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“I gave you every chance to get her, and you screwed it up. It’s not my fault. This is on you.”
“She’s had some training. She beat the shit out of Henri and broke my fucking nose.”
“That’s not my problem. You blew your chance. I’ve got bigger issues to deal with. I kept my word.”
“I want another chance at her.”
“I don’t even know where she is. How the hell am I going to get you that?”
“I don’t know yet, but I’ve waited too long to show that bitch who’s boss. You promised me when—”
“If you had just done what you were supposed to do, none of this would be necessary.”
As if this prick didn’t know what it was to want something more.
“You owe me.”
“Fine. I’ll see what I can do. I’ve got to go.”
Dirk ended the call, cursing his luck. All he’d wanted was one more chance at Evangelina Wellingsley. This time, he wouldn’t screw it up. This time, he would keep her. He no longer needed the money, but he did want his revenge.
Besides, from what he’d been able to see, she looked a helluva lot better than she had years ago. She should thank him for breaking her nose so badly she’d had to have surgery. If one looked at things in a certain way, she owed him for making her better-looking.
And that was a debt he intended to collect.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
It had been three days. Beyond discussing the case and new leads, they barely spoke to each other. Gideon had tried to engage her in various conversations, but she refused to comply. The days of easygoing and fun repartee were gone for good. He had made sure of that.
She couldn’t say she didn’t miss him. It would be a lie of epic proportions.
Gideon had been a huge part of her life for so long. Way before the physical attraction, there had been a strong friendship based on mutual goals and interests, along with a deep respect for each other. Now, Eve felt like she was living with a stranger. One who was unfailingly polite and courteous to the point where it made her feel sick. But it was all they had.
Each day, she talked with her father, and each day, he told her the same thing. He was much better, Alex was improving, and the only news on Nicolas’s plane was that the wreckage was being retrieved. No cause for the crash had been discovered, and no bodies had been recovered.
So far, they had not identified the shooter who’d killed Chloe and wounded Alex. The shot had come from a building across the street from where the gathering had been. Based on the trajectory of the bullets, they could place the location, but no prints or other evidence had been found. No witnesses saw anyone running away.
The waiter who had delivered her father’s plate of food before he’d been poisoned had disappeared. There had been some vague descriptions of the man but not enough to make even the most obscure of sketches.
And here she sat in forced isolation while her only remaining family members were still under threat.
She was long past trying to reason with Gideon. He hadn’t made this decision lightly, and even though it was the wrong one, he wasn’t going to change his mind. Maybe it would be different if he were hateful to her. That way, she could hate him right back. But everything he did, no matter how wrong it was, he did for her.
With each day that passed, she felt more and more hopeless. There was no new evidence, no new suspects. It was like everyone was in limbo, waiting for something else to happen. So much had already happened, but nothing was settled. Her family was in disarray. Her father and Alex were under guard, day and night. Nicolas and his family were presumed dead. And she continued to sit on her ass. The more time that passed, the more despondent she became. When would this end?
Eve was curled up in a chair in the living room, a fire blazing in the stone hearth, the fragrance of some delicious meal cooking wafting through the air. Gideon sat at the grand piano a few feet away, playing the haunting theme from Moulin Rouge. It all should have been a relaxing, peaceful interlude for all the senses. If her life hadn’t been falling apart, it might well have been. But all she could think was she was losing her family, she had lost her best friend and lover, and nothing would ever be right again.
She had never felt so alone. Even years ago, in that awful room where she’d been brutalized and beaten, she had known people were looking for her, and there had been hope of rescue. But now, she was the one who needed to do the rescuing, and here she sat, doing absolutely nothing. Never had she felt so impotent and useless.
If Gideon hadn’t betrayed her, all these things that were happening would be a challenge she would readily meet. Their partnership had always been like an intricate, well-choreographed dance. Each step had complemented the next. She had never felt so in sync with another person as she had with Gideon.
Heaviness pressed in on her chest, and she found it hard to breathe. At any other time, she would have gone to her best friend and poured her worries and doubts onto him. He would have listened intently and then used sound wisdom, sprinkled with his classic wry humor, to help her. She had never looked to Gideon to solve her problems, but for the past ten years, she had shared them with him. As he had shared his with her. That’s what partners and best friends did.
Now that her best friend had become her adversary, she had nowhere to go.
The music stopped, and she glanced over at the piano. His entire body looked rigid and tense, his big shoulders so stiff they appeared to be made of granite. She knew he was hurting, too. That was the thing about being so in tune with someone. You felt their hurt as your own. Was that what Gideon was feeling? Her hurt was his, too? Of course it was. She’d been so caught up in her own pain, she hadn’t paid attention to his.
The music started again, and for the first time in days, a smile flitted across her face as a tune from the seventies hit her ears. The song brought back some wonderful memories. A few years back, she and Gideon had gone undercover as a singing duo. A cruise ship company had been suspected of being involved in weapons trafficking. Not just guns and ammunition, but super-scary stuff like rocket launchers and surface-to-air missiles. The ship had been a legitimate ocean cruise liner but with more cargo than just passengers looking for some peace and relaxation.
