Page 8 of Be My Vengeance

Alex glared at him. “I said I’m fine. I’m dealing the best way I can.”

“No, you’re not,” Gideon rebutted. “That’s why I want you to talk to someone.”

Alex’s brows shot to his hairline. “A shrink?”

“A grief counselor, more precisely.” Gideon slid a card across the desk. “I’ve known her for a long time. She helped me after Ella died, and she’s been helping the kids, too. She’s good.”

Alex took the card, read it, and slipped it into his pocket. “Yeah, okay.”

The corner of Gideon’s mouth curled. “You have one week to make an appointment for yourself. If you don’t, I’ll make it for you, drive you there, and you’ll no longer be dealing with Danny as your shadow because you’ll have me.”

Damn. Gideon was serious about this.

Alex was silent for a beat. “I’ll call in a few days; I’m sure her office is closed for the holidays.”

Gideon nodded. “Sounds good.”

A knock on the door ended the conversation, and Toni opened it to find Matteo there. He stepped in wearing fashionably torn jeans and a shirt that read “Don’t study me, you’ll fail.”

“Hey.” Gideon smiled.

Matteo glanced at Alex, then looked away. I had overheard Rita telling Gideon that Matteo was struggling with guilt about Mila’s death, He felt he should have helped her fight or something. He believed she’d still be alive. That was a lot for an eleven-year-old to be carrying. Seeing Alex was probably hard for him.

“Hi, um, Mom asked me to get you guys because dinner is done.”

Gideon stood and walked to him, immediately wrapping an arm around him and kissing the top of his head. “Tell her we will be right there.”

After Matteo left, Gideon faced us, his eyes on Alex. “Let’s enjoy the rest of the day; we will talk more tomorrow.”

The expression on Alex’s face was one that said he wanted to get started on tracking Ivanov now, but he clearly knew he had to prove to Gideon he was ready to listen. So he stood and left the room.

CHAPTER FOUR

Danny

“How did we get stuck sitting in a van outside some crack house?” Alex huffed from the passenger seat.

Gideon had ordered the two of us to stake out some abandoned house—that may or may not have been a crack house—where Sasha and Ruslan Smirnov were supposedly doing business. What business, we weren’t sure. But the brothers had been seen in a few photos with Ivanov, so it was possible they had information we needed. Our orders were to grab them and bring them to the crate. It was risky because it might draw attention to Ivanov, but once Gideon had seen the location of this house, he’d said he could easily make it look like a shootout took place, possibly from a rival in the area. Right now, we were just supposed to grab them.

“Not all jobs are glamourous.”

Alex sighed, opened a water bottle, and guzzled half of it.

“If you end up having to piss and we miss getting these guys, I’ll put sardines in your shoes.”

He chuckled, and I realized it had been a long time since I’d heard him show even a tiny bit of happiness.

“That’s oddly specific.”

I shrugged. “Penn told me when he was little and stayed at Sunshine House one of the kids did it to him. Said it reeked for days, and he had to get new shoes.”

“Kids are mean.”

I nodded. “True.”

We were quiet for a bit, watching the house. Squatters were going in and out, and I wondered if Ivanov was thinking of bringing drugs in. It wouldn’t end well for him if he did. Well, it wasn’t going to end well for him regardless but Gideon had no tolerance for that, and even though we were a few towns over from Northchester, Gideon had control of everything in this state. Something Benito Calvern had figured out the hard way.

“I made that appointment with the grief counselor.” Alex broke the silence.