Page 105 of Fallen Hero

“Calista, wait!” Catarina called from behind me.

Goddamnit.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to talk to you, but I need to leave.” My new plan was slowly starting to come together as I waited for her to try to talk me out of going.

“Let me come with you. We can get your coffee and catch up.”

As appealing as it was, I wasn’t going to entertain her idea. I didn’t need to get close to another person only to have them torn from my life. And I needed to focus on Jason before it was too late and he bolted.

Thankfully, the doors in front of me slid open.

“We’ll talk when I get back,” I lied. “I just need some fresh air and a little bit of alone time.”

Not that I’d get either of those if I could flush Jason out.

“Calista, I really wish you’d let me come.”

I stepped into the elevator and smiled at Catarina. “I know I was bitchy back in Mexico and didn’t properly thank you for the assist, so I’ll do that now. You had my back, I’m grateful. Maybe one day I can repay the favor.”

I hit the close button on the panel.

“You can do that now—”

“I can’t, Cat. I have somewhere I need to be.”

With that, the doors closed.

By the time I was walking across the stupidly lavish lobby, a tiny bit of logic had seeped in. It wasn’t Mason’s fault Jason knew I was in Dubai. That was the universe’s doing—wrong place, wrong time.

Mason’s only crime was being an asshole thinking he had a right to something I didn’t want to share. But even that didn’t sit right, because if I thought about it—which I didn’t want to—I’d know he’d only stepped over the line because he’d felt my reaction to seeing Jason. He had a front-row seat to my shock at seeing the man who’d stolen my sister from me.

Over twenty years had passed and still the wound was fresh. I’d accepted her death, but until Jason was dead, I couldn’t mourn the last years of her life—how she’d died, what Jason and his father had caused, the ripple effect it had on my family.

Only vengeance could right that wrong.

Jason had to die by my hand.

He owed me his life.

As soon as I stepped out onto the sidewalk, the heat of the day smacked me in the face. Clearly, settling in the desert was out of the question. A nice mountaintop somewhere sounded perfect.

Or the beach with Mason, my treacherous heart filled in.

If there was one thing to be said about downtown Dubai, it was clean. Spotless. Gleaming. Polished. Healthy green trees lined the boulevard.

I waited until I rounded the corner before I stepped off the curb and waved down a taxi.

The red-roofed car glided to a stop in front of me. There was no reason for me to waste my time roaming the streets, hoping Jason would find me.

Not when I could walk right up to his hotel room and knock on the door.

I heard footsteps pounding on the sidewalk behind me. When I turned to look, Mason was running at me with a face like thunder.

“Calli! Wait!”

I slipped inside the cab and slammed the door. “Go. Please.”

The taxi shot forward. My gut roiled and my heart painfully shriveled back to its pre-Mason size.