Page 20 of Ruthless

To imagine that he had been left down there in the cold darkness was almost more than she could fathom. When this was over, heads would roll. She would start with Jeremy Clement.

The rage was now like a volcanic flow of lava. By the time the elevator landed, she was screaming Gideon’s name.

* * *

“Your move, lad.”

The young guard frowned as he looked down at the chessboard. The kid was a twenty-one-year-old college student and a newlywed. He was still wet behind the ears and wasn’t sure if being put in charge of Gideon’s care was a reward or punishment.

Gideon didn’t have the heart to tell him it was no reward.

He’d been down here for going on three days now. Eve didn’t know. He knew that already. She never would have left him here. Clement had taken it upon himself to not only have his men beat the hell out of him, but to also incarcerate him.

He’d woken up inside this cell, and the only person he’d seen so far was his young guard. Mylan Dupont had no answers to his questions and, according to him, had been told nothing other than to keep Gideon locked inside his cell at any cost.

Gideon had had numerous opportunities to overtake the kid and get out. Unless they planned to keep him down here forever, he wouldn’t do that. Wasn’t Mylan’s fault that he worked for an ass.

The place wasn’t as bad as he remembered. In one of his history lessons when he was grammar school, his entire class had been given a tour of the castle dungeons. He had remembered them as cold and creepy as hell. Over the years, someone had decided to upgrade. It still wasn’t the Plaza, but the atmosphere was much better than he remembered. There was no dank odor, the temperature was pleasant, and the jail cells had been modernized.

Though he couldn’t say he was enjoying himself, being locked up had given him plenty of thinking time. He’d gone over how he should’ve handled telling Eve the truth. So far, each scenario put him right back where he was right now—royally screwed. No pun intended.

From the time he’d made the agreement with her father, he had known this day would come. But he’d already been keeping a ton of secrets from her. One more had seemed like just another sin he would have to atone for someday. Now that the day had arrived, he realized he was still at a loss for how to explain everything where he didn’t come off as the biggest bastard alive.

“Monsieur is sad?” Mylan asked.

Gideon looked up at the kid and grimaced. “Just have a lot on my mind.”

“It is my understanding that tonight’s dinner will be tartiflette.”

Gideon couldn’t help but smile at the kid. Mylan’s duties of guarding Gideon 24-7 gave him the opportunity to eat his meals here at the castle. He’d forgotten how a growing young man could tuck away the food. Admittedly, the food had been good and plentiful.

It’d been years since he had eaten tartiflette, a delicious casserole of potatoes, reblochon cheese, and chopped bacon. The ultimate comfort food. His mother had made the best tartiflette he’d ever eaten. With three growing boys and a father who could pack the food away, too, it was a wonder his mother and sister had had any food left to eat. But they always had. Meals at the Wright house hadn’t been fancy, and their clothes hadn’t been expensive, but his parents had always made sure they’d had plenty. Before everything went to hell, he’d had the ideal childhood.

“You do not care for tartiflette?” Mylan asked.

“Actually love it. Was just thinking of my mother’s.”

“Aw, yes, mamans make the best. Oui?”

“Oui.”

Gideon was enjoying the back-and-forth exchange between French and English. The native language for Ile de la Lune was French, but the country was progressive when it came to education. By the time he’d graduated, Gideon had spoken six languages fluently.

“You have family here in Amelie?”

“No. Not anymore.”

His brother, Theo, was an orthopedic surgeon in Madrid. His sister, Rory, was a cardiologist in Germany, and her twin, Reed, was the CEO of an athletic apparel company in Texas. They were spread all across the world, and though he didn’t see them nearly enough, he couldn’t be prouder of the adults they’d become. He knew his parents would be proud of them, too.

His mind halfway occupied with the chess game in front of him and thoughts of his family, it took him a second to recognize the odd noise coming from down the hallway. There was the sound of the elevator landing, and then he heard what could only be described as shrieks of outrage.

A smile spread across his face. Eve had apparently discovered his whereabouts.

Mylan jumped to his feet, upending the chessboard. As the sound of Eve’s wrath drew nearer, Gideon watched as Mylan’s hand went to his holstered gun.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, lad. She’s got a wicked temper.”

“She?”