Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Gideon
I nodded at Danny, who approached the man tied to the chair. He opened his pocketknife and without hesitation jammed it into the man’s hand, clean through. He screamed but no one was going to hear him, not this far out.
“Danny has a lot more knives, and you have a lot of places he can stick them, Frank.” I wrapped my coat tighter around myself—it was bitter out, and this warehouse had no heat. “Start talkin’, or he starts stabbing.”
“M…Mr. Hendrix, please. I swear, I don’t know. A guy came and said he worked for you and took the delivery. I didn’t know! I don’t know all the guys you employ.”
I rolled my eyes and slipped my cigar between my lips.
I let him stew a moment while I lit it. I didn’t smoke these often, but in instances like this it calmed me.
“When has anyone other than Danny or Alex ever been at a pickup, Frank?” I took a few steps closer to him.
“You didn’t used to be stupid. What happened?
Ate some idiot flakes for breakfast, you fucking shit? ”
“I’m sorry. It was busy here, I didn’t think.”
“No,” I shouted, pointing my cigar at him. “That right there, Frank. You didn’t think. I don’t have time for brainless idiots, especially ones that cost me a million dollars in one goddamn night.” I gritted my teeth and stepped away. “Henry will be taking your place.”
“I’m being demoted?” Shit, he was dumb.
“No, Frank. You’re being terminated.” I spun on my heel.
“No, Mr. Hendrix. Please, I—”
His pleading was immediately cut off by the two bullets Danny delivered to his head.
I was fucking freezing. I got into the back of my black Lincoln Navigator and sighed against the leather seats. Motherfucking Frank.
I didn’t know who’d stolen from me, but I’d find out. There weren’t many stupid enough to do it and less as powerful to go toe-to-toe. I was just getting ready to make a call when my phone vibrated in my hand. Dean, my brother’s name, flashed across the screen.
He was probably having difficulty getting Olivia to sleep. She was a firecracker, that one. Sometimes I needed to get on the phone on the nights she slept at his house to get her to go to bed.
“Hey, Dean.”
“Gid.” There was slight panic in his voice, and my spine went ramrod straight.
“What’s wrong?”
“You gotta get to Northchester General, now.”
A second later Danny, Alex, and Paul all got into the car. “Paul, Northchester General, now. Dean, why am I going to the fucking hospital?”
Paul hit the gas, and none of the others said a word.
“The house, my house. There was a fire.”
“Is everyone okay?”
“Yeah, mostly. Smoke inhalation. Owen is freaking out, Liv is trying to calm him, but he’s humming.”
Shit. He hummed anytime he was overstimulated or scared.
“I’ll be there as fast as I can…Dean, this fire, was it…?”
“I’ll tell you once you get here.”
He disconnected the call, and it took everything in me not to start punching anything and everything in sight.
My kids…had someone tried to kill my children?
After tonight with Frank and now this, I had a feeling someone certainly was trying to tear me apart.
Fuckers didn’t realize who they were dealing with.
I rushed into the emergency room and immediately saw Rita, my sister-in-law. Matteo was wrapped in her arms.
“Rita.” Paul, Danny, and Alex were on my heels.
“Gideon,” her voice cracked. She rose, and I hugged her and Matteo tightly.
“Where’s Dean, the kids?” I glanced at Matteo. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think I would have been if that guy hadn’t saved us.”
“What guy?” I looked at Rita, but my name was called and I saw Dean approaching me.
There was dried blood on his forehead, and his suit had seen way better days. When he was close enough, I pulled him to me.
“I’m okay, brother.”
I moved back. “Livy, Owen?”
“Yeah, come on.”
“Stay with them.” I instructed my guys to remain with Rita and Matteo, and I followed Dean.
Owen was in bed with an oxygen mask on, and Olivia was cradled around him. He was humming, and she was petting his dark hair.
I walked to the bed and as soon as I sat, Owen threw off his mask and jumped into my arms and Livy hugged me from behind.
“It’s okay, my angels, I got you.”
“It was so scary.” Olivia sniffled, and Owen nodded.
He didn’t talk much—less after their mother had died—but he could communicate and where he was silent, Olivia was loud.
“I know, you’re safe now. Everything will be okay.”
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, Livvy bear?”
“Batman saved us.”
I peered over my shoulder and looked into her brown eyes. “Batman?”
“Mhmm. He kicked down the door, wrapped us in his cape, and saved us. He walked through fire, Daddy!”
I glanced at Dean, who was sitting by the bed, and he shrugged. “There was a guy.”
“Who?”
“Don’t know. He was covered up, head to toe. I know he was white, maybe six foot two, and had bright-green eyes. That’s it.”
“And he just walked into your home, and what?”
“I was unconscious. Rita dragged me out and after I came to, I watched as he crashed through the window and got all three kids out. His clothes were on fire; he just rolled around and jumped up as if he hadn’t been engulfed.”
“Is he here at the hospital?”
Dean shook his head. “No. One minute he was there, and I turned for a second, and then he was gone.”
“Like Batman,” Olivia whispered in my ear.
I had a million questions for Dean, but at that moment the doctor came in, explained discharge information and said how lucky these kids were that they’d gotten out when they had.
Dean, Rita, and Matteo would be coming to my house, and I was able to get Owen and Olivia in a different car with Rita, Paul, and Alex. Danny, Dean, Matteo, and I went in another vehicle.
I had questions only Matteo would know the answers to, and Dean needed to fill in some blanks, and I didn’t want to do this in front of my kids.
“What happened, Dean?”
“I was in my study. I heard some rustling outside my window and I walked over to see, thinking it was a bird or whatever. I saw the Molotov flying toward my face. I moved back, slipped and hit my head, lights out. Next thing I know I’m waking up outside.”
I faced Matteo. “Hey, bud.”
“Hi, Uncle Gid.”
“I know tonight scared you a lot, but can you tell me anything about this guy who saved you?”
He sighed, his hands rubbing along his legs in a nervous gesture.
“He was so calm. Gave us a blanket drenched in water, explained everything. Livy got scared and he just winked at her, maybe smiled. I dunno, I couldn’t see a lot of his face.
There was this burst of fire and I felt the heat of it, Uncle Gid, and this guy just tossed me out the window…
the flames…he was all lit up. Just got up and was fine. ”
“Now you see why Olivia is calling him Batman?” Dean lifted a brow.
“Except if Batman was enveloped in flames like you say, he couldn’t just walk away. He’s human at the end of the day, but this guy, what the hell, Dean?”
“I don’t know, Gideon, but he saved Matteo, Olivia, and Owen. If he hadn’t been there…”
He didn’t have to finish. I knew, and the thought made bile rise in my throat.
“We need to find this man.” I saw Danny nod from the driver’s seat.
“It’s not gonna be easy, Gid.”
I smirked at my brother. “No one can hide from me. I’ll find him.”