The Galilee Falls Trilogy (Book 3): Fall of Heroes (7 page)

“He would send you,” I hiss. “What, is he too much of a pussy to face me himself?”

“Don’t be vulgar,” Lucy admonishes.

“Don’t tell me what to do.
Cunt
.” I step in close, getting right in her face. “You. Of all people…you saw. You were there from the beginning. You had a front row seat to my agony. My misery. My guilt. And you could have stopped it all with a few words. But you didn’t. And I understand loyalty, and that he asked you to keep his secret. Again. But sometimes plain human kindness trumps loyalty. I always knew you were a cold bitch, but I never had you pegged as a cruel one.” She opens her mouth, but I don’t give her the chance. “I know, you had your reasons. I just don’t care. I’m not gonna waste a second of my time listening to them because I’ve heard them all before. From you, from Justin, even from…Jem.” My lip twitches when I say his name. “I’m done listening. I’m
done
. With all of you. Never speak, never contact me again. These are the last words I ever intend to speak to you, so
you
listen. Tell your nephew I wish I’d never met him. I wish he’d stayed dead. And if he ever comes near me, not only will I tell the world his secret, I’ll put the bastard in the ground myself. Go to hell, Lucy, and take him with you.”

If possible my scowl deepens, and I turn on my heel, stalking past my gawking colleagues outside into the sunny fucking day without looking back. Get me the fuck out of this town. Get me—

Halfway to the car I can’t help but notice a tall man with a beard and the hood of his jacket up staring at me. I stop walking to stare right back at the coward for a second, the hope quickly draining from his gorgeous face in time to his slumping shoulders. My eyes, my scowl, hell my every pore radiates atomic fury at that man. He must sense it—how could he not—because he takes a step back. For a moment, just a moment, he’s scared of me. The big damn hero afraid of little old me.

He should be.

I can’t stand to gaze at him a second longer. I turn my back on the bastard and don’t dare look back. For both our sakes. My rage could consume the city. My soul is being held together by glue and string. Perhaps I should let the bindings burn. Allow the pieces to shatter. Something that doesn’t exist can’t hurt, right? And right now mine’s in agony. Having a soul’s overrated. Hasn’t done me one bit of good. It’d be a mercy, really.

But the world seems fresh out of that.

CHAPTER FOUR

Faith For Fools

Home.

A place. A word. A feeling. A person. It’s different for everyone. I’ve lived in many dwellings, had many roofs over my head, but only have had three true homes, all ripped from me by the evil men do. A thief’s bullet. A supervillain’s pride. The lies of a lover. I don’t waste a moment disassembling what remains of the last one. The always efficient Shannon worked her phone and when we landed in Galilee, my temporary digs were aired out and stocked with food while boxes and a reservation for a van tomorrow were waiting at the old. I call up to the penthouse, but there’s no answer. He’d pick up if he was there.

When the car pulls up to my building, and I get out with a sigh. Let’s get this over with. Barry, the doorman, opens the entrance. “We, uh, put your boxes in the apartment, ma’am. Are you and Dr. Ambrose going—”

“Just me. And tomorrow I’ll be back with the movers. Should only take an hour or so.”

“Okay, ma’am.”

I know he’s dying to ask what happened, but I hustle to the elevator before he can say another word. Only one person gets the whole story.
He
deserves it.

“I’m sorry?” Dobbs asks.

“I said Justin’s alive,” I say as I step into his apartment.

Shaking his head, the old man shuts the door. “No. Miss Joanna, he—”

“I saw him. I talked to him. He faked his death. He’s been living in Independence with Lucy this whole time.”

“No,” he chuckles. “No. He…” Dobbs stares at my stony face, his smile slowly dropping along with the rest of his wrinkled face. But after the disbelief fades, he does something odd. A giant, brilliant grin overtakes his face. “He’s alive?” Dobbs begins laughing. “Oh my God, it’s a miracle.”

Not the response I’d anticipated. “Dobbs, he lied to us. We mourned him. Together. He allowed us to think he was dead.”

“But he’s not! He’s alive and breathing and…nothing else matters but that, Miss Joanna. Nothing.”

I remain silent.

“I-I want to see him,” Dobbs continues. He turns his back on me to walk away. “I-I have to see him. He’s with Miss Helms?” he calls from his bedroom.

My legs are suddenly made of rubber. “Yep,” I call back.

