Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Gideon
“Any changes?” I asked as I slipped into what had become Henry’s makeshift command center in my house. The room was filled with screens connected to computers via a mess of cables, a faint hum filling the air from the array of equipment.
I couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone into his actual office. Then again, when he agreed to help, he told me he didn’t want any of his actions to hurt his company or employees. He’d taken a temporary leave of absence, using his own time and resources to help me.
“They’re still pissing themselves, more or less,” Henry answered, his fingers flying across the keyboard. “But they haven’t made any significant moves yet.”
“Good.” I collapsed onto the leather sofa and chugged a bottle of water, sweat clinging to my skin.
I’d just spent the past few hours going to town on a punching bag in my home gym. Not just to stay in top physical condition, but to mentally prepare myself for the next phase of my plan.
Alton may have been dead, but I wasn’t done yet.
If anything, I was just getting started.
Alton was an easy target.
James and Liam wouldn’t be.
Especially James, considering he was a United States Senator. While he didn’t have the same level of protection afforded to the president, he still had more security than the average citizen.
But that wouldn’t stop me.
He was the reason Jonah was arrested and falsely accused of my murder. He used his influence as a prosecutor to ensure that Jonah would never have his day in court.
For that, I’d make sure James suffered much worse than Alton Sinclair. In the grand scheme of things, Alton’s death was quick and painless. While his death was driven partly out of revenge, there was a greater purpose behind it.
To send a message.
And judging by the way James and Liam were pacing around Liam’s opulent office, they’d received that message loud and clear.
“They’re worried that, with the fingerprints being found at the scene of Alton’s suicide, the police may decide to reopen the investigation into Samuel’s death,” Henry explained. “Considering James is no longer a DA, he may not be able to influence the investigation like he did last time.”
I wiped my towel along my face, unable to stop the grin from spreading on my mouth as I watched the two men panic over what the police might find if someone actually did a thorough investigation into what happened to me. It was even better than the look of dread on Liam’s face when he learned Alton’s recent trading advice was shit, causing him to lose millions.
“There’s one thing you should know,” Henry stated after a moment, his voice guarded.
I sat up straighter. “What’s that?”
He hesitated, his tongue darting out to moisten his lips. “Imogene showed up about a half-hour ago.”
I nodded, not all that surprised by this.
While she hadn’t spoken to Liam since their argument last weekend, she wasn’t heartless. In fact, she probably cared too much for her own good. Which was why it didn’t shock me to learn she would have gone to see Liam upon learning about Alton’s death, despite their differences.
As much as I hated the idea of her spending any time with Liam, considering what I knew about him, I couldn’t outright forbid it. Not without revealing everything.
And I had no plans to do that.
Instead, I ensured Imogene’s safety by keeping a close eye on her at all times.
“She was only there for a few minutes, though,” Henry added. “And she never spoke to Liam.”
This caught my attention. “She didn’t? Did he turn her away?”
This seemed extremely out of character. Liam always made time for Imogene, regardless of what he was doing. Not because he cared about her, but because it was another opportunity to sink his claws even deeper into her.
“No.” He hit a few keys on his keyboard, and the monitor in front of me switched to display six different camera feeds from Liam’s security system that Henry had hacked into.
While he already had cameras in many of the public areas of the house, there weren’t any in his office, an issue we remedied when his security system was supposedly malfunctioning during the golf tournament last weekend.
After a few seconds, Imogene’s SUV pulled in front of the entrance and the housekeeper welcomed her. I watched her move from one camera to the next as she made her way down the hallway and toward the office.
But she didn’t knock. Instead, she hesitated outside, leaning closer to the door. After several drawn-out seconds, her body stiffened and she backed away, her spine hitting the wall behind her. She placed her hand over her chest as she drew in deep breath after deep breath, her wide eyes making it seem like whatever she just heard was suffocating her.
Then she spun on her heels, practically bolting out of the house.
“What did she hear?” I asked timidly, although I was already fairly certain what it was.
“This.”
My stomach twisted into knots as he clicked the spacebar and a new feed appeared, this one displaying Imogene walking down the hallway on one side and James and Liam talking in his office on the other.
“Maybe it’s an old glass,” Liam said, tugging at his tie. By the sheen on his normally polished face, he looked like he’d been sweating. “One that hasn’t been washed lately.”
“One that was conveniently left on the coffee table next to Alton’s?” James retorted, his voice heavy with disbelief as he stood by the window, looking out over Liam’s property.
“What other possible explanation is there?” Liam threw his hands up as he paced the length of the room. Stopping in front of his desk, he grabbed his rocks glass and guzzled the liquid before slamming it back down. “Somebody must have made a mistake. Have them run the prints again.”
“They already have,” James snipped back, moving toward Liam. “Twice. Along with a few other items found in close proximity to Alton’s body. Initially, it was to confirm the cause of death, but the second glass on the coffee table stumped them, so they ran it to see if someone else was in the room with Alton.” He lowered his voice. “To see if maybe you were in the room with him, considering…recent events.”
“I told you!” Liam roared, his voice echoing off the walls. “I have no idea how that damn body ended up on my boat. I haven’t been to that marina in months. There’s no record of me using my access card at the gate.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the irony of it all. These two men conspired to kill me and let someone else take the blame for it. Now they were experiencing the same fate. At least Liam was.
