For once, my father steps up and faces Gideon with an angry glare.
“I was told she was dead.”
Gideon’s voice trails off, his words falling on emptiness.
“Aspen.”
Mom recovers, hesitant and nervous, and I sigh heavily.
“Keep away from me. Both of you. You arranged that marriage, and you never once put my needs before your own.”
“How can you say that?”
Mom almost sounds angry, and I notice Gideon inching backward as the spotlight falls on another actor.
It’s almost amusing to watch him squirm, knowing there is no way out for him. The Reapers have surrounded this church, and I almost hope he tries to make a break for it. That would be fun.
“She’s mad.”
Gideon calls out as he returns to his bride’s side. “She is deluded. This woman is sick; it’s why she was sectioned.”
“By you.”
I sense my eyes blazing.
“I never did reach that hospital. There were no doctors. No care plans, no attempts to make a sick woman better because she was never ill in the first place. I was a slave to a woman who worked for Gideon, and he controlled every beating, every rape, and every disgusting act she put me through because it’s what he does.”
Another woman pushes forward and shouts, “That bastard ruined my life. Everything Aspen says is true. He is a monster. He takes women and erases their lives and sells them off to his sick society. He gets away with it because he uses other people to do it for him.”
“I don’t know this woman.”
Gideon’s voice is strangely calm, and it sets my nerves on edge.
He is recovering and will already be executing his escape plan.
Tallulah whimpers behind him. “Is this true, Gideon?”
He ignores her, and she screams, “I said, is this true!”
“No.”
He shakes his head, and I’m surprised when one of her bridesmaids steps forward and says falteringly, “Gideon.”
Her voice shakes, and he hisses, “I wouldn’t speak if I were you, Lianne.”
“You raped me.” She sobs. “Two nights ago. At the wedding rehearsal. He held his hand over my mouth and forced himself on me while you were waiting out here. He told me nobody would ever believe me and if I said anything he would ruin my reputation.”
She approaches him and slaps him hard around the face, shouting, “You bastard! You’re a monster!”
Another woman steps forward. “My friend told me he did the same to her last month.”
The church descends into chaos as everyone speaks at once, and then the sound of a gunshot crackles through the air, causing everyone to fall silent and stare in astonishment as one man steps out from the shadows.
“Enough!”
Ryder King moves to Gideon’s side, and I swear my former husband is in danger of an imminent heart attack.
“You can make your excuses down at the precinct.”
