Looks like there are two groups now, one who wants Christian back ASAP and the other who wants Ana to enjoy her life without him for as long as possible... but don't worry, the plan I have for this story is actually going to please both groups ;-)
Another thing, for those of you who have not read Sylvia Day's Crossfire Series this chapter is going to contain some major spoilers when it comes to Gideon's past, so if you want to read the books just skip the last part of this chapter...
Oh and one last thing, some of you were worried that Gideon would die in this story because I wrote about his last will... don't worry there is no way I am going to kill Gideon that's a hard limit for me ...
3 months later
Ana
I wake up in the middle of the night from the ringing of my phone. Man, it's only three thirty, who in his right mind calls at this hour? I take the phone and see Ireland's name as caller ID. If she is out partying and needs me to drive her home I will let her have it, I think to myself angrily.
"Ireland, it's the middle of the night" I yawn.
"Ana... I ... can you pick me up." she sobs and her voice sounds so scared that I am wide awake in an instant.
"What happened Ireland? Where are you?"
"Christopher and his friends... I ran"
"Shit, Ireland you need to tell me where you are" while I am talking to her I get up and quickly put some shoes and a cardigan on before rushing into the garage while I am still trying to figure out where she is.
"Ireland listen to me, I can't pick you up if you don't tell me where you are. You have to help me out here, honey."
"The park... near my home. Ana I'm scared and it's so cold."
"I know Ireland. I promise I'll be there as fast as I can, is there anything near like a diner or a shop that has open?"
"No, Ana I'm afraid they'll find me"
"Okay, Ireland I need you to take a deep breath and calm down, can you do that for me, honey?"
I manage to find the park she was talking about on my GPS and put my phone in the hands free and drive ignoring each and every speed limit in town.
"Ireland do you see anything that you could use as a weapon, I don't know a thick branch or a stone?"
"Yes, why?"
"Take it, if those assholes find you I want you to use it."
"But they are a group of seven."
God damn it, this can't be happening. I have met my cousin Christopher only once and he freaked me out. There is something about him that makes my skin crawl.
"Just take what ever you can find and hide, I'm only about 15 minutes away. Did they follow you?"
"I don't know, I climbed out of window. I didn't know my parents would go away tonight."
"Are you hurt Ireland? Have they hurt you?"
"No, but they would have. They were drunk and tried to kick the door to my room in."
"Where was they staff? You've told me you have a housekeeper and a driver who lives at your place."
"Christopher gave them the night off."
God damn it, he is such as asshole, who does that? Terrify his little sister to the point that she is so scared out of her mind that she flees from her house in the middle of the night? Oh, Gideon is going to kill him. Ireland and he have really bonded over the last couple of months. He might be known for being a shrewd and sometimes ruthless businessman, but he would do absolutely everything for the people he loves.
When I finally arrive at the north entrance of the park I grab the flashlight from the glove department and go in. Damn it's pitch black and freezing.
"Ireland where exactly are you?"
"By the pond there is a huge old willow."
"I see it, you can come out now."
I hurry to the willow and gasp when I see her, she is shaking like a leaf and is only dressed in an oversized sleep shirt and it's freezing cold.
I pull her in my arms and feel immediately how cold she is. "Okay, come on, we better get you in the car, I have a hoodie and some sweatpants in my sports bag." She nods and just when we start to walk towards my car we hear different male voices yell her name.
"Shit, come on faster" we are now running towards the car when I hear Christopher yelling.
"Come out you stupid little piece of shit. I swear I kill you when I find you." thankfully we are at my car when I see a dark figure about 10 feet away coming closer to us in a rapid speed. I floor the gas pedal and we take off.
"You okay, Ireland?" I ask and she nods while fresh tears are rolling down her cheeks.
"He is not going to hurt you, Ireland, I promise. I won't let that happen and neither is Gideon."
Once we are at my apartment I draw a bath for her and when she is in the tub I make my way to the kitchen to make tea for her.
By now it's already almost 5 in the morning so I call Gideon.
"Ana, is everything alright, why are you up this early?" he asks and I am surprised that he is up at this hour.
"Can you come to my apartment please, it's an emergency."
"What happened?"
"Please, just come down here."
"Sure, two minutes" he hangs up and exactly two minutes later I let him into my apartment.
"What is wrong?"
"It's Ireland, she called me about three-thirty and asked me to pick her up."
"Wait, was she out with friends and got wasted?"
"No, she was at home and had no idea her parents wouldn't be there. Christopher had his friends over and they scared her so much that she ran. When I found her she was in a park only dressed in a sleep shirt."
"What the fuck, where is she?"
"In the tub, she was freezing cold, so I thought a warm bath and some tea would be best... Gideon she can't go back. Christopher has serious issues and her parents don't seem to give a flying fuck about her."
