Fallen Hero (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 3)

“Our parents left me the house and some money apparently,” Elspeth murmured. “What did they leave you, aside from the three thousand pounds?”

“The house in Kent that belonged to grandpa. It was an old run-down dump of a place, not worth much. It brought a pittance, I can tell you,” Thomas retorted. “You always got the best.”

“That’s not true, is it? You took it off me,” Elspeth whispered.

She studied the man before her. The ragged beard he had grown while he had been away was now tinged with a grey that matched the hair on his temples. Wherever he had been living during his time away from the house, only a matter of weeks, had evidently been harsh. He was dirty, his clothing torn and stained. He was almost gaunt and had a hollowed look to his eyes that was most disturbing.

“You are not my brother,” she informed him sadly. “I don’t know who you are, but you are not the man I grew up with.”

“You didn’t know the man I have been,” Thomas told her. “You were blind to the real me. All you saw was someone you wanted to see. Someone who would be solid and dependable because I lived at the house. You never gave a damn what I was doing at the desk, so long as I sat at the desk. The bills have gone unpaid for several weeks at a time, but you never knew. When the demands became too persistent, I burnt the paperwork. You never noticed. You were always blind to everything I did. You just stuck to your own little world of contentment.”

“I was easy to fool because I trusted you, Thomas,” Elspeth cried. “That doesn’t make me weak, or a fool. It makes me a nice, honest person. You should try that sometime. Your trying to steal my life isn’t going to make your own existence any better because what you will have will be founded on a bed of lies, deceit, theft, and crimes that will catch up with you one day. You will never be able to rest in peace.”

As if Elspeth had suddenly murmured some magic code, the men from the Star Elite suddenly stepped out from various gravestones in a large circle about them. Thomas looked around and seemed to crumble. The tall, arrogant man who had accosted her suddenly became hunched in the shoulder and looked sullen, almost belligerent in his defiance. Thomas looked about the group darkly, and then glared at Elspeth as though it was all her fault.

Without moving an inch, Elspeth held her breath and turned her gaze to Aaron. She stared hard into his eyes because his face was the last thing she wanted to see before she died.

“I love you,” she whispered, then waited for the inevitable bang that would end her life.

“I love you too, Elspeth. More than anything in the world. You should know that,” Aaron said firmly. His voice shook with the fear that surged through him. He took a breath, but it didn’t steady him.

When Thomas pulled the trigger, Elspeth jerked violently to one side. The movement was so swift, so hard, that she was still gasping by the time she hit the ground and found Aaron leaning protectively over her. The boom echoed hollowly around the silent graveyard for a moment or two.

“What?” she gulped.

“Are you hurt?” Aaron demanded, his voice harsh and desperate.

“No.”

“Are you sure?” He persisted.

“Positive,” Elspeth whispered. She began to cry when the realisation dawned that she hadn’t been shot after all.

“Stay still,” Aaron warned as he looked about to see what was going on.

“Clear.”

Aaron slumped with relief over the woman in his arms while he willed his limbs to stop trembling. Ignoring the presence of his men several feet away, he lifted his head and looked at the woman he knew, without any doubt, that he adored more than life itself.

“God, I love you,” he whispered.

Elspeth blinked at him. “You do?” Her heart soared. Tears vanished instantly. Her eyes brightened with hope.

“Absolutely. If there was one thing Thomas didn’t get wrong, it is that when I came to see him I really came to see you.”

He looked so guilty that Elspeth’s tender heart began to ache for him.

“He was my friend, just not as much as you think he was,” he admitted regretfully.

“He is my brother, but not as much as I thought he was,” she sighed ruefully.

“We have to talk,” Aaron murmured against her lips.

Elspeth nodded but was prevented from replying by Jasper, who stuck his head over the gravestone beside them.

“Do you want to get Elspeth back home, so we can deal with this?” he murmured darkly.

He was gone before Aaron could reply. When Aaron stood up, he realised then why Jasper had looked so grim.