Chapter 100: Milo Cunningham’s downfall

Gideon’s pov

"...Knight, you and Cunningham, work on the analysis together..."

Ten years.

Ten good years of calling the man before me my best friend.

The box in my hand felt impossibly heavy. I looked into it and it wasn’t tracked or listening devices that I was seeing. It was a whole decade of betrayal.

I couldn’t process it. I couldn’t process the sight of Milo’s hands around Ivy’s throat, the vivid, angry marks already blooming on her pale skin. I couldn’t process her words that I had heard echoing in my head.

"...he’s the one who sent the man to shoot Kai."

My best friend. My brother.

It all clicked into place now didn’t it? We had caught someone else, a low-level thug, for the assassination attempt. Milo had known our every move, he knew who we suspected and what we were doing to find, hell he was the one who handled some of the tasks.

He could have framed anyone. The only variable, the only thing that had thrown his meticulously constructed plans into disarray, was her.

Ivy Harpley.

How could I have been so fucking stupid? After what happened to my parents, I swore I would never trust anyone with my back again. And yet, I had let Milo in. I had let him stand closest to the fire and drive a fucking machete into my back.

"I’ve never seen that before in my life!" Milo snapped, innocently. "The bitch is framing me!"

"If you call her a bitch one more time," Kai snarled, gritting his teeth. "I’ll let Ro go, you and I can see how far he gets before he kills you."

Milo let out a dry, broken laugh. "Are you all blinded by her tits or something? She’s lying through her teeth!"

"If I’m lying," Ivy held her head up, those defiant brown eyes glaring at him before turning to me. She was wearing contacts again.

"Then check his phone, Mr Knight. I’ll take whatever punishment I get if it turns out I’m lying. Check his apartment right now. Check who ruined the Pandora project for you. When I suggested using the historical clause during your last conference meeting here, he attacked me when I left. You three saw the marks."

I remembered. I remembered seeing those marks around her neck, and the way she had blustered and lied about them being bites or some ridiculous thing like that.

Why hadn’t she told me it was Milo? My mind flashed back to Saturday midnight.

FLASHBACK

Duke’s impassive face as he asked. "How much do you trust Cunningham?*

Kai brushed him off. "It’s late, Duke. Go be cryptic somewhere else."

But Duke didn’t move and simply pulled out his phone. "I wouldn’t normally interfere, but because you take care of Irene and she sees you as her family, I thought you should know."

Roman and I moved closer to the door to see what he was doing.

"Ren and I had gone to a diner downtown last week, she was craving their cream puffs."

He showed us the screen. It was a crisp, clear photo of Milo, his head bent close to Calloway and two other rivals of our company, laughing their heads off.

"What the fuck?" Kai had cursed.

While a chill swept down my spine. "He’s my best friend."

Duke shrugged. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, no?"

END OF FLASHBACK

The memory faded, bringing me back to the present, to the suffocating air in the room. My eyes fixed down at Milo, who was pale and sweating on the floor.

"Explain to me where you were last Saturday at noon,"

"Some... uh, some meeting I guess, I can’t remember," He stuttered out a lie, his eyes darting around the room.

I took a step forward, towering over him, my shadow engulfing him. "Why did you doctor the audio call with Tyler?"

Milo was sweating profusely now. "Come on, Gid, this is ridiculous," he blustered.

"Answer the fucking question," Roman snarled.

"They must have sent the audio to me after doctoring it."

I let the silence stretch, anguish filling my chest. I had just lost my best friend. "You claimed you recorded the call with Tyler, Milo. You didn’t say someone sent it to you."

I reached down, hauled him up by his shirt, and pulled him into a rough embrace. For a second, he probably thought it was forgiveness. I leaned in, my lips next to his ear, and whispered, "You should have known better than to be inconsistent in your lies to me, Milo."

Then I pulled back and slammed my fist into his jaw. He crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

Ivy sagged against Irene, who was hugging her tightly, both of them crying in relief. "What will you guys do with him?" Irene demanded, eyeing us warily.

"We’ll confirm everything she said is true," My voice was hard as steel as I approached them.

"And we will deal with him accordingly." I held a hand out to Ivy. "We need to have a talk, Miss Harpley. But first, we should do something about that bruise on your neck."

She blushed, a delicate pink staining her cheeks under the bruise and nodded.

Roman cursed, grabbed Milo’s limp body, and started dragging him out of the room. "Duke, get Irene out of the house," he ordered. Kai followed me as I led Ivy from the room, but I stopped him.

"Go make sure Roman doesn’t go too far."

He hesitated, his gaze flickering to Ivy.

"I’m not firing her," I grunted. "Relax."

Kai nodded, moved close to Ivy, and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Never, ever put yourself in danger like that again," he murmured, before leaving us alone.

I tugged her towards my study. She was still so shaken that she staggered, and without a second thought, I scooped her up into my arms.

She gasped, her hands flying to my shoulders as I carried her into my study. I grabbed a first aid box from the shelf and sat on the couch, settling her gently on my lap.

"S–Sorry, I can do it myself, Mr Knight-" She stuttered and tried to get up, but I held her fast against me.

"Stay."

I started gently dabbing at the bruise on her neck with an antiseptic wipe. She winced and hid her face on my shoulder, her body trembling slightly.

What an intriguing woman you are, Ivy Harpley.

At the club, she was a seductive stranger named Amber. A few minutes ago, she had been terribly brave and daring, exposing Milo and now she was trembling shyly in my arms.

She was a contradiction, a beautiful, infuriating, captivating puzzle.

"You set up the trackers, didn’t you?"