Chapter 21

After Magnus hung up the phone, he looked at his friend Stefan with concern. Stefan tilted his head in question.

"Is everything okay?" Stefan asked, resting a hand on Magnus' shoulder.

"I have a terrible feeling something is wrong. Gemma sounded panicky," Magnus said, staring at his phone.

"Maybe you should go back and make sure she's okay," Stefan suggested.

Just when Magnus was about to reply, his crystal glowed dazzling. He gave his friend a knowing glance and ran off. On his airship, Magnus' heart was beating quick. He just had a terrible feeling that something was terribly wrong and it had something to do with Gemma. He maneuvered through the air and made his way as fast as he could to Gemma.

He couldn't help but think the worst. Little did he know the worst was already happening and water inside of the car was filling up quickly.

Gemma's final thoughts before she blacked out were thoughts of Magnus and how she'd never seen him again. How would her loved ones feel about burying her lifeless body with no means of knowing why she died? Before she closed her eyes, she saw a silhouette of a figure through the back window of the car.

"Gemma!" she could hear a familiar voice as she felt a chilly breeze on her soaked body. "Gemma, breath!"

She blinked slowly and felt herself go in and out of consciousness. Gemma could make out the outline of a man who was holding her and brushing her hair out of her face. She coughed and started crying uncontrollably.

"It's okay," her rescuer said, gripping her. "You're okay."

Gemma wanted to thank him, but she couldn't stop crying long enough to even get a few words out. Once her grogginess went away, she felt pure happiness as Sportacus held her and rubbed her cheek with his thumb.

"Magnus… Sportacus…" she stuttered. "The flash drive… They took it…"

He shook his head. "That's not important. Your safety is what I'm worried about right now. We need to get you something dry to wear."

Gemma stood up with his help. She fell into his arms and held him tightly, feeling tears escaping again and a catch in her voice.

"Please forgive me," she cried into his shoulder. "I wanted to give you the flash drive, and I tried drowning it, but that was not enough to ruin the files on it. I should've never gone to Iceland for Kim and I shouldn't have tried to gain your trust with ill intentions…"

"Gemma," Sportacus said, stroking her hair.

"I'm so sorry," she kept repeating. "Please forgive me. I care about you, okay? And I don't want to ruin your life. I quit my job. Kim wanted the drive, but I refused to give it to her. She hired someone to get rid of me…"

Sportacus grabbed her face between his hands and looked into her teary eyes. She kept apologizing, and no matter how many times he said her name, she wouldn't stop. He gave a slight smile.

"Why are you smiling?" she asked, sniffling.

He chuckled. "Because you're beautiful."

Gemma blinked, not sure if she heard him correctly. She nearly died and all he had to say was she was beautiful? He shouldn't be worried about what she looks like. Instead, he should be worried about catching the person who did this to her. Unfortunately, the more she thought about it, the more she realized she had no proof against Kim.

"Please, take me home," she said, lowering her gaze and ignoring his compliment.

As much as she loved hearing him say that, Gemma wasn't feeling well enough to properly respond, and she hoped he'd understand that. He led her to his airship and traveled to her place in silence. She curled up in a corner of the ship with a blanket wrapped around her for warmth. Sportacus glanced at her from time to time to check in on her.

"I will find out who did this to you," he said, landing the ship somewhere unfamiliar to her.

"Where are we?" she asked, standing up to look out the large window. "This certainly isn't my place."

"I took you to my friend, Stefan's, house here in the country," Sportacus said, helping her out of the airship. "I don't think it would be a good idea to bring you home."

Gemma nodded slowly and followed him to the front door. There were a lot of trees surrounding the small cottage-like house. A white picket fence wrapped around the stone structure with white and purple flowers lining the walkway to the front door.

"You should be safe here," Sportacus said, opening the door.

"I should file a complaint or something," Gemma said, looking around as she entered the house. "Maybe I should randomly show up to the Loop and surprise Kim."

"You don't know for sure if it was her who hired someone," Sportacus said, following her around with his eyes.

Gemma stopped and looked at him. "I know it was her. She was on the phone with someone when I was packing up my desk. Are you saying it was a coincidence that an evil cab driver pulls up as soon as I hail him? Are you telling me, saying her instead of him, isn't connected to Kim at all?"

Sportacus stood in front of Gemma and leaned in close enough for her to feel his warm breath on her cold cheeks. "I'm saying we can't point fingers until we know the facts first. There is a fresh pair of clothes for you in the master bedroom. You can take a warm shower and get some rest."

"Where are you going?" Gemma asked, grasping his forearm. "Don't leave me alone."

His eyes softened, and he caressed her cheek. "I am going to sort this out and hopefully put someone behind bars. There is an emergency phone in your room. If you need me, call me."

Gemma nodded as he laid a gentle kiss on her forehead. He lingered there for a while before he turned to leave. She felt butterflies in her stomach as the thought of his lips on her forehead lingered fresh in her mind.

Sportacus had had enough of whatever was going on between Gemma and her ex-coworker. And this was all about who he was and his secret identity. He wondered why they would go to extremes to get the flash drive from Gemma and what they had against him. To his knowledge, he had no enemies. An overwhelming feeling flooded him, making his stomach turn. Would he have to turn in his 'cape' and retire from being Sportacus?

As she watched him fly away on the ship, Gemma hugged herself and shivered a little, then closed the door and locked it. Once again, he was putting his life in danger from saving hers. But that was his job, right? He was a superhero, after all. But why was Gemma's heart filled with guilt?

"I have to do something," she said out loud. "I can't just sit here while he goes off like that."

She paced back and forth, tapping her index finger on her chin. Gemma wandered off into the bedroom and found the emergency phone on the nightstand next to the bed. She picked it up and scrolled through what brief contacts there were and found Stefan's number.