Outer Masks - Chapter 24: Joe Finally Snaps

Peach felt an all-consuming anger within her very being as her driver took her back to Beck’s apartment, unable to shake the sick feeling twisting in her gut ever since she learned that Joe Goldberg had made bail.

Her lawyers had been next to useless in this endeavor even with her father’s threats, claiming that they would try to petition the court to revoke the bail and surrender Joe back into custody, but warning her that the process could take time and that the judge could still reject the petition.

Honestly, what does daddy even pay them for? This should be an open and shut case! They should’ve been able to show just how much of a danger Joe is to everyone around him. Peach thought, staring out the tinted window of the car, tapping her fingernails rapidly against her arm.

It felt as if Joe was once again able to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes and was now evading the consequences of his twisted actions with every moment that he was allowed to walk free.

Peach looked down at her phone, growing further annoyed when she saw that Beck still had not responded to any of her text messages.

At first, she had assumed Beck simply needed space after everything she had learned about Joe; Peach could hardly blame her for wanting to shut the rest of the world out for a while even if she did find Beck’s reluctance to see the monster Joe was irritating. But it had been hours since she had left Beck's apartment, and her best friend’s silence was only serving to exasperate her already terrible mood.

“Miss Salinger?” Peach blinked, realizing the driver had already parked outside Beck’s apartment building. “We have arrived.”

Peach muttered a distracted thanks before climbing out of the car and waiting for her driver to leave before immediately pulling her phone back out to text Beck as she entered the building.

Her eyes immediately darted toward Beck’s apartment door, freezing for a moment when she saw that the door was slightly open.

“Beck?” Peach called out, and A sick feeling emerged in her stomach as she received no response.

Peach quickly moved forward and shoved the door open, stepping inside the apartment and looking around for any sign of the other woman. Instead, she found scattered pieces of a ceramic vase laying across the hardwood of Beck's kitchen.

What the hell? She quickly began to call Beck’s phone, faintly hearing Beck’s ringtone nearby.

She turned around and followed the sound to Beck’s bedroom, finding her phone lying in the center of her bed. The screen was cracked and the surface of the phone was covered in a white chalky substance.

“What the fuck?” Peach whispered, her heart starting to race as she watched the light of the phone screen vanish.

That sickening feeling returned to her stomach when she heard the floorboards creaking behind her, but just as Peach began to turn around, her world exploded in agony as something hard connected with the back of her skull.

It was like Déjà vu as she was sent stumbling forward onto Beck's bed, her phone flying from her hand and bounced across the floor, being reminded of that terrible day in Central Park.

The only difference now was that she was still conscious after being struck, her vision blurring as she could not find the strength to lift her body but was able to turn her head far enough to meet the gaze of her attacker.

Joeseph Goldberg looked down at Peach with disgust, holding the neck of a now broken lamp, and Peach had never hated anymore more than in this moment.

“Y-Y-You f-fu-fuck-fucking assh...” Peach moaned as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her body went limp.

Joe’s fingers twitched, but he ignored the powerful urge he felt to finish the job and kill Peach.

It would be so easy to just... to smother her right here, right now. I may not have been here for all of it, but I know that for years, she has inserted herself into every corner of your life, Beck, whispering in her dirty little lies into your ear, steering you away from happiness at every turn, spying on you like a disgusting voyeur, and convincing herself that she knew what was best for everyone around her, including you.

Peach is the reason that I had to hurt you, Beck, I would have never put my hands on you if she hadn’t tried to corrupt you against me, she and Candace. If they weren’t alive then we would be happily in love, with no one standing between us.

After a few moments, Joe let go of the lamp, letting it fall to the floor as he knew that killing Peach now would only make things worse for himself. The police already had their eyes on him due to his earlier arrest and upcoming trial, and the Salingers would never stop looking into him if their daughter suddenly vanished.

“You're lucky, being a spoiled and rotten little princess is keeping you alive for a little while longer, Peaches,” Joe said quietly.

He then moved forward and lifted Peach off the bed and over his shoulder, carrying her unconscious body out of the bedroom.

He would need to figure out some kind of alibi for himself and an excuse as for why Peach would inevitably either go missing or turn up dead because there was no longer any scenario where she was allowed to walk away from this.

Joe carried Peach out of the apartment and closed the door behind him before heading toward the back of the building, grateful that no one was around to notice them.

