Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Henry
I stacked plates beside the sink while Gideon rinsed them, the low hum of conversation drifting from the living room where Imogene and Ariana sat curled up on the couch. Every few seconds, I found my gaze drifting toward them.
Ariana was laughing at something Imogene said, her head tipped back, eyes bright, shoulders loose in a way I’d never seen. Not once in all the months I’d watched her from afar. Not once in the weeks since she’d been under my roof.
Something warm worked its way through me every time her smile broke free.
Something I didn’t have a name for.
Something I wasn’t sure I wanted to have a name for.
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Gideon remarked.
I dragged my eyes away from Ariana. “What are you talking about?”
The kitchen light cast shadows across his stubbled jaw as he bumped his shoulder with mine, like we were teenagers again instead of two men with more scars than we could count.
“You. In love.”
“I’m not—”
“Don’t even try with that bullshit,” he snorted. “I’ve known you for nearly thirty years. You’re fooling exactly zero people in this room.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“And you’re in denial.” He grinned. “But I’m happy for you. Even if it’s a hell of a twist, considering a few weeks ago you despised her. I’m sure there’s a story.”
There was. One I hadn’t told him. Not fully.
I hadn’t wanted to drag him into it. Not when he had a baby on the way and more to lose than either of us ever had growing up.
I’d only given him surface-level updates, reassuring him I was fine and had everything under control, especially once news of Ariana’s disappearance broke.
He knew my plan. But he didn’t realize nothing had gone according to plan since I’d attended the gala at the museum.
Even so, when I’d called to let him know I’d be in Atlanta with Ariana, he didn’t question it. That was the sort of friend he was.
“There definitely is,” I admitted, glancing toward the living room again. Ariana’s profile glowed in the warm light, soft and relaxed.
“So what is it?”
I picked up my wineglass and took a long sip. Then I told him everything.
The gala.
The pull I couldn’t explain.
The boat drifting toward her dock.
The man carrying her limp body from her property.
The instinct that made me follow.
The killing.
The cash and burner phone.
The cabin.
The failed leads.
The Bratva.
By the time I finished, the dishwasher was rumbling quietly, the kitchen wiped clean.
“That’s all…a lot,” Gideon said finally. “But honestly?” He smirked. “I’m more interested in the story between you and Ariana. How you went from hating her to staring at her like you’d burn down the world if she stopped breathing.”
A smile tugged at my mouth before I could stop it. “She could have left me. But she stayed.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know the ravine on my property up in Maine?”
He nodded.
“One night, I got a motion alert. Went to check it out. I was…distracted.”
He glanced toward Ariana and laughed. “I wonder what had you distracted.”
“I slipped. Fell down the ravine. Hit my head.” I touched the healing cut on my brow.
“So that explains it,” he said with a smirk.
“Somehow I managed to crawl out. Cato must have gone to alert Ariana and led her to me. Instead of using the opportunity to run, she helped me back to the cabin. Stitched up my head. And then…”
Gideon leaned closer. “Yes?”
I shifted my eyes toward Ariana, then back to him, lowering my voice.
“Then I learned the truth.”
“What truth?”
“I thought she was like him,” I admitted. “Thought she was content being the trophy wife of a monster. That she didn’t care who he hurt as long as she benefitted.” I swallowed hard. “But she was a victim like Sarah was. Even worse.”
Gideon sobered immediately.
“She showed me,” I said quietly. “Showed me what he’d done to her.
The bruises. The scars.” My grip tightened around the wineglass.
“He tortured her, Gideon. Assaulted her. Controlled every aspect of her life. Paid off a doctor to falsify her mother’s medical records and drug her to make Ariana think she was losing her mind.
She stayed because he held her mother’s care over her. ”
“Jesus,” Gideon whispered, staring past me as he processed everything I just shared about what the man with a sparkling reputation had done to his wife behind closed doors.
But Gideon knew firsthand how men with the most sterling reputations are usually the ones capable of the worst atrocities.
“So what’s next?” he asked, shifting his hardened gaze back to mine.
“I find Victor.” My jaw flexed. “He disappeared after our…conversation.”
“When did you talk to him?”
“He called one of the Bratva soldiers he’d sent to Maine. I answered and may have threatened him.”
Gideon huffed a laugh. “See? Shoot first, ask questions later.”
“I guess.” I ran a hand through my hair. “He disappeared after that. No activity. No sightings.”
“So you have no idea where he is?”
“No. But I’ll find him.”
He hesitated. “You could…,” he started before trailing off.
I set my glass down a bit too sharply. “What?”
He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “You could use Ariana.”
“No.” It tore out of me, loud enough that both women looked over. I forced a calm smile for their sake, then turned back to Gideon, dropping my voice to a lethal whisper. “Absolutely not.”
But even the glare I gave him didn’t make him back down. Nothing did.
“It could work.”
“I’m not involving the police,” I snapped. “They won’t do shit. He’s too well-connected.”
“I didn’t say anything about the police. But think about it. He’s obviously looking for her. He sent the fucking Bratva up to Maine. If she resurfaced under circumstances you control, he’d come out of hiding. I guarantee it.”
He wasn’t wrong. I’d already considered the same thing. More than once.
That didn’t mean I’d do it.
“No,” I repeated. “She’s been through enough. I’m not using her to get to Victor.”
Gideon’s mouth lifted. “Wasn’t that your plan in the beginning?”
My stomach twisted, all the guilt and shame I’d been burying since I learned what Ariana had endured roiling like acid. “You, of all people, should know plans change.”
His gaze flicked toward Imogene. He’d once intended to use her for revenge, too. Until he learned the truth. Until he fell in love.
“If you were in my shoes, would you use Imogene as bait?”
Gideon’s expression softened instantly, and he pushed out a long sigh. “No. I’d shield her from everything.”
“And that’s what I’m trying to do. Shielding Ariana. Keeping her safe.”
He studied me for a moment before a slow smile curved on his face. “I’m happy for you, brother. You deserve this.”
I let out a dry, humorless laugh, leaning against the counter. “I don’t know about that.”
He squeezed my shoulder. “You do. Stop letting the guilt eat you alive. Stop letting your past dictate your present. Or your future.” He dropped his hand. “God knows I did. And if someone hadn’t smacked some sense into me, I might have lost everything.”
He didn’t have to spell it out. I remembered every conversation, every argument, every time I’d tried to keep him from drowning in revenge.
But this wasn’t the same.
This wasn’t about settling a score. Not anymore.
This was about Ariana. Protecting her. Giving her something she’d never had.
A life free from fear.
A chance at something better.
And she’d never have that while Victor’s heart still beat.