Page 82 of Ruthless

The instant they were in the den, she said, “Where’s my phone?”

“I’ll get you the satphone so you can call your father.”

“Fine. But I want my phone.”

Instead of giving her a no again, he walked out of the room, took the satphone from the lockbox beside his bed, and returned. Handing it to her, he reminded her, “Don’t talk for over three minutes.”

“Where’s my phone?”

“Eve, just use the damn satphone.”

Her look searing, she snatched it from his hand and punched in her father’s number. He was sure she expected him to leave so she could have a private conversation, but that wasn’t happening.

“Papa?” she said.

“Lina…darling. How are you?”

When her father’s voice came through the speaker, she glared at Gideon. This particular satphone had a special, hidden feature that Serena had installed. The speaker was enabled, and a series of keystrokes had to be punched in to disable it. He wasn’t going to tell Eve that, though. Anything her father had to say, he needed to hear.

“I’m fine, Papa. How are you?”

“Much better, mon chérie. Feeling stronger every moment.”

“I’m so glad. And Alex?”

“He’s doing well, thank heavens. He’s still at the hospital but is well guarded. I hope to see him this afternoon.”

“And Nicolas? Any news?” Her voice thickened at that question.

“No. There’s nothing more than what Gideon has told you.”

“Papa, I’m so sorry I couldn’t find out who was threatening us before all of this happened.”

Gideon’s heart hurt for her. Of course she was blaming herself for not uncovering the identities of the people making threats. Eve would take full responsibility for something that was most definitely not her fault.

“No, Lina. Don’t say that. We’ve known about these threats for months and haven’t been successful in finding their origin. You’ve identified suspects we hadn’t even considered.”

“I won’t stop working on it, Papa. I’m sorry that Gideon took it upon himself to take me away. I’ll be back and—”

“No!” her father said. “I asked Gideon to take you away. I’m so grateful to him.”

“I see.”

If looks could kill, Gideon figured he’d be in the morgue, and his family would be planning his funeral. He had hoped her father wouldn’t tell her about his request—no reason for them both to be on her list—but there was nothing he could do about it now. Besides, if he told her he would have done it anyway, he didn’t see that earning him any brownie points. Either way, he was screwed.

“You need to stay away, Lina, until we can figure this out.”

“But, Papa, I—”

Knowing he had no choice, Gideon tapped his watch to indicate time was running short. The likelihood of anyone being able to trace the call was slim, but he was taking no chances.

“You can call him tomorrow,” Gideon said quietly.

Ignoring him, she said, “Papa, I’ll find out who it is, and we’ll stop them.”

“Goodbye, my angel.”

The line went dead. When she didn’t hand the phone back to him, he took it from her.