Chapter 25
Gavin said her name is Sofia. Luca Sinacore’s sister was taken as hostage. Collateral to be dangled over his head later. At least that’s what the alliance guessed because Gideon never gave a reason. He just plucked her from some place up north and kept her.
And now we’re helping him.
Gideon exits the back of the SUV and extends his hand to someone inside. He’s completely ignored as a slim figure steps out of the vehicle, her pretty face partially obscured by the billowy satin cloak she’s wearing.
But while she walks past him as if he doesn’t exist, there’s no doubt she’s aware of him. Not with the noticeable way she shivers when he reaches out to grasp her wrist. The way she stiffens at his nearness when he forces her to stop and presses himself tightly to her back as he bends his head down to whisper something in her ear.
She leans into him, her eyes shut and breathing accelerated, as his hands travel up her arms, and whatever she’s feeling seems to spread from them like tendrils, thick and heady. I find myself completely enthralled by this strange interaction between them.
Abruptly, she tears herself away and barks something at him, but they’re too far away for me to know. Then she spins on her heel and enters the southern tunnel beneath the casino. I rush to hide around a bend as she walks past and disappears down the hall, the other men rushing to keep up.
I peek toward the entrance once more. Gideon is standing there, staring after Sofia with a scowl and fisted hands. That’s when he turns to me, directing his silver blue gaze my way, as if he’s known I was there the entire time. For a moment, the intensity he’d aimed toward her remains, and I feel it hit me like a wave of fury and frustration and need.
Thankfully, it lasts only a second. As if a light switch has been turned off, the intensity vanishes and all that’s left is that grin he does so well.
He comes to me, and I have to fight the urge to flea down one of the corridors. But I keep my feet planted firmly, imagining myself cemented to the spot.
“Mr. Black,” I greet him.
“Andie, is it really that hard to call me Gideon?”
“A little,” I admit.
“Does Gav-Gav know you’re down here?”
“It’s my home now. I can go wherever I want.” And I have too. At first, I carried the map he gave me. By the second day of making The Red my official dwelling, I knew all its secrets like the back of my hand.
“I see. In that case, thank you for hosting my…” His smile broadens as he fails to come up with a term for what Sofia is to him. “Thank you.”
“Seeing as we didn’t have a choice?—”
“We all have a choice. But, you should know that by now. Don’t you, Andie?” His silvery gaze almost shimmers with glee, because he knows something about me.
I cross my arms, hating that he’s right. We did have a choice. To save Gavin’s world, he had to make a deal with the devil. In order to remain with him, I chose to accept it.
Gideon sighs. “You don’t like me much, I get it. But, fair warning, I have a way of growing on people.”
“Have you grown on Sofia?”
He chuckles and something wicked paints across his features. But he doesn’t reply. Instead, he says, “Gavin asked me for a little favor. He wanted me to pick something up for him. Since I was already on my way, I didn’t mind. I think you’ll really like it.”
“What is it?”
“A surprise for?—”
“I got it from here.” Gavin appears behind me and places his arm protectively around my shoulders.
With one last grin, Gideon turns and heads in the direction Sofia was taken.
“Is she going to be okay?” I ask him.
He frowns as he thinks about what to say. “He won’t do anything as long as she’s under my roof. That was his promise.”
“And you can trust that?”
Nodding, he says, “I do.”
“He said you asked him to pick something up?”
The lines between his brows deepen as he peers at me. “I need you to come with me.”
I take the hand he’s offered and he tugs me down several corridors. The entire time he remains deadly serious, his gaze focused ahead.
“You’re scaring me, Gavin.”
He turns to me now. “That’s the point, Andie. You’re scared. It’s time to put an end to that.”
When we reach the elevators, I ask, “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” He opens a panel on the opposite side of the push buttons, a sort of digital screen, and places his palm on it. It lights up blue for a second, then turns to green.
When he removes his hand, the screen changes, this time displaying a list of options. He selects one, and immediately we begin to ascend. We go up, to a section of the thirteenth floor no one without special clearance has access to. Not even me.
The doors slide open to reveal several guards are standing by.
One of them greets Gavin with a sharp nod. “He’s secure.”
“Thank you, Tom.”
“Who’s secure?” I ask as we move down yet another hall, this one dark with black walls and onyx floors. We stop in front of a door flanked by two secret service looking men. “Gavin.”
He turns and holding me firmly by the shoulders, he peers intensely into my eyes. “It’s important that you understand that you’re safe, Andie. Nothing can harm you here. The person beyond that door cannot hurt you. Do you understand?”
“You’re scaring me, Gavin.” I glance at the door, my heart now pounding in my throat. “Open it.”
“First tell me you understand.”
“Open the damn door!”
His jaw tightens as he scans my face. Why is he so damn afraid I can’t handle what’s in there?
“Okay.” He motions to the guy standing closest and he grabs the handle and turns it.
I’m standing directly in front of the door as it swings open, and I see. I finally see.
I gasp and try to take a step backward, an automatic response to the sight before me. But Gavin moves to stand behind me, preventing me from fleeing.
