Chapter 13

13

André sat with his head bowed, hands clasped between his knees as he waited in the hallway outside the med unit. He didn't know what he was supposed to feel, but he just…

That was his father in there fighting for his life. The man who didn't want him, who hurt his mother so deeply she never loved anyone else. A man who'd made his disinterest in Gideon plain for everyone to see, and still, André sat there trembling because he didn't want Ennis to die.

Wasn't it fucked up?

He thought back to what his life was like a month ago when he didn't know Gideon Winters and the chaos and danger that surrounded him. When André could pretend he didn't care that Ennis had no use for him and had chosen one child over another—the sister André had never met but had seen on magazine covers and TV screens. So poised and polished and clearly groomed for greatness.

His eyes burned and he blinked, furious at himself for feeling anything at all. Furious at Gideon for putting him in this situation. Furious at Ennis. At his mother too. He couldn't count on anyone but himself. He couldn't trust anyone but himself. Despite Gideon's sweet words, André refused to allow himself to go down the same road as his mother…

Fall for a wealthy and powerful man only to be discarded when he was done having his fun.

He got up and swallowed before approaching Samir, who stood at the door to the makeshift hospital while Gideon was inside with the doctors.

"I need to leave."

Samir didn't look at him. "Gideon wants you to stay here until he's finished with the doctors."

"No." He cleared his throat. "I need to leave this place. This world. I want to go back to mine. Today."

Samir turned to him then, dark gaze heavy and assessing. He scared André—his silence and the easy way André could see his death reflected in the depths of the other man's eyes. He was terrifying, but André lifted his chin and held Samir's stare even though he wanted nothing more than to run and hide.

They called him a coward, Samir's eyes. But they held no surprise because apparently, Samir expected this of him, for André to tuck tail and run. But this was him protecting himself. He would take his chances out there. After all, being in the company of Gideon and Samir wasn't all that different, was it?

"Jules and I are leaving today."

One of Samir's eyebrows shot up. "Are you?"

Fear flashed in André's chest. What did that mean? Were they not gonna be allowed to leave? Were they— "You can't keep us here against our will."

Samir rolled his eyes and turned away, giving André his back. "Relax. We're not in the habit of keeping people who don't want to be kept. But you will wait until Gideon is finished. You can tell him yourself, to his face."

Did he think André wouldn't do it? That he wouldn't tell Gideon the same thing he just told Samir? His mind was made up. He'd long overstayed his welcome. Time to get the fuck out instead of hiding away.

He returned to the bench, sitting with an ankle crossed over his knee as he waited for Gideon to reemerge. Was Ennis dead? Surely Gideon would have already returned if that were the case.

André shook his head at himself. He couldn't help it, the traitorous part of him that worried about his father's well-being. He hadn't known that part existed until today. He'd thought he would hate the man, and he did, but hate wasn't all he felt.

He lowered his leg and leaned forward, hunched over with his face in his hands. He'd expected to go his entire life without being in the same room with Ennis. All the things he wanted to say to that man. All the questions he wanted to ask. He thought he'd go to his grave never knowing.

Maybe he still would.

Maybe Ennis wouldn't make it.

How would that make him feel?

He took a deep breath. Someone had tried to kill Ennis. Just as someone had tried to kill Gideon all those years ago and had taken his mother's life instead. This world, the world Gideon and Ennis inhabited, scared the fuck out of André. He didn't want Jules anywhere near it.

Didn't want to be in it.

But he was, wasn't he?

With Ennis's blood in his veins and his…attraction to Gideon, he was well and truly in it. And he wanted out. It was the only way to protect himself. To protect Jules.

The sound of the medical unit's door opening caught his attention and he looked up as Gideon stepped out. André shot to his feet, hurrying over to him.

"How is he?" Those words weren't supposed to make it to his lips. They should have stayed in his head. But he couldn't retract them.

Gideon rubbed his forehead. He looked…stressed. Expression heavy, mouth set in a grim line. "They managed to stabilize him, but he still needs to be monitored closely." He inhaled, then released it, chest and shoulders rising and falling with the motion. "If he makes it through the night, then the doctors are optimistic that he'll pull through."

André gulped.

"This one has something he wants to tell you." Samir nodded in André's direction, then took off, moving away to give them whatever privacy they could have with armed men all around.

Gideon turned questioning eyes to André. "What is it?"

Looking at him, being so close to him, it took time and effort for the words to make their way to André's lips, to spill out. "It's time for Jules and I to leave. We're grateful for your hospitality but we gotta go." He folded his arms, body tense as he waited.

