LN Cronan

Chapter Three of Bared -- The Reader's Guide  This chapter opens on day four of the story, Thursday evening, briefly in Brooklyn at the Krav Maga studio. But almost the entire chapter covers early Friday afternoon, day five, in two places: Gideon's office and in the office of Eva's stepfather.  Key plot developments: For the first time, Gideon and Eva engage in serious sexual contact, kissing that quickly leads to fully-clothed petting. This happens in his office (pages 43-45). He'd dragged her into his office to talk after running into her yet again in the Crossfire. Eva has lunch with her stepfather, Richard Stanton (pages 35-37). Their conversation gives us clues that Eva's mother, Monica, is obsessed with Eva's safety because of something from Eva's childhood.  New characters: Richard Stanton, a billionaire financier who is Eva's stepfather. We heard about him in passing in Chapter One, but in Chapter Three he appears for the first time. Note: Eva calls him Richard when she speaks to him, not "Dad." In her head and when talking about him to others, she calls him Stanton, so that's how he's mentioned most of the time. Scott, Gideon's administrative assistant Clancy, Richard and Monica Stanton's driver/bodyguard. Dr. Petersen (in passing) Monica's therapist Minor - unnamed main receptionist in Gideon's office  Gideon's office scene: Things he explains as he tries (unsuccessfully) to get her to agree to go to bed with him: He has neither the time nor the inclination to date, and he doesn't do romance. All he's interested in here is sex. She's in his office so they can be both be clear about it. He explains his own position: "Establishing parameters in the beginning makes it less likely that there'll be exaggerated expectations and disappointments at the conclusion ..... There are no mixed signals in my private affairs ...."  Things she explains as she refuses to go to bed with him, despite the fact she's attracted to him too: She doesn't want to date either -- that's the one thing they both agree on. His trying to negotiate sex like a business transaction appalls her. Her own position: with sex, the partners have to respect one another and be on friendly terms. " .... I have to actually like someone before I get naked and sweaty with him."   Throughout this "meeting" Gideon stayed cool and Eva got snarky. Ultimately, she tried to walk out on him, but Gideon had the door locked and told her to kiss him goodbye. Thier kiss quickly escalated to them both going wild, ending up on one of the couches. He had her skirt hiked up to her waist and she was so aroused she'd let him to what he wanted -- then his assistant interrupted them over the intercom. (The chapter ends right there.)  Stanton's office scene: Note: in lower Manhattan (the Crossfire is in midtown.) This meeting happens before the Gideon office scene: The evening before (start of Chapter Three) Eva had gone to Brooklyn with Cary so she could sign up for Krav Maga classes. Next day, Stanton ordered Eva to have lunch with him in his office. When she gets there, Stanton tells Eva her found Eva had gone to Brooklyn - and why. Monica had freaked out. This is why Stanton asked Eva to see him.  In this scene, we learn Monica is obsessed with Eva's safety -- obsessed so badly she's in therapy for it. The root of the obsession is extreme guilt about somehow having failed to have protected Eva as a child -- something bad happened to Eva. What that was (getting raped), we readers learn later in the novel.   Things we readers do learn in this chapter: Eva planned to keep the Krav Maga lessons a secret from her mother, lest her mother read into it Eva felt she had to protect herself "because of what happened." When Eva moved to New York, Stanton gave Eva a business phone for personal use. Monica used that phone to track Eva's movements -- that's how Monica found out about the trip to Brooklyn, a neighborhood Monica felt was unsafe. Eva got furious when Richard told her about the cell phone. She told Stanton she feels her mother is stalking her. She accused Stanton of making matters worse by enabling Monica. Stanton defended himself by claiming he's just looking out for both Monica and Eva. The argument ended with Stanton informing Eva he'd already decided how to resolve the situation: he'd ordered his driver, Clancy, to drive Eva to and from her Krav Maga lessons. Angry though she is, Eva conceded to Stanton's solution.Â

Friday! Twice-weekly snapshot will come this morning (likely around 9 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time based on when all the other ones thus far have hit the Internet.)  Today will be a glimpse into Chapter 12. Recap of the snapshots of chapters 1-11:  1. The word "Press" over a fuzzy shot of a newspaper page, and a fancy pen in the foreground. 2. Unwrapped Christmas present boxes 3. The word "Business" next to a cup of coffee 4. A microphone on a stand 5. A pile of neatly-folded white terrycloth towels, wrapped in a red ribbon. 6. A bathtub in a modern-style bathroom 7. An open bottle of red wine, nearly full, and in front of it, one wine glass holding some wine. Near it is a small vase holding four red roses. 8. Two different types of pills in blister packs plus a bottle of some sort of liquid medication. The meds are on a glass coffee table in front of a white couch. 9. Fuzzy shot of a crowded dance floor. One woman in the center of the shot is in semi-focus. 10. A diamond and gold women's watch. 11. An Aston Martin sports car  Here's the link for the page where the snapshots (and snippets) are posted: http://www.sylviaday.com/category/snippet/

