Chapter 5 - The Bitter Truth
Silas stepped into the dim light of the basement, holding a suppressed pistol at his side.
He looked down at Maya with a mixture of pity and absolute disgust.
"You really should have stayed dead, little veterinarian," Silas said coldly.
"Where is Gideon?" Maya demanded, refusing to lower her weapon.
"He is upstairs, bleeding out on your beautiful hardwood floors," the older man sneered.
"I built Gideon into a king, but you made him soft."
"When he thought you died, he became a monster, the exact leader I always needed him to be."
Maya's mind raced, piecing the horrible truth together in a fraction of a second.
"You faked the threat reports five years ago," Maya realized aloud.
"You made him think Victor Crowe was coming for me so he would divorce me."
Silas chuckled, a dry, evil sound that echoed off the concrete walls.
"I actually poisoned him, Maya."
"I gave him a neurotoxin that mimicked a fatal genetic disease, and I had his private doctor confirm it."
"Gideon divorced you because he thought he only had six months to live and wanted to spare you the pain of watching him rot."
Maya felt the breath completely leave her lungs.
Gideon hadn't divorced her because she was a liability.
He had broken his own heart to set her free before he died.
"But he survived the poison," Silas continued angrily.
"And instead of focusing on the empire, he spent five years obsessing over your ghost."
Silas raised his weapon, aiming it directly at little Leo.
"Now I am going to fix this mistake permanently."
Before Silas could pull the trigger, a massive shadow dropped from the basement window behind him.
Gideon, covered in blood and breathing heavily, drove a hunting knife directly into Silas's shoulder.
The older man screamed in agony and dropped his weapon.
Gideon kicked Silas down the stairs and stood over his former mentor like an avenging angel.
"You took five years of my life," Gideon growled, his voice vibrating with lethal intent.
"But I promise you, I am going to take everything from you."
Gideon reached into Silas's pocket and pulled out the old man's encrypted phone.
"Elias," Gideon called out toward the upstairs.
Elias stumbled down the stairs, clutching a gunshot wound to his side, but alive.
"Take Maya and the boy to the extraction point," Gideon ordered.
May you like
"What are you going to do?" Maya asked, terrified by the darkness in her husband's eyes.
"I am going to call the rest of Silas's loyalists and tell them I am coming for their heads."
