sent to your workplace. I get that. Now that you found out the truth, that plan is all shot to hell."

"So now what?" Alexis whispered.

"I guess I'll clean up loose ends. I found Luke killing my sister. I ran upstairs and he chased me. Then I shoved him away and he accidentally fell down the steps and broke his neck. I don't know what I'm going to do without my sister. I loved her so much." Alexis was shocked by how genuine Nicholas sounded while he gave her his fake explanation.

"You really are insane," she muttered.

"And you really are a bad psychologist!" Nicholas advanced forth and reached for Alexis who turned around to run out the door. He caused her to fall and he pulled on her ankle.

"Stop it Nicholas!" Alexis was shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Say hi to mom and dad for me Alexis."

Alexis gave a final scream as the door burst open and Officer Shelby Diaz rushed, gun drawn, followed by Officer Dean Winters.

The next few hours were a blur to Alexis. She remembered Officer Winters tackling Nicholas to the ground and arresting him. She remembered a paramedic talking to her. She even remembered Officer Winters scrounging up an "I'm sorry."

"Alexis are you okay?"

Alexis looked at Chace, who had his hands on her shoulders.

"Where's Nicholas?" she asked, looking around.

"They've taken him into custody Alexis."

"It's not true. It can't be," she whispered in a quavering voice.

"I'm sorry Alexis. Your friend Gabby dropped off some of Luke's things at the office for me to deliver. I happened to see a picture of Cammie Rogers, an old patient of mine. She was with Luke and Nicholas. Nicholas was kissing her cheek. I don't remember if I told you but she was the patient of mine that used to listen to your radio show. She always talked about her abusive boyfriend Nick. I didn't realize her Nick and your Nicholas were the same. I tried calling you but couldn't get through to you so I called the cops and we got here around the same time. They heard you screaming and they found you and your brother struggling. He's confessed."

"He confessed?"

"To everything. At least that's what Officer Diaz told me a few minutes ago when she called. Alexis, I don't know how to tell you this, but-"

"He killed my friends," Alexis said as if she were a zombie. "He's a murderer Chace. He killed Luke. I saw him do it. It was like it was nothing to him."

"Alexis, he confessed to two other murders."

She began weeping in Chace's arms, "That's not Nicholas. It can't be Chace. He's my brother. There has to be a different explanation. I can't...I can't deal with this."

"It's okay Alexis, we'll figure things out. Everything's going to be okay."

"No it's not. Stop acting like you know when you don't know. You know nothing Chace!" Alexis continued to sob into Chace's chest as he soothed her and kissed the top of her head.

Two hours later, Alexis was sitting outside the police station. Nicholas had refused to see her. She didn't understand what was going on with her brother. She didn't understand how he could live a double life without her knowledge. Her job was to read people.

"Soda?"

Alexis looked up to see Officer Dean Winters standing next to her. He had an arm extended offering her a Coke. She shook her head and he shrugged. He opened the can and began drinking the soda as he sat on the bench next to her.

"So...I've been an ass," Winters said.

Alexis didn't respond.

He continued, "At least that's what my partner keeps telling me. She said I should apologize. I did earlier but you were kinda out of it. So I'm saying sorry."

Alexis held no expression. She felt numb, "You're apologizing because your partner told you to?"

"Yes. No. I mean...not really. I'm sorry I was such an ass and that I gave you a hard time. I'm also sorry about your brother. He seemed like a good guy. He made fun of cops but he was looking out for you."

Alexis scoffed.

"When I was going through the Academy, we had to take a victims course. The instructor was some fancy psychiatrist. He gave us each two slips of paper and told us to write down the most horrible crime we could think of. I had too many to list. Rape...murder...you name it, I thought of it. I ended up putting down molestation."

Winters looked at Alexis who still hadn't responded to his story. He continued, "So anyway, this professor...he keeps talking and talking about what victims go through and how hard it is for them to speak up and stuff. We all totally forget about the pieces of paper until the end of class. He tells us to write down the name of the person we trust the most on the second piece of paper. Can you guess who I wrote?"

Alexis still didn't respond. Winters cleared his throat, "I wrote down my father. He was a navy man. A good provider and role model. I remember feeling proud to be able to write my father's name as the person I trusted the most. Well guess what the professor said next."

Alexis closed her eyes.

"Well, he said, 'Now that you wrote down the name of the person you trust most, I want you to imagine what you would do if you found out they committed the crime you abhorred the most? What would you do?"

Alexis opened her eyes and looked at Winters who was staring straight ahead.

"What would you do?" she asked in a low voice.

"I'm not gonna lie. I felt sick at the thought of my father doing something like that. I remember feeling doubt. There's no way that would happen. No way. Then I wondered what would I do if it was proven? Would I start hating him? He's my father. The man I loved and looked up to all my life. Maybe I couldn't look up to him anymore but should I stop loving him? I thought about it even after the seminar and I think I'd still love him. Not the bad side of him...but the good side. The side he showed me." Winters looked at Alexis, "I'm glad my situation wasn't real. My father never did anything horrible but I know what you're going through has got to be tough. I'm sorry it's happening. Your brother did some bad things. I don't really know why. A shrink is going to talk to him later. I'm sure you know all of this already but it's important to talk to someone if you're feeling upset. Don't hold it in. Even if your brother did bad things, he's still your brother. It's okay to still love him."

Alexis didn't say anything to that so Winters stood up, "Okay well...I thought I'd just say that to you."

As Officer Winters walked away, Alexis called out, "Hey Winters!"

He turned around, "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

He gave a quick nod and headed back into the police station to let Alexis sit with her thoughts. Chace came out of the station a few moments later, "Alexis, he still won't let us see him. Are you going to be okay?"

Alexis thought about what Officer Winters had told her. She thought of her baby brother always cheering her up, making her laugh, and sticking up for her. He did bad things but there were still parts of him that were the Nicholas she knew and loved. Alexis looked at Chace and gave a weak smile, "I think so. It'll be tough...but everything's going to be okay."

--

PS, I am kindly giving you an alternate ending in addition to this chapter because so many people felt passionate about certain characters (and because it was fun for me to write). This is how I originally intended the story to end and the alternate ending is for those of you that just can't deal with this ending. ALSO, if you liked this story, be sure to follow me here on Wattpad. Just click the follow button under my profile picture. That way you can have even more of my crazy stories at your fingertips.