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In the distance, I hear Maisie screaming. I turn to her numbly. Watch as she manages to free herself from the man and runs through the front door.
“Maisie!” Skye tries to follow, but she’s stopped when one of the men clamps onto her shoulder and pulls her back.
Scarlet hisses something at Gideon and disappears after Maisie.
Gideon stares after them for a moment. Then he looks down at the body of my father. His expression is impassive. Disgusted. “Even dead, they don’t bring me peace.”
“That’s because revenge rarely does,” Skye sneers. “You’re killing people for nothing.”
He turns his steel-blue eyes on her and, though I’m sure it’s hard not to, she doesn’t shrink away from him. My brave girl.
“What would you know of revenge?” Gideon asks in a strained tone. “Have you ever tasted it?”
“No. But I don’t need to to know it’s not as sweet as they say. All it does is leave you hungry for more. You’re living proof.”
He smiles that fucking smile I can’t stand. “Ah, but it is. In fact, I’m going to give you a little taste right now.”
Almost hazed, I see him take out a firearm from his back pocket and point it toward me. He pulls back on the hammer and places his fingertip on the trigger.
Before he has a chance to lift it to my head, Skye tears away from the man holding her and is on Gideon like a wild thing. She’s kicking him and smacking him, screaming at him to leave us alone.
He manages to fling her off. But before he can aim the gun my way again, she’s standing in front of me, her arms spread out protectively. “You’re done here, Gideon. You got what you came for. You fucked with us all. Now go.”
“Get out of the fucking way,” he demands.
Fear like I’ve never felt before grips me at the thought that he might hurt her too. “Skye, what are you doing? Move!” I attempt to push her with my shoulder, but it’s hard to do bound the way I am.
“Move, Skye,” he says.
“No!”
Gideon stares at her intensely, holding the firearm threateningly at her. But he doesn’t shoot. Simply remains still, eyes locked on hers.
He hesitates long enough that Scarlet returns. “Luca and his men are pulling down the street. Maisie’s headed toward them. We need to go.”
“How the fuck do they know where we are?” He looks at me, and I shrug. Growling, he shoves the gun back into his hip holster. Then to me, he says, “Keep your head down and you’ll live. Take Clive’s place, and you’ll end up buried beside him.”
With that, Gideon and his men retreat out the back.
Skye turns to me. “Are you hurt?”
“It wouldn’t matter if I was.”
She comes behind me and works to undo the rope at my wrists. All the while, I observe my father’s chest, watching for any sign that he might be breathing. Praying for that rise and fall to tell me he’s still alive.
But when Skye frees me, and I go to him, his body is already cooler than it should be. I feel for a pulse, but there is none. The once great Clive Maxton, the man who taught me everything I know, is dead.
The pain that’s been threatening to choke me since the decision was made to turn ourselves over to Gideon doesn’t get worse like I thought it would. Instead, I’m left hollow and numb.
I take Father’s hand and close my eyes, wishing I was in better standing with God so that I could pray for his soul. But I do it anyway because that’s what he wanted more than anything. Peace and forgiveness.
Skye kneels beside me. “I don’t even know what to say. Everything seems wrong.”
The front door opens and I whirl, defensively pushing Skye behind me. But when I see Luca and Ruslan enter, I relax.
“We tracked your ring,” Ruslan says.
“Where is Gideon?” Luca asks.