 Help me out if I'm wrong here, posters, but I recall reading somewhere Eva is 24 (Gideon's 28 - that's mentioned in Chapter Two of Bared.)  Mention of a thesis means Eva had worked on a master's degree.  Eva never lived with Victor himself - i.e. under the same roof. She moved out to San Diego to live near him, about four years ago, so they could see one another a lot. The move also was as much to get away from her mother's smothering.  If I had to guess, I would say Eva did not go the straight route expected of someone in her social class: straight from high school to undergrad college full-time and then from there to grad school full-time. She was an angry, rebellious young woman. The fact she hung around Brett's indie-rock band suggests Eva also liked to party. A possible scenario I could see: She drifted for a couple of years when she turned 18, taking some college courses but basically not doing anything with her life. Then she decided to move out to California to be near her Dad. He could see what Monica couldn't -- Eva needed help. Victor convinced Eva to start seeing Dr. Travis, and right away that started making a huge difference for the better. Eva quit wasting her life, got some direction, and decided to go San Diego State full time. She transferred in what credits she'd already earned elsewhere, finished her bachelors and got her master's. At the same time, Victor stood up to Stanton by insisting he (Victor) was going to pay for San Diego State. Victor also stood up to Eva when Eva wanted to pay off her student loans. Eva graduated with her master's in May, on her own initiative got an entry level job in advertising in New York, and moved there right away. The move was made easier by Eva caving in to Stanton and Monica about having a "safe" apartment building to live in: they got her the fancy apartment, and Cary moved with her.

 I found it an odd coincidence, two evenings before Reflected ends (i.e. Monday evening) Cary just so happened to tell Eva about a radio station interview Brett had given the day before. Cary never showed her the online transcript -- only mentioned that Brett told an interviewer he (Brett) hoped to get back together with Eva. Cary suggested Brett as "rebound man" already lined up. Meanwhile, the snapshots and the Brett snippet strongly suggest Brett's going to show up back in New York in the next few days (i.e. the first couple of days into Entwined.)  I think Brett and Cary have been talking that last week of Reflected. Which one called first? Cary's been sitting around laid up, recovering from his injuries and too much time on his hands. Meanwhile, Brett's been out on the road but probably reading all about Gideon and Corrine online, thinking his (Brett's) way back to Eva is clear. If he wanted to arrange to be able to start actively chasing  Eva as soon as he got back to town, looking for help from her best friend/roommate is a great idea.  One last thing - the same Monday Cary brought up the subject of Brett to Eva happened to be the same day when Gideon and Eva had some limited contact earlier that day at the Crossfire. Gideon had given Eva back her promise ring. Eva confessed being confused. If I were Cary -- seeing how Eva had started to emerge more independent and strong over the last weekend -- was in danger of getting sucked right back into the Gideon heartache, I'd be tempted to help Brett see Eva.

 When Brett asked Eva for a second chance (over lunch a couple of days after the kiss/fight) he wouldn't take "no" for a final answer. He said he wasn't going to give up. When she responded by telling him there wasn't a chance, his response was "prove it."  So I think when she does prove to him that he does not have any chance at all, he will finally give up. But as for now, as he comes back to New York, this is what he knows: Eva obviously still finds him sexually attractive. The kiss proved that. When he showed up at her office hoping to possibly get to talk to her, she actually took him out to lunch. They finally (over lunch) got to talk about why she had disappeared on him four years ago. He got the chance to apologize, and she did accept it. She claimed she was in love with Gideon Cross, but it was obvious at the time the relationship was in trouble (which it actually was). The same week Eva kissed him and then took him out to lunch, Gideon Cross (so everyone believes) got back together with his former fiancee. It's even been in the tabloids. Additionally, if Brett and Cary have been in contact behind Eva's back (which I suspect might be the case) then Brett would have been told Gideon "cheated" on Eva, Eva dumped him because he didn't have the courage to end it himself, and they're not even on speaking terms anymore. And after spending some time licking her wounds, Eva is emerging stronger than ever.Â