“He can’t hurt you, Andie.”
“Why?” I ask and it comes out as shaky as I feel.
“Because I never want you to think of him again after tonight. And if you do, you’ll know that’s all he is. A thought. A fucking weak, harmless thought. Look at him.”
I do, but not because Gavin is ordering me to, but because I can’t help it. My nightmare, the face that has haunted me for so long is there. Johnny Rusk.
He’s tied to a chair set in the center of a room filled with more of Gavin’s men.
Johnny might be helpless at the moment, but his dark beady eyes and his smug grin hold as much power over me as the day they were engraved into my memory.
“Mmm. Little Anderson. You cleaned up real nice, sweeting.”
I grimace at the sound of his voice. “I hate you.”
“What was that? You hate me?” He cocks his head and chuckles. “That’s what you said before and you still took me so good.”
Revulsion fills me to the point I might be sick.
Gavin stiffens behind me, but he does nothing. Instead, he pushes me inside until the door is able to shut behind us. “Don’t let him get to you. I’m here now.”
He’s a wall of strength at my back. I shut my lids and let it infuse me. Let it become a pillar to lean on. Depend on.
“You raped me, you disgusting pig.” I open my eyes and focus every shred of hatred in my body on Johnny. “Because you knew I’d never stoop so low as to fuck you. That the only way you could ever have me is by force.”
Laughing harder now, he says, “This, coming from a whore.” He looks around at the men as if searching for agreement. He finds none.
So he turns back to me. “You should be thankful. Jail did you good. Look at you, with a billionaire to protect you and your daughter. Or should I say, my daughter? How is Charlotte, by the way? I think it’s time I got to know her better, don’t you?”
Before I can reply, Gavin does, and his tone is more terrifying than Johnny’s ever could be. Deep, guttural, menacing. “If you attempt to say her name again, I will gut you before you finish.”
Johnny’s smile fades a little. “So what? What can you do to me? Do you know who I am? Who you’re going to have to deal with if you touch one fucking hair on my head?”
“Yes,” is Gavin’s easy response as his arm comes around my shoulder, and he places the thick hilt of his knife in my palm.
Gavin’s hand is firm over mine to steady it, and leans in. “Johnny’s life is yours, Andie. It’s within your power to punish him for what he did to you.”
This time, Johnny’s smile vanishes completely. Gavin knows Johnny’s position in Los Angeles, knows the people he’s friends with, colleagues, allies. And he’s not scared.
Suddenly, neither am I.
The knife is so big and deadly. The sharp sides of the blade gleam even in the low light of the room, and it’s almost hypnotizing. This beautiful thing can do something terrible if I will it to. It can give me revenge and peace.
I look up at the man from my nightmares, the man that ruined me for so long. He held power over me for over ten years. Now, I’m the one with the ability to change him. To ruin him.
Sweat beads off Johnny’s brow as he stares back with horror at what he must see in my expression. It’s a psychotic sort of glee at the mere possibility of finally ending his reign of terror over me.
Shifting my gaze from him to the blade in my hand, I smile. “I’ve imagined this so many times. What I would have done if I’d had a knife that day. How I would have slit your throat before you could stick your disgusting prick inside me.”
Behind me, Gavin growls in anger. His fingers put so much pressure on mine, I can feel his heartbeat pulsing fiercely. But he says nothing, letting me do what I must.
“Maybe I should just gut you like the fucking pig you are.” I take a couple of steps forward, until I’m so close to him I can see nose hairs. “I bet you’d squeal.”
I lift the knife toward him and he lets out a scream so high in pitch it hurts my ears. He begins to struggle, pulling against the ropes that bind him to the chair, but it’s futile. It’s actually kind of sad. And funny.
Laughter bubbles out of me and I let it. I laugh with gusto, laugh at the irony, at the ability to deal him with some serious karma, but he’s so pathetic that I can’t.
He’s nothing more than a helpless, harmless thought.
I wipe the tears from my eyes as I calm my chuckles and hand Gavin the knife back. “He’s too weak. Just send him home.”
Johnny slumps into his chair. I get it. A brush with death takes a lot out of you.
Gavin glances at the blade and back at Johnny. “Say thank you for her mercy.”
“T-thank you. Thank you,” Johnny sputters.
“I’m ready to go,” I tell Gavin.
He kisses the top of my head. “Of course. Just one last thing.”
Before I can even ask what, he slices his arm through the air. The knife bursts from his hand, spinning hilt over blade, until it hits its target.
Johnny falls backward, chair and all. I cry out and try to look away, but Gavin holds my head in place, forcing me to see the blood spurting from Johnny’s neck as he squirms like a dying worm. It might only be seconds, but it seems like it takes him an eternity to die. Even after he settles, I can still hear his gurgled breaths.
When it’s finally over, Gavin releases me.
I turn to him, horrified over what he’s made me witness. “Why?”
“Because I realized that there is nothing I can do to erase him from your memory. You will never forget what he did to you.” He looks at Johnny’s body. “But you won’t forget the way he died either.”