Revisited (Redemption Series) by Lindsey Gray Page B

Marian was noticeably upset. Gideon wondered if the stick up her ass ever came out, or if it just had a place reserved there permanently.
    “It’s neither here nor there, dear.” Bradford placed his hands on her shoulders. “Mr. Fleming and I need to have a chat with our son.”
    “Well, all right.” She stood and squeezed her son’s hand once more before releasing it. “I’ll be in our room.” She kissed Bradford on the cheek and nodded to Sam before leaving.
    Gideon sighed and sunk back into the pillow beneath his head.
    She’s always like that. Better get used to it, Ian quipped.
    Gideon groaned while he rubbed the sleep from his good eye. “I take it you two aren’t here to discuss my travel arrangements.”
    “No.” Sam took Marian’s vacated seat while Bradford pulled another chair to the bedside. “This is a formality we must get through. I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, but we need to know what happened between the time you and Becca were separated, and when you were found in the storage unit.”
    I’d like to hear this one. Ian mentally snorted. 
    “So, Becca has filled you in until the point we were separated. I take it we can skip that part?” Gideon raised his brow.
    “Yes,” Sam said.
    “Why is my father here?” Gideon asked Sam, then turned to Bradford. “What does any of this have to do with you?”
    Bradford gave his son his famous fatherly glare.
    You’re in for it now. There is no questioning the Senator when you get that look. Ian began to enjoy the show. He almost wished he had some popcorn.
    “Since your disappearance, The Manchester Group approached me to become an active member of their organization.” Bradford was in full senatorial regalia.
    “Your father has so graciously offered his years of expertise to us, and we in turn have offered him a place with Manchester.”
    “I see. On with the interrogation.” Gideon swept his arm in front of them in a sign for them to get on with it.
    “Debriefing.” Sam clenched his jaw in irritation, but prepared to go ahead with his questions.
    “Right,” Gideon responded, then scooted into a more comfortable position.
    “We found where you and Becca were being held and discovered the lock blown off the door.”
    Gideon rolled his eyes. That lock had been Filipp’s idea, and not his best. He hadn’t wanted Becca to go through what she had the last time she encountered it. The results did favor him this time around, as it subdued Ian for their needed travel time.
    “After Becca had been gone awhile, I made the mistake of giving the doorknob a try. It opened, but then the boils began to form. They burst and pus came oozing out. The way it crusted on my skin . . . ” He shook his head as a show of remembering the pain. “I thought it was like some sort of acid. I was terrified, thinking I was producing a fatal substance, and all that would be left of me would be a disgusting pile of goo.”
    Bradford looked horrified while Sam remained composed.
    “I was somewhere between wondering if it would ever end and begging for death, when Liam came back. I could see he had succeeded in his plan.”
    Sam spoke up. “Where did he take you from there?”
    Gideon shook his head, as he had changed that part of the plan, therefore the cover story had to change as well. “I don’t know. I was in so much pain when my skin began to heal. I was completely out of it. I have no idea how much time had passed, but when I began to feel like myself again, I was tied to that chair in the storage unit.”
    “And this Liam was the one who beat you senseless?” Bradford asked.
    Gideon nodded and plastered a look of pain on his face for good measure. “I assume he wanted to try out his new abilities. Then a clerk showed up. They fought. Liam knocked him out then left.”
    “Basically, either you were unconscious, or in too much pain to know what was going on?” Sam asked.
    “That about sums it up. When can I get out of here, then?”