LN Cronan

When Eva essentially asked her Dad whether he liked Gideon, the morning after her Dad had met Gideon at dinner, Victor's response was a bland "reserving judgment." I think he was just being kind to Eva, when in fact, Victor had already thrown Gideon onto the reject pile of Eva's really bad choices in men. And Victor was about to show Eva on the computer something that was going to hurt.

Gideon was right up there with Eva's then-boyfriend four-plus years ago that Victor caught getting a b*** job from some other woman (Victor pulled the guy over.) Like that guy long ago, Eva's latest was a cheater. Gideon was seeing another woman, an Internet search Victor showed. There were even pictures to prove it along with headlines screaming "former fiancée."

When Eva asked her Dad for his opinion of Gideon, Victor was holding Eva's computer tablet. On it was the photo he was about to show Eva in order to gauge whether she knew about the other woman. It was an online photo of Gideon and Corrine smiling and laughing, Gideon's arm around Corrine's waist, at a party on Thursday night.

Friday night at Eva's, when the detectives showed up, Gideon hadn't wanted to say in front of Eva (and her Dad) where he'd been Thursday. Dad later figured out online exactly where Gideon was during the evening -- and Dad figured out (correctly) Gideon had something to hide when he offered to talk to the cops while walking them downstairs.

Eva's reaction to the picture -- to tell Dad she needed to make a phone call, and then going to shut herself in her room to do it -- told Victor all he needed to know. If Eva hadn't known about Corrine being in the picture (bad pun intended) before then, she certainly knew now, thanks to Dad's gentle way of letting the cat out of the bag.

I really like Victor as a Dad. He doesn't berate Eva. Eva is a grown woman. But apparently Eva still hadn't fully outgrown the wild side -- anger and lousy boyfriends -- that so alarmed Victor years ago, he sent Eva to counseling. She's no longer the angry person she had been, so she's made progress. But in the man department, well, that's another story.

We the readers know, from a hint dropped in the same sentence about Mr. B*** Job, that there also had been a rock singer Dad didn't approve of. This was our first hint of Brett's existence.

So when Victor reappears in Entwined, I can't see him being at all thrilled about Gideon. Or about Brett either.

AMC asks, "will Gideon be indicted?"

Convicted of murder, no. But indicted, possibly. Your question is THE question I have going into Entwined. Will Gideon get indicted -- formally charged with first degree murder?

All the prosecution needs to do in order to get an indictment is convince a grand jury the prosecution has enough evidence to bring a case to trial. That what the prosecution has right now is enough that they have a good shot at convincing a jury beyond reasonable doubt.

They do NOT have to prove beyond reasonable doubt to the grand jury itself. All the prosecutors need to prove there is the cops have built a strong enough case to arrest the suspect. Then the cops will face the first burden of proving to the court their evidence will stand up (will survive any defense challenges to get stuff thrown out of evidence.) And ultimately, the prosecution will need to sell their case to a jury, who in the end will decide whether the evidence proves the defendant guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

If my theories are right, Graves actually has a half-way decent shot already. Motive AND opportunity.

Motive: Graves is leaving Eva to assume (WRONGLY assume) the cops can't prove motive, because Gideon's cover story will hold up. That Eva had been nothing more to him than some new girlfriend he dumped when the woman Gideon wanted to marry years ago came back to him. When in fact Gideon himself destroyed his own cover at the police station when he took that phone call from Eva.

Graves knew long before she "accidentally ran into Eva" (cough, cough) that the phone call which resulted in Gideon's mask sliding off his face and utter devastation replacing it came from Eva's home number. All Graves would have needed to do was pull phone records. Add onto the pile the fact Gideon attended a family dinner at Eva's on Friday, and we're already half way there. But in order to seal the deal, it would be best to get Gideon to quit living the public lie he's back with Corrine and Eva is history. This is the trap being laid.

