Chapter 2 #2
He sighed deeply, drawing strength from her partnership.
Lifting his head, he assessed the rest of his family.
Daniel had wrapped his arms around Elizabeth, his chin atop her head as she sobbed.
The man was ten years younger than Gideon’s mother, though you’d never know it from looking at them.
Her fiancé had gone prematurely gray, while she looked nearly as youthful as Ireland.
The returning look Daniel gave him was reassuring.
His mother was in good hands, and he could rely on the other man to hold her up.
A blessing considering his own state of distress.
Christopher had fallen silent and now half-sat on the edge of the desk, his frame tense and his hands white-knuckled where they clutched the lip of the desktop.
His head hung low, his chin almost touching his bowtie.
He and Ireland were close, much closer than Gideon and Ireland were, because they were nearer in age and grew up together.
As devastated as Gideon was, he knew it had to be much harder for his brother.
How could this have happened? Not just anywhere, but on a property he owned, during an event with extraordinarily heightened security.
Not just his own personal and hotel teams, but also those providing personal security to his prominent guests.
Too many breaches in recent days had cracked the foundation of his well-being, leaving him to question whether safety had always been an illusion.
Natalie, his sister-in-law, stood beside Chris Sr. and spoke quietly, her tone soothing.
Her presence and support were greatly appreciated, and he attempted to convey that when her brown-eyed gaze met his.
Christopher’s wife was blessed with a calming aura and an even temperament, which made her such a good match for his hotheaded brother.
Nat was a majestic woman, as tall as Ireland but with Eva’s lush curves.
Her skin was like polished ebony, her only enhancement a slick of bright red lipstick that matched her Grecian-style gown.
She’d pulled her gleaming black curls into a ponytail at the base of her neck and projected an air of cool stability in the chaos of the moment.
Alina stood with Cary, her gaze locked on the view outside the windows as if she could find Ireland by sight.
She was speaking while Cary listened attentively, offering silent comfort.
He, too, had a way of helping to manage situations.
At times, it was difficult to remember that the fashion model had once been the troublemaker in the early days of their acquaintance.
Gideon once hoped Eva would outgrow their friendship but had since come to trust and rely on Cary.
Boudreaux stood alone with his shoulder propped against the wall, separated from the group because he remained nearer to the door than the cluster of sofas.
His hands were in his trouser pockets, and his foot tapped restlessly.
His aggravation was nearly tangible. Backlit by the wall sconce behind him, his features looked almost gaunt.
In fact, while the man’s formal attire was well-tailored, Boudreaux would wear it better with twenty to thirty more pounds on his tall frame.
Was he ailing? Was there a ticking clock he was racing against that would make him desperate?
That Ireland was so thoroughly mixed up with Boudreaux confounded Gideon.
She knew what he did about the man, because she had been the first to ask Angus to investigate his background.
To invite him to the masquerade… To parade a murdering felon on stage for all to see, including her father, whom Boudreaux was set on destroying…
To plan on taking a trip with him over the weekend…
For Gideon, family was an obligation. He was committed to strengthening his emotional ties with them, but that was a work in progress.
Ireland didn’t have the reservations he did.
Family was important to her in a deeply personal way.
For his sister to know Boudreaux’s agenda and history, and choose the man anyway…
Had he misunderstood his sister so profoundly? Or had her family ties been frayed in some way? All of Eva’s past warnings and admonishments that he was handling Ireland wrong came back to haunt him.
Eva. The most important person in the room to him.
His best friend, partner, and confidante.
The one person he absolutely could not live without.
He knew she understood his guilt, and because she loved him so deeply, she would take on his pain as her own.
That she should feel any remorse for his failures pierced his heart.
His wife was not to blame for anything. Their relationship had thrust her into the public eye overnight.
Her beauty and style kept her there, but he was the one who’d come into the marriage with an infamous father who’d ruined lives in a Ponzi scheme.
And while she had her own business interests, she didn’t have the same level of ruthless rivals that he did.
A knock at his office door made voices fall silent, and everyone turned at once.
“Just a moment,” he called out, giving everyone in the room time to gather themselves.