Gideon stared at him, a muscle ticking at his left temple. André wanted to break away from that intense scrutiny, from the shock that darkened Gideon's eyes before it disappeared. Before all expression on Gideon's face was wiped away. He pressed his lips together and then gave a sharp nod. "Samir, have someone escort André and Jules wherever they want to go." Then he turned away, striding purposefully back into the med unit.

André blinked. What just happened? He'd expected a fight, an argument, for Gideon to try and get him to change his mind. He hadn't expected immediate capitulation. He stood rooted to the spot, staring at the door as if Gideon would magically reappear.

Samir came up to him. "You look disappointed." He chuckled, but it held no true mirth. "You expected him to beg you to stay?"

André's mouth opened but nothing came out. He kinda did.

"If I'm correct, he asked you for a chance," Samir continued. "But your leaving is your answer, isn't it? You gave up on him, so he's returning the same energy to you." He thumped André on the back. Hard. "You made your choice. Now, let's go."

Everything Samir said was correct, but it didn't help the acidic feeling of loss that bloomed in André's gut. He should be happy. Wasn't this what he wanted? He'd gotten it. There was nothing left to do but follow Samir to the elevator.

So André did.

Gideon stared out the window, seeing nothing.

It'd been a week since André and his sister left the penthouse, and he honestly didn't know how he'd made it that long without storming over to André's place and dragging them back.

Everything in him wanted to do that, but he didn't. André didn't want to stay. Gideon couldn't keep him trapped. Well, he could, but he didn't want to. Though the idea did flash in his mind for a second when André told him he was leaving.

Gideon hadn't said goodbye. He'd walked away from André then and hadn't looked back, hadn't done shit until Samir told him their guests were gone. They had bodyguards with them because Gideon wasn't a complete fool, despite the way he felt about André. His men had escorted André and Jules home but they hadn't left. Gideon ensured they stayed put. Some were positioned in an empty apartment two doors down from André's, and even more were outside, guarding the building. He'd told them to keep to the shadows, to make sure André and Jules didn't notice them, but to never leave the two unattended. So Gideon's men dogged their every step.

He'd received daily reports until it had gotten to be too much, then he had the men report to Samir, who would only involve Gideon if there was an issue.

Nothing had changed for him with André's departure. It only solidified the knowledge that Gideon had to deviate from the plans he'd made with his father. An unconscious Ennis Canto was recovering downstairs in their medical unit.

That for fucking sure was a deviation from the plan.

Gideon should have put a bullet in the fucker's head, finishing what whoever tried to kill Ennis had started. But he hadn't. Partly because he wanted to know who'd done it. And partly because of André and that look in his eyes when he'd gotten his first glimpse of his unconscious father hooked up to the machines keeping him alive.

Gideon had pretended it didn't gut him, watching André's face. The idea that he could also someday soon be the reason for that pain in André's eyes? He could no longer justify it.

Not to himself. Not to his old man. Not to his mother.

He couldn't hurt André.

So where the fuck did that leave him?

What happened next? And would he ever get the chance to tell André that things had changed, that he had changed?

A knock came on his office door and he spun around just as it opened. Samir stepped in, narrowed eyes assessing before he said, "You canceled the meeting?"

Gideon was supposed to be meeting with business associates, but he'd put it off. He shrugged, looking away from the disapproval in Samir's eyes. "It can wait."

His friend sighed. "G, it's been a week. Either go to him or move the fuck on."

Gideon refused to give him a response. He wasn't going to André. That wasn't happening. As far as moving on… He sat behind his desk and stared up at the other man. "What do we know about who shot Ennis?" he asked, changing the subject. "Anything on the shooters?"

Samir shrugged. "Still nothing."

"Goddamn it." He dragged his fingers through his hair. He had his people searching all over for any information they could find about what happened the night Ennis was ambushed and who could be behind it, but so far they'd come up with nothing. The shooters had eluded his guys and disappeared like smoke. It was frustrating and unbelievable that his vast resources hadn't unearthed not one clue.

"G, The Council keeps calling. They want to set up a meeting to discuss…things."

They probably wanted to find out what Gideon knew and if he was behind the shooting. He already knew they weren't behind it, but they didn't know shit about him. He wasn't agreeing to a meeting. He wanted them to stew for a while, to wonder about him. "Ignore them. I'll call a meeting when I'm ready." Which would be when he had more information.

"And the situation with Ree."

He sighed. Ree was a tenacious woman, digging into places she shouldn't. The guys Gideon had on her had reported twice in the past week that she'd been back and forth to the prison where her father was once held. She was searching for answers that Gideon couldn't allow her to find. "Have Marco deal with Ree."