 My guess is Gideon would have done the same thing to Eva in his office that he ended up doing to her at her apartment on Saturday night, manually manipulating her to repeated climaxes but not have one himself. I doubt he'd have engaged in intercourse on the office couch -- for one thing, he probably didn't have a condom. But I bet that if he got as far as getting Eva to come several times on that couch, she'd have gone with him to the hotel right after work.  Gideon's hotel-sex rule, I think, applied strictly to sexual intercourse. When he said he wanted Eva "under him" he most likely meant it literally -- missionary style with him restraining her with his arms, exactly what he did when they did have that hotel room sex that one time. My guess is this is the only way Gideon would allow himself to climax

 From the moment he first laid eyes on her, Gideon wanted Eva like he'd never, ever wanted a woman before. It drove him nuts she wouldn't fall at his feet, even though he was used to women constantly throwing themselves at him. By the time Eva entered his life, I'll bet Gideon still hadn't ever had to chase any woman, because he probably never saw a particular woman he really, really, wanted. He was constantly surrounded by women throwing themselves at him, so when the mood struck him (i.e. he was feeling h****) he could just pick one out and sleep with her a few times, maybe even a few weeks, then send her on her way once he got the mood out of his system.

 There's even sass from Eva coming up in Chapter Four. Chapter Three ended up with the pair of them going wild on a couch in his office. He had her skirt hiked up to her waist and she was willing to let him do what he wanted. Who knows how far things would have gone if they hadn't gotten interrupted.  That couch incident happened early Friday afternoon. He was determined to pick up where things left off right after work, but the best he could get, though, on the spot was her agreeing to talk about it over lunch Monday. But after he spent the rest of Friday afternoon very sexually frustrated, he tried pestering her again. He got her on the phone as she was about to leave her office -- and she couldn't resist twisting his tail.  OK, I'm going to jump ahead, because there's one bit of sass I think Gideon really deserved. Eva slam him for the way she figured he ran his sex life -- and without even realizing it, she hit the nail right on the head. His knee-jerk reaction was to get a little mad she's just insulted him. But I'll bet when he later replayed the words in his head over and over again, he must have thought -- "She thinks I'm a jerk and she's right. She sees right through me."  Here's what Eva said that made Gideon threaten to take her over his knee (and what must have made him squirm in shame inside):  " .... I have some friendly advice. Go spend time with a woman who salivates at your feet and makes you feel like a god. F*** her until neither one of you can walk. When you see me on Monday you'll be totally over it and your life will return to its usual obsessive-compulsive order." (Bared page 51)  And I love that less than a minute later, she hung up on him by saying, " ... I've got to go. I have a date with my vibrator." (Bottom of page 51 -- and Cary laughed his head off when Eva told him about that parting shot).

I believe Brett coming back to New York is going to be the solution to the Corrine problem. How? Â Sooner or later, the story about the major fist fight between Gideon and Brett a few weeks ago is bound to get out. There were too many witnesses. I suspect the only reason it hadn't gotten out yet was most of the key witnesses (band members, roadies, etc.) were still on the concert tour and they all left the New York area three nights later. If people find out Gideon caught Eva in Brett's arms, it would make sense why Gideon "dumped" her. Even the cops would have a hard time arguing that. Gideon supposedly dumping Eva for cheating -- almost a week before Nathan died -- makes a much stronger cover story that Gideon had no motive to want to kill for her. What guy would kill for a woman who got caught cheating red handed in front of other people? Right now, Corrine is Gideon's cover story, but it's not a strong one, Isn't it just a little too convenient on the timing that Gideon started dating Corrine again a few nights before Nathan turned up dead? It wouldn't be too hard for the authorities to dismantle the Corrine cover -- but the Brett situation is far more a convincing cover. Â Mind you -- Eva doesn't have to "go out" with Brett in order for this to work. All she and Gideon need to do is just stand back and keep their mouths shut while the tabloids go nuts. Â But once the tabloids do go nuts, no longer does Gideon have to feed them pictures of him out on dates with Corrine.

