Chapter 29

29

Robert Vale wasn't the type of man who usually got his hands dirty. Gideon knew that for a fact, but the old man seemed very at ease putting a bullet through the eye of the bodyguard who'd betrayed his family and sold Nivea to Joseph Morrow for twenty thousand dollars.

Why the Vales hadn't checked into the finances of all their employees when Nivea went missing, Gideon didn't know. He stood back with his arms folded as he watched Vale in action. They'd left the facility, Gideon, Vale, and Gideon's team made a quick detour to handle the bodyguard, while Nivea's parents took her home to reunite with the rest of their family, Kaleb in tow at Nivea's insistence.

As he stared down at the body of the Vale's former bodyguard, Gideon had the overwhelming urge to get back to André. There was something about the man he loved that soothed him, that wiped out the visions of blood and echoes of gunshots that Gideon had lived with for so long. And now, he just wanted to get things done and over with so he could go back to where he knew he belonged, in André's arms.

Before André, this was what he'd lived for—spilling blood, exacting revenge. But being around Nivea had brought some things into perspective. Living his life for revenge, always focused on what he'd lost instead of what he had, was the quickest way to lose it all.

He feared losing André more than disappointing his father.

Finally, he could acknowledge it.

So, what was he going to do about it?

"Where are we meeting that son of a bitch?" Vale turned to him, his entire body shaking under the force of his rage.

Gideon understood what he felt all too well. He pushed away from the wall where he'd been leaning. "Place about half an hour from here," he told Vale. "What's your move?"

"He doesn't live past the hour," Vale snarled. "That's my move."

That worked just fine for Gideon. "Let's go."

Vale had summoned more of his men and once they arrived, their sizable entourage headed out. Samir remained on the phone, in contact with one of the men Gideon had inside Morrow's camp. They knew Morrow was already at the meeting place, an empty field with no one around for miles—Gideon smiled at that—and he'd brought four heavily armed men with him. Clearly, he was coming with an agenda, one that involved Gideon's death.

Before André, the thought of death and dying never even registered. But now, no one would ever take him away from the man he loved. He would always make it back home. Tapping a finger on the phone in his lap, he debated calling André again. Just to hear his voice. Just to tell him he loved him. In the end, he opted not to. But again, he was ready to get back to the penthouse. Ready to crawl into bed and lose himself in the warmth of André's body.

He was ready for all the things he hadn't allowed himself to even consider until André came into his life.

The vehicle slowed down, having arrived at their destination, and Gideon shook himself, taking a deep breath. He was ready, too, for the next part of his plan to slot into place. He got out of the SUV, Samir and Will on either side of him as they made their way to where Morrow stood waiting, hidden by bodyguards. Gideon chuckled under his breath. It was always the cowards who seemed to think themselves the baddest.

"Winters." Morrow stepped past his men, finally showing himself. He looked haggard, nothing like the pompous, untouchable fool he'd been before Gideon set his sights on him. Now, he wore the panicked and frustrated appearance of a man desperately trying to hold on to the last vestiges of his life. But it was like sand, straining through his fingers.

"Morrow." Gideon glanced around. "Hell of a spot you chose to meet, huh?"

Morrow sneered at him, hatred bright in his eyes. "I know you're the one behind it. It was you."

Gideon cocked his head. "Not sure what you mean."

"You took her!" Morrow lunged at him but Gideon easily sidestepped him, causing the older man to stumble, though he righted himself quickly when Samir shoved a gun in his face.

"You think you can kill me?" Morrow roared. "You can't touch me. I'm not going anywhere." He turned toward his bodyguards. "Kill him." They didn't budge. "Kill him!"

Gideon laughed at his confused bluster. "Sorry, old man. They work for me now." He nodded at Morrow's men and they pulled their guns, grabbing their former boss and forcing him to his knees. "You know, it was nice of you to choose this place. It will be your final resting place, after all."

"You can't kill me. The Council?—"

Vale got out of his vehicle then and walked over. With each step, Morrow turned paler and paler until he was damn near see-through.

"Hello, Joseph."