He would need a plan, but he was sure that once he convinced Beck of his intentions and made her see reason, all would be right with the world, and everything would work out smoothly from there.

~X~

As Walter sat in his office across from Barry, staring at the other man incredulously as he processed what he had just heard.

“You’re blaming all of this on our daughters becoming friends with each other?” Walter asked flatly, pinching the bridge of his nose as a headache began to form.

He briefly wondered if Barry's accusation was a sign that the man had finally suffered some kind of stress-induced psychotic break.

Barry leaned back in his chair. “Yes.”

The two men stared at each other silently, neither wanting to give in first as they found the other’s response to be insulting.

You cannot be serious,” Walter growled after about a minute.

“I am completely serious.”

Walter let out a slow breath through his nose, resisting the urge to punch one of his oldest friends. “From what I heard, Joe and Peach knew each other before Rory came back to the city, seeing as your daughter’s best friend had been dating him. And from what Rory told me and Amber, Joe did all this not just because of her friendship with Peach, but to isolate said best friend because he viewed Peach as a threat to both relationships.”

Barry glared at him, his jaw tightening. “That doesn’t change that fact that Rory being this disgusting bastard’s sister played a significant role in what has happened to my little girl. Especially because... because-”

“Because they have feelings for each other?” Walter finished quietly, and Barry looked away.

He was unable to hide his disgust and irritation at Walter’s knowing question, clenching his fusts and resting them on his knees.

The idea of Peach being attracted to any woman, let alone one like Rory and it was only because of his friendship with Walter that kept him from saying his true feelings and keeping them to himself.

Walter leaned back in his chair, studying his friend carefully. “Barry, I get that you’re not the biggest fan of homosexuality, but-”

“Don’t,” Barry warned. “I did not come here to talk about that. Joe Goldberg was able to post bail, and now he’s walking around New York without a care in the world. Peach told me that she had spoken to your daughter about Joe, that she learned the truth from her, so I need to know exactly what you told her.”

Walter stared at him for a moment before reaching down and opening one of the drawers of his desk. “Fine but just remember that Joe Goldberg is responsible for Joe Goldberg's actions. I don’t want to hear another word about Rory somehow causing this because she happened to be born into the same family as him.”

Barry's expression darkened, but he remained silent as Walter pulled out a thick manila folder and set it on the desk.

Barry immediately reached over and took the folder, opening it and reading its contents, his expression falling as he read.

Walter watched the various expressions that were quickly forming and being replaced with new ones on Barry’s face, knowing that the information within the folder would completely change everything once again.

“He murdered his ex-girlfriend,” Barry said softly, still staring down at the documents before him.

“We’re sure that he did, but we can’t prove it,” Walter admitted. “Not yet.”

Barry looked up sharply. “What do you mean, not yet?”

Walter folded his hands together on top of the desk. “Candace Stone filed a police report before she went missing claiming that Joe had attacked her, buried her in an unmarked grave, and left her for dead. We only learned the truth relatively recently because police didn’t bother to do their fucking jobs and as you read, Candace left the city after trying to make that report, and again nothing was done because they wrote off her disappearance as her simply running off in search of a fresh start.”

“And you think Joe went back to finish the job?”

“I know he did.”

“So what? That’s now two deaths on his hands and one of them was his own fucking father! And why didn’t you tell me any of this before?!”

“Amber and I were trying to protect Rory,” Walter said tiredly.

Barry stared at him, waiting for the other man to continue as he silently raged.

Walter rubbed his hand across his face. “Rory loves Joe, and despite our best efforts, she could never see him for who he truly is, too blinded by love. We did not know how she would’ve reacted once she learned the full truth about Joe, so we wanted to ease her into everything and make sure that we had enough proof against Joe to show her that he was not to be trusted so that she would believe us. Joe outing Rory and Peach gave us that opportunity, and when we told her, Rory was adamant that she be the one to tell Peach. I don’t know why, Peach only told you about Joe killing Raphel and not Candace, you’ll have to ask her yourself”

Barry glanced at the folder before looking back at Walter again. “I kind of what to punch you the face, Walt.”

Walter shrugged. “Well, I probably would have kicked your white ass already if the roles were reversed, so I can’t take offense to that.”

Barry let out a snort, closing the folder and clenching the spine of it tightly in his hand before standing up. “Thanks for this.”

“It’s the least I could do, I want that jackass locked up just as much as you do,” Walter said.

Barry nodded his head. “Good. I should go; my lawyers are going to need this if we’re going to keep Goldberg from slipping through our fingers.”