The "pre-approved orifice" line in Chapter Three is one of the funniest in the whole series. It made even Gideon laugh out loud.  But there are two crucial things Gideon says, on that very same page (42) that I see as very important, because they define his whole approach in life up until Eva about how he handles f******* women. This is what Gideon says on page 42 when he makes it clear he has no intention of dating Eva -- all he's interested in is getting her under him.  "Establishing parameters in the beginning makes it less likely that there'll be exaggerated expectations and disappointments at the conclusion ..... There are no mixed signals in my private affairs. You want me to blur that line. I can't think of a good reason to."  What's also important about these things he said is that in Chapter Four -- which happens only hours later -- Gideon decides to "blur that line" anyway. He tries to further negotiate "parameters" with Eva, because he's finally got good reason to blur his line. He wants her so bad he's willing to make concessions, if that's what it will take for her to go to bed with him.  Because before Eva, that's all sex was to him: it was always f******, never making love. Not even with Corrine. Even with her, it'd just been about sex. Certainly, he cared about Corrine as a person. But he never was in love. And when that relationship convinced him marriage wasn't an option for him in life -- because he could never keep the nightmares a secret if forced to share a home with someone -- he decided how he was going to handle women from that point onward. Never again would he mix dating and f****** like he had with Corrine.  And I'll bet that Eva probably is the first woman who ever turned down a sexual proposition of his.  Poor Gideon. Underneath, he believed he wasn't worthy of love. The "disappointments" that would lead to the "conclusion" of every case where he started sleeping with a woman were almost certainly them falling in love with him and he refusing to believe they wanted him -- the real him inside. He probably thought they were just after his billions. As soon as they started acting like they cared about him, he'd ditch them.  There would be some women, like Magdalene, he'd at least be willing to be friends with. It would be women like her, or arm-candy socialites, that he'd take out when he needed a date in a social setting. But to prevent a repeat of the Corrine situation, he would never sleep with them -- because that could lead to the "exaggerated expectations" too. Magdalene had exaggerated expectations anyway. She fooled herself into thinking that once he got screwing around out of his system and was finally ready to settle down, she'd be the one to become Mrs. Gideon Cross.

 Of course she does. And we see from the Entwined excerpt she's glad Nathan is dead. She loves Gideon more than ever.  But Gideon, as that scene in her bedroom opens, I think is still terrified that Eva will end up leaving for good. The thing that terrifies Gideon more than anything else, Sylvia has explained, is Eva pulling away from him.  He's scared she'll never be able to live with what he did -- and so she'll end up pulling another one of her runners, this time running away from him forever. He's got to know -- is it over now. This is where he's going to start learning how to really trust: trust that Eva will stay with him even knowing now what he did. If he can be honest, she'll quit running.

 She already knew, when she showed up on his doorstep, what he'd done. Detective Graves had told her.  Something made Eva run almost immediately. My main theory still is that the cops tailed her and Gideon was immediately alerted. But one alternate theory I have, if the cops weren't hot on Eva's heels, is that Gideon's first reaction was to refuse to discuss any of the ugly details. Either he ordered her to leave for her own good (well, what Gideon thought was her own good.) Or she decided to leave because yet again he was refusing to trust her enough to open up to her.  The main reasons he had kept her in the dark those awful weeks, even though it meant breaking her heart, were two-fold: To make sure the cops couldn't implicate her in the case Fear that she'd leave him forever if she knew what he'd done  So maybe, when Gideon thought about it soon after Eva left (or was sent away) he realized keeping his mouth shut no longer was an option, because: The cops had dragged her into the case themselves Eva, upon finding out he killed Nathan, went to him anyway instead of deciding to make their recent break-up a forever permanent end to the two of them But now the only way he'll be able to keep Eva in his life is to finally risk being honest with her -- honest about Nathan, honest about his own dark secrets. He's got to trust her, because without trust, they'll never work out permanently. So under this scenario -- which is only one alternate scenario I have -- he decided to risk everything. Go see her even though being anywhere near her was dangerous. Tell her absolutely everything, no matter how awful, and let her decide whether or not she could live with it -- live with him being in her life anymore.