Why the hell is my stomach churning? Because he’s leaving too. And he may not know it yet, but I do. He’s never coming back. Justin will welcome him with open arms and Dobbs will never leave them again. I’ve lost him too. Goddamn you, Justin. Godddamn you to hell. I slink away to my apartment without another word. I’m afraid of what I’ll say if I open my mouth again.

Thank Christ there’s no one in the penthouse when I enter. The boxes rest against the couch Jem and I picked out together. Our first act as an official couple. My stomach churns again, and I have to look away. If I take too many detours down Memory Lane I’ll break down. Just get this done, Jo, and get the hell out of here.

I collect a few boxes and start on the living room. Neither of us is that sentimental, so I don’t have tons of photos or knick knacks around. All I take are the photos of my cousins, uncle, and aunt before moving to the DVD collection. Fuck. When I come across the copy of
Excalibur
I snap the disk in two. I never should have invited him inside that night. I should have followed my first instinct and let him drive off. Fuck you, hindsight.

With the kitchen and living room, I barely fill two boxes. The Moonlight room fills three. All the files, the computer equipment, the maps, I take it all. Jem doesn’t get to profit from his crimes. I did fine on my own before. Guardian lives on as a solo act. Captain Moonlight is a lone wolf from now on.

The exercise room gets raided too, especially the secret compartment filled with our toys. Guns, MACE, batons, handcuffs, everything a superhero needs to fight crime. I take all the stuff I brought from the Justice lair, about half the arsenal. I have no immediate plans to use any of it but may need it in the future. And I never want to set foot in this apartment again.

The bedroom takes the longest. I have so many damn clothes. Isolde, my personal shopper, insists I don a new outfit at every public appearance. That’s ending for sure. I am so going to become the recluse I’ve always wanted to be. No need to maintain the pristine Pendergast legacy through charity and business events. I actually run out of boxes and have to throw my designer duds into black trash bags. Isolde would faint if she saw me do this to my Chanel suits. Sorry, CoCo.

I’m stuffing the last of my underwear into the bag when the front door shuts in the other room. I stand stone still like a burglar about to get caught by the home’s owner. Goddamn it. Five minutes. I just needed five more minutes. You couldn’t give me that?

“Jo-Joanna?” Jem calls.

He steps into our-
his
bedroom a few seconds later, dressed in his work clothes, black slacks, white buttoned up shirt, and black silk tie. He went to work. Life implodes and he goes to work. A small part of me expected, okay
wanted
him to burst into my hotel room or meeting demanding to see me. Begging for a chance to explain himself. To fight for me. I’ll bet he called Justin on the elevator ride down then went straight to the airport. Came here, caught a few Zzzs, then was on time to his lab where he cured Ebola. Like it was just another day. Asshole.

“Good day at the office, dear?” I ask snidely.

“Wh-What are you doing?” he asks.

“Some great detective you are.”

“You’re moving out?”

“That is what happens when people who co-habitate break up. It was your place first, so…” I tie up the bag. “I’m almost done here.”

He gazes around the room, mouth agape. “Joanna, this is…you-you were just going to leave without even talking to me?”

“We said everything we needed to last night.” I snap open the next trash bag. “And if it were up to me, we’d never utter another word to each other ever again.” I turn my back on him to start on the last drawer. “Let’s start now.”

He waits several seconds, several heavy, cringe worthy seconds, before working up the nerve to say, “He came to us broken beyond measure, Joanna. He’d lost the woman and child he loved. He lost his hand. The whole of the world knew who he was. His life was in danger. Worse, the lives of those he loved were in danger. He’d placed a target on your back for every criminal in the world to take a shot at. So the man left everything he loved behind. His family, his legacy, his home, his friends,
you
. He gave up everything for you, Jo. And-And-And he wanted to reach out, he did, but the world had you under a microscope. One slip and the planet would realize he was alive.”

“So he let me implode because he didn’t trust my acting skills?” I snap.

“He did it because he knew how strong you are. You’re a survivor, Joanna. He knew you would come out the other end stronger than ever. And was he wrong?” I keep my mouth shut. “What he did, he did for you. To keep you safe. He knew if you ever found out he’d lied that there was a chance you would hate him forever, but at least you’d be alive.”