Walter nodded. “Let me know what they say.”

Barry tucked the folder under his arm and headed for the door. He stopped with his hand on the knob, his expression hardening as he looked back over his shoulder. “If Joe Goldberg so much as breathes in Peach’s direction again, I don’t think I’ll be able to-”

Walter held his gaze. “Don’t do anything stupid, Barry. The last thing you need to do is end up in a jail cell because you let your emotions get the better of you.”

Barry's jaw tightened. “I won't.”

Without another word, Barry stepped into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind him.

Walter remained seated for several seconds, staring at the closed door blankly before letting out a sardonic chuckle.

“What is my life coming to?” Walter quietly asked himself, leaning back in his chair as his head throbbed.

He thought about how his daughter would react when she learned what he had just done and was not looking forward to the inevitable argument.

~X~

Beck moaned when she opened her eyes, quickly closing them when a harsh light above her made the back of her skull ache.

She turned her head to the side and found herself lying on a thin mattress. For several seconds, she simply stared blankly at the concrete ceiling overhead, struggling to understand where she was and why her entire body felt so heavy.

When she tried sitting up, Beck found herself struggling to separate her hands from each other and to use either appendage. She immediately looked down and felt her stomach drop as she saw that her hands were handcuffed.

It was then that she looked beyond her hands and noticed that the bed she was lying on was tucked into the corner of a small room.

The space was devoid of much else beside the mattress beneath her; a bucket tucked into the opposing corner, and a chair that sat a few feet away from her. The walls and floor around her were made of concrete and lacked windows, not giving her any sign of where she could be.

“What the fuck?” Beck muttered, trying to ignore the pain that was still coming from the back of her head.

Beck's breathing quickened as she forced herself into a sitting position, and this time, refraining from using her hands now that she knew that they were bound.

“Hello?” She called out, her voice cracking.

When she received no answer, she scooted toward the edge of the mattress.

“Is... Is anybody there?” Beck asked pushed herself onto shaky legs, and her knees nearly buckled beneath her, but she caught herself and pressed her weight against the wall next to her.

“No... No...” She twisted her wrists, wincing as the steel bit into her skin.

This isn't real; this can't be real. This has to be some kind of fucked up dream. Beck thought.

But in that moment, everything came rushing back to her, and she remembered Joe holding her against her kitchen counter and hitting her in the head with a nearby vase.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!”

Panic started to consume Beck as she realized what Joe had done, the horrible truth crashing down on her all at once.

She did not know if she wanted to vomit, cry, or both, fear gripping her heart and making it difficult for her to breathe.

Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring her vision as her body slowly started to slide down the wall. She now sat on the floor, drawing her knees toward her chest and placing her arms around them.

Beck had already been forced to accept that Joe was not the kind of man that she had been led to believe that he was but knowing that he had knocked her unconscious and clearly kidnapped her and trapped her in this room, made everything even more horrifyingly real.

Now, Beck knew that even she was not safe from Joe’s madness, and that once again she was given proof that Joe did not truly love her, that she was just an obsession to him.

Beck froze when she started hearing footsteps outside coming toward the room, and she quickly forced herself to her feet again and stumbled toward the room's only door. It was only then that she noticed that the thick steel door lacked a handle on the inside.

“Help!” She screamed, slamming her bound fists against the metal. “Somebody help me! Please!”

Beck’s heart raced as the sound of the footsteps grew closer, and Beck pressed her head against the door to try and hear better, still hitting the door with her hands and calling out for help.

After what felt like an eternity, she could hear what she thought to be a key sliding into a lock followed by several deadbolts being undone.

Beck backed away from the door, eyes wide as it slowly swung open, allowing more light to enter the small space from the outside.

Beck felt as if her blood had gone cold and the small sliver of hope she felt died as she now found herself staring into the eyes of her ex-boyfriend.

Beck stumbled backwards, her legs giving out beneath her until the backs of her ankles struck the mattress and she onto it, staring up at Joe in horror.

Joe Goldberg stood in the doorway, having changed clothes since she last saw him, wearing a pair of dark jeans and a gray sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. His hair was slightly damp, as though he had recently showered, and in one hand he carried a paper grocery bag while the other held a ring of keys.

Joe's expression softened the moment their eyes met. “Hi, Beck.”

When he tried to enter the room, Beck crawled back on the mattress and her breathing became ragged. “Please...” She whispered. “Please don't...”

