“How about one of those beers?” she

“How about one of those beers?” she shot back, flashing a winsome smile.

“Try again,” he said wryly.

I watched Ireland, noting how she sparkled when Gideon focused on her. I couldn’t believe he didn’t see how she loved him. Maybe right now it was based on superficial things, but it was there and it would grow with a little encouragement. I hoped he’d work on that.

When Gideon handed me the chilled beer, his fingers brushed mine. He held on for a minute, looking into my eyes. I knew he was thinking about the other night.

It seemed like a dream now, as if his visit never really happened. I could almost believe that I’d made it up in a desperate delusion, so hungry for his touch and his love that I couldn’t go another minute without giving my mind relief from the madness of wanting and craving. If it weren’t for the lingering soreness deep inside me, I wouldn’t know what was real and what was nothing but false hope.

I pulled the beer out of his grasp and turned away. I didn’t want to say we were done and over, but it was certain now that we needed a break from each other. Gideon needed to figure out what he was doing, what he was looking for, and whether I had any meaningful place in his life. Because this roller-coaster ride we were on was going to break me, and I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t.

“Can I help with anything?” he asked.

I answered without looking at him, because doing so was too painful. “Can you see if we can get Cary out here? He’s got a wheelchair.”

“All right.”

He left the room, and I could suddenly breathe deeply again.

Ireland hurried over. “What happened to Cary?”

“I’ll tell you about it while we set the table.”

* * *

 
I was surprised I could eat. I think I was too fascinated by the silent showdown between my dad and Gideon to notice that I was stuffing food into my mouth. At one end of the table, Cary was charming Ireland into peals of laughter that kept making me smile. At the other end, my dad sat at the head of the table, with Gideon on his left and me on his right.

They were talking. The conversation had opened with baseball, as I’d expected, then migrated into golf. On the surface, both men seemed relaxed, but the air around them was highly charged. I noticed that Gideon wasn’t wearing his expensive watch. He’d planned carefully to appear as “normal” as possible.

But nothing Gideon did on the outside could change who he was on the inside. It was impossible to hide what he was—a dominant male, a captain of industry, a man of privilege. It was in every gesture he made, every word he spoke, every look he gave.

So he and my father were in the position of struggling to find who would be the alpha, and I suspected I hung in the balance. As if anyone were in control of my life but me.

Still, I understood that my father had only really been allowed to be a dad in the last four years, and he wasn’t ready to give it up. Gideon, however, was jockeying for a position I was no longer prepared to give him.

But he was wearing the ring I’d given him. I tried not to read anything into it, but I wanted to hope. I wanted to believe.

We’d all finished the main course and I was pushing to my feet to clear the table for dessert when the intercom buzzed. I answered.

“Eva? NYPD detectives Graves and Michna are here,” the gal at the front desk said.

I glanced at Cary, wondering if the detectives had found out who’d attacked him. I gave the go-ahead for them to come up and hurried back to the dining table.

Cary looked at me with raised brows, curious.

“It’s the detectives,” I explained. “Maybe they have news.”

My dad’s focus immediately shifted. Honed. “I’ll let them in.”

Ireland helped me clear up. We’d just dumped the cups into the sink when the doorbell rang. I wiped my hands with a dish towel and went out to the living room.

The two detectives who entered weren’t the ones I expected, because they weren’t the ones who’d questioned Cary at the hospital on Monday.

Gideon appeared out of the hallway, shoving his phone into his pocket.

I wondered who’d been calling him all night.

“Eva Tramell,” the female detective said, stepping deeper into my apartment. She was a thin woman with a severe face and sharply intelligent blue eyes, which were her best feature. Her hair was brown and curly, her face clean of makeup. She wore slacks over dark flats, a poplin shirt, and a lightweight jacket that didn’t hide the badge and gun clipped to her belt. “I’m Detective Shelley Graves of the NYPD. This is my partner Detective Richard Michna. We’re sorry to disturb you on a Friday night.”

Michna was older, taller, and portly. His hair was graying at the temples and receding at the top, but he had a strong face and dark eyes that raked the room while Graves focused on me.

“Hello,” I greeted them.

My father shut the door, and something about the way he moved or carried himself caught Michna’s attention. “You on the job?”

“In California,” my dad confirmed. “I’m visiting Eva, my daughter. What’s this about?”