“Fine. Cruel to be kind. Got it.” I tie the bag and spin around, giving him the full force of my glare. “And what’s
your
excuse for betraying me?”

“A promise to a friend. To a brother in arms. All of this was set in motion before I ever met you, Joanna.”

“And after? After you met me? You told me you loved me? I almost died fighting your psycho brother? We got
engaged
? Your promise to him was more important than me?”

“No!” he gasps desperately. Jem bridges the gap between us, stopping a mere foot from me. “I love you. I would rather cut off my own arms than cause you an instant of pain. I love you more than life itself. You
are
my life. When I came to this city, I never anticipated…that you could love me as well. Not even in my wildest dreams could I have envisioned how happy you would make me. But…
he
was always there, Joanna. You still loved him. You still love him. And…I know I can’t compete. I could barely compete with the memory let alone the man in the flesh. So the God’s honest truth is I didn’t tell you to protect him, not fully, I didn’t tell you to protect myself. Because I feared the moment you realized he was alive, you’d go running back to him. Your soul mate. And I’d lose you.”

“So it’s worse than I thought,” I say, doing my best to stop my voice from trembling. I will not fall apart. Not in front of him. I tap into the boiling anger beneath the sadness. “You lied to me day in and day out, you let me torture myself with guilt because…you didn’t trust me.”

“That’s not—”

“You didn’t trust in
us
. When I trusted you with everything. My heart, my soul, my life. Because yeah, Justin may have been my soul mate, but I thought you were the love of my life. You should have trusted in that. Because you didn’t and look where it got you. You lost my trust, you lost my heart, you lost
me
.” I lift up my two trash bags, scowl tightening. “The movers will be here tomorrow for the boxes.” I side step him and start toward the door.

“No,” he says behind me, “no!” Jem moves in front of me, eyes doubling in size, trying to catch mine. “It was never
you
I didn’t trust. It was me. It was all me. I was selfish. I wanted you all to myself. All my life, everything I loved was ripped from me. Uma, Brendan, Lexie, Jordan. I was terrified I’d lose you as well. I’m only human, Joanna. I’m not perfect. I made one mistake for mostly the right reasons. Please do not throw everything we mean to each other, everything we will mean to each other in the future away because of one mistake. This,
us
is too important. And you know it. You sense it even now. We clawed through hell to find one another. And until the day I draw my last breath, I will do everything in my power to make this up to you. To prove to you I am worthy of your love and trust.”

Goddamn it. Be it his words, those pleading heartbroken eyes, or the pure belief dripping from each syllable, my resolve wavers. Because love cannot be switched off like a light. It can’t. I still love him. I do. Just like Justin, a part of me will probably love him until the day I die.

Fuck love.

I finally meet his tear rimmed eyes with my cold as ice gaze. “I screwed Bennett Stone last night,” I say matter-of-factly.

His face contorts in agony, like I’ve just physically stabbed him. “What…?” he asks breathlessly.

“Last night. After I kicked you out. We met in the bar, I brought him upstairs to my room, and fucked him.”

He stares at me as if I were a stranger. “Why…why would you do that?”

“Besides the fact he’s handsome, funny, and uncomplicated?
This
,” I hiss. “To put a period at the end of our sentence. So there would be no going back. So don’t waste your time or energy. We’re done.
Done.
” I turn my back on him again and start walking.

Just keep going. Just keep…

“Don’t do this,” he pleads, voice brittle. “Don’t do this to me, and please don’t do this to yourself. Do not punish yourself for my mistakes. You’re better than that. You’re stronger than that.”

I scoff. “
Now
you have faith in me.”

“I’ve always had faith in you. And I always will. Just as I’ll always have faith in us.”

“Like you had faith in your brother?” I stop walking and pause. “Faith is for fools. I should know.” I look back at him with a cruel smile. “I put my faith in you.” I stare straight ahead again, and I walk out the door with my head held high. Not a good actor my ass.

Not the doorman, not the cabbie, not the man at the liquor store ask me if I’m alright. If I need help. Not a one sees through my façade. But the moment me, my suitcase, trash bags, and bottle of booze hear the door of my bland, stale apartment shut, my legs suddenly give out and I cannot breathe. A panic attack. I haven’t had a panic attack since that horrific minute when I thought Jem died. That I’d lost the love of my life. Because he is. He is the love of my life. He is and he’s gone. We were supposed to get married today. We were supposed to get married and…