Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Penn
Gideon didn’t return home from dealing with Elijah until three in the morning. I heard him trying to be quiet but failing miserably. He went straight into the en suite and a moment later, the shower turned on. I knew times like this he likely wanted to decompress, so I left him to it.
My lids drooped, but I became alert as soon as the bathroom door opened. I could tell he still thought I was asleep because he slipped into bed so gingerly.
I rolled over and faced him. “You okay?”
“You’re awake?”
“No, this is me sleep-talking.”
He snorted. “So much sass. Yeah, I’m okay. Processing everything.”
It was too late or early depending on how you looked at it. Gideon would tell me everything Elijah had confessed to when he was ready. He moved to his back and patted his chest, his silent signal that he wanted my head there. I obliged, of course, and he immediately wrapped his arms around me.
We lay in silence, and I focused on the sound of his heartbeat against my ear. Eventually, I fell asleep again and by the time I woke up in the morning, I was alone. I wondered if Gideon had gotten any rest at all.
I showered and got ready for the day. It was the weekend but Olivia still had piano lessons. Jennifer would be here in half an hour. When I got downstairs, Gideon was at the table with Owen and Olivia.
“Good morning,” I said as I made my way to the kitchen for coffee.
“Morning, there are pancakes. I kept them warm.” Gideon smiled.
“You cooked?”
“They’re good!” Olivia giggled.
“I have been known to cook a thing or two.”
I got my plate and coffee and joined them at the table. “Usually, it’s on the grill, though.” I poured on the syrup and took a bite. I looked at Livy with wide eyes. “Wow, they are good.”
“I hate you,” Gideon joked.
After Olivia was done, she rushed off to clean up before Jennifer arrived. I really wanted to talk to Gideon, but I wasn’t going to abandon Owen to do so.
“What do you want to do?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. I have a book report.”
“Want help?”
“Gotta finish the book first.”
I ruffled his hair. “That shouldn’t be too hard for you, right?”
He sighed. “It’s a boring book.”
“I always hated when teachers assigned me books to read and I didn’t enjoy them. Why couldn’t I choose what I wanted?” Gideon sympathized.
“I wish.” Owen slid off his chair. “I think I’ll go finish it so I can get it over with.”
“If you need help, you know where we are.” I laughed as he rolled his eyes and made his way to his room as if he were heading off to his execution.
Danny entered the room, Jennifer in tow.
“Thanks, Danny,” Gideon said as he approached Jennifer. “Olivia is just getting the syrup off her fingers.”
“Oh, sure.” She surveyed the space warily. “Is everything okay here?”
Gideon cocked his head. “Yeah, why do you ask?”
“Usually, I’m let in and come to the door myself. This time they walked around my vehicle at the gate, and then that man said he’d deliver me.”
“His name’s Danny, and he’s not house trained.” I grinned.
“Everything is fine, Jennifer. Just some extra precautions is all.” Gideon motioned behind her. “There’s Olivia now.”
“Hi, Jennifer.”
“Hello, Olivia, ready to show me what you’ve been practicing?”
Once they were in the music room, I looked at Gideon. “Ready to talk now?”
He nodded. “Yeah, but in my office.”
I followed behind him and shut the door. Once we were seated on the couch, I figured I’d get the ball rolling. “Did Elijah tell you anything?”
He faced me, expression serious. “He told me…everything.”
“Tell me.”
He first explained how Elijah had admitted that when he’d given Ricky the car that he hadn’t cared if there were kids in it. That confession alone was what had sealed Elijah’s fate.
“Danny and Alex had some reservations about killing Elijah at first because of how important he was to Benito. His retaliations are amping up, and they worried what this would do.”
It made sense for them to show Gideon all the angles he might have been missing, but Elijah was responsible for hurting Matteo.
“How, if they knew Elijah didn’t give a shit if Matteo or Owen died?”
“Once Elijah confessed, that was the moment they both wanted him dead too.”
“Was he hard to break?”
Gideon nodded. “Took a long time. In the end, he was telling me everything in between begging me to kill him.”
“What else did you find out?”
“The main thing I needed to know was why it took Benito two years to move in. It eats at me. After Lorcan, I was at my weakest. It was perfect.”
“And Elijah told you?”
“Yeah. He waited to see which of us would still be standing and he’d take the winner, so to speak, down. Problem was, while I was weak, I had loyal supporters. Then, after I had my fingers in all the pies, with the mayor, commissioner, and such in the city, it was too late.”
“Loyal supporters?”
“He tried to talk to some of the business owners in Northchester, thought he’d get them to support him and turn on me. Told them I was hurting, needed to rebuild, and that their investments weren’t being handled well.”
“None of them told you?”
He waved the question away. “They felt no need because when he got to the motorcycle club, Elijah said they threatened Benito—if he tried to slither his way into this town, they’d kill him.”
My brow dipped. “Which MC?”
Gideon’s expression was grim. “The Bastard Princes.”
My eyes widened. “The ones who were killed in the clubhouse fire a year ago…” It wasn’t a question.
It had been ruled an accident by the arson detective.
Alcohol, cigarettes, and electrical wires had brought the place down, but now listening to Gideon tell us they stood up for him, threatened Benito, it seemed the wannabe governor had made moves earlier than we’d thought.
“So, he was threatened, and where he thought he’d have allies, he didn’t?”
“Yes. So he decided in order to take my power, he had to be put in a position that would give him everything he needed to take what was mine and tear me apart.”
“And he chose governor?”
“Politicians were never my thing. Sure, I had the mayor in my pocket, but that was for a good reason. For over two years Northchester has been thriving, calm, and they all saw that.”
“Then elections started to rear their ugly head, and he gathered people you didn’t rub shoulders with to help him get on the ballot.”
“Pretty much. The people who sided with him had powerful friends, and so on and so on until here we are.”
“And you’re pushing back, so he’s pushing harder.”
“He wants to win so he can get rid of any affiliation I have in this town and state. But my reach is far.”
“He had to see how it would fail.”
Gideon hummed. “He did…that’s why Elijah said Benito’s goal is to show the people of Northchester, this state, and all others around it how dangerous I am, show them my true colors, and if it meant he had to tear it all down to build it up, he’d do it.”
“I mean, sounds like he’s gonna make you look like a bad guy in front of everyone but, Gid, they all know who you are.”
He sighed. “They do, and I’ve kept them safe.”
“You have.”
He reached over and slid his hand in mine. “So he’s going to make it so they don’t feel safe, Penn. And what better way to do that than to make the streets bleed?”
He wouldn’t…that would be horrific. “He’s going to start a war.”
“It’s already begun.”