Page 84 of Tempting Devil
Chapter Thirty-Two
Imogene
“You really don’t mind staying in tonight?” I asked Melanie as she plopped beside me on her couch, both of us wearing pajamas, even though it was only seven in the evening.
After this past week, I had no desire to get dressed up and go out to some obnoxiously loud club in Hollywood.
“Of course not.” She handed me an overflowing glass of wine.
I took a tiny sip and placed it on the coffee table. I didn’t feel like drinking. I hadn’t felt like much of anything this week.
“At least here I don’t have to wait in line for a drink and the bartender always has a generous pour.” She smirked, taking a large gulp from her own wine before facing me.
“So tell me… How are things? Despite the obvious with Ollie,” she added quickly with a compassionate smile. “How’s Gideon?”
Just hearing that name sent a sharp pang through my chest. I couldn’t deny that I missed him, but did I miss Gideon? Or Samuel?
“Uh oh.”
I snapped my eyes toward her. “What?”
“Do I sense trouble in hot-sex paradise? Please tell me you didn’t let the whole fingerprint thing interfere with Gideon,” she added, reaching for my hand and squeezing. “Learning Sam’s fingerprints were found at Alton’s cabin must have been a shock, but he’s gone. He?—”
“He is Sam,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
She dropped her hold on me. “Ginny, you heard what all the investigators said.”
I dug my fingers through my hair, messing it up even more. “Trust me, Mel. I was just as surprised as you are. I convinced myself I was losing my mind. But it turns out I was right all along. Gideon Saint is Samuel Tate. He admitted it. Along with a lot of other stuff.”
Silence permeated the room as Melanie stared at me, her jaw agape, barely even blinking for several long moments. I could sense her wanting to chastise me for overreacting once more. But the longer she looked into my eyes, the more she must have realized I wasn’t overreacting.
Even though I wished I were.
“Sam’s alive?” she squeaked out, her shock palpable.
I knew all too well how she felt. I went through the same thing myself.
“Where has he been all this time?”
“A place worse than hell,” I responded through the heaviness in my throat.
She shook her head, her eyes clouded with tears. “I don’t?—”
“I’ll tell you everything, but it needs to stay between us.”
I doubted she’d go to Liam or anyone else with the truth, considering she repeatedly insisted my relationship with him was toxic, something I now fully agreed with. But I couldn’t stomach the idea of anything happening to her because she said something she shouldn’t have.
“No one else can know what I’m about to tell you.” I held her gaze so she could see the importance of this. “Not even your father.”
Although, based on the way he questioned Gideon during the golf tournament, he must have sensed something was amiss. But I doubt he could have predicted this.
“I promise, Gin. Your secrets are safe with me.” She swallowed hard. “So are Sam’s. You can trust me.”
I took a deep breath, then began to unravel the web of secrets I had no choice but to come to terms with over the past few weeks.
How, five years ago, Liam shot him when he refused to sell their company to ImageScape.
How a man named Brian McGuire was hired to take care of the crime scene and leave only enough evidence so Jonah would appear at fault, but when he arrived, Samuel was still alive.