The cops need to really strengthen the motive half of the equation, because the opportunity side is weak. They've found a possible (ONLY possible) hole in Gideon's alibi - that hour-long disruption to the party when he could have slipped off. That, along with the fact Gideon could easily get at Nathan in the hotel (because Gideon owned the place) might be enough to fly. Might. If they could couple that with a very strong motive side, they could "go for it" to get an indictment.

I can't wait to find out how juicy the weeks of Gideon/Corrine tabloid gossip has been. Eva quit reading anything about Gideon, because it hurt too much. It's out there, though. We the readers just don't know the gory details of the tabloid frenzy.

 

But now in Entwined, Eva is going to actively be involved in the act to fool the cops. She's now most definitely on a need-to-know basis about everything concerning Gideon's cover that had been going on from the week Nathan died right on up to the present.

 

She already figured out on her own, shortly before the cops approached her, Gideon wasn't sleeping with Corrine. Then thanks to the cops she found out from the cops why Gideon "left" her (Eva).

 

Finally having absolute proof Gideon loves her deeply and has been sexually faithful to her throughout their relationship, it's going to be easier for Eva to stomach the Gideon/Corrine stuff. It's still gonna bug Eva, but not make her insanely jealous any more.

Re-reading the stuff above that I mapped out about Victor, it struck me that Eva might be able to get away with lying to her Dad if Detective Graves tells him her Gideon-did-it theory.

 

Victor might buy Eva's lies because on his own, weeks earlier, Victor used the Internet himself to investigate Gideon the very night the cops showed up at Eva's. Soon after the cops left and Eva shut herself in her room, Victor went online. All it took was a simple search to find out on Thursday night, Gideon was out partying with his former fiancee' (Remember, in addition to the Thursday party photo with the bland caption, there were sensational photos from Monday night of candid shots of Gideon Cross out to dinner with "former fiancee!!!!" Eva herself saw several of those online Tuesday morning.)

 

So when Victor showed the party picture to Eva the next morning, Victor already knew. His casual "that's not his sister, is it?" was simply his indirect way asking Eva if she knew her supposed serious boyfriend was seeing Corrine.

 

The only reason Victor chose the Thursday party photo, not the Monday night out-to-dinner pictures, to spring on Eva was that party photo proved Gideon had a (supposed) solid alibi for at least three hours on Thursday night. The cops wanted to know where Gideon was Thursday. Plus it was kinder to show Eva a relatively bland story and caption instead of some screaming tabloid thing. What if Eva didn't even know yet Corrine existed? (A couple of weeks ago, that would have been exactly the case, though Victor had know way of knowing.)

I think that Victor would be capable of harming Nathan if he found out what Nathan had done to Eva and if he knew that Nathan was in NYC stalking Eva.

I think that Detective Graves probably assumed that Victor knew what Nathan did to Eva in California.

 

Detective Graves showed up at Eva's that night as part of starting to investigate everyone with good reason for wanting Nathan dead, one of whom is Eva.

 

Graves partially lucked out that Eva's father was there, lucked out in that he's a cop who might end up being useful to Graves in the future. Short-term, though, it was rotten luck, because as soon as Victor realized those were homicide detectives actively investigating a case in which Eva might have been involved, he cut off all questioning and told them to leave.

 

However, the cops pretty much got what they needed from Eva before her Dad ordered them to leave. By Eva's own honest reactions, they determined no way was she involved. She didn't even know Nathan was in town, let alone Nathan was stalking her and trying to blackmail her rich stepfather and insanely rich boyfriend. They immediately could cross her right off their list of suspects, accessories, and/or knowledgeable insiders. Why do you think they never did call her down to the police station, lawyer beside her, to ask more questions. They don't need to (at least yet -- they might need her later against Gideon.)

 

Graves also lucked out by figuring out Eva's father didn't even have the first clue about who Nathan was, let alone how sick and dangerous the guy was. And the fact that Eva tried explaining him away as just some bully to her Dad made it apparent Eva wasn't going to tell him the truth.

