Page 64 of Taking

Gideon had gotten what he wanted—would he smash in Leo’s nose now? I bit my lower lip, trying not to shift on the plastic bench. While I liked my protector’s blood rage, I didn’t want him to hurt my friend.

“Why didn’t he have someone else get this from me?” Leo asked before Gideon could make a move. “Someone on the outside?”

“Your uncle isn’t a trusting man.”

Leo glanced between us, sitting back in the booth as though to create distance. “And yet he would put his fate in the hands of a convict?”

Gideon leaned onto the table but without the tension riding him that promised pain. “He knows I have his back.” His tone didn’t betray a hint of doubt.

I studied Gideon while the two men held a stare down contest. Gideon had admitted to shanking a few guys while in jail. Had he spilled blood in defense of Leo’s uncle? Such an action would solidify the kind of trust Gideon spoke of.

“Okay.” Leo finally nodded and slid off the booth’s seat to stand. “If he trusts you, then I do too. Looking forward to seeing him.”

“You will.” Gideon nodded. “Just as soon as I get this evidence where it needs to go.”

Gideon climbed from the booth—so I followed.

The waitress questioned us as we walked past her with our drinks. We didn’t stop. Gideon didn’t acknowledge her.

I shrugged with a mouthed, “Sorry?” while following Gideon out into the night, ready for the next step in our plan for revenge.

24

Gideon

Thank fuck I hadn’t offed the Devon lookalike that night in the pizzeria parking lot.

Eugene. Leo. The prick Addilyn had gone out with.

I side-eyed her while driving north toward the library. She sat primly, hands on her lap, gazing out the passenger window as though deep in thought.

If she knew how close I’d come to sinking my knife into Leo’s throat, soaking the ground with his blood…

A muscle ticked in my jaw, and I clenched the steering wheel tighter, my focus on the road. He’d hugged her. Put his fucking arms around what belonged to me. And I’d held onto my goddamn sanity by a mere thread, knowing I would lose out on my revenge if I dismembered the little fucker.

I filled my lungs fully to the count of eight and let the breath escape in a quiet, slow exhale past my parted lips.

It had been Addilyn’s idea to go to the library rather than her house to make paper copies of the information on the stick. Better to be safe than sorry, she’d said, and I agreed since Lloyd wouldn’t be caught dead in a library.

We sat in silence, scrolling through the evidence. Printing out the shit that the sheriff wouldn’t be able to deny and getting the address of a local FBI agent who’d moved to Alaska three weeks earlier. And I hunched in front of the computer while she made a trip to the bathroom.

A quick search gave me the address I needed.

Addilyn didn’t know about my plans for her old boyfriend and the little cunt who’d broken my princess’s trust. She might get turned on by gruesome thoughts of paying Lloyd back for what he’d done to her, but I doubted she would approve of what I had in store for the others.

But the sheriff would pay first.

A few hours later, I slid the thick manila envelope stuffed full of evidence through the agent’s mail slot, rang his doorbell, and hurried away into the night, hat tucked low over my head and shoulders hitched against the cold.

Slipping behind a tree, I glanced further up the road where my old Subaru waited. I couldn’t make out Addilyn in the front seat, but I could feel her eyes on me.

The house’s door opened, and I peeked from the tree’s darkness. Eyed the guy looking up and down the street, envelope in his hands. Breath held, I watched and waited. He glanced at the envelope, flipping it over.

I hadn’t bothered writing his name. Had Addilyn keep on her small mittens while gathering the papers up from the library’s printer and putting them in the envelope. I too wore gloves while delivering the evidence. Couldn’t have fingerprints on a goddamn thing.

While I would have loved for the sheriff to know uncovering his sins had been my doing, I couldn’t have anything pointing back at me. One hint of exacting my revenge could lead to another stint in jail—but for murder.

I had too much to look forward to. A life ahead of me, one with a woman I would kill for—fucking die for. Nothing would keep us from living out my dream.

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