“I believe you,” James replied calmly. Or as calm as he could in this situation. “But that doesn’t change the evidence they uncovered in Alton’s cabin.”
Silence hung heavy between them, broken only by the ominous ticking of the grandfather clock standing watch in the corner of the room.
“What does this mean?” Liam asked finally, collapsing onto the couch. He ran a trembling hand over his weary face, resigned to the reality that his carefully built house of cards was starting to crumble around him.
“Either someone planted his fingerprints there to fuck with us,” James began.
“Or…” Liam prodded, lifting his eyes.
“Or Samuel Tate’s back from the dead.”
I looked from the feed of the office to the one of the hallway, watching Imogene back up until she hit the wall behind her.
I knew there was a strong possibility James would use his influence to uncover every detail about Alton’s death, despite the police not releasing any of this information to the public yet.
Nothing could have prepared me for the pure agony consuming Imogene when she learned that my — Samuel’s — fingerprints were found on a glass at Alton’s cabin.
“Now what?” Henry asked, cutting through the silence.
“What do you mean?”
“What’s your plan now?”
I stared at the paused screen for several beats. At Imogene’s pained expression. But I quickly brushed it off, pretending it didn’t gut me.
“Same as before,” I replied, forcing confidence into my voice through the doubt and guilt gnawing at my insides.
“And if she figures out who you really are?” Henry arched a brow.
“Look at me.” I gestured at my face. “Do I look even remotely close to Samuel Tate?”
“No, but?—”
“But nothing. I knew there was a chance Imogene would learn about this when I made the decision to plant my DNA at Alton’s cabin. It was a risk I was willing to take in order to make these assholes pay.”
“And Imogene?”
“What about Imogene?” I asked guardedly.
He crossed his arms in front of his chest, the sleeves of his t-shirt stretching from the motion. “How are you going to deal with her knowing the truth?”
“She doesn’t know the truth.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but I quickly cut him off.
“All she knows is a glass containing Samuel’s DNA was found at Alton’s cabin.”
“And if she somehow learns you are alive?”
I gritted my teeth, pushing down my growing unease. “She won’t.”
Henry narrowed his gaze at me. “Imogene is smart. You may have a different face, but she knows your heart, Sam.”
I opened my mouth to chastise him for disregarding the one rule I made him swear to when we started down this path. But he cut me off before I could.
“She knows what’s inside you. Knows your soul. What makes you tick. Your face may have changed, but your soul is still somewhere in there. And I’ve been seeing more and more of the old you since you started spending time with her. Since you started allowing yourself to be human again. I have a feeling the more time you spend with her, the more pieces of the old you will return until you’ll no longer be able to deny who you are. That you are Samuel.” He paused, searching my expression for any sign of recognition or acknowledgment of this truth.
But I remained stoic, my walls firmly in place.
“Samuel Tate is dead.” I stood, pinning him with a glare. “And he will remain dead long after this is over. Nothing will change that.” I turned toward the door.
“Regardless of whether Samuel Tate is dead or alive,” Henry began, forcing me to pause in my tracks and face him, “she may find out the truth eventually. If you want a future with her, don’t you think it would be best?—”
“ There is no future with us !” I roared as I advanced on him, barely an inch separating us.
I wasn’t sure if my sudden surge of anger was because Henry’s incessant line of questioning had finally become too much, or because of the harsh reality that there could never be a future between Imogene and me. Not now that I’d started down this path.
“Why do you say that?” Henry pressed, undeterred by my outburst, like always.
“I’m here for one reason and one reason only,” I reminded him in a firm tone. “Revenge. Nothing more.”
“So you don’t care about Imogene?” Henry scoffed, the disbelief heavy in his voice.
“I can’t.”
“But you do, despite what you may wish. Just like she’s never stopped loving you, you’ve never stopped loving her.”
“Stop,” I growled, but Henry didn’t listen, refusing to back down.
“You could have a future together.”
“A future?” I scoffed.
“It’s not too late.”
“I’m a killer, Henry. There is no future for us. Not with who I am.” I met his gaze. “She’s better off without me.”
He tilted his head, studying my expression with the same analytical stare I’d come to expect from him. “Do you really believe that?”
“I know that.”
He glowered at me for several long moments, his jaw ticking, waiting for me to change course. But I wouldn’t. Not over this.
“Then stop seeing her.”
“What?” I blinked repeatedly, his words catching me off guard.
“I’ve held my tongue about you using Imogene. But I won’t do it anymore. Not when I’ve just witnessed for myself the emotional toll this is taking on her. You said no one innocent would get hurt.”
He gestured toward the screen still paused on Imogene’s anguished expression as she clutched her chest.
“Well, she’s innocent, Sam. Yet, she’s still hurt. And it’s only going to get worse the more time you spend with her. The more lies you tell her.”
I swallowed down the guilt festering inside me as I stared into her eyes, wishing I could wrap her in my arms and assure her it would all be okay. But I couldn’t. Not when I was the cause of her current heartache.
Drawing in a deep breath, Henry returned his gaze to mine. “You know I love you like a brother and I understand why you’re doing all of this. But maybe you need to stop being so worried about protecting her from Liam. Instead, maybe the person you should be protecting her from is you.”