"Jesus Christ, I always knew that he is a twisted bastard, but I never thought he would do anything to her. Is she injured or anything?"
"No, just cold, but honestly it was like a horror movie. He and his friends were at the park looking for her and yelled her name, but they weren't worried, it was like they were out hunting and she was the prey. And Christopher he yelled that he was going to kill her once he'd find her."
"You are right, she can't go back... I guess she can stay with me for a while, but hell, she can't live alone she is not mature enough she'd live on ice cream and diet coke if she could get away with it." he mutters and starts to pace the kitchen.
"I was thinking about having her move in with me. I have three bed rooms and I am used to having a roommate. I lived with Kate through all of college and she has applied to enroll at NYU in spring, so it would be close."
"You wouldn't mind?"
"No, she is great and... you know she might be almost 18, but she really is still a child. She needs someone to take care of her until she has matured enough to live on her own. I would also like to take her with me to my Krav Maga classes, I don't want her to feel helpless every time she has to see Christopher."
He nods seemingly deep in thoughts, I finish making the tea for Ireland and bring it to her before I get some clothes for her from my closet. After twenty minutes she comes out of the bathroom and we sit down with her in the living room.
"Ireland, what happened tonight?" Gideon asks and she lowers her head and stares at her hand.
"At first I thought it was like the other times when I didn't know that mom and dad wouldn't be home. So, I locked the door to my room and sat on my bed with a baseball bat."
"What? What do you mean you sat on your bed with a baseball bat?" Gideon asks.
"Well, when ever mom and dad are not home Christopher has his friends over. They drink and I am sure they also pop pills, and once they are wasted they start hammering at my door like every ten minutes or they have fun standing outside my bedroom door speaking loud enough for me to hear all the things they are going to do to me once they get inside. I usually listen to them over the air vent in my room. If it's open I can hear everything that is spoken in the living room and today... " she shakes her head and starts to cry again.
I scoot closer to her and start to rub her back. "What happened Ireland? Please, you have to tell us."
"I heard them talk and one of them said scaring me got boring and that he wanted to try something new and then Christopher... he said who ever manages to kick my door in can have me first and then they could all take turns. I thought he was kidding, but then they started to throw themselves against the door and I was so scared. They yelled all kind of gross stuff and when I realized that the door wouldn't keep them out much longer I grabbed my phone and climbed out of the window."
While I am holding a sobbing Ireland in my arms Gideon is pacing the living room like a caged lion and suddenly he storms toward the door. Oh fuck, that's bad.
I get up and follow him, stopping him last minute from leaving. "Ana, get out of my way!" he snaps at me and he actually scared me a little, he is absolutely livid.
"No, absolutely not. Do you think I don't know what you are about to do? You are not going to confront Christopher."
"Hell if I am not! He crossed so many lines tonight he..."
"Look at your sister" I grab him by the shoulders and make him turn around so he has to look at Ireland who is curled up on the sofa crying.
"I get that you want to confront your brother, but not now. You are far too angry and the last thing Ireland needs is that you get yourself arrested for killing Christopher. She needs you, Gideon."
"He deserves it, Ana. Lying about what he... but I am not letting him get away with this." he fumes and I have no idea what he was about to say, but this gives me a really bad feeling.
"Gideon, I'm not asking you to let him get away with it. All I am asking you is to wait until you have calmed down a little. Let's give Ireland a couple of hours to sleep, then we take her to the nearest police station and they can deal with Christopher."
"Ana, you don't get it. Christopher is a sociopath, lying is in his DNA, he does it perfectly. He will tell the police that Ireland is lying and they are going to believe him." he insists.
"No, they are not, I was there in the park, I've heard what he yelled. Besides, Ireland wouldn't lie, so why would they not believe her?"
"Sometimes telling the truth is just not enough." he says bitter and again I have the feeling that there is a lot more behind his words.
"Please, just don't confront him now." I beg again and finally he nods and walks over to Ireland. He pulls her in his arms and talks quietly to her. I decide to give them some privacy and make myself a coffee. I guess that's the New York effect, I never liked coffee, but in the last couple of months I started to enjoy a cup or two each day.
So, I have my coffee and let them talk until Gideon comes over to where I am sitting at the breakfast bar.
"Ireland is about to fall asleep on the sofa. Can she stay?"
"Sure, she can have the guest room next to my bedroom." he nods and returns to sofa, but Ireland is already asleep so he picks her up and carries her to the guest room.
"Ana, I will be back in the afternoon to check on her. Call me if you need something or Ireland wakes up earlier."
I nod and watch Gideon walk towards the door. "Gideon wait."
"Relax Ana, I am not going to confront Christopher, I want to, but you are right, I can't afford to get myself arrested."