 

Graves lucked out also that Gideon just happened to be there. (Dumb, but he had to go through with the dinner.) It was a two-fer to watch him as they broke the news to Eva and also to ask him where he had been on Thursday. That's the very first question the cops had for everyone involved. Eva, Gideon, Stanton, Monica. Who's got good alibis (maybe any alibi at all) for Thursday. 

 

Now, to Eva's knowledge, (and thus our own as the readers) her Dad bought her simple explanation that Nathan was a bully. There's no way in h*** he did. He's just digging elsewhere, because it's clear Eva won't talk. We'll know though, what Victor does end up finding out, I hope, when in Entwined Victor comes back to New York.

 

• I'll bet as soon as Eva shut herself in her room, Victor went after Gideon. Who probably left immediately without answering any questions (who, Gideon, refuse to answer questions? Oh yeah.) But Victor didn't let that rest -- soon after, he went online to read up on Gideon. 
• I'm certain that Victor also tried questioning Cary after Eva locked herself in her room and Gideon took off. But it's obvious Cary didn't spill the beans either. Victor would have been in a rage if Cary had. He'd pound on Eva's bedroom door, not casually talk to her the next morning and have fun with her the rest of the day.
• As luck would have it for Victor, the next morning he ran into Eva's mother for the first time in a very long time. A sudden opening. So how much you wanna bet that soon after, he picked up the phone to call Monica and ask "what's the deal between our daughter and your former stepson." Yeah, like he was going to get a straight answer out of her either.
• Having failed to get any info out of Eva, her BFF/roommate, her mother, and her supposed boyfriend, Victor probably would have tried hitting up Detective Graves cop-to-cop. Initially, Graves would have kept her mouth shut. She's got an active homicide case going on trying to figure out whether people close to Eva were involved.

 

But .... now that Graves thinks she's got it figured out and is using Eva as bait to trap the killer, how much you wanna bet she's going to bring Victor into the picture. To hopefully get him (as a cop) convince Eva to "do the right thing" by cooperating with the police against Gideon. This actually is one of several different ways the trap could be sprung.

Does anyone think that Raul may serve as a body double for Gideon?

You know --to confuse anyone who may be tailing him---like the police?

 

Hmmmm .... there's an interesting theory. But I did find the physical description we have of Raul (it's on page 259 of Reflected) and he's not going to cut it for body double. From Eva, Raul is " .... much younger than Angus; early thirties was my guess. He looked Latino, with rich caramel-hued skin, and dark eyes."

 

However, I can totally see Gideon doing something like having one of his cars drive off (or even planes fly off) in a way to fool the cops into thinking Gideon left New York City on an extended business trip. Like maybe out to Vegas, where he owns casinos and hotels. Meanwhile, he's actually still in the city, sneaking around.

 

I very much like your theory of him distracting the cops in order to physically throw them off tailing him.

 

However, it's my belief is it's Eva being tailed by the cops. She'd be much easier to follow. Especially because (though she didn't know it at the time) the very same morning the cops found Nathan's body was the morning she quit accepting chauffeured rides from Angus (and that one time from Raul.) In fact, between the murder and the end of Reflected, only once did Eva get into the car for Angus -- it was because she needed to find out where Corrine lived.

 

My theories here are ....

