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Chapter 194
Chapter 194
Claire’s POV
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I could have said no. I should have said no. Instead, I’d walked right into Gideon’s room like I belonged there, and now that I was inside, as I moved toward the bed, I stopped and totally turned around, my cheeks blushing fiercely.
What was I doing?
Yet, at just that moment, Gideon closed the door and approached me casually. He was rubbing one eye with the meat of his palm, not looking like he was planning on trying to seduce me. Instead, he looked very tired and worn himself.
…That shouldn’t have made me feel a twinge of disappointment, but it did. I was done trying to understand my feelings. What a mess I was.
“Can’t sleep?” Gideon asked me as he came closer. He stopped a couple of feet away, taking position near a wall.
“I can’t,” I told him.
“Yeah, me either, but I’m glad you are here.” Lowering his hand he gave me a smile that made my heart pick up speed again. “I was hoping we could have a minute to talk.”
Again, disappointment struck me, and I condemned my foolish heart for wanting something it shouldn’t.
Just like Gideon wasn’t seducing me, I didn’t come here because I wanted to seduce him… right?
Gods, maybe I needed another dip in the ocean. Or a very cold shower.
“I have a beautiful balcony that overlooks the water,” Gideon said, gesturing toward a glass door that I had not come in through. “Sit out there with me. I’ll grab some wine.”
“Okay,” I said.
While he went to his mini–fridge, I walked to the door, opened it and stepped outside. As the cool air touched my face, I was relieved. The chill, though milder than any cold back home, was enough to shock my senses and return me to this present
moment.
I took one of the seats on the balcony. There were some torch lights down in the sand, but beyond that the world was mostly dark. Only the moon, reflecting on the waves, told of the ominous ocean’s present out there. Otherwise, it would just be a black void. I could hear it though, the crash of the waves, and the ripples of the water.
Gideon joined me soon, two small bottles of wine in his hands as well as two plastic cups.
“Sorry I don’t have anything fancier,” he said.
“It’s perfect,” I told him and accepted mine. After handing me mine, he sat down in the open chair next to the one I claimed. We both looked out into the darkness that hid the water.
The sounds soothed me, but in a melancholy kind of way. As I sipped at my wine, I wondered aloud. “Do you think we’ll ever really find out what happened to my mother?” Before he could answer, I sighed, “Maybe no one will ever be held accountable for what happened to her.”
“I don’t know,” Gideon replied. “But I won’t give up. I’ll do everything within my power to find answers for you, Claire. If nothing else, we will find the truth if only to keep you and the kids safe. Even if we can’t prove it to anyone else, we will know and we will protect our family to keep it from happening again.”
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Chapter 194
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He didn’t have to say more than that for me to realize that we were in agreement on one key thing. Whoever did this might still be out there. I had been hidden for a reason, most likely, and now that I was out again, whoever did this might come back to hurt me.
I lowered my head. “Maybe all of this was a mistake. Perhaps I should have just accepted life as an orphan and been done with it. Discovering my lineage has only made things more difficult for everyone.”
“You don’t really believe that,” Gideon said. “Yeah, we are facing some trials, but all of it is worth it to know where you came from, isn’t it? You went from being an orphan to having a mother and an uncle. Even if they are passed on…”
Maybe he was right, but it was difficult for me to come to terms with right now. Everything was too fresh, and I didn’t like the dangers we now faced, because of me. Because of my prying.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Gideon said. “It’s not wrong to want to know your history.”
Despite the cool air, I felt myself warm at Gideon’s words. Warm toward him.
Maybe it was the wine.
I placed the bottle down. I needed to leave before I allowed any more romantic feelings to flourish inside of me.
“Goodnight, Gideon,” I said, standing.
He watched me as I moved to the door that lead insidé. He didn’t move, just following me with his eyes.
When I was nearly through it, he said, softer, “Goodnight, Claire.”
Gideon’s POV
The next morning, Claire and I had our meeting with Daniel’s lawyer. Or, at least, the lawyer who handled Daniel’s will and his death. We thought, perhaps, if there was anything left behind, it might have been in his will.
Yet as we went to the lawyer’s office and sat down to speak to him, he was less than kind.
“Daniel was a drunk,” he said. “The only thing he had in this world was a debt at the hotel and huge bar tab. If you are here to collect his assets, you will be severely disappointed.”
“We aren’t here for that,” I said. “And I don’t like the way you are speaking about him.”
“I’m just telling you how it is,” he said snidely.
“I’d ask you to watch your tone,” I said. I kept my voice calm but my warning was clear. No one would be rude to Claire when I could help it.
The lawyer paled a little, but continued. “The fact remains. There is nothing here that can help you with whatever you are hoping to find. So you are better off just going back home.”
I almost spoke back, ready to condemn him once more, when my gaze was dragged over to a picture frame on a nearby bookcase.
In the picture, the lawyer was standing there with the Alpha King and… Darius.
My string of thoughts immediately shifted. “How long have you lived here?” I asked him.
He seemed confused by my change of tactics but answered. “It’s been a few years now,” he said. The specific date he gave was near the end of Daniel’s life.
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Had he only come here for that purpose? To hide away whatever Daniel might have left behind for the sake of Darius?
Or was I grasping at straws?
Either way, I knew we would hear nothing of value here. I stood up.
“I think we should be leaving.”
The lawyer didn’t stop us. He didn’t even stand. He just waved us on.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” he said, but didn’t sound like he meant it. “Though allow me to tell you one thing, and I hope you will take this to heart. Give up on this search. Go home. Mind your own business, and get on with your lives.”
“Is that a warning?” I asked him.
“A free piece of lawyerly council,” he replied.
He could say what he wanted, but I knew a threat when I heard one.
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