Page 111 of Fallen Hero

If that was why one of them had turned traitor—just to get him to shut up.

“I would think a woman with your wealth would know better than to travel with second-rate bodyguards.” He sounded like he was actually scolding me for not having more protection. “But then, a woman in commercial real estate wouldn’t be dealing with an arms dealer, now, would she? Tell me, Calista, why are you really here?”

Since there was no reason to hide the truth, I didn’t.

“To kill you.”

Jason’s mouth tipped up into a smile, the one that I knew my sister had fallen in love with. But it was his obnoxious laugh that triggered a memory so painful, I had to grit my teeth.

“I think I love him,” Lili said, and plopped down next to me on my bed.

I looked up from my notebook and couldn’t stop my smile. She looked so happy.

“Where’d you guys go today?”

“The miniature golf place.”

“The one with the arcade or the one next to the bowling alley?”

“Arcade.” She glanced down at the textbooks cluttering my bed. “You need to find a boyfriend, Calli. There’s more to life than studying.”

“One day.” I brushed her off, not telling her last weekend I’d gone on the lamest date ever, worried I’d never find my Jason. “Tell me everything.”

“He’s . . . I don’t know . . . perfect! And when he laughs it’s like . . . I don’t know, I just want to sigh. He said he wants me to meet his family. I want to meet them, but I don’t know if I’m ready. What if they don’t like me? I don’t want to lose him. Jason Anderson is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Jason Anderson was the devil.

“Lili told me you were an idealist, always coming up with wild stories in your head. I see you haven’t changed.”

I’d changed more than he knew. I wasn’t the same naive girl who’d cried in his arms at the police station after he’d given his statement. He’d played the part of worried boyfriend like an Oscar winner. His story never changed, not a single detail. That should’ve been a red flag. It had been rehearsed and memorized.

And I should’ve known it was a lie. I knew my sister, and there was no way she’d ask Jason to end a date and take her back to her apartment because she got a headache. She loved him, wanted to spend every waking moment with him. She would’ve suffered through a headache to spend time with him.

The timing of his story had been impeccable. His alibi solid. Sometimes I wondered if he’d driven the route from my sister’s apartment to his friend’s house at the exact time of day, so he’d get the traffic right. Twenty years ago, there weren’t cameras on everyone’s front doors and on street corners. It was easier back then to kidnap someone and get away with it.

“It’s time, Jason,” Bodhi pressed again.

“Do you believe in fate?”

That question caused actual physical pain.

“Why do you look so happy?” I asked Lili as she tossed her purse on the kitchen island.

“Are Mom and Dad home?”

“No. Dad’s still at work, and I don’t know where Mom is.”

“I think Jason’s going to ask me to marry him.”

Marry him.

“Isn’t three months too soon to get married?”

“I said ask me to, not run off and elope tomorrow.” Lili had this dreamy look on her face, which seemed to be her permanent state of being these days.

“Did he take you to a jewelry store or something?”

“No, last night we were lying in my bed, and he asked me if I believed in fate. I told him I wasn’t sure. He told me he did. That he knew we were fated to be together.”