time he’d been old enough to learn that his dick was multi-functional. He'd left a lot of hearts in his wake too.
"What are you doing here?" Gideon asked. "In case you missed it, your brother isn't going anywhere."
I found myself both blushing and smiling at the possessiveness in Gideon's voice. It made me wish I could drag him back to bed.
"Well, as much fun as it was listening to you satisfy my baby brother," King said sarcastically, "I'm afraid I have some family business Lex and I need to chat about."
There was no mistaking King’s seriousness. "What is it?" I said worriedly. "Is it Vaughn?" Of my four brothers, Vaughn was the one dealing with the most danger on a day-to-day basis. Since I hadn't been in contact with my family in recent months, I had no clue what city Vaughn was even working in these days.
"No," King said. When he didn't continue, I opened my mouth to ask another question, but then Gideon tugged on my hand.
"I'll leave you two to it," he said. It made me wonder if King had sent him a look that he hadn't been able to send to me. It didn't really matter. I held on to Gideon's hand even as he tried to release mine.
"No," I said to him and then I looked in King's direction. "He stays," I said. "We can trust him, King."
The last thing I wanted to do was risk putting any of my brothers in danger, but I wasn't letting Gideon go for anything. If he was going to be a part of my life, he needed to know about every part of my life. I'd hoped to talk to him about this particular aspect of it in private, but that just didn't seem to be an option anymore.
"Fine," King said. All the humor was gone from his voice. It made me afraid of what he was going to say.
I led Gideon forward and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs, but to my surprise, instead of sitting next to me, Gideon remained behind me. His hands skimmed over my shoulders before one came to rest on my upper chest. I recognized the move for what it was… an effort to comfort me. I lifted my own hand and covered his so I could hang on to his fingers and draw from his strength.
"It's Gio," King said. "We found him… alive."
I wasn't sure I'd understood King at first. It was like my mind couldn't catch up… like everything was happening in slow motion. I pulled my hand from Gideon's and used it and my other one to cover my mouth. "He's alive?" I choked out.
"Yes," King said.
"Oh my God," I whispered. "We found him. We found him." I kept repeating the phrase over and over because I didn't know what else to do. After all the years of searching, I’d started to give up hope that we’d ever find the little boy.
Though, after eight years, he would no longer be a little boy.
It was too much emotion to process at once and while I wasn't particularly proud of it, I couldn't stop the sobs that spilled from my throat. I buried my face in my hands as the years of worry and fear seeped out of me.
"Lex," Gideon said softly as he leaned across my back and put his arms around me.
I wanted to tell him they were tears of joy, but I wasn't capable of forming any actual words. I'd have to rely on King to do that for me.
"Who are you talking about?" Gideon asked. I only half listened as King answered.
"Our brother Luca's son. He was kidnapped eight years ago when he was eight years old. We've been looking for him ever since."
"When?" I managed to ask. "When did you guys find him?" The guilt that I hadn't been around to help in the search for Gio over the past several months was like acid eating away at my belly.
"Sixteen days ago," King responded. "But it wasn't us who found him."
"What?" I asked in confusion. Something soft was pressed into my hand and I realized it was a dishtowel. I used it to wipe at my tears.
"It's a long story, but basically friends of a friend found him."
I wanted more details, but I was too hung up on the tone of King's voice. Instead of being overjoyed, he sounded grim.
"You said he's alive," I said softly. I wanted that to be it. I wanted that