“We’d just like to ask you a few questions, Miss Tramell,” Graves said. She looked at Gideon. “And you, too, Mr. Cross.”

“Does this have something to do with the attack on Cary?” I asked.

She glanced at him. “Why don’t we sit down.”

We all moved into the living room, but only Ireland and I ended up taking a seat. Everyone else remained on their feet, with my dad pushing Cary’s wheelchair.

“Nice place you’ve got here,” Michna said.

“Thank you.” I looked at Cary, wondering what the hell was going on.

“How long are you in town?” the detective asked my dad.

“Just for the weekend.”

Graves smiled at me. “You go out to California a lot to see your dad?”

“I just moved from there a couple months ago.”

“I went to Disneyland once when I was a kid,” she said. “That was a while ago, obviously. I’ve been meaning to get back out there.”

I frowned, not understanding why we were making small talk.

“We just need to ask you a couple of questions,” Michna said, pulling a notepad out of the interior pocket of his jacket. “We don’t want to hold you up any longer than we have to.”

Graves nodded, her eyes still on me. “Can you tell us if you’re familiar with a man named Nathan Barker, Miss Tramell?”

The room spun. Cary cursed and pushed unsteadily to his feet, taking the few steps to reach the seat beside me. He caught up my hand.

“Miss Tramell?” Graves took a seat on the other end of the sectional.

“He’s her former stepbrother,” Cary snapped. “What’s this about?”

“When’s the last time you saw Barker?” Michna asked.

In a courtroom . . . I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry as sawdust. “Eight years ago,” I said hoarsely.

“Did you know he was here in New York?”

Oh God. I shook my head violently.

“Where’s this going?” my dad asked.

I looked helplessly at Cary, then at Gideon. My dad didn’t know about Nathan. I didn’t want him to know.

Cary squeezed my hand. Gideon wouldn’t even look at me.

“Mr. Cross,” Graves said. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you know Nathan Barker?”

My eyes pleaded with Gideon not to say anything in front of my dad, but he never once glanced my way.

“You wouldn’t be asking that question,” he answered, “if you didn’t already know the answer.”

My stomach dropped. A violent shiver moved through me. Still, Gideon wouldn’t look at me. My brain was trying to process what was happening . . . what it meant . . . what was going on . . .

“Is there a point to these questions?” my father asked.

The blood was roaring in my ears. My heart was pounding with something like terror. The mere thought of Nathan being so close was enough to send me into a panic. I was panting. The room was swimming before my eyes. I thought I might pass out.

Graves was watching me like a hawk. “Can you just tell us where you were yesterday, Miss Tramell?”

“Where I was?” I repeated. “Yesterday?”

“Don’t answer that,” my dad ordered. “This interview isn’t going any further until we know what this is about.”

Michna nodded, as if he’d expected the interruption. “Nathan was found dead this morning.

