13
Mercy
My conversationwith Anthea left my nerves jumping all over the place. Back in the house, I did my best to shake off the uneasy sensation crawling over my skin after her last words. She wouldn’t come at methathard while Wylder was still on board with having me around, right?
One thing was clear: if I was going to get to the bottom of this murder before she decided it was more important to get me out of the way, I couldn’t do it alone. And I knew exactly the man who’d have the most answers at his fingertips.
It took me a while to figure out where Gideon’s office was, even asking a couple of staff where he worked. The mansion was huge, and there were just so many fucking rooms here with ornate handles and oak doors. It was hard to pick one from the next.
I’d just tried another that led into a broom closet of all things when Kaige appeared at the other end of the hall. He held a steaming mug of coffee.
“Hey,” he said. “I was looking for you. Thought you might need this after all the craziness this morning.”
The craziness that had included our scorching kiss. My stomach did a little flip that had nothing to do with nerves. At least, not the nerves Anthea had provoked.
“Uh, thanks,” I said, accepting the cup from him.
“You’re very welcome.” He flashed me a smile. Was he always this charming or was he simply trying to get into my pants?
If that kiss was anything to go by, maybe I shouldn’t be stopping him.
“What are you thinking?” he asked with a sly grin as if he knew exactly what was going through my head.
I shoved away those completely unnecessary thoughts. “Uh, I was actually looking for Gideon.”
Kaige frowned. “Why are you looking for him?”
“He seems to make a business of knowing everything about everyone else’s business. I figured he might be able to fill me in on a few more details to prove your innocence.”
“Well, I can’t complain about that.” Kaige beckoned me with a finger. “Allow me.”
I followed him down the hallway to yet another door I couldn’t have differentiated easily from any of the others.
It opened before he could knock on it. Wylder stood on the other side. When he saw Kaige and me together, an odd expression crossed his face. I remembered how he had looked when he’d caught us kissing this morning. Displeasure flitted across his face. “What are you doing here?”
Without answering, I walked past him into the room.
The office wasn’t all that big, considering some of the massive rooms in this place. There was a desk with an elaborate set-up involving several monitors and two keyboards, plus a monster of a computer underneath. At the other end of the room, a huge aquarium covered the entire back wall.
“Jesus,” I muttered under my breath. Colorful fishes swam around in the water, several of them as large as my hand, the rest just tiny slivers of bright reds, blues, and yellows. I wasn’t a fish enthusiast, so I couldn’t have identified any of them for sure… but the bigger ones with a metallic sheen to their scales and jutting lower jaws had a vicious look to them. Were those actualpiranhas?
Why not? What else would a fucking gangster keep in his fish tank?
Gideon was sitting in a wheeled chair in front of his computer setup, Rowan leaning against the edge of the desk a couple of feet beyond him. My ex glanced away when I met his eyes. The guy I’d come to talk to hadn’t bothered to look up in the first place.
I ventured farther in, tapping the surface of a small table beneath the narrow window between the desk and the aquarium, the only other furnishing in the place. A chessboard, several pieces still scattered across it, lay on the table. “Didn’t finish your game?”
Kaige had stepped in behind me. He chuckled. “Wylder and Gideon always have a game going on.”
Gideon still didn’t look up, but he did acknowledge that point with his voice. “Wylder says it keeps his mind sharp.”
“So far it hasn’t gotten sharp enough for him to win a single game, as far as I know.” Kaige grinned at his boss, who knuckled him half-heartedly.
“I’m pretty sure I could beatyou,” Wylder said.
Kaige held up his hands. “Which is exactly why I know better than to play.”
It was kind of warming in a weird sort of way, watching them banter. I didn’t think my father had ever been that comfortable even with his brothers. He’d seen everyone around him, even family, as a potential threat.