He squeezed Eva tightly before releasing her, pressing a grateful kiss to her temple.
Then he moved away to answer the door. When he pulled it open, he was relieved to see that the police commissioner and mayor had arrived together.
“Mary. Jim. Thanks for taking the time. We have a situation.”
“My daughter’s been kidnapped!” Elizabeth snapped. “That’s not a situation, Gideon. My god.”
His mouth tightened as he surveyed the vacant reception area outside his office for eavesdroppers before shutting the door. “It’s optimistic to hope we can avoid a media frenzy.”
The police commissioner pulled off her brightly painted mask. “What’s happened, Gideon?”
“You can see it here,” Victor said from the other side of the room, drawing everyone’s attention to where he stood on the business side of the desk. He replayed the video on the television. The tension in the room ratcheted impossibly higher.
“Can we make out the plate?” the commissioner asked, pulling her phone out of a metallic, clamshell-like handbag the same shade of gold as her gown. Her hair, too, had once been golden, but now the strands were woven liberally with silver.
“Yes,” Victor answered. “And we’ve passed the info along to the police.”
“How long ago did this happen?”
“Twenty minutes.”
The commissioner nodded as she swiped through her phone. “I’ll check on that BOLO.”
“One of the valets notified hotel security,” Gideon continued, “who’d already caught the incident on the CCTV and notified the police. My personal security team was informed, and we currently have a tracker on Ireland. We’re pursuing. They haven’t left Manhattan yet.”
“We’ll make sure they don’t.” The commissioner’s pale blue eyes turned steely as she lifted her phone to her ear. “I shouldn’t have to tell you that your team cannot engage with the abductors. Leave tactical to Major Crimes.”
The mayor stepped closer. “We obviously can’t have a standoff—or worse, a shootout—between civilians, Gideon.”
“Then the NYPD better catch up quick,” he retorted. “If there’s an opportunity to recover my sister, we’re not going to stand by and wait.”
“I understand how difficult this must be—”
“Do you, Jim?”
Taking a deep breath, the mayor clasped his hands together and turned to the commissioner. “How are we doing on response, Mary?”
“We’re mobilized.” She glanced at Gideon. “How accurate is the tracker you mentioned?”
“Extremely,” he replied. “The app is one of mine.”
Victor rounded the desk with a small tablet in hand. “You can use this to follow the signal until they search her and ditch the phone. We’re quickly running out of time. As soon as possible, they’ll do what they can to blend in and disappear.”
Elizabeth made a sharp, pained noise.
Gideon felt it like a bullet. “How close are we?” he asked tightly.
“The team on foot is making better headway than Angus is with traffic. Two blocks.” Passing the tablet over to the commissioner, Victor continued, “If they cross into New Jersey, we’ll need to loop in the FBI. If we don’t find her within twenty-four hours, they’ll step in regardless.”
“We’re setting up checkpoints on the bridges,” the commissioner said. “We’ll inspect any vehicle matching the description."
There was no denying that Gideon’s prominence was a double-edged sword. It both made him a target and granted him the privilege of an escalated, elevated response.
Victor nodded with approval. “As you saw, there are at least three assailants. They were prepared, precise, and didn’t worry about witnesses. The grab was perfectly choreographed.”
“Like they do this sort of thing regularly,” Christopher offered quickly, straightening to his feet. “I was thinking ransom, but you’re thinking traffickers?”
“Like they anticipated her rounding to attack,” Victor corrected, “and were prepared to neutralize her.”
Another knock sounded at the door. The commissioner waved off Gideon to answer it herself, revealing two NYPD detectives in plain clothes waiting in the reception area. She exited the office to speak with them.
“There’s that viral video of her and Boudreaux,” Eva reminded her father, referring to a clip of the two sparring at Parker Smith’s Krav Maga studio presently making the rounds on social media.
She swallowed hard, and her eyes darkened with self-reproach as she glanced at Gideon.
“And the new body lotion campaign. She’s plastered on billboards across the nation. ”
“What video?” Boudreaux asked brusquely, straightening away from the wall.