There is one more possibility -- if Eva hadn't been tailed by the police to Gideon's doorstep .... Â ..... Gideon himself might have clammed up and refused to even talk about what Detective Graves told Eva. Because it would be dangerous for Eva to know -- dangerous because if Eva knew the truth for certain and kept her mouth shut, at the very least the cops could try to charge Eva with obstruction of justice. If she did even more than keep her mouth shut -- if she helped Gideon continue to cover up his crime, Eva could possibly even be charged with accessory after the fact. Â All those cruel things Gideon did to Eva? They were for her own legal protection. As long as she stayed in the dark -- and the cops could obviously see she was in the dark -- she was safe from being accused of having had something to do with Nathan's killing. Knowing the truth -- before or afterward -- puts her in legal danger. THIS is the trap I think Detective Graves laid -- put Eva into legal danger, betting that Gideon would plea bargain rather than risk Eva going to prison. Â I think Gideon's original plan was that the cops would cross him off the list of suspects. Then once enough safe time had passed, he would go back to Eva. He never, ever planned on telling her the truth. He was betting on the fact she loved him enough that she would get back together with him. Instead, everything has gone wrong -- he's the chief suspect and he's forced to continue to live the lie he chose his suddenly-available former fiancee over a girlfriend (Eva) he'd been seeing only a few weeks. Â So how's this as another alternative, now that Eva has found out. Gideon immediately reverts to his pattern of refusing to confide in Eva, telling her it would be too dangerous for her to know. She gets mad "that won't cut it, Ace" and she pulls a runner. Gideon, remembering everything Eva said when they took their car ride together the day before, realizes he has no choice but honesty now. If he opens his mouth, he could lose Eva because she couldn't live with what he did. But if he refuses to open up, he WILL lose her anyway. His secret keeping IS the dealbreaker that will guarantee Eva won't ever stay him. So he goes running to her an hour later, but in secret -- to continue to try to protect her from the cops, something that's now more important than ever.

 My gut reaction is Gideon jumped at an unexpected opportunity to simply get Eva's attention -- and ended up impressed with her answer, an answer that showed talent and good business sense. When she chose among several different concepts her boss had presented, she explained the one she picked " .... would appeal to the largest demographic." In advertising, that's the best answer. Eva ended up picking what likely would have been Gideon's own first choice.  Eva shouldn't have even been in the meeting. It was unusual enough for a junior account executive (her boss Mark) to be making the presentation, which normally would have been done by a senior account executive at the very least. It was even more unusual for Gideon himself to be getting the presentation made to him -- it should have been given to one of the many PR people on his staff. Even Cary knew that, something he pointed out to Eva as Cary figured out the only reason Eva's boss would have met directly with Gideon Cross was because Cross had a hidden agenda -- Eva.  Fast forward several weeks to the main meeting on the project itself (the meeting where Gideon acted as cold as ice to Eva -- that meeting happened to take place mere hours before Gideon had everything in place to kill Nathan that evening.) Michael Waters, the CEO of Waters Field & Leaman, himself made the final presentation to Gideon, Mark by Waters' side to help.  So it was pure kindness (and appreciation for her working late to help him get the presentation together on such short notice) that prompted Mark to invite Eva to sit in on that very first meeting, giving her a chance to watch something like that. Gideon obviously was delighted that Eva walked in with Mark. My guess: what Gideon had originally hoped to get out of manipulating things by asking Waters Field & Leaman to have Mark Garrity meet with him on short notice was Gideon's plan to arrange for Eva to learn through the grapevine exactly who he is.  At that point, she still didn't know who yet he was, only that he was some guy who obviously had business reasons to be in the Crossfire. Up to that point, she'd seen him only twice in three days -- that first time in the lobby and the second time riding downstairs in the elevator one evening later. Rather than Gideon coming out and bluntly introducing himself "I'm Gideon Cross" he manipulated things so that someone in Eva's office, likely Mark himself, would point Gideon out to Eva and say -- that's him, Gideon Cross.  When first asked to pick one of the several concepts Mark presented at the very first meeting, she sidestepped by answering she thought they were all brilliant. Gideon threatened to clear the room in order to get her alone so she's answer honestly (without Mark plus two of Gideon's people -- good looking brunettes, by the way -- there.) Oh I'll bet Gideon wanted Eva to himself in the room. He ended up having to settle for getting her to hang back a moment at the elevators.  Cary saw right through the whole thing -- Eva's boss getting asked for by name to do this project and Gideon himself meeting with Mark. As soon as Eva got home that night and told Cary what had happened in the meeting, including the hottie's name was "Mr. Cross" Cary easily determined online the guy who'd been pestering Eva for days now was none other than Gideon Cross.

