Chapter Text
‘I know who you are, maybe more than you know yourself,’ Sam had said, and the words still echoed in my head this morning. I felt like I had champagne bubbles in my blood, filling me with a warmth I’d thought not possible for me. Telling him about my life before arriving in Fletcher’s Grove had been far easier than I expected. There was still more, a lot more, but the hardest part was behind me. Feeling breathless and impatient to see him, I flung open the door as soon as he knocked.
“Merry Christmas, Grace.”
I froze. The smile I couldn’t seem to control turned to ice in the space of a heartbeat. My throat closed, and my stomach clenched as if I’d been punched in the gut. I hadn’t heard anyone call me by my real name in a long time.
“You look pretty good for a dead woman.”
Aaron. Blinking twice, I shook my head. Was he real? I’d imagined him showing up on my doorstep so many times. And now he was here. It was almost a relief.
I scanned his face. He looked older, more world-weary; his hair and beard were now salt and pepper. He had the same confident smirk. Oh, and that face that I’d loved. I would have done anything for him, walked through fire for him. Until I realized what he’d done with the money we’d taken, and it all came crashing down. Then I hated it. Hated him. I clenched my hands into fists.
“Aaron.” I gasped when I finally found my voice. How should I play this? Sam would arrive any minute…he should have already…what would Aaron do to him? If something happened to me, I could take it. Not if something happened to the people I loved because of me. And I suspected that I was falling in love with Sam. Something I had not thought possible. What had been more difficult was trusting him. Opening up. And, now that I had... I hoped that I'd be alive to see him again.
What are my options? Shut the door in Aaron’s face? Stall him? Go into the bathroom and escape? Get my gun? I flipped through ideas.
Until my brain caught up, my body was frozen.
I was confident that I could get away from him. He has no idea the many skills I’d collected since I began hunting Chimera. But that would only delay the inevitable. Now that he was here, I realized a confrontation of some kind between us was inevitable. As if I’d been expecting this, looking over my shoulder, waiting for him to appear, ever since I moved to Fletcher’s Grove. I exhaled long and slow. Why is he here? What does he want from me, for I was certain there had to be a reason. Aaron never did anything without a reason.
My curiosity won, as it always does, eventually. This might be my opportunity to bring Chimera down, once and for all. And if so, I had to take it. For I might never have another. I certainly didn’t plan it this way, but I would make the most of it.
“Grace did die. I changed my name, started a new life.” I straightened my shoulders. “You didn’t leave me much choice. You tried to kill me. All the members of my team died.”
“Yes, sorry about that.” He stroked the stubble on his chin. “You were getting too close. Serves you right that you followed a wrong lead.”
I scoffed. “You’re not sorry.”
He grinned and shrugged. “No. No, I’m not.”
That left her cold. He wasn’t sorry about the deaths he caused. The pain. Another significant difference between them.
He waved a hand, as if he expected me to follow. “Come on.”
I backed up a step. “I’m not coming with you.”
“Yes, you are.” He stepped forward enough to close my apartment door, blocking my way. Glancing around, he said, “Nice place, much better than the dumps we used to live in. Boring though. Not sure it’s really you.”
“You have no idea who I am.”
“Sure, I do. I know you better than you know yourself.” He leaned against the door and folded his arms, and I shivered at his choice of words, the words Sam had said to me only a few hours ago. “As soon as you started searching for Chimera, I knew it was you. That you were alive. It didn’t take me long to figure out where you were.” His mouth twisted. “Dating a cop, Grace? Have you really sunk so low? It looks like I need to save you from yourself.”
I lifted my chin. I wanted to wipe that smug look off his face. “I like my life here.”
A buzz broke the silence. Sam.
“Speaking of…It’s your choice, Grace. You can invite him up, and I’ll get rid of him,” he lifted a revolver from his pocket and kissed the tip, “Or, you get rid of him.”