One of Samir's eyebrows shot up. "You sure?"

Now that was the question. Gideon had a soft spot for Ree and he didn't want her hurt, but there'd been enough fucking changes happening around him and to his plans. Ree was not going to be another. He granted Samir a curt nod. "Get me Marco."

Samir muttered into his earpiece and minutes later, Marco strode into the office. "What's up?"

"I need you to take care of Ree."

Marco didn't react.

"I don't want her dead or physically hurt," Gideon told him. With Marco, you had to be specific. "But I want her out of the way and protected. Do whatever you need to."

Marco dipped his chin in understanding. "Got it." He left just as quickly as he came.

With that taken care of, Gideon turned back to Samir. "I need to?—"

Samir's phone went off and he glanced at it, then at Gideon. "It's the doctor."

Gideon shot to his feet as Samir answered. They'd been waiting for word on Ennis, who'd been unconscious for so fucking long.

"He's awake?" Samir asked into the phone. His eyes met Gideon's. "We're on our way." He ended the call and then told Gideon, "He's awake and demanding to see you."

Well, that was a surprise. How did he know Gideon was responsible for saving him? He'd been unconscious the moment they'd pulled him from the wreck. "Let's go." Ennis had all the answers to the questions floating around in Gideon's head and he didn't like it. Didn't like not knowing shit. It put him at a disadvantage, and that was unacceptable.

Gideon and Samir made their way down to the med unit and were met at the entrance by one of the doctors they kept on staff.

"Sir." She nodded at Gideon, giving Samir a side glance. Nearly all of the medical personnel were scared shitless of Samir, who loved nothing better. "He's been examined."

"And?"

"I am encouraged by the progress he's made so far."

"And he's coherent, asking for me, right?"

"Yes, sir. But you need to keep it short. He needs to rest."

"I want everyone out," he told her. He and Samir waited outside as everyone filed out. Then they entered the unit. His father had the foresight to have the facility built when he was first diagnosed, staffing the place with top-of-the-line medical professionals—from nurses to surgeons and everyone in between who were all loyal to the Winters—and equipment. Gideon was damn grateful for it.

With Samir at his side, they entered the area that had been partitioned off for Ennis. He lay on the bed, still hooked up to a bunch of machines, but his eyes were open as he stared at the ceiling. They'd had to perform surgery to remove fragments of bullets from his body and it'd been pretty touch and go for a while.

"Canto." Gideon stood at the foot of the bed, arms crossed.

Ennis's eyes flickered first to Samir and then to Gideon.

"You wanted to see me?" Gideon asked.

Ennis's lips moved before any sound came out. "Where-where is my son?" His voice was low, the words strained and halted, but Gideon heard him just fine.

"What son?" He lifted an eyebrow.

Ennis's chest rose and fell, his breaths loud and shaky. His appearance was a stark departure from the carefully composed persona he usually presented. He looked pale and exhausted, pain reflected in his eyes and the stiffness of his body. His jaw was covered in a week's worth of salt-and-pepper scruff. "I know-I know you have André. Bring him to me."

Huh. "I don't know what you think?—"

Ennis's jaw ticked in obvious frustration. "I didn't interfere because he is safer with you." He paused, breathing harshly. "But he is in danger."

Gideon tensed. "Explain." He rounded the bed to stand next to Ennis. "Explain now."

"She wants him dead." The effort to keep talking showed itself on Ennis's face and he lifted a hand, grabbing Gideon's wrist in a weak grip. "She tried-tried to kill me. Don't let her get to him."

"Samir, contact our men on André. Now. " Heart thudding, Gideon asked Ennis, "Who is she ? Tell me."

"Sienna."

Gideon blinked. "Your daughter?" André's sister? What the fuck? Sienna Canto was Ennis's heir—to his vast fortune and businesses and his seat on The Council. As far as the public knew, she was his only child. Why would she want her father and brother dead? How did she even know about André?

Christ, even as he got answers, Gideon had more questions.

"Where is he?" Ennis was fading. "Where is my son?"

Fuck. Fuck! Gideon didn't want to answer, didn't want to say it. Because if what Ennis just told him was true… "I let him go."

Ennis made a hopeless sound, releasing Gideon. His hand fell back to the bed and his head rolled back and forth on the pillow, his skin getting more and more ashen by the second. "Find him. P-please" His breathing was labored, the rise and fall of his chest more pronounced as he begged, "Find…him. Pr-protect…him."