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

"Bagaimana satu bir itu?" Dia balas, berkedip senyum menawan."Coba lagi," katanya kilatan.Saya menyaksikan Irlandia, mencatat bagaimana dia berkilauan ketika Gideon terfokus pada dirinya. Aku tidak bisa percaya dia tidak melihat bagaimana dia mencintainya. Mungkin sekarang hal ini didasarkan pada hal-hal dangkal, tapi itu ada di sana dan ia akan tumbuh dengan sedikit dorongan. Saya berharap ia akan bekerja pada itu.Ketika Gideon menyodorkan bir dingin, jari-jarinya disikat tambang. Ia berlangsung selama satu menit, menatap mataku. Aku tahu dia berpikir tentang malam.Tampaknya seperti mimpi sekarang, seolah-olah kunjungannya pernah benar-benar terjadi. Saya hampir bisa percaya bahwa aku telah berhasil di khayalan putus asa, begitu lapar untuk sentuhan-nya dan kasih-Nya yang aku tidak bisa pergi satu menit tanpa memberikan bantuan pikiran saya dari kegilaan dari keinginan dan hasrat. Jika bukan karena berlama-lama rasa sakit dalam diriku, saya tidak tahu apa yang nyata dan apa adalah apa-apa tapi palsu berharap.Aku menarik bir dari genggamannya dan berbalik. Aku tidak ingin mengatakan kami selesai ke atas, tapi itu tertentu sekarang bahwa kami membutuhkan istirahat dari satu sama lain. Gideon diperlukan untuk mengetahui apa yang dia lakukan, apa yang ia sedang mencari, dan apakah aku punya tempat yang bermakna dalam hidupnya. Karena ini naik roller-coaster yang kami akan istirahat saya, dan saya tidak bisa membiarkan hal itu terjadi. Aku tidak akan."Saya dapat membantu dengan apa pun?" tanyanya.Saya menjawab tanpa memandang dia, karena melakukan Jadi terlalu menyakitkan. "Dapat Anda lihat jika kita bisa mendapatkan Cary di sini? Dia punya kursi roda.""Baiklah."Ia meninggalkan ruangan, dan aku tiba-tiba bisa bernapas dalam lagi.Irlandia cepat-cepat menyeberang. "Apa yang terjadi kepada Cary?""Aku akan memberitahu Anda tentang hal ini sementara kita mengatur meja."* * * Aku terkejut aku bisa makan. Saya pikir saya terlalu terpesona oleh diam pertarungan antara Gideon dan ayah saya memperhatikan bahwa saya adalah pada isian makanan ke dalam mulutku. Pada salah satu ujung Meja, Cary adalah menarik Irlandia berkali-kali tertawa yang terus membuat saya tersenyum. Di ujung lain, ayah saya duduk di kepala atas meja, dengan Gideon di sebelah kirinya dan saya di sebelah kanannya.Mereka berbicara. Percakapan telah dibuka dengan bisbol, seperti yang diharapkan, kemudian berpindah ke golf. Di permukaan, kedua pria tampak santai, tapi udara di sekitar mereka sangat didakwa. Saya melihat bahwa Gideon tidak mengenakan jam tangan mahal. Ia telah merencanakan dengan hati-hati untuk muncul sebagai "normal" mungkin.Tapi tidak ada Gideon lakukan di luar bisa mengubah siapa dia di dalam. Mustahil untuk menyembunyikan apa-laki-laki dominan, kapten industri, seorang yang istimewa. Itu dalam setiap gerakan yang dibuatnya, setiap kata yang dia berbicara, setiap tampilan yang diberikannya.Jadi ia dan ayah saya berada di posisi berjuang untuk menemukan siapa yang akan menjadi Alfa, dan aku menduga aku digantung dalam keseimbangan. Seolah-olah siapapun dalam hidupku tapi saya.Namun, saya mengerti bahwa ayah saya hanya benar-benar telah diizinkan untuk menjadi seorang ayah dalam empat tahun terakhir, dan ia tidak siap untuk menyerah. Gideon, namun, berebut untuk posisi saya tidak lagi bersedia memberikan kepadanya.Tapi ia mengenakan cincin telah memberinya. Aku mencoba untuk tidak membaca apa pun ke dalamnya, tetapi saya ingin berharap. Saya ingin percaya.Kami telah menyelesaikan kursus utama dan saya mendorong bagi kakiku untuk menghapus tabel untuk dessert saat interkom berdengung. Saya menjawab."Eva? Detektif NYPD kuburan dan Michna di sini,"kata gal di meja depan.Aku melirik Cary, bertanya-tanya jika detektif telah menemukan yang telah menyerangnya. Aku memberikan lampu hijau bagi mereka untuk datang dan bergegas kembali ke meja makan.Cary menatapku dengan mengangkat alis, penasaran."Itu adalah detektif," saya menjelaskan. "Mungkin mereka memiliki berita."Ayah saya fokus segera bergeser. Mengasah. "Aku akan membiarkan mereka."Irlandia membantu saya membersihkan. Kami hanya telah dibuang cangkir ke wastafel ketika bel pintu berdering. Aku menyeka tangan dengan handuk hidangan dan pergi ke ruang tamu.Detektif dua yang masuk tidak yang saya harapkan, karena mereka tidak orang-orang yang