"𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬"

𝟓𝟕. "𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐓𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐬"

★ Jerome P.O.V. ★

I looked at the clock for the hundredth time that day, and when I saw the hour hand was about to pass 1 AM, I almost lost it. Grey went out to think, but I had no idea what she could possibly be thinking about for over fifteen hours.

"How to leave you?" The voice in my brain piped up. I shook my head to get rid of it and pushed my hair back.

I wanted to go after her, but she would've been furious if she found out I went somewhere. That was assuming she was even coming back to me. And I had absolutely no idea where she went anyway. My best bet would be Barbie, but Grey was too much of a mess to find her. She could've gone back to Penguin, but she had no reason to do that. Maybe she was with Tom.

"Maybe she did what I told her to do." I thought to myself and let out a humourless chuckle.

"She didn't." I hissed and tightened my grip on my hair.

I fucked up so badly. It's not like I actually wanted to kill myself. I just wanted to give Grace a chance at a normal life, and that was only an option with me gone. I had our cult rob a few banks, and I left a lot of money for her. Enough so that she could leave Gotham and live however she wanted. I never thought she would end up on that roof with me. Tom was supposed to get her out of there so she couldn't follow me.

I should've guessed she would do everything to stay with me. I would do everything to stay with her too. And there was also the small issue of me feeding my brother a gas that would turn him into a dollar store version of me. I basically gifted Gotham with one big dweeby pain in the ass, and as funny as that was, I wasn't in the slightest mood to laugh.

We were both supposed to be gone. I was supposed to be in the ground, and Grey was supposed to be back in England and running her own bakery. That's what I imagined she would do. I could just picture her tending to ordinary people in some kind of adorable apron and a big smile on her flour-stained face.

"Focus, you sap." My brain ordered me. I sighed and nodded stupidly.

Grace promised Gordon I wouldn't break the law again. I had no idea how to go about doing that, but I was prepared to do anything to get her to forgive me and stay with me. She could easily handle life without me, but I had no chance of making it without her. When she raised that gun to her head, and it hit me that she could be gone in seconds, I just about lost my mind. The idea of her not being alive at the same time as me was horrifying. Even if I was going to be dead seconds later. But since I wasn't, I would keep doing everything to keep Grey safe and happy.

It was going to be a little tricky since she made me promise to stay in the sad hole Tom picked for her, but I was determined to make her smile at me again. I got up from the couch with a grunt and squirmed my way to the kitchen to make sandwiches. It was agony, but I somehow managed to put together a couple of them. Once I got them all on a plate, I grabbed a few books from a bookshelf and took everything to the bedroom. Then I paced into the bathroom in search of anything else I could use to cheer up Grey.

"Tom, you fucking prick." I chuckled to myself when I found a jar of dry rose petals under the sink.

I focused on Grace to keep myself calm and quickly walked back to the living room to make good use of the flowers. I did my best to make a nice path from the front door all the way to the bed and then threw the few last ones on the mattress. The last time I did it was back at the circus. Back then, I waited for her naked.

And as much as I would've loved to see if I could tempt her, I had more sense than that. Making her laugh was more important than sex at the moment. And there was a low chance she would be amused by me flashing her. Then, just as I sat on the bed next to the books, I heard the front door squeak. I breathed out with relief and leaned my back on the wall.