Page 42 of Be My Vengeance

I made it to Gideon’s with ten minutes to spare. Danny’s car was already in the driveway, which didn’t surprise me. He was always ridiculously early for everything.

I hated that he wouldn’t look at me yesterday. I just wanted him to meet my eyes once, so he could see I wasn’t angry with him. But he was all business and only focused on what Gideon, and eventually Penn (when he showed up), had to say. He didn’t ignore me; he acknowledged every time I spoke, but he never made eye contact with me, and I hated it.

I got out of the car and went into the house using my security code. I heard low voices and headed that way. The twins were both in school at this hour; otherwise Gideon would never be meeting in the living room to discuss work.

“There you are.” Penn sat beside Gideon on the couch. Danny was in a chair, his back to me.

“I’m early. Don’t say it like I’m late.”

“Now that we’re all here, I want to say a few words before we go to the safe house.” Gideon stood. I didn’t see the point in sitting since we were leaving soon, so I relaxed my stance to listen.

Gideon’s attention was on me as he spoke. “I can’t have anyone waling on Maksim while we’re there. As much as it pains me to say this, we need him right now.”

“I feel like you’re directing that order toward me,” I responded with a hint of sarcasm.

“I am…mostly. But I want us all to follow that rule. I’m sure Maksim will push buttons to get a reaction. I need you all to behave.”

Penn chuckled. “This must be what the twins feel like each time you talk to them before we go out in public.”

“Keep talking, and you’ll regret it later.” Gideon pointed to Penn.

“I think I speak for Danny and myself when I say we don’t want to hear about your sexcapades.”

I considered it a win when Danny snort-laughed at my comment.

“And we’re done.” Gideon practically stormed out of the room.

I drove while Danny sat in the passenger’s seat, Gideon and Penn in the back. The music was low, and Gideon or Penn filled the silence with mundane conversation. Danny and I contributed, but neither of us spoke to the other directly. Maybe I needed to be the one to say something to him. I wasn’t going to do it here with Gideon and Penn so close—maybe tonight. I’d invite him over for a drink, and he and I could hash this out.

We arrived at the safe house and after making sure there were no bears in the vicinity, we exited the vehicle. Toni opened the door for us as we approached.

“How you feeling?” he asked me as I stepped inside.

“Okay. Twinge of a headache still, but no big deal.”

He slapped me on the shoulder. “Maybe stop running into houses where there’s danger all alone. That’s what this guy is for.” He indicated toward Penn.

“Ha. Funny guy.” Penn rolled his eyes and playfully pushed Toni out of the way.

“Where’s Maksim?” Gideon returned from the bedroom Maksim had been staying in.

“Eating in the kitchen.”

At the table, Maksim was eating a sandwich. I noted his leg had a chain around it that led to the radiator a few feet away.

He sneered at me but smiled at Danny. “Hey there, handsome.”

“Are you behaving?” Danny responded.

Maksim made a one shoulder shrug. “Meh. Toni’s not as fun as you are, sexy.”

“Okay, we can cut it out with the cutesy names,” I interrupted.

“Oh, my apologies. Are you jealous? Would you like one too?” Maksim winked at me.

“Enough.” Gideon strode in and sat at the table. “Maksim is meeting with Oleg on Friday. We need to be ready, so we’re going over everything.”

“Like I said already, if Oleg doesn’t see me, he will either never get out of his car or walk away before he’s close enough. To stave off suspicion, I think it’s best we have the meeting at Hansen’s distribution center. It’s a location Oleg knows well, and he feels like it’s his territory, so he likely won’t scope it out too much.” Maksim had thought this out.