mempertanyakan Cary di rumah sakit pada hari Senin.Gideon muncul dari lorong, mendorong telepon ke dalam saku.Aku bertanya-tanya siapa yang telah memanggil dia sepanjang malam."Eva Tramell," detektif wanita berkata, melangkah lebih dalam ke apartemen saya. Dia adalah seorang wanita yang tipis dengan wajah yang parah dan mata biru tajam cerdas, yang fitur terbaik nya. Rambutnya keriting dan coklat, wajahnya bersih makeup. Dia memakai celana panjang atas gelap Flat, kemeja poplin, dan jaket ringan yang tidak menyembunyikan lencana dan pistol dijepitkan ikat pinggang. "Aku detektif kuburan Shelley NYPD. Ini adalah pasangan saya detektif Richard Michna. Kami minta maaf mengganggu Anda pada Jumat malam."Michna adalah anak, lebih tinggi, dan gemuk. Rambut beruban di candi dan surut di atas, tetapi ia memiliki wajah yang kuat dan mata gelap yang meraup kamar sementara kuburan difokuskan pada saya."Hello," Aku menyapa mereka.Ayah saya menutup pintu, dan sesuatu tentang cara ia dipindahkan atau membawa dirinya menarik perhatian di Michna. "Anda pada pekerjaan?""Di California," ayahku dikonfirmasi. "Saya mengunjungi Eva, putri saya. Apa ini tentang?""Kami hanya ingin menanyakan beberapa pertanyaan, Miss Tramell," kata kuburan. Dia memandang Gideon. "Dan Anda, juga, Mr Cross.""Apakah ini memiliki sesuatu untuk dilakukan dengan serangan Cary?" Saya bertanya.Dia melirik ke arahnya. "Mengapa tidak kita duduk."Kita semua pindah ke ruang, tetapi hanya Irlandia dan saya akhirnya mengambil tempat duduk. Orang lain tetap pada kaki mereka, dengan ayah saya mendorong Cary di kursi roda."Tempat bagus Anda punya di sini," kata Michna."Terima kasih." Aku memandang Cary, bertanya-tanya apa sih yang sedang terjadi."Berapa lama Apakah Anda di kota?" detektif meminta ayah saya."Hanya untuk akhir pekan."Kuburan tersenyum padaku. "Anda pergi ke California banyak untuk melihat ayah Anda?""Aku baru saja pindah dari sana beberapa bulan yang lalu.""Saya pergi ke Disneyland sekali ketika saya masih kecil," katanya. "Itu beberapa saat yang lalu, jelas. Aku sudah lama untuk mendapatkan kembali di luar sana."Aku mengerutkan kening tidak memahami mengapa kita membuat kecil bicara."Kita hanya perlu menanyakan beberapa pertanyaan," kata Michna, menarik notepad dari interior saku jaket. "Kami tidak ingin untuk menahan Anda lagi daripada kita harus."Kuburan mengangguk, matanya masih pada saya. "Bisakah Anda memberitahu kami jika Anda terbiasa dengan seorang pria bernama Nathan Barker, Miss Tramell?"Kamar berputar. Cary mengutuk dan mendorong tertatih-tatih kakinya, mengambil beberapa langkah untuk mencapai tempat duduk di samping saya. Dia terperangkap tanganku."Miss Tramell?" Kuburan mengambil tempat duduk di ujung sectional."Dia adalah ibu mantan nya," Cary tersentak. "Apa ini tentang?""Ketika yang terakhir kali Anda melihat Barker?" Michna bertanya.Di ruang sidang... Saya mencoba untuk menelan, tetapi mulutku kering seperti serbuk gergaji. "Delapan tahun yang lalu," kataku hoarsely."Apakah Anda tahu dia ada di sini di New York?"Oh Tuhan. Saya menganggukkan kepala keras."Mana Apakah ini?" ayah saya bertanya.Aku melihat tak berdaya Cary, kemudian di Gideon. Ayah saya tidak tahu tentang Nathan. Aku tidak ingin dia tahu.Cary squeezed my hand. Gideon wouldn’t even look at me.“Mr. Cross,” Graves said. “What about you?”“What about me?”“Do you know Nathan Barker?”My eyes pleaded with Gideon not to say anything in front of my dad, but he never once glanced my way.“You wouldn’t be asking that question,” he answered, “if you didn’t already know the answer.”My stomach dropped. A violent shiver moved through me. Still, Gideon wouldn’t look at me. My brain was trying to process what was happening . . . what it meant . . . what was going on . . .“Is there a point to these questions?” my father asked.The blood was roaring in my ears. My heart was pounding with something like terror. The mere thought of Nathan being so close was enough to send me into a panic. I was panting. The room was swimming before my eyes. I thought I might pass out.Graves was watching me like a hawk. “Can you just tell us where you were yesterday, Miss Tramell?”“Where I was?” I repeated. “Yesterday?”“Don’t answer that,” my dad ordered. “This interview isn’t going any further until we know what this is about.”Michna nodded, as if he’d expected the interruption. “Nathan was found dead this morning.