Reflected in You: A Crossfire Novel

coffee table. I hope you don’t mind.”
    I shook my head. “Help yourself.”
    “I surfed the Internet while I was on there. Wanted to see what popped up about Cross.”
    My heart sank a little. “You don’t like him.”
    “I’m withholding judgment.” My dad’s voice faded as he moved into the living room, then strengthened again as he returned with my tablet in hand.
    As I ground the beans, he flipped open the tablet’s protective case and started tapping at the screen.
    “I had a hard time getting a bead on him last night. I just wanted a little more information. I found some pictures of the two of you together that looked promising.” He gaze was on the screen. “Then I found something else.”
    He turned the tablet around to face me. “Can you explain this to me? Is this another sister of his?”
    Leaving the ground coffee to sit, I moved closer, my eyes on the article my dad had found on Page Six. The picture was of Gideon and Corinne at some sort of cocktail party. He had his arm around her waist, and their body language was familiar and intimate. He was very close to her, his lips nearly touching her temple. She had a drink in her hand and was laughing.
    I picked up the tablet and read the caption: Gideon Cross, CEO of Cross Industries, and Corinne Giroux at the Kingsman Vodka publicity mixer.
    My fingers shook as I scrolled to the top of the page and read the brief article, searching for more information. I went numb when I saw the mixer had been Thursday, from six to nine, at one of Gideon’s properties—one I knew all too well. He’d fucked me there, just as he’d fucked dozens of women there.
    Gideon had stood me up for our appointment with Dr. Petersen to take Corinne to his fuck-pad hotel.
    That was what he’d wanted to tell the detectives that he didn’t want me to hear: His alibi was an evening—maybe the whole night—spent with another woman.
    Setting the tablet down with more care than necessary, I released the breath I’d been holding. “That’s not his sister.”
    “I didn’t think so.”
    I looked at him. “Could you do me a favor and finish making the coffee? I have a call to make.”
    “Sure. Then I’m going to grab a shower.” He reached over and set his hand on top of mine. “Let’s go out and erase this whole morning. Sound good?”
    “Sounds perfect.”
    I grabbed the phone off its base and went back to my bedroom. I hit the speed dial for Gideon’s cell and waited for him to pick up. Three rings later, he did.
    “Cross,” he said, although his screen would’ve told him it was me. “I really can’t talk right now.”
    “Then just listen. I’ll time myself. One minute. One goddamn minute of your time. Can you give me that?”
    “I really—”
    “Did Nathan come to you with photos of me?”
    “This isn’t—”
    “Did he?” I snapped.
    “Yes,” he bit out.
    “Did you look at them?”
    There was a long pause, then, “Yes.”
    I exhaled. “Okay. I think you’re a total asshole for letting me go to Dr. Petersen’s office when you knew you weren’t coming because you were going out with another woman instead. That’s just serious douchebag territory, Gideon. And worse, it was a Kingsman event, too, which should’ve had some sentimental value to you, considering that’s how—”
    There was the abrupt scraping noise of a chair being shoved back. I rushed on, desperate to say what needed to be said before he hung up.
    “I think you’re a coward for not coming right out and saying we’re over, especially before you started fucking around with someone else.”
    “Eva. Goddamn it.”
    “But I want you to know that even though the way you’ve handled this is fucking wrong and you’ve broken my heart into millions of tiny pieces and I’ve lost all respect for you, I don’t blame you for how you feel after seeing those pictures of me. I get it.”
    “Stop.” His voice was little more than a whisper, making me wonder if Corinne was with him even now.
    “I don’t want you to blame yourself, okay? After what you and I have been through—not that I know what you’ve been through because you never told me—but anyway . . .” I sighed and winced at how shaky it came out. Worse, when I opened my mouth again, my words were watery with tears. “Don’t blame yourself. I don’t. I just want you to know that.”
    “Christ,” he breathed. “Please stop, Eva.”
    “I’m done. I hope you find—” My hand clenched in my lap.