Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Gideon
The safe house I’d chosen for Monica and her children was an hour and a half away, right over the border in a different state.
It was a farmhouse with a lot of land and in no way connected to me…
at least not if anyone was looking. It was in the name of an acquaintance of mine who lived in Italy.
I paid her a nice sum of money just to keep her name on the paper work.
I’d never stayed at this farmhouse but it was so far from where anyone would place me, I had to have it. There was a staff that tended to the horses, sheep, chickens, and other animal life scuttling about. They all worked for me and were paid generously for their silence.
“Wow,” Lucia said as she stepped out of the SUV.
Penn, Toni, Alex, and I had beaten them to the house. Penn and I were sitting on the farmer’s porch.
“This is beautiful.” Monica tentatively climbed the steps.
“It’s your home now…at least until this is all settled. If you choose to move, I’ll make it happen. Otherwise, you and your kids can call this home for however long you’d like.”
“Are you serious?” Her eyes were wide.
“Very.”
“Mom, look. Horses!” Briar was pointing to where one of the stable hands was guiding a quarter horse named Chauncey around the paddock.
Penn rose and opened the front door. “Why don’t you three get settled, and then I can take the kids down to say hello to the horses?”
Monica nodded, and we all moved inside. The kids ran up the stairs once I told them they should each pick a room.
“All of your stuff will be here within the hour. Rita made arrangements to get a delivery driver to bring it.”
“Oh, um…thank you…for everything.” She got settled on the couch, and Penn and I joined her. “What now?”
“Now, you eat because I’m sure the three of you didn’t get anything at the restaurant. Sleep, and in the morning we will talk.”
“You’re staying?” She seemed surprised.
“Just for the night. Once you’re all rested and we’ve talked and gotten the video, I’ll need to go home and deal with Benito.”
“Right.” She bit her lip.
“Monica, you’re safe here. The staff that work here are also trained to protect you. I made you a promise; I won’t break it.”
“Sorry, it’s just when you spend as many years as I have living with a liar, it’s hard to trust.”
“I get that.”
There was a cook on site who prepared an easy and light meal for all of us.
Nobody talked much besides Briar and Lucia, who were enamored by all the animals.
After dinner, Penn took the kids down to see the horses before bed, leaving Monica and me alone in the living room.
Alex, Toni, Danny, and Raff were on a security schedule and doing their thing.
“I really do want to thank you, Gideon.”
I shot her a small smile. “You’re welcome. You can stop thanking me, though. You’re helping me just as much as I’m helping you.”
She snorted. “No way this is even.” She sighed and tucked her feet under her butt on the couch.
“Benito is a horrible man, a trickster, but he’s incredibly smart and resourceful.
He’s patient and plays the long game. He’s also possessive, and once he finds out me and the kids are gone, and the video airs, he will go nuclear. ”
“I have no doubt he will. Your video will likely end his campaign run and destroy his long game.”
“Please be careful, Gideon. I’ve seen what he’s done to people who have crossed him.”
I leaned forward and grinned. “But you’ve never seen what I’ve done to people who have crossed me.”
She stared for a beat and was about to say something more, but the kids and Penn barreled back into the house. She pasted on a happy face for them and got up. “All right, kiddos, time to get some sleep.”
I observed Lucia and Briar. You’d have thought being taken away from their home, friends, and everything they’d known would upset them, but they each beamed, laughed, and ran up the stairs as if this whole situation wasn’t turning their lives inside out.
It was close to midnight by the time the house was tucked away and Penn and I were under the covers.
“Do you know what she’s going to say in the video?” Penn asked.
“No, but it’s going to be damning, and that’s what we need right now.”
It didn’t take long for us to fall asleep. It had been an exhausting day, and the last thing I thought about before my eyes closed was the expression on Benito’s face as he watched his dreams turn to ash.
The morning was more relaxed than I thought it would be. After breakfast, Toni offered to take the kids to see the horses for a guided ride. Monica was grateful since she didn’t want them here while she made the video.
“I wrote down everything I wanted to say.” She placed a few pages on her lap. “Then I realized I didn’t need these.” She looked up from the papers, her eyes brimming with tears. “Every horrible moment is tattooed in my mind, and it never goes away.”
Penn reached over to her and took her hand. “Let us help you get you vengeance.”
Her smile was shaky, and she nodded.
“Danny was going to record it, unless you’d rather not have so many people here. I can ask my guys to leave.”
She shook her head. “Soon everyone will see it, no privacy needed…sometimes I think there’s been too much, and it festered and grew into what it currently is.”
“There’s a glass of water beside you. Where you’re sitting is perfect because there’s only a wall behind you—nothing to give away where you are,” Penn informed her.
“Okay, thank you. Before I start, did you want to know what I was going to say?”
I leaned back on the couch across from her. “No. You don’t owe me anything, Monica. I’m happy to help you break free and end him.”
She hummed. “Well, if anything I say would harm you in any way, stop recording and we can figure it out.”
“We have a deal.”
“All right. Let’s do this.” She sat up straight in the wingback chair and placed the papers on the small table beside her, clearly not needing them.
I glanced over at Danny. “When she says she’s ready.” I looked at Alex and Raff. “We need silence; make sure no one comes into the house.”
“Got it.” Raff exited the room, likely to stop anyone from entering, while Alex stayed.
She took a deep breath and tilted her chin at Danny. “I’m ready.”