Joe stopped, careful to leave space between them. “I'm not going to hurt you.”

Beck let out a broken laugh. “You already did, asshole.”

Joe's expression faltered. “Beck-”

“You kidnapped me!” Beck shouted. “You fucking kidnapped me! What could you even say that could justify this?!”

“I didn't want to, but I didn’t have a choice. You weren’t listening to me, Beck,” Joe said, desperation coating his voice. “Peach and Candace have poisoned your mind; they’re trying to ruin us. That’s why I brought you here, to get away from all the distractions and bad influences.”

Beck stared at him in disbelief. “Do you even hear yourself right? You sound fucking crazy!”

“Don’t say that,” Joe said, looking at Beck sadly.

“Don’t say what? The truth? You've lost your mind, or maybe you never even had it in the first place.”

Joe exhaled slowly, stepping into the room fully and setting the grocery bag in his hand on the nearby chair. “Beck, please just listen to-”

“Where am I? What is this place?” Beck asked, not wanting to hear Joe trying to continue explaining his actions.

Joe stared at Beck for a moment before sighing again. “We’re in an old cabin that my adopted father owned. He is... He was like one of those survivalists who were sure that the world was going to end soon due to nuclear war. So, he had the basement renovated into a fallout shelter. He used to joke that if the world ended, this would be the safest place in America.”

Joe managed a faint smile as he thought about Mr. Mooney, one that made Beck even more uncomfortable.

Joe had wanted to take Beck to Mooney’s and place her within the book cage, but when he remembered his recent arrest and Candace’s reappearance, he realized that the store would have been the first place anyone would have looked for them once it was discovered that Beck was missing.

So, he had to choose a place that he was sure that no one besides himself knew about, and where no one would even think of searching for them. So, a cabin outside of White Plains seemed like the safest and only true option.

See, Beck? I’m telling you things about myself that I've never trusted anyone else to know. Who else do you know that has ever shown you every part of themselves like I have? We belong together, Beck, and I’m going to help you see that again. Joe thought to himself, smiling again.

“It'll only be for a little while,” Joe said quietly, finally noticing Beck’s discomfort. “Just until everything calms down and until I can make you understand what's really happening.”

“Stop speaking to me like I’m a child who doesn’t know better. I’m never going to change my mind, never!” Beck shouted.

Silence settled between them and Joe decided to busy himself with the grocery bag, carefully removing bottled water, sandwiches wrapped in wax paper, a blanket, painkillers, and a small first-aid kit, arranging everything neatly on the chair beside the mattress.

Beck felt her stomach churn as she watched him trying to act normal, and she clenched her fists as she wanted to scream at him again.

“I brought some Tylenol for your head,” Joe said without looking at her. “I don’t think you have a concussion. I didn't hit you as hard as I could, but... I'm sorry for that.”

“You can’t keep me here forever, someone is going to notice that I’m gone, and you’ll be the first person everyone suspects.”

Joe frowned, lifting his head to look at her again. “Beck-”

Before Joe could say anything else, a moan echoed through the hallway outside the room.

Joe's shoulders immediately stiffened at the sound.

Beck frowned. “...What was that?”

Joe did not answer Beck as another moan came from the hallway, louder than the first, and Beck could tell that the moaning was coming from someone very close to the door.

Beck's eyes widened. “Who… Who is that?”

Joe slowly closed his eyes, rubbing a hand across his face before letting out a tired sigh. “I was hoping you'd be calmer before we got to this.”

“Joe? Who is that?” Beck asked again, pushing herself to her feet.

“Beck, listen to me, it’s not-”

Beck used Joe’s distracted state to rush past the man, ignoring his screams to stop, and when she passed through the door, she froze.

Beck found Peach laying upright next to the door; her wrists handcuffed in front of her along with one of her ankles being secured to a thick steel pipe that ran along the wall. Dried blood matted one side of her head, and an ugly purple bruise spread across her temple. Duct tape covered placed over her mouth, her eyelids fluttered but the woman did not open them, and her body was almost deathly still.

“Peach!” Beck shouted as she dropped to her knees beside her friend.

She ignored the pain shooting through her head as she reached out, hesitating only for a second before touching Peach’s shoulder.

“Peach, wake up. Please, wake up.”

The other woman barely moved, letting out a weak groan as her eyes fluttered open. Confusion filled Peach’s face, barely reacting as she finally noticed Beck, her eyes glazing over.

