Chapter 42 Gideon
Gideon
Sinead: WHERE ARE YOU ANSWER ME NOW.
“WAKE UP, GIDEON, YOU ABSOLUTE TOOL.”
Tiny hands shake me from dreamless slumber. My eyelids are glued together. I try to reach up to prise them open, but someone has glued my hands to my sides.
What’s going on?
Why can’t I move?
Hazy memories come back to me. Arabella waiting at the elevator, wearing a devastating dress and the attitude of a woman who’s never been told no.
Walking her through Sanctus Club and seeing her go from shock to rage to delight.
Her dancing her fears for me on stage. And telling her I love her, and instead of eviscerating me, she cried. And then she… she…
Cold water slams in my face.
I jerk upright, spluttering.
“That got your attention.” Sinead crouches down beside me, tossing aside the jug she used to drown me.
“This shirt is silk,” I growl. Or try to growl. My mouth doesn’t work properly. What comes out is, “Thisssssurtissssssilk.”
“I don’t care about your shirt. I care about the fact that my boss is lying asleep on the floor of his ridiculous club, completely oblivious to the fact he’s been robbed.”
“Wobbed?”
“Yes. Robbed. Early this morning someone waited until you fell asleep, then broke into your safe and took the hard drive.”
My blood runs colder than the ice water now dribbling its way down my spine. “Thatssssssimpossible. We upgraded the security system after those glitches. It’s foolproof.”
“Impossible or not, it’s happened.”
I shove up onto my feet. “We must—”
My legs don’t agree that we must do anything. They collapse under me and I crumple into a damp and undignified heap. Sinead steps back so I don’t drool on her Jimmy Choos.
“The thief tied your shoelaces together.” She frowns. “Stop squirming and I’ll fix them.”
I moan as she goes to work on my laces. Why does my head feel like it’s had a disagreement with Vlad Tepes’ impaling stick?
The whole point of being a vampire is never having a hangover again.
“What happened to me?” I rub my temples.
“My guess is that she used her pussy to tire you out, then waited until you fell asleep. How else do you explain the state of you?” Sinead re-knots my laces. “It’s not quite sunset yet. I found you like this when I came to clean up before we open. Come on. Use my shoulder.”
If it’s still daytime, no wonder I’m out of it. I crawl up Sinead until I’m sort of standing. She half walks, half drags me into the elevator. When we emerge into my apartment, my heart sinks into my squelching shoes. The door to my safe stands open.
I don’t have to check inside to know the hard drive is gone.
“She took that little scrap of fabric you were keeping, too.”
“What?” The jolt of raw, visceral grief at losing that silk sinks me to my knees. “Who took them?”
Sinead glares at me. “Are you thick? Arabella. We have her on security footage wearing a fedora, fake moustache and black cape, staggering out of the gates in full sun with one of her Nevermore Coven friends. I warned you about her, but you wouldn’t listen.”
Arabella?
She did this? She drugged me and robbed me. After all the things we said to each other. I thought—
I’ve been a fool. When I created Sanctus Club, I meant only to honour her. I wanted to surround myself with things that remind me of her. But I should have realised that she would see the club as me taking something from her.
Yet another man destroying everything she built.
Those tears last night weren’t for me, they were for everything she lost.
I’m not angry that she robbed me. I’m impressed.
A wave of sadness washes over me, and the hole inside me I thought she had filled opens wide, a gaping maw of loneliness.
I told her I love her. I opened my heart to her, and all this time, she’d intended to get even.
Everything about last night – the dance, the sex, the tears – they were all lies.
What’s on that hard drive is enough to destroy me. I don’t even care. It’s what I deserve.
But this isn’t about me.
With that hard drive, she could go to the Conclave with all of Sanctus’ secrets. She’ll destroy me and probably get a knighthood for her troubles. But innocent vampires will have their lives ruined – vampires who trusted me with their secrets.
As much as it hurts, as much as I’ll destroy every hope I have of winning Arabella back, I have to reclaim that hard drive.
“What do you want me to do?” Sinead asks, her hand cradling her phone as someone on the team barks at her through the speaker.
“Call security,” I moan, staggering to my feet. “No, don’t bother. I’ll find her.”
“That’s not what we—”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“No, Gideon, you won’t.” Sinead lowers her phone. “The security team are already responding to an incident. The husker has struck again.”