“How did you let them take her away from you?” I asked. “How could you marry someone else and watch her have a kid with a guy you could no longer stand?”
Lucas shook his head. “Alexander was still our friend. He was one of us, and seeing as we’d failed her, we knew she’d be looked after with him. We thought she would be. I don’t need to justify my actions to you.”
“They made you give her up. A mistake that wasn’t yours, and they gave her to the enemy. How can you follow a … I don’t even know what it is, okay? The Society, whatever the fuck it is, is it worth it? Nineteen years of pain and misery, do you feel like a winner?”
“Look around you, Gideon. Do you think I could have done this on my own? The benefit of our … organization is contacts. It’s power. It’s being put in the right place at the right time.”
“And you’re miserable because of it. Your wife is out screwing every single man she can find. The one woman you ever loved is missing. How is any of this worth it?” I asked.
“If you think I don’t have regrets about what had to be sacrificed in order to get this, then you’re wrong. I know what I lost. Do you not think I would change things if by chance I could go back?” he asked. “You think I wouldn’t have accepted the drink that started us on this path? I would, but think on this, Gideon. If what hadn’t been allowed to play out, your friends, Sian, maybe even you, wouldn’t have been born. Joan would be ours. None of you would be in existence, and if you all were, you sure as fuck wouldn’t have a Sian to call your own.” He got to his feet. “I don’t expect you to understand the choices I’ve made, but know I made the best of what I could. One day, you will understand that.”
He left the room, and I hated him for being so fucking right.
Without Alexander doing what he did, I wouldn’t have Sian.
“Are you okay?” I looked up to see Sian in the kitchen doorway.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to hear the judgment,” she said. “What happened wasn’t his fault.”
“I know, but allowing Joan to get away was.” I turned toward the counter. I’d already put my coffee cup down.
I felt Sian as she moved closer into the room. Out of my peripheral vision, I clocked her going to the coffee pot. My dad had made sure to have the plant milk she loved so much. She released a little sigh and I saw the bounce to her step as she moved from the fridge to the coffee pot, then back again.
I wanted her.
The thought of losing her was too unbearable.
I wasn’t the kind of guy to beg a girl. I was used to them falling at my feet with a snap of my fingers. I didn’t even have to snap my fingers to get them to do what I wanted. They were willing participants.
They craved me.
Sian had never been like that.
How could I let her go?
Without thought, I moved, going to her. I wrapped my arms around her body. At first, she tensed up, then slowly sank against me.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
I pressed my lips together, but breathed in the vanilla scent of her.
“Gideon? Are you okay?”
“Don’t go,” I said. The words magically fell from my lips. “I know you have a life to lead and I know I shouldn’t be asking you this, but please, don’t go. Don’t leave me. Don’t leave us. I know we started out really fucking badly, and that’s my problem. Let me make it up to you. Don’t … don’t go.”
I wasn’t used to asking or even begging someone repeatedly. All I knew was I had to take a chance. I had to make Sian see that we were the ones for her. That she didn’t have to leave us.
We could give her everything.
I heard her sigh and felt her body slump.
“Gideon …”
The sound of a telephone ringing interrupted us. I had no choice but to let her go. I went to the phone on the wall and picked it up.
“Hello, Flores Residence.” I had no idea how we were supposed to answer the phone. More often than not, my dad has someone dealing with this side of things.
“Can I … speak to … Sian Roberts, please?”
“Sure. Can I ask who is calling?” I asked.
“Her mother.”
I froze as I looked toward Sian. “One moment.”
I cupped the phone, covering the mouthpiece. “It’s your mother.”
Sian rushed toward the phone.
“I’m going to get my dad, keep her talking, okay?”
She nodded.
I didn’t wait to see her take the call. Rushing through the house, I found my dad in his office. He stood by the window, smoking a cigarette.
“Joan is on the phone,” I said. “She’s talking to Sian right now.”
Lucas threw the cigarette out the window and I turned, heading back to the kitchen.
Dante and Mateo were already in the kitchen.
So were their parents, Harrison, Justin, and George.
“Mom, please tell me you’re okay,” Sian said.
“Honey, tell me you’re okay. Tell me you’re safe and away from all of this.” Sian had put it to speaker.
“Joan, tell us where you are,” my dad said.
“Lucas?”
“Yes, baby, it’s me. Tell me where you are. We know this isn’t you. We know Alexander is trying to bring us all down, Joan. I’m here. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“He has the tapes.”
“We’ll get them back. We can make this safe.”
“No. He has Sian’s tape. I’m not going to let him destroy her. I sat back and I did nothing for my little girl. He hurt her and I … I’m an awful mom.”
“Mommy, please, listen to them. You don’t have to do this,” Sian said. “Drew wouldn’t have wanted you to do this.”
“Oh, Drew,” Joan said. “He killed her too, Sian. Everything he touches, he destroys. I’m so sorry I didn’t protect you from him. I can do better. I will do better.” She sobbed.
“I love you, Mommy.” I saw Sian’s pain.
Heather, Drew, what else had he destroyed in his path to get what he wanted? I couldn’t begin to think about it.
“Lucas, protect her, please. She is … she was never supposed to be part of this. I didn’t want her to be. It’s why I told Drew to take her. To take her and to show her what a life can be like away from all of this.”
“I will, Joan, tell us where you are.”
“He’s coming back. I’ve got to go. Love you, Sian.” Her mother made a kissing sound and then she hung up.
The tears fell from Sian’s eyes.
“He killed Drew!” She dropped the phone and covered her face as the sobs overcame her.
I went to her, wrapping my arms around her, holding her as tightly as I could. I didn’t want to let her go. Not now, not ever, but how could I convince her to stay?
Chapter Seven
William
There were many reasons I shouldn’t drown my sorrows in drink. One of them was waking up in my own vomit. That was a big one. The next one was everything I missed. Dante had to catch me up on what happened while I was cleaning everything up. The phone call from Sian’s mom. Gideon’s dad had a built-in recorder for all phone calls.