 Among the people who could have told Gideon about a police tail was Clancy. Stanton made it part of Clancy's job to drive Eva to and from the Krav Maga studio in Brooklyn (did this for Monica's peace of mind.) The Krav Maga studio is where Detective Graves cornered Eva. In a daze, Eva had Clancy drive her straight to Gideon's apartment. Clancy, as both a bodyguard and driver, likely would be able to spot a tail. How much he might have been able to figure out possible reasons for a police tail is something we don't know yet -- but at the very least, Clancy would have figured out it would have something to do with the investigation into Nathan's murder.  When Eva first arrived, Gideon was at the gym, not home. Eva sat up there on his doorstep for some time (we don't know exactly how long). Clancy (and anyone else watching the front door) would have seen Gideon arrive home. Additional possibilities besides Clancy:  It's highly likely Gideon would have been driven home. The probable driver would have been Angus, though back-up driver Raul is possible. The doorman and/or the person at the lobby desk could have told Angus/Raul that Eva had ridden Gideon's private elevator upstairs. One or more police detectives, who had been waiting for Eva to come out -- and who saw Gideon walk in.  Eva and Gideon never had a chance to really talk then and there, and what glimpses we have into Entwined indicate Eva fled. Gideon slipped into her apartment an hour later, disguised in ordinary beat-up sweat clothes and a baseball cap, so they could talk -- and for some reason, it was "dangerous" for him to have taken this risk. Why did they both consider it to be dangerous? Possible scenarios I can think of:  Was it a simple case of once it hit Gideon that the cops dragged Eva into the middle of the investigation, did he tell her she should leave his apartment building immediately? Or was it someone showing up next, right behind Gideon, that made them realize it was dangerous for her to be there? And if so, who?  The worst case scenario I can think of would be cops immediately showing up on Gideon's doorstep, right behind him, asking if they could have a word with him and/or Eva. Not that either one of them would be obligated to talk -- in fact, the certain answer in both cases would be "not without a lawyer present." But the message would have been sent -- "Ah hah, we now have eyewitness proof Eva came here to talk to you about this investigation."

I'm 100% convinced Victor's trip to visit New York had nothing to do with Nathan, but rather, it was a planned trip to see how Eva was settling in to her new life. The timing was pure coincidence, I'm convinced. Â We don't know where Eva was born nor where she grew up. We do know that this is the first time she's lived in New York City, and we also know she moved there from San Diego immediately before Bared opens. She'd been living in San Diego for four years. She went to college there, and she had decided to move there in order to live near (though not with) her father. She was able to see him weekly and get to know him. It was as much a desire to get out from under her mother's smothering as to get to know her birth father that prompted Eva, as a young woman, to move to San Diego. Â As far as Monica and Victor's history -- we know Monica came from money and Victor was (still is) working class. They met when they were young, probably early adulthood. Monica's fancy sports car broke down -- Victor was a mechanic at the garage where the car ended up. Â When Monica ended up pregnant, Victor wanted to marry her, but she refused, because financial security was too important to her. Her family tried pressuring her to have an abortion, but she refused, and so she got disinherited. But sometime not long after, she succeeded in landing a rich husband -- Nathan's father -- who was a widower with one young child. Monica got her financial security and Mr. Barker got someone to be a stepmother to Nathan. Â She divorced Barker over what his son did to Eva, leaving the marriage with millions of dollars for the financial security of both herself and her daughter. Sometime later (we don't know how much) she married her second rich husband. That marriage fell apart for reasons that included a gambling problem husband #2 had. We also know Eva didn't like stepfather #2. Â Sometime after that, she married rich husband #3, Richard Stanton. Again, we don't know exactly when, but the fact Stanton tried (unsuccessfully) to pay for Eva's college education hints that Stanton became her stepfather somewhere in her late teens to early 20s. Â Obviously, somehow Victor was involved in Eva's life as she grew up, though we're not told any specifics beyond the fact this did not involve Monica and Victor seeing one another face to face. The reason is obvious on page 281 of Reflected -- they're still in love with one another. Eva sees this with her own eyes when the pair of them run into one another in her (Eva's) apartment. That's the weekend Victor visited Eva. Monica showed up unannounced Saturday morning, running to Eva's place immediately after Monica found out (because detectives showed up on her own doorstep) Nathan had been found murdered Friday morning.

