False Hero Novels & Stories

He was hesitant to believe me, and I did not blame him because I had been doing a lot of lying recently. “The whole Mitch thing and me being framed for it, it was her,” I explained. He will know that I’m not lying. Not because of proof or anything, but because it was something that he was always good at. He was good at telling if someone was telling the truth or lying. I’d always make fun of him and tell him that it was his superpower. His chest rose and fell, signaling that he was taking in deep breaths. “Fallon…” He tested the name on his tongue. “Is she American?”

I wasn’t sure if I should thank him or kill him. “I’ll be right back.” I said and made sure Jules wasn’t too far from June. “Did you not see us?” I said to him as we walked. “Huh?” He replied confused. I snatched the controller from Theo and began playing. “So, you and June. What’s really going on?” Theo sat beside me. “I already told you. We’re fake.” I responded. “Didn’t look like that to me.” He laughed. “I told him the same thing. He looks at her like…” Max started. “I don’t even know but they sure as hell don’t look fake. Or, the acting is phenomenal.”

It was him, the man I dreamed about, Xavier Quinn. For four years, he had tormented me relentlessly, mocked me, and had affairs with numerous women, even forcing me into a relationship with him. Just days before his engagement to another woman, he had forcibly slept with me. Now, he claimed to love me, but he still brought this woman in front of me. He had deceived me over and over, played with my feelings. Was it really worth it? Luckily, I didn't believe him. Even though I almost did. When Wendy pulled my arm in annoyance, I had no defenses, and she yanked me off the bed.

There was the anger of being deceived, the regret of being fooled, but most of all the hollowness left when a dream falls apart. For this so-called chosen one, she had gambled her own future and the good name of the entire Order. And in the end she had found it was, from start to finish, one enormous con. She didn't say a single word for Lucian. She didn't even spare him one comforting glance. Lucian sank into utter despair. He knew he was finished. Garrick and the other two elders were quick on their feet. They flew forward at once and bowed to me in apology.

"I changed the death report to protect the hospital. If we told the truth, do you think his kids would've let this go? They would've torn this place apart." I let out a cold laugh. "So let me get this straight. Astrid says he's going to die, then that same night, he just happens to fall and die, and you just happen to falsify the report." The implication didn't need to be spelled out. People started looking back and forth between the two of them. Astrid's eyes turned red, her voice shaking as she spoke. "What are you trying to say? I made one prediction, and now I'm a killer? Why would I do that?"

The other man's face was already badly bruised and swollen, yet he continued to bellow some sort of manic tirade. "That chick you were just talking to on the phone? A couple of years ago, when I was in university, she was a regular in my bed! She's the campus bicycle, everyone's taken her for a ride, and foreigners are her type! Killing me won't change the truth! I've got a bunch of her photos right here on my phone! Hey, you wanna watch a video together?!" With a shaking hand, the heckler offered up his phone. Joseph's face flushed bright red, veins throbbing in his forehead.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself. He had caused me pain—there was no denying it. He had shattered trust, dragged me into a world of lies and deceit. But he had also been there for me when no one else had, an unlikely ally in a world that had turned its back on me. The justice for my mother’s death, the truths of my fake parents, the dark reality of the world I’d been thrust into—Nicolai had been there through it all, even when I refused to acknowledge it.