Before Beck could do anything else, she was lifted off the ground and found herself in Joe’s arms being carried away from Peach.

“No! Put me down you fucking bastard! Put me down!” Beck screeched, thrashing around in Joe’s grasp.

Joe tightened his grip around Beck's waist, stumbling backward into the room as she continued to kick and struggle against him.

“Beck, stop!” He pleaded. “You're going to hurt yourself.”

“Let me go!” Beck screamed. “She needs a hospital!”

Joe carried her back into the room and set her on the mattress before stepping between Beck and the open doorway. “Peach isn’t going to die; her injuries just look worse than are.”

Beck stared at him in horror. “Worse than they are? How can you even say that?”

Joe spread his hands helplessly. “I was trying to protect us, Beck.”

“You broke into my apartment, kidnapped me, assaulted Peach, kidnapped her too, and chained her to a fucking pipe, Joe, you're not the hero here.”

Joe's jaw tightened. “I didn’t have a choice; she wasn't supposed to come to your apartment.”

Beck blinked. “What?”

Joe sighed, carting a hand through his hair. “After I... I brought you here, I went back to your apartment to clean everything up before anyone found you were gone. But Peach had beaten me there before I could, and I couldn’t let her leave after seeing the state that your apartment had been left.”

“So, you hit her over the head? Just like you did me?” Beck asked, scoffing as she glared at Joe. “I’m surprised that didn’t try and finish the job, you had no issue trying to kill her before, so why stop yourself now?”

“That was a mistake,” Joe said. “And I hadn’t planned on attacking her, it was just so... It was just so frustrating seeing Peach manipulate you. When I saw her in the park after she tricked you into forgiving her, I was just so overcome with emotion and before I knew it, I was standing over her with a rock.”

“Manipulate me? Tricking me into forgiving her? You have some nerve claiming that-”

“But she was, Beck! I mean, c’mon! Do you really think that Peach was so upset over what happened with Roger Stevens and that she was so overcome with emotion that she would try and kill herself?” Joe asked as if the need to ask in the first place was ludicrous. “She was pretending to overdose! She knew that she was wrong and that you had every right to be angry with her and to distance yourself from her. And she knew that nothing she could say would make things better, so her only course of action was to act like she was dying to guilt you into forgiving her. She’s been doing this since we started dating and I’m sure long before even that!”

“That’s not true, Peach-”

“Beck, you said it yourself that Peach has overdosed before and has said that she wishes to die, don’t you think that if she was really that suicidal that someone would have done something about it by now? You really think that someone wouldn’t have tried to put her in a mental hospital by now? Peach is a fucking parasite; how can you not see that?!”

“Well, it’s hard to believe the word of a manipulator that someone else is one too.”

“I'm not manipulating you.”

Beck let out another hollow laugh. “Joe, that's literally all you've done since we met. After everything I’ve heard about you, how can I not think that?”

Joe’s jaw clenched, and he closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. He did not want to give Beck anymore reason to doubt him by reacting negatively, even if he did want to bash Peach’s head in with another rock for once again making things difficult for him, even while unconscious.

“If I was everything that you heard about me from Peach and Candace, don’t you think that I would have done what you said earlier, just killed Peach and be done with all of this? Do you think that I would have brought her here and told you what I had done if I was truly so evil? I want you to see that I’m not that kind of man, that I’m not the monster that you I am, and that Peach is not the woman you have been brainwashed into thinking that she is.”

Without another word, Joe turned on his heel and walked toward the doorway, pausing to pick up the ring of keys from where he had dropped them in his haste to chase after Beck when she heard Peach.

“Joe?” Beck called after him, fear and uncertainty replacing some of the anger in her voice. “Where are you going?”

He looked back at her over his shoulder. “I don’t want to upset you any further, so I’ll give you some time to yourself.”

“Time?” Beck said incredulously, letting out another disbelieving laugh. “You really are insane.”

Joe's expression tightened for a moment before smoothing over again. “I know it doesn't feel that way right now, but after everything that's happened today, we're both emotional. Nothing productive is going to come from us continuing to shout at each other.”

Joe then stepped out of the room and slowly pulled the heavy iron door shut behind him.

The thick slab of metal slammed into place with a deafening clang that echoed through the bunker before Beck heard the door being locked.

Beck waited a few moments, dragging her knees up to her chest and placing her head on the top of her knees.