 I don't think Victor knows -- yet -- but I'm sure he'll likely find out in Entwined. Monica succeeded in keeping the matter secret for many years. This is how she did it:  Nathan was prosecuted as a juvenile, not an adult. He started raping Eva when he was 12 years old (she was 10 at the time) and kept it up for four years, finally caught at age 16 after Eva (now 14) ended up in an emergency room because she'd suffered a miscarriage and an exam revealed serious physical evidence of repeated rapes. Under U.S. law, when a young defendant is prosecuted as a juvenile, those cases are prosecuted behind closed doors, very different from the rest of the justice system, where criminal matters are prosecuted openly. (U.S. Constitutional protections of citizens against possible abuses by the government require, among other things, that the government conducts criminal trials out in the open, not in secret -- this applies to all adult criminal cases. Note: there are cases where teenagers are prosecuted as adults because of very violent crimes; if they are, that's handled in open court instead of the closed-court system for juvenile offenses.)  Monica (and Eva) however have always worried about a paper trail from related civil court proceedings, a trail that reporters and/or cops might be able to follow if they looked hard enough. These civil proceedings related to Monica divorcing Nathan's father and having her husband pay damages to Eva. Monica got $2 million. Eva received $5 million -- something that would raise a serious red flag to anyone who examined those records, because the guy was simply her (now-former) stepfather, not her biological father. The existence of these civil records -- the fear it would be possible for a reporter to find out about them -- is what prompted Eva to tell Gideon about Nathan. Better that Gideon find out from her instead of being blindsided. Stanton, sometime after he married Monica, paid a great deal of money to get the people involved to  voluntarily sign "non-disclosure agreements" -- legally binding agreements to keep their mouths shut about everything. Thus Stanton sought to guarantee that even if someone found out about the mysterious $5 million payment, it would be almost impossible to easily find out the reasons behind it.  The most likely way Victor could find out something obviously bad happened many years ago would be to start following the paper trail related to the civil proceedings -- or get the criminal juvie records leaked to him through cop to cop channels. Normally people, not even cops, cannot simply get to see criminal juvenile records, because they're under seal. At best, running a computer check to see if someone has a criminal record would indicate some sort of juvie record exists. Police need very specific and serious reasons to be allowed to see the actual sealed criminal files. In Nathan's case, him being murdered would do it -- after someone is murdered, any records related to his/her life become open books for the detectives assigned to the case. The NYPD detectives would be allowed to see it all - the criminal files and the civil files. Victor might be able to find out through back channels, cop to cop, about the nature of Nathan's juvenile criminal record, especially if another cop (like Detective Graves) leaked those records to him as part of her investigating the case.

Thanks, peeps, who answered the question I threw out about when I should post the "Reader's Guide" to each daily chapter we're reading. The system I've settled on is the day after each chapter -- we were all scheduled to read Chapter Two of Bared yesterday, so I posted the summary of it this morning. I'm in the U.S. Eastern Time zone, so during workdays, it should go up around this time. Weekends will be a bit trickier. Â Don't forget your reading "homework" -- Sylvia is interested in hearing from fans which line or paragraph is our owns favorites in each chapter. Â Today we're on Chapter Three of Bared. There's two key plot developments there, both during the middle of the day on Friday, day five of the story. For the first time, Gideon and Eva engage in serious sexual contact, fully-clothed petting, in his office. Eva has lunch with her stepfather, Richard Stanton, and their conversation gives us numerous clues that Eva's mother, Monica, is obsessed with Eva's safety, obsessed to a level unhealthy enough she (Monica) is in therapy over it. We learn it has something to do with Eva's childhood -- but that's all we know yet.