On his knees on the ground, Morrow gaped up at the man who'd been a friend and business partner. "Rob-Robert." Realization sank in then, the reason why Robert Vale would be there, standing alongside Gideon. "Robert, please."

"You took my granddaughter." Vale's voice shook. "You stole her freedom, her innocence, and her peace of mind. And while you kept her from us, you consoled me. You prayed for me and my family. You stood next to me, giving me support when you were the cause of my pain."

"R-Robert, I'm sorry." Sweat dripped down Morrow's face. "I was wrong, I see that now. I-I'll get help. My doctors will?—"

"Did you think I would let you live?" Vale asked. "Did you think I would just forgive and allow you to continue breathing?"

"You-you can't. The Council?—"

"The Council will never know," Vale assured him.

"No, they won't," Gideon cut in. "But the method of your death is contingent on how you answer my next question," he told Morrow. "What do you know about my mother's death?"

Morrow blinked wet eyes. "What? I—" One of the armed guards prodded him in the back of the head with his gun and Morrow swallowed. "I don't know."

"Now is not the time to hold on to your secrets," Gideon told him. "You're dying here, that's a given. You decide if it will be as simple as a bullet to the head or torture where you're ripped apart, limb by limb."

"No." Morrow reached out to Gideon, who stepped out of his reach. "No, please. I can…" His body shook and he started sobbing, face red and wet. "They wanted to get rid of the Winters's proxy."

"Me."

"Yes." Morrow nodded at Gideon. "Once the proxy was out of the way, then they'd handle the main seat. They expected your father, Aldo, to be too consumed with grief to put up a fight. Everybody knew how much he loved his son."

Gideon took a deep breath to try and calm the hot rage that enveloped his body.

"Who are they ?"

"Prislaya Chopra brought the idea to me. She said there were others on The Council who wanted to change things up, but she never explained the reasoning behind it. I agreed to the plan because I disliked how Aldo acted as if he was better than me."

"He was," Gideon spat.

"I-I know Prislaya reached out to Ennis Canto anonymously, blackmailing him into doing the dirty work by using his secret son. But he botched the first attempt and got cold feet, so they used someone else. I think someone outside of The Council. I was never privy to that information." Morrow sniffed. "I never knew who the other members were. Prislaya never said. Once you and your mother died, I kept waiting for them to move on Aldo but it never happened. I don't know why, and I didn't want to put myself in the crosshairs by asking."

Gideon stared down at him. More answers produced more questions. There was a lot there to digest, but he wasn't in the proper headspace to do so. He exhaled and stepped back, nodding to Vale. "He's all yours." He walked off.

"No, wait. No!" Morrow screamed at his back, but Gideon never turned around. He made his way to the vehicle and got inside, the blast of a gunshot barely registering as he sat in silence.

Prislaya was dead now, and he wished he'd made her suffer when he'd killed her. But she was dead. He would turn her life inside out and learn her secrets. All of them.

A knock came on the window next to him and he rolled it down, nodding at Robert Vale. "Done?"

"I am." Vale sized him up. "I didn't know about their plan for your family. I'm sorry."

"I know, and thank you." Aldo hadn't cared much for Robert Vale, but he'd told Gideon that Vale was ultimately someone they could trust.

Vale studied him for a few more seconds. "You want something from me, don't you? That's why you did all this."

Smart man. "They were right. Changes will be coming to The Council," Gideon told him. "I want your vote, your support, and your resources."

"You have it." Something in his gaze softened. "Your father loved you. Anyone who knew Aldo knew just how much he loved you, and I think he would be proud of you."

Gideon swallowed.

"You are a million times more ruthless than he'd ever been, and that fucker was as bloodthirsty as they come."

Gideon chuckled. "He taught me everything I know."

"I see that." Vale nodded in approval. "You will find the answers, Gideon. I know you will." He patted Gideon's shoulder, then strode off.

Gideon stared after him, blinking the emotion from his eyes. When he'd learned about Ennis's involvement in his mother's death, he'd doubted if he could make Aldo proud. But he knew now that he could. He might take a different route than originally planned, but he would.

Now, he was going home to the man he knew was waiting for him.

If this was any other time, he'd already be planning his next strike, moving pieces on the chess board.

But that was before André.