Page 18 of Ruthless

But Gideon? The most significant relationship she’d ever had had been based upon a lie. Everything she had believed about him as her partner and her best friend was now in question. What was real, and what had he said or done because of his job?

Hey, Wells, you’re with me.

Those words had been their beginning. When she had first started training, she had been so weak, so incredibly inept in how to defend herself. When Gideon had paired up with her, she had believed it was because she was not only inexperienced and new, but because he had seen her potential.

Then later, when she’d become proficient in her skills: Hey, Wells, let’s do this together.

Would he have chosen her if he hadn’t been paid to guard her?

And then, when she’d made the decision to leave her former life behind completely, he’d come to her with the idea. Want to partner up with me in something new?

Of course she had jumped at the chance. They had been good friends already and worked well together. He’d become so much more than just a partner in work—he had become…her everything.

What had been true and what had been done to keep her with him? What had he said because he was playing a part, and what had been real?

Had any of it been real?

She hadn’t felt this lost since she’d been abducted and tortured all those years ago. At that thought, she drew herself up. Oh hell no. No way was she even going to entertain that thought. She was Eve Freaking Wells. When life gave her lemons, she didn’t make lemonade. She pummeled the hell out of those lemons until they were pulverized. That’s what she would do here.

Her relationship with Gideon did not define her. She’d had her heart broken before and had recovered. This would be no different.

But she wanted answers—she deserved answers. She wished she had asked for them when he’d first told her, but his confession had thrown her so far off-balance, she had barely been able to form a coherent thought.

She took a shallow breath and centered herself. Tomorrow, she would demand answers. He owed her that.

And if those answers broke her heart? Then she would deal with them, and Gideon would no longer be a part of her life.

CHAPTER EIGHT

House of Wellingsley

Royal Palace

Three days later, and Gideon still wasn’t answering her calls or texts. That wasn’t like him. Even when he was angry with her, he never backed away from confrontation. He’d get in her face, snarl or shout, and get his opinions out in the open. Admittedly, this was different from a slight disagreement, but still it made no sense that he hadn’t responded.

Had she gone too far with her request that he address her formally? She closed her eyes. Of course she had. Because it hadn’t been a request, it had been a command. She had heard her father and brothers use that tone a million times, but as far she knew, that time with Gideon had been her first. It was a tone to put someone in their place. The moment she’d said the words, she had regretted them. That wasn’t who she was. No matter her anger against him, she shouldn’t have spoken to him like that.

Had he decided to just leave? Was this the answer she’d been dreading? Had everything that had happened between them been because it was his job to protect her? And now that it was no longer his job, he had left her behind? Was what they’d had all been a lie?

No! She refused to accept that. There were real feelings between them. He couldn’t fake his affection for over ten years. No way was it fake.

She leaned back against her pillow and blew out a sigh, wincing at the pull on her ribs. She had moved to the castle from her hospital room a couple days ago. Thanks to the secret passageways that only few outside the royal family knew about, her move here had been performed as covertly as an OZ mission. Other than their most trusted people, no one knew she was here.

To most of her country and the world, the Princess of Ile de la Lune was a recluse. The official announcement had been that due to the injuries sustained in the attack at the embassy, both physical and mental, she would no longer be able to perform any duties for the royal family. Eve had hated that she would always be seen as a victim, but the trade-off had been that she had been able to live her life without the trappings of royalty. At first, there had been a flurry of requests for interviews to talk about her trauma. She had, of course, declined all of them, and eventually the requests stopped. From time to time, someone would write an article, hoping to stir some interest. Fortunately, those were squelched quickly, and people went on to speculate about other things, leaving Eve to her obscurity, which was where she preferred to live.

It had been a hard transition for her family, especially for her father. He had lost so much already and had felt as if he were losing his daughter, too. With the help of her brothers and uncle, she’d been able to make him realize that she might be leaving the title, but she would never leave him or her family.

When he had finally accepted her decision, she had felt free for the first time ever. Which made her belief that he had accepted her decision to refuse protection even more ridiculous. She had believed she was long past naïveté, but that had been proven wrong.

How had he and Gideon come to know each other? It angered her that she hadn’t asked such a basic question. There were so many things she didn’t know, and no matter what her father said, this was most definitely her business.

She blew out a frustrated sigh. She hated to admit it, but she was bored. The necessity of keeping a low profile meant that visitors were few and far between. The apartment was slightly larger than the one she rented in Montana. With two bedrooms, a living room, office, sitting room, small gym, and an efficiency kitchen, it was a lovely, peaceful hideaway. But she wasn’t used to hiding. At least not in this way. If she hadn’t had the accident, she and Gideon would be up to their eyeballs in another OZ mission. Instead, she was trapped here, and she hated every part of it.

She’d had her first physical therapy on her shoulder today. Her leg would remain in a cast for another three weeks, then she’d have three more weeks of physical therapy. She was looking at a five-to six-week stay at a bare minimum. Keeping her sanity while she waited to heal might be the hardest part.

Her phone dinged, letting her know she had a text. Her heart dropped immediately when she saw it was from Ash. She had texted the OZ leader in the hopes that he’d heard from Gideon. Based on his response—Haven’t heard from him in days—Ash had no idea where he was. That worried her even more. Gideon did not go off-grid. That just wasn’t him.

Ash’s response was a reminder that she needed to give an explanation to her boss and her OZ teammates. She had great respect for Asher Drake, as well as the other OZ operatives. They deserved answers to the multitude of questions they’d sent her. Other than Gideon, no one knew her real identity. Not even Olivia, the person she’d always looked upon as a sister, knew the truth.