Page 18 of Prodigal

“The other day was the first time she spoke to me in years and that was because of you.” Warren swallowed, voice rough when he said, “Thank you for that.”

There was more. Gideon waited.

“I want you to make her talk to me.” Warren’s gaze sharpened on Gideon’s face. “You can do that.”

He could do anything. Gideon wasn’t about to dothat, though. Still, he nodded and got to his feet. “Anything else?”

Warren remained seated, gazing up at him with a gleam in his eye. “I’m sure I’ll be able to think of something. I’ll reach out when I do.”

Gideon held his stare. He still didn’t have what he’d come for.

“Paul Traeger. That’s the name of the man who hired the assassins to kill you.”

Gideon inhaled deeply. The second attempt on his life—after they’d taken his mother, they’d tried again. His fatherhad suspected that whoever made the second attempt was not responsible for the first. Gideon didn’t know how or why Aldo thought that, but they’d run with it, hunting two different sets of assassins.

And Aldo’s hunch had paid off, it seemed. It made Gideon smile, the idea that his father was rarely ever wrong.

“I don’t know where he is now or if he’s even alive. He’s been MIA for nearly as many years as you’ve been dead.” Warren smirked at his weak attempt at being funny. “But find him and you’ll most likely find the person on The Council who set the entire thing in motion.”

Gideon nodded, blowing out a breath. “Thank you, Warren.”

“I did my part,” Warren told him. “Now, it’s time to do yours.”

“It is,” Gideon answered gravely. And he pulled the Glock from his waistband and put a bullet between Warren’s eyes. The others had to have heard the gunshot but nobody came in. Gideon stared down at Warren, at his head thrown back, eyes still open but sightless.

He’d been a chess piece, set up and put in place by Gideon’s father with the promise of freedom if Warren played his part and did as instructed. His only job had been to get close to one man inside the prison where he’d been sent to serve out his sentence, to become his best friend, his confidant…hell, his lover if need be. Then pump him for information. He’d done that, but Gideon no longer needed him, and what little Warren did know was already too much. Gideon wasn’t about to keep anybody alive who could hurt him and his plans in any way. Warren was always going to die, but he’d sped up the process by demanding things.

Shoving his gun back into his waistband, Gideon went to the door and pulled it open, meeting the warden’s gaze. Barrows didn’t like what was happening, but he couldn’t do shit to changeit. “I’m done here.” Gideon nodded to Samir and Will. “Let’s move.” He walked away without a backward glance, leaving Barrow and his people to handle Warren’s body.

In no time, he was in the chopper and headed back to his penthouse. He stared unseeing out the window. He had a name now. He’d already texted Marco, who’d remained at the penthouse with Kaleb and a dozen others watching over André and his sister. Marco would get to work on finding Paul Traeger.

In the meantime, Gideon would try to get some sleep.

The operative word beingtry.

But as he walked into his office, flanked by Samir and Will, Samir turned to him, lips twitching as if he were trying not to smile.

“What?” Gideon demanded.

Samir glanced down at his phone. “Kaleb says our guests are still up, watching a movie in the media room.”

Gideon had done so well not thinking about André with that stubborn gleam in eyes that reminded him of his enemy. “What does that have to do with me?”

“The girl heard the chopper. She wants to know if you’ll join them.”

Gideon frowned, glancing at his watch. “It’s almost four in the fucking morning.”

Will chuckled. Samir just walked away, but not before smirking at Gideon.

“Sounds like you’re her new favorite person,” Will teased before she too left, leaving Gideon standing alone in the middle of his office.

His plan for keeping André and Juliette close was so that he could use them to get to Ennis. Use André. Nothing in that plan included getting close to Juliette, whose eyes lit up every time they landed on Gideon.

But Juliette was the key to getting André under control.

So, despite the tiredness battering him and his gritty eyes, Gideon made his way down to the media room. They were on the couch, on either end. Juliette looked as alert as if it were four in the afternoon, eyes on the screen. André, on the other hand, his eyes were closed, hands folded atop his belly as he lay sprawled out on his back.

Juliette spotted Gideon first as he stood in the doorway. “Gideon!” She waved him in.

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