"No, it's ... what happened to you?" I blurt it out before I can change my mind. In the last three months he fell asleep two times here and both times he had one of those terrible nightmares. I wanted to ask him so many times, but I chickened out every time.
I look at Gideon and from the look on his face I can tell that he knows exactly what I am talking about. For a moment I think that he will just turn around and leave, but then he goes to the freezer, gets a bottle of vodka out and pours some of it into a glass. He sits down staring at the glass and says nothing... for the longest time he just stares at the glass of vodka, but I wait. I know that what ever he is about to tell me, it is not an easy topic for him.
"After our father died my life changed dramatically. I got bullied in school, people would only refer to me as the son of Geoffrey Cross, the swindler who took the easy way out. My mother didn't really care about me and then she married again and had Christopher. From day one he was her golden boy while I was just a bitter reminder of my father. I turned into a really angry kid, I was out of control and about the time when my mother got pregnant with Ireland she had enough."
He takes a large gulp and continues. "Christopher started to copy my behavior and she wasn't having it. So she had a shrink come over to our house. He would bring a doctor in training with him. A guy in his early thirties. Soon the shrink spend more time with my mother than me and I was left alone with the doctor in training. He told me that it was puberty and I wouldn't be so out of control all the time if I would start to masturbate regularly and that he would show me how."
He stops for a moment and I am sure I have a look of absolute horror on my face. A doctor and Gideon couldn't have been older than ten years when it happened.
"At first I let him... I wanted to fit in ... be normal and then it got worse... touching was no longer enough for him. I told him no ... I tried to fight him... it didn't help. One time when he... did that to me, Christopher came into my room. I begged him to help me, to get our mom... but he just watched fascinated. At one point I couldn't take anymore and told my mother what happened. I don't think she believed me, but she took me to a Doctor. He told her there were no signs of any kind of abuse on me. And with that I was not only labeled as troublemaker but also as attention seeker and liar. I was so desperate I told her Christopher saw it happen and he lied, he told her nothing happened and she believed him. I wasn't allowed to bring it up ever again. It was years later that I figured out that Dr. Lucas, the doctor that examined me was the brother in law of the bastard who did this to me. He covered for him."
For the first time since he sat down he looks up at me and his is expression is one of shame mixed with fear. Fear that I won't believe him either.
"Have you pressed charges against that monster later, after you moved out?" I ask and for a moment he just stares at me and then one single tear slides down his face.
"You... believe me?" there is so much disbelieve in his voice that it makes me start to cry.
"Of course I believe you. Oh my god, who in his right mind would make a story like that up? And your mother how could she not believe you? It was her job as a mother to believe you!" Just thinking about it makes me so angry and I want to get into my car and pay her a visit to let her know what a complete failure she is as mother and not just to Gideon but to all of her children.
"I thought it was my fault. I allowed him to..."
"No, Gideon, do you hear me, what happened to you, none of it is your fault. You were a child and you believed that this monster wanted to help you, but that is not your fault. It's his fault, he knew what he had to say in order to get what he wanted."
"I never thought someone would believe me." he says sounding defeated and I take his hand in mine.
"I believe you. I know how you feel about lying and every person who knows you just a tiny bit would believe you. Have you pressed charges against him?"
"No, by the time I wanted to it was too late. I found him anyway and told him that I would use all my fortune to find other victims of him so he would end up behind bars. He... took his own life after that... he had a son about 3 or 4 years old. It's my fault that he has to live without a father." he murmurs.
"Gideon, most likely this little boy would have ended up like you, as harsh as this may sound, but his father taking his own was probably the best thing for the boy."
"Maybe... I don't like to talk about this" he says and empties the glass of vodka. I want to ask him if he has ever thought about therapy, but stop myself. Getting into therapy was what started all of what happened to him...
"I should go now, I have calls to make and e-mails to check." he says and gets up.
"Wait, are you going to be okay, I mean alone at your penthouse? I could make breakfast."
"Ana, I'm living with this part of my past for nearly 18 years now, I'm going to be fine. Don't worry about me, I'm not our father, I won't take the easy way out. So, please don't worry. I'll be back in the afternoon."
"Okay, just if you want to talk again, I am here."
He gives me a smile and leaves. I stare at the door for a while and although it is only seven in the morning I pour myself a glass of wine and sit down. What is wrong with Elizabeth Vidal that she wouldn't believe her own son telling her something like that. Even if a doctor told her there was no evidence, she should have believed him. I am not a mother, but I know if I had child and he or she would tell me something like that had happened I would believe my child no matter what everyone else was telling me.
And as I sit there in my kitchen while having a second glass of wine I think about my brother and what he went through wondering how many children have to go through something like this with no one they trust enough to tell what is happening to them or worse like Gideon finding the courage to speak up and no one believes them... and in this moment I make a decision that is going to change the rest of my life...
