Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Gideon’s first feelings were of overwhelming relief that she was still right there with him. On the heels of that, he didn’t know what to feel. His childhood memories were nearly all bad. He wanted to give her decent things about himself, but what could he find in his past that was good or funny that she would relate to?
Rory suddenly whirled around to face him, hands on her hips. “You feel you owe them. That’s why you’re always standing in front of them, Gideon. That’s why you sacrifice not only your happiness but your life for them. It isn’t just because you view them as family and you love them. It isn’t just your intense loyalty to them. You feel you owe them because you didn’t kill your father and this horrid man Barone when you were a child. A child, Gideon. And don’t say ‘teen,’ because as far as I’m concerned, a teenager isn’t grown.”
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She was so fierce in his defense. He’d never had that before. He didn’t know how to handle it.
“Red.” It came out gentle.
She held up a hand, palm out to prevent him from speaking. “Did they blame you? Jaimie and Mack? Did they blame you?”
He shoved his fingers through his hair again. Had they? He could barely remember their reactions. He had been too busy blaming himself. They’d all been grief-stricken. Devastated. Over both deaths. Losing Mack’s mother had made losing Jaimie’s mother fresh all over again and tripled his guilt. His sister. Jaimie’s mother. Mack’s mother.
“Mack didn’t. I don’t think Jaimie did either. It was just me. I felt guilty because all along, I had known eventually something bad was going to happen.”
“Feeling something isn’t the same as knowing, Gideon, especially when you’re a child. I get feelings all the time. I can’t act on them.”
He could now. Once he could pinpoint where the threat was coming from, he could and did act on it every time.
Gideon watched her pacing back and forth, every movement fluid. She seemed to flow over the patio, but the energy surrounding her was always low, contained, never spilling out in swamping waves as it would with a normal person when they were passionate about anything. He should have known she was a GhostWalker just by the way she moved. Every member of his team should have known.
All along, Javier had been suspicious. Gideon had questioned whether she was a GhostWalker multiple times. There were only a very few GhostWalkers able to hide from other GhostWalkers. Gideon was one of them. It stood to reason that the woman Whitney would have paired him with could do the same.
“I worked at developing that particular radar as well,” he admitted. “Over the years, it’s become stronger. I’ve learned to zero in on the threat, although in a large crowd and from a distance, doing so takes time and a tremendous amount of concentration. It doesn’t always work.”
She stopped pacing again and faced him, her expressive face lit up with interest. “You can do that?”
Gideon resisted the urge to go to her. He didn’t want her to realize how much time she was spending with him. For the first time since he’d lost her, he was beginning to relax. He’d told her most of the worst of him, and she hadn’t run. She might not ask for the rest of his sins. He’d confess if she did, but he hoped she’d just let it go.
When she looked at him, she had a way of doing so like no one else ever had. He wasn’t a white knight, but she made him feel like one. It didn’t seem to matter to her what his father had been or that he hadn’t done what he should have to save two good women or his sister from monsters. She still viewed him as someone special.
“I’ve tried to pinpoint threats,” she admitted. “Especially when I know the danger is to someone else, but I’m not good at finding the exact location. I knew something was wrong tonight, but I didn’t know where or to whom.”
“Neither did I,” Gideon pointed out.
“But the break-ins at the apartments weren’t a specific threat to anyone you knew.”
That was true.
“Gideon, what did you do after Mack’s mother died?”
His heart dropped. His eyes met hers. “Red. Baby. Do you really want me to go into detail? It wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was downright ugly. I never wanted Barone’s family, any member of it, to step into his shoes. Not one of his brothers or any of those working for him. I had failed the ones I considered my family, and I wasn’t doing it again.”
Rory didn’t look away from him. Her vivid green eyes seemed to look right into his soul. More importantly, she moved in his mind. He let her. He didn’t have much more to lose. He’d already lost her through his own stupidity. If she needed to see everything about him, he would let her in—at least as far as he could. Childhood memories he could give her.