Chapter 23
Gideon
“Itold you she had nothing to do with this!” I pace back and forth in Bowlers office as Ryan watches on from behind me. “Name one fucking piece of evidence you have against her besides the fact that she’s related to that scumbag!” I am so angry. The way they treated Snow like she was a criminal made me infuriated. The way I treated her was awful, and I have no doubt she’ll ever want to speak to me again.
Bowler sits at his desk with his hands in a steeple, staring at me as I go off in front of him.
“I told you time and time again, there was no need to have her on your goddamn suspect list, but this whole time you insisted. Now look, you have an innocent scared woman sitting in a cold cell who has no fucking clue about what’s going on!” I’m practically growling as I speak. My chest is heaving with frustration.
“Are you done, Gideon?” Bowler asks calmly.
“No I’m not done; I won’t be done until you have her out of this goddamn place.” Ryan shoots me a warning glare from the side, no doubt worried I’m going to set off the big cheese.
“As soon as my guys take her in for questioning, and she passes she’ll be free to go.” He speaks calmly, when I’m anything but.
“Don’t you have enough evidence already? Her mother and that bastard both said she had no idea what was going on!”
“Is there a reason why you’re sticking your neck out for this woman more than you normally would?” he questions. I know he already knows. Ryan has one hell of a big mouth. There’s no way he hasn’t said anything about my relationship with the woman in question.
“I just think that someone who’s so blatantly innocent shouldn’t be kept overnight for the fun of it.”
“It’s not for fun, Gideon. Its protocol.” He scolds as he stands from his chair. “I told you not to get involved with anyone, warned you about what would happen, and yet you went and done it anyway!” he yells in my face as he towers over me. “I never told you to go out and fuck the suspect, I told you to watch her. It took what?” he looks over to Ryan, “One day to fuck everything up?” he chastises me. “You’re one lucky son of a bitch I don’t dock your pay and send you home on leave! Now get the hell out of my office. Your girlfriend will be out in the morning!” he points an angry finger at the door. He doesn’t have to tell me twice.
I head to the place I know they’re keeping Adeline… the holding cell. When I peek through the small window I can see Snow’s small form huddled on the small metal bench. She looks lost, lonely, and incredibly sad. My heart hurts seeing her in there. She’ll never know how hard I tried to keep her out of this place.
I spent months watching her and her friends, and it took only a short amount of time to fall in love with her. She looks as broken now as she did when I first found her. She was broken, but I’ve slowly watched her crawl her way out of that dark place only to be thrown back there once again.
Against better judgment I take my keys out and make my way into the tiny cell. I can hear her quiet sniffles as soon as step foot inside.
“Snow?” I whisper. Her head snaps up, her eyes searing with pain and anger. I go to kneel before her and she scoots away. Her arms are still wrenched behind her and I grab for my keys. I reach for her but she moves once again. “Hold still, I’m just trying to unlock you.” I jiggle the keys in front of her and her eyes wearily search mine. She seems incredibly skittish and withdrawn. I grab hold of the cuff and put the key in. As soon as her arms slip free they fall to her sides. She’s been in this cell for hours, her arms must be numb. “It helps if you shake them out.” I say to her. She tucks them into herself and hovers into the far corner. I go to sit by her and begin to speak.
“I don’t want to speak to you.” She snaps. I can’t say it doesn’t hurt, because it does…immensely.
“I just want to make sure you’re alright.” I feel as if I’m speaking to a wall. She does everything she can to avoid me.
“Please just go away, Gideon.” The way she says my name makes my heart shatter. The guilt I had before threatens to consume me when I think about all the ways I’ve betrayed her.
“They said you’ll be out of here in the morning.” I try once more but even I know I sound like an asshole.
“I don’t want to speak to you anymore, please leave me alone.” her eyes meet mine and I can feel the hatred rolling off of her in waves. I get up to leave and make my way towards the door.
“I’m sorry.” I tell her just before I leave the room.