Chapter Two of Bared -- The Reader's Guide  This chapter opens on day two of the story, just after 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Crossfire and goes through day four, Thursday evening,  in Eva's apartment.  Key plot developments: For the first time, Gideon tells Eva he wants to f*** her, a proposition she finds as equally offensive as arousing (page 28). Eva finally learns Gideon's full identity (page 30, Cary looked Gideon up online.) We get our first inkling Eva has been in therapy (page 30).  New characters: Steve, the longtime lover of Eva's boss, Mark. Dr. Travis (in passing mention) a therapist who treated Eva.   Tuesday evening in the Crossfire: Gideon greets Eva by name as she boards the elevator. She still doesn't even know who he is, not even his name. But she's now figured out he works in the building. When they reach the lobby, Gideon makes his first proprietary (and sexual) move by putting his hand at the small of her back and steering her toward the exit turnstiles. Cary foils whatever Gideon had in mind next. Cary is waiting in the lobby to meet her so he and Eva can go out for drinks. Wordlessly, Gideon walks out of the building.  This is Cary's first look at Gideon (and vice versa). Cary figures out Gideon was the guy Eva had briefly met in the lobby Monday evening.  Wednesday at work: Her boss Mark is thrilled he's suddenly and very unexpectedly gotten a chance to bid on a project to create advertising for Kingsman Vodka, which Cross Industries owns. Cross Industries had mentioned Mark by name, unusual because he's only a junior account executive. Mark has Eva help him scramble with the preliminary work, because he's due to present it the next day. (A Request For Proposal, RFP for short, which in public relations is how a client and an agency negotiate the scope and cost of a project.) We meet Steve, Mark's lover since college (so they've been together somewhere between 7-10 years, because Mark is 28.)  Steve is a some sort of contractor, most likely in the building trades. Steve brings take-out for dinner to Mark and Eva, because they're working late.  Thursday at work Mark invites Eva to accompany him to the first meeting on the Kingsman project. To Eva's surprise, the meeting is on the top floor of the Crossfire -- and it's with Gideon (she still didn't have a clue yet who he is, but she finally learns his last name.) She practically falls over, almost literally, by tripping when she enters the conference room, and Gideon catches her. The situation flusters her and amuses him. In the meeting, Gideon puts Eva on the spot by asking her which of Mark's advertising campaign concepts she prefers. Gideon assigns Mark to further develop the one she chooses. As Mark and Eva go to leave, Gideon asks Eva to stay behind for a moment. Once Mark leaves, Gideon makes his big move. He asks if she's sleeping with anyone, because he wants to know if there's anyone in the way of him f***** her. On the surface, she's appalled by his crudeness, and underneath, she's aroused by it. She tells him she's not interested. Downstairs at Waters Field & Lehman, all three of the agency owners congratulate Mark for landing the firm new business with Cross Industries.  Thursday evening at home with Cary Now that Cary has a last name to work with, Cross, he looks up Gideon online -- and this is how Eva finally learns Gideon's full identity. Cary sees it's obvious why Cross Industries picked her boss for the Kingsman project. They discuss whether she ought to get involved with Gideon. Cary thinks she should go for it, but when they discuss her reluctance, he supports her decision to put Gideon off. Cary's amused at the thought of a sexually frustrated Gideon. During this Cary-Eva conversation, we learn she's been told by a shrink she should take calculated risks. We learn Dr. Travis's name, but nothing else yet. The chapter ends with Eva deciding to take go to Brooklyn to check out the Krav Maga studio.

 Nope, we don't know Gideon's middle name. But we do know Eva's -- it's Lauren.Â

Of course, it makes sense that you members online right now would say "bring it" !!!! Â And it's almost bedtime for our U.K. regulars. But let me see what anyone from the Midwest or the West Coast wants to say. The West Coast folks especially would likely still be at work and would not have had a chance yet to curl up at home under the covers with Gideon (swoon) Â So I'll either post it a few hours from now, before I close down my computer for the night this evening, or I will post it very early tomorrow East Coast time (I usually turn on my computer for the day before 6 a.m.) Â By then, everyone would have had a shot at getting some reading time the day before, and it'll be nearly lunchtime in Europe.

 We don't know yet why it is Eva apparently had to run away from Gideon's place almost right away, before they had a chance to really talk. But we do know that for some reason it was "dangerous" for him to come to her apartment an hour later to talk -- so it had to have somehow been dangerous for her to be at his place that evening.  My guess: the cops followed her when Clancy drove her from the Krav Maga studio to Gideon's apartment building. Sometime soon after, Gideon arrived home from working out to find Eva sitting on his doorstep. What happened next, after they hugged?  Only May 7 will tell, when we get to read that entire first page -- that entire first chapter.

Sylvia's explained the reasoning about why June 4 was set in stone as the date the novel comes out -- so that the logistics are all in place to make sure the release goes smoothly. Among the things they want to avoid have happening is running out of copies right away in some places, like what happened with Reflected. Â I was delighted to hear the first chapter is coming out as a teaser on May 7. The early release of the first chapter of a coming best-seller does happen in the publishing world with big authors sometimes. For example, later this year Stephen King has a sequel to the book The Shining is being released in September. But the first chapter of that book, Dr. Sleep, already is out and has been for a while now.

 The important things we learn about Cary Taylor when we meet him for the very first time in Chapter One of Bared are, in order: He's Eva's roommate He'll find any reason, big or small, to celebrate something "Cooking was one of Cary's joys, but it wasn't one of his talents."  Ouch. She must be his BFF if she's willing to eat what he cooks.

OK, informal poll here --- what's the best time for me to post a daily "Reader's Guide" to the chapter we're reading each day. Â Should I post the guide for each chapter the same day we're all reading it -- (i.e. today is Chapter Two, so I post the Chapter Two guide today)? Â OR Â Should I wait until the day after? Post Chapter Two tomorrow, after we hopefully have all finished reading and have already moved onto Chapter Three? Â If you want an example of what I'm talking about, go to page three of this discussion thread. That's where I posted the Chapter One guide yesterday. I did it around this time of the day. Was it OK to post it then, even though some people might be still re-reading? or should I have waited until today to post yesterday's "cheat sheet" of sorts.