Entwined With You

what was happening for a long time. And when she did find out, she did everything—”
    “She didn’t
tell me
!” he shouted, making me jump. “She should’ve fucking told me. And how could she not know? There must’ve been signs … How could she not see them? Jesus.
I
saw them when you came to California.”
    I sobbed, unable to contain my anguish. “I begged her not to tell you. I made her promise.”
    “That wasn’t your decision to make, Eva. You were a child. She knew better.”
    “I’m sorry!” I cried. The insistent, relentless beeping of an incoming call pushed me over the edge. “I’m so sorry. I just didn’t want Nathan to hurt anyone else I loved.”
    “I’m coming to see you,” he said, with a sudden burst of calm. “I’m getting the next flight out. I’ll call you when I land.”
    “Dad—”
    “I love you, sweetheart. You’re everything.”
    He hung up. Shattered, I sat there in a daze. I knew the knowledge of what had been done to me would eat my father alive, but I didn’t know how to combat that darkness.
    My phone started vibrating in my hand and I just stared down at the screen, seeing my mother’s name and unable to think of what to do.
    Standing on unsteady feet, I dropped my cell on the low table as if it had burned me. I couldn’t talk to her then. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I just wanted Gideon.
    I stumbled down the hallway, my shoulder sliding along the wall. I heard Gideon’s voice as I neared his office and my tears came faster, my steps quickening.
    “I appreciate that you thought of me, but no,” he said in a low, firm voice that was different from the one I’d heard him using before. It was gentler, more intimate. “Of course we’re friends. You know why … I can’t give you what you want from me.”
    I rounded the corner into his office and saw him at his desk, his head down as he listened.
    “Stop,” he said icily. “This isn’t the tack you want to take with me, Corinne.”
    “Gideon,” I whispered, my hand gripping the doorjamb with white-knuckled force.
    He glanced up, then straightened abruptly, surging to his feet. The scowl on his face fled.
    “I have to go,” he said, pulling the earpiece from his ear and dropping it on the desk as he rounded it. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
    He caught me as I rushed into him, needing him. Relief flooded me as he pulled me close and held me tight.
    “My dad found out.” I pressed my face to his chest, my mind filled with echoes of my father’s pain. “He knows.”
    Gideon swung me up in his arms, cradling me. His phone started ringing. Cursing under his breath, he walked out of the room.
    In the hallway, I could hear my phone rattling on the coffee table. The irritating sound of two phones going off simultaneously ratcheted up my anxiety.
    “Let me know if you need to get that,” he said.
    “It’s my mom. I’m sure my dad’s called her already, and he’s so angry. God … Gideon. He’s devastated.”
    “I understand how he feels.”
    He carried me into the guest bedroom and kicked the door closed behind him. Laying me on the bed, he grabbed the remote off the nightstand and turned on the television, lowering the volume to a level that drowned out all other sound but my hiccupping sobs. Then he lay down beside me and hugged me, his hands rubbing up and down my back. I cried until my eyes felt raw and I had nothing left.
    “Tell me what to do,” he said when I quieted.
    “He’s coming here. To New York.” My stomach knotted at the thought. “He’s trying to fly out today, I think.”
    “When you find out, I’ll go with you to pick him up.”
    “You can’t.”
    “The hell I can’t,” he said without heat.
    I offered my mouth and sighed when he kissed me. “I should really go alone. He’s hurt. He won’t want anyone else to see him that way.”
    Gideon nodded. “Take my car.”
    “Which one?”
    “Your new neighbor’s DB9.”
    “Huh?”
    He shrugged. “You’ll know it when you see it.”
    I didn’t doubt that. Whatever it was, the car would be sleek, fast, and dangerous—just like its owner.
    “I’m scared,” I murmured, my legs tangling even tighter with his. He was so strong and solid. I wanted to hang on to him and never let go.
    His fingers sifted through my hair. “Of what?”
    “Things are already fucked up between my mom and me. If my parents have a falling-out, I don’t want to get stuck in the middle. I know they wouldn’t handle it