“Fuck,” Beck muttered, dragging her cuffed hands through her hair before letting them fall uselessly in front of her knees.

A sob caught in Beck's throat before she swallowed it, her body shaking as she tried to keep herself from crying.

She hated how scared she felt, and she cursed the day that Joe Goldberg entered her life. She wondered how long she would be left to rot in this room, whether anyone had realized she was missing yet, and if anyone would even think of looking for her here.

She closed her eyes, trying to steady her breathing as the walls felt as if they were closing in around her, feeling weaker than she ever had in her life.

Eventually, her composure broke and Beck started to sob, squeezing her legs tightly against her chest, ignoring the pain of the cuff digging into her wrists again.

~X~

Joe pressed his forehead against the iron door, hearing the sound of Beck beginning to cry from the other side.

That could have gone better. Joe thought, turning his head to look at the woman lying on the floor.

Peach was staring at the wall across from her, her eyes still glazed over as she slumped against the wall behind her, not reacting to Joe’s presence.

How hard did I hit her?

Joe kneeled next to Peach, placing a finger under her chin and lifting her head, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

Joe stared at the top of her head, carefully brushing a few strands of dark hair away from the wound he had left behind.

Blood had already begun to dry, matting itself into her hair, while the bruising around area that Joe had hit her with a lamp had darkened considerably since he had brought her here.

“Shit...” Joe gently tilted her head from side to side, watching her pupils struggle to focus on him, the delay was enough to make his stomach tighten.

A concussion, of course she has a fucking concussion because why would anything ever be easy for me?

Peach blinked lazily at him, recognition flickering across her face before disappearing again. She mumbled something through the duct tape, her head dipping backwards and wincing when it touched the wall.

Joe let his hand fall before letting out a deep breath, hoping that Peach's concussion was at least mild and not severe.

“You just couldn't make anything easy, could you?” He muttered, more to himself than to Peach.

He remembered that he had bought a first aid kit when he went to the store and was sure that it was either in his car or it was in the grocery bag that he had left inside the bunker.

“Let’s hope for your sake that it’s in my car,” Joe said as he stood back up, noting wanting to go back into the room so soon, wanting to give Beck time to calm down.

Joe walked away from Peach, walking toward the stairs at the other end of the hallway, not looking back at the concussed woman, ignoring the soft moan she was letting out.

Once Peach is more lucid, I’ll show you the type of woman that she is, Beck, she won't be able to help herself. She'll lie, manipulate, exaggerate, just as she always does and when you finally see it with your own eyes, you'll understand that I was never the problem. You'll understand that everything I've done has been because I love you.

Joe climbed the stairs, closing the basement door behind him once he reached the top, no longer able to hear Peach’s moans and Beck’s cries.

In his mind, Beck was frightened because she had been blindsided by Candace and Peach's lies, the overwhelming shock of everything she heard had confused her. But Joe knew who Guinevere Beck was and knew that he only had to be patient.

Joe walked through the cabin and opened the front door, stepping into the evening air and inhaling deeply as a cool breeze brushed across his face.

I just need a bit more time, Beck, to help you see the truth. And once I do, you won’t care when I slit Peach’s throat and throw her body into a river, you won’t care that you’ll never see your spoiled, entitled friends or your ungrateful family again. You’ll see that all we will ever need is each other and we’ll finally be able to start our lives together far away from everyone else.

Joe then pressed his hand to his jacket pocket, feeling the bus tickets he had bought earlier, two direct passes that would take them to Canada. Winnipeg was not New York City, but Joe was sure that they would not struggle to start over there and would be able to build the life that Joe had always envisioned for them there.

A small apartment in a quiet neighborhood. Beck writing again, happier than she had ever been because she was finally free from all the people who had weighed her down. No Peach, no Candace or anyone else whispering in her ear and convincing her that he was some kind of monster. And eventually two girls to raise and call their own, both of whom looked just like their mother, the image was so clear that Joe was almost sure that he was it was real at that moment.

A smile appeared on Joe’s face as he walked to his car, seeing the first aid kit in the passenger seat through the window, still lost in his daydream.

He could already imagine Beck's reaction once she finally understood; the anger would fade and she would apologize for all the hurtful things she said, and he would forgive her because that was what you did when you loved someone.

Joe was going to get his happy ending, and he was not going to let anyone take away the life that he was going to build with Beck. And it did not matter who he had to kill, rob, kidnap or destroy in order to do so.