Page 48 of A Love So Wrong
Chapter 14
The knock came at the door promptly at the half-hour mark.
With purposeful strides, Gideon crossed the room and yanked open the door. He was more than ready to see that smug blonde bastard again or anyone really. He just wanted to connect his fist to someone's face. He needed to see someone else's fear at his hands, anything to help him feel not so fucking helpless.
Yanking open the door, his mounting adrenaline dropped when the empty hallway stared back at him. Stepping over the black box sitting in front of the door, he looked down the hallway in both directions—empty. Fucking cowards. Snatching up the box, he backed back into the room and shut the door. Not looking up, Gideon kept his eyes on the box in his hand as he walked over to the cart, still sitting in the middle of the room. He could feel Jade's quiet gaze on him as he moved, and Gideon couldn't decide if he wanted to shout or just sink to his knees. He failed her. He fucked up bad. Everything they had dreamed of and worked for was gone now. Every time he thought of that video, he felt sick. Jade had trusted him to take care of her, she had pleaded with him last night not to go into that house, and now look where they were at.
Setting the box on the cart, he pulled off the black velvet bow and pulled off the top. Inside lay a gold mask and another note. Picking up both items in each hand, Gideon read the note.
Jade will wear the mask. Put the hard drives into the box and set it back outside the door. Once you have done that, both of you go to the second bedroom, put in the earbuds, and wait for my instructions.
"What does it say?" Jade's voice pulled him out of his spiraling thoughts.
Looking up to her, he frowned at the lance of guilt slicing across his soul, and he could see her shrink back from his no-doubt dark expression. He wanted to comfort and reassure her, but how could he? Any soft words he whispered would be a lie. If he wiped her tears away now, what could he do about the ones that came next? Looking away from her, Gideon felt the weight of their situation press down on him further. He hadn't felt this inadequate for a long time. When he was younger, he used to question as to why his mother abandoned him. He used to think about how the Lattimores originally didn’t even want him. His thoughts used to weigh him down at night, and sometimes maybe once or twice, he even hoped they would press him so far down into the covers of his bed they would simply swallow him whole. In the end, it was Jade who had saved him from those dark feelings of worthlessness. Jade looked at him as if he were a superhero. In her mind, there was nothing he could not do or accomplish. Years and years of being in someone's spotlight must have gone to his head because look at him now, look where her "hero" got her now.
He handed her the mask. "You're to wear this," he murmured.
Like a bird gently eating from his hand, she plucked the gold mask and examined it. With knobby curving horns, the golden half mask resembled a deer with its leaf-shaped ears and a tiny turned-up nose.
Walking over to his bag, Gideon took out the hard-drives and replaced them in the empty box before setting it outside the door. A part of him wanted to wait by the door to tackle whoever came to retrieve them, but every time his mind entertained that and similar ideas, he thought of the video of Jade. Gideon had turned away from the screen when the video had played, but he could hear Jade's gasp, and he had seen just a flash of her naked flesh to gather the full scenario. If there was even a sliver of a chance this nutcase would keep his word and delete the footage Gideon had to try, for Jade's sake.
Turning back around, he looked at Jade, who stood holding the note and the mask, and she gave him a fearful look. Swallowing the bile of apprehension that climbed into his throat, he gave her an understanding look as he approached. Taking the mask from her hand, he stepped behind her and lifted the mask. Up and over her face, Gideon leaned to the side as he watched her profile, lining the mask with her eyes. Inhaling, he felt some of the tension in his shoulders relax at the sweet smell of her shampoo filled his lungs. Her hair was still down from her shower, falling around and past her shoulders in a waterfall of coffee-colored curls. Tying the black satin ribbons of the mask together, he secured it to her. Stepping back around her, Gideon could feel his pulse quicken at the sight. There was something very stirring about her being masked.
Clearing his throat, Gideon stepped back. Grabbing his earbuds, he walked to the other set of double doors. Inside, the room was dark and just like the other room in layout, except for the slight difference in artwork. Gideon looked around, not sure what was supposed to happen. Was there going to be something in this room?
The earbud in his ears beeped.
His hand went up at the same time as Jade's as they both activated the earbuds.
"Shut the door," the man's voice commanded.
Swallowing the lump of fury lodged in his throat, Gideon reached behind him and closed the black double doors.
"Jade, please stand in front of the nightstand facing Gideon and turn on the light."
Complying, Jade stepped over to the left side of the bed nearest the window. With the curtains pushed back, the brightly lit city below cast an odd hazy glow through their room. The light by the bed was dim and not much better than a candle giving the room a sleepy intimate feel.
"This room, the living area, and your bedroom has a total of thirty-six cameras hidden throughout the rooms," the man announced.
Anger bloomed in Gideon’s chest, curling around him like black smoke. "You fucking liar! You said if we played your fucking game, you would delete the footage, not take more."
"And I will, but I can't play the game properly if I can’t see you. Or would you rather me to come up there with you?" There was a diabolic note to his voice that sounded as if he would love nothing more to play this game in person.
Gideon stamped down the urge to tell the piece of shit to come up and try. Looking to Jade, who stood motionless, still in her assigned spot, he could see her wide hazel eyes glimmering with apprehension behind her golden mask.
"I'll take that as a no then," the man chuckled in their ears. "Now, Gideon, please walk over and stand in front of your lovelysister."
Gideon didn't hide his sneer. The man seemed to be in love with referring to them by "sister" and "brother" each time it felt like a bucket of cold water on top of Gideon's head. They had gone months without ever referring to each other like that, and now this piece of shit was using the terms more than he had ever heard them in his life.
Stepping in front of Jade, Gideon waited. Just what the hell did this man want them to do? He began tracing his gaze along the edges of the room and up the ceiling, wondering where exactly the cameras were placed.
"You know," the man said thoughtfully. "If you weren't so focused on your anger or with figuring out my game, you would see that your sister is very literally trembling in fear."
Gideon looked at her, and his guilt intensified. Standing there with her hands tightly fisting the hem of her shirt, Jade's eyes glistened behind her mask. The slight tremble to her shoulders was her only movement. When she met his gaze, he could tell that she must not have been able to hear what the man had said that time.
Without a word, he reached for her, letting his palms slide around her waist and pull her towards him. As if she had been waiting for his touch, her body melted eagerly to his.
"Gideon," she cried in a whisper so low he almost missed it. "I'm…scared."