• Within the first 24 hours, the cops went to see all the top "persons of interest" (that's cop speak for someone they think was involved somehow in a crime: the perpetrator, an accessory, or a witness with very serious inside information.) These persons were Eva herself, Gideon, Stanton and Monica, any one of whom (h*** all of whom) would have reason for wanting Nathan dead.
• Within 48 hours (the magic window for breaks in a homicide case) the cops narrowed down their list to two individuals: Gideon and Stanton. Trying to figure out whether one or both put out a contract kill.
• Soon after, Detective Graves developed her theory Gideon was the killer, and rather than hiring the job out, did the deed with his own hands. He had access to the murder site (he owned the building.) She's probably still trying to figure out whether Stanton was an accessory.
• At this point, if not sooner, Graves had already pulled phone records for both men and started on an ongoing basis pulling video surveillance of both men -- in order to see any ongoing contact between the two of them (Gideon and Stanton) and/or each of them and Eva. She's the common link. I'm not saying the cops would find anything. Only that they'd look hard. Gideon, being smart, avoided all contact with Eva because of this.
• Then Graves began to construct her case against Gideon based on motive and opportunity, the two crucial things she needs to prove. In order to actually have an excellent shot at getting him (to get any murderer) convicted, the prosecution has to prove beyond reasonable doubt the accused had both "motive and opportunity."
• "Opportunity" means a criminal can actually have the opportunity to commit the crime. Has thw ability to get to the crime scene at the time of the murder and get to the victim himself/herself. The ultimate defense against opportunity is an alibi. In Gideon's case, an unbreakable alibi would mean there's no way he could have stabbed Nathan himself -- he was somewhere else during the time period (a couple of hours estimate) Nathan died. There are witnesses to prove he was somewhere else. 
• Graves has actually found the window of opportunity -- that period of around an hour where the party at the hotel got disrupted by a fire there. She's gone over every other inch of Gideon's afternoon and night -- it's the only possible hole for him to have slipped off somewhere.
• But knowing it and proving it beyond reasonable doubt is two different things. She's been trying hard to break that alibi. The best she's got right now is "possible" NOT definite. Alone, that's not gonna fly.
• So now she's attacking the other half of Gideon's case, the motive. If the prosecution can convince a jury Gideon had solid motive, then that coupled with a possible hole in his alibi might be enough to convict him.
• Just like Gideon carefully set up an alibi, he carefully planned to deal with motive. The motive (which is true here) is that he loves Eva so much he'd kill to protect her. Instead, he's made it look like Eva was simply a new girlfriend who came out on the losing end of a love triangle. Right around the same time he started dating her, a woman he once wanted to marry suddenly became available and wanted him back. He had his choice between two women, and he chose the former fiancee. He even kicked the new girlfriend to the curb. So what would be his motive for killing for a woman he didn't even want as his first choice?

So where I think we now stand as Reflected ended and Entwined is about to begin .....

 

• Having failed to solidly undo Gideon's alibi, the cops are now actively trying to undo his lack of clear motive. They're trying to prove Gideon publicly choosing Corrine and completely kicking Eva to the curb is all one big, fat, elaborate lie. The real truth is his plan is actually very convincing proof of premeditation on Gideon's part. Not only did he plan to cover himself with an alibi, he very elaborately planned to do away with any motive the cops could attempt to prove.
• To expose the lie and to prove true motive, they've set a trap. They've tricked Eva into thinking she can go back to Gideon, coast clear. It's no longer necessary for Gideon to live a lie. Even though the cops know he did it, they're going to drop the matter, because they consider what he did a form of justifiable homicide.
• When in fact, as soon as he starts living the truth, that he loves Eva with all his heart and never wanted Corrine, boom, the cops going to pounce. There are several different ways they can use Eva against Gideon, even without her full cooperation. Best of all would be for Gideon to confess to her. Get a confession out of him and then force it out of her, and they have GOT him. The only thing even better than proving motive and opportunity is getting a confession. That's practically a slam dunk.
• The very same time that Graves "accidentally ran into" Eva and spilled the beans, the cops had a tail in place to follow Eva from the Krav Maga studio. They counted on her heading straight to Gideon's apartment, which is exactly what she did. Meanwhile, Gideon's own expert hidden tail on Eva followed the cops following Eva. She and Gideon barely hugged one another before his own people warned him the cops had followed her. Gideon tells her to leave immediately.
• This, I believe, is why the excerpt of Entwined that sets the scene one hour later at her apartment indicates she and Gideon never got a real chance to talk. She left (or was sent away) immediately. Now she's back at her place, wondering whether she'll ever get to talk to him. Meanwhile, he's disguised himself and snuck into her building to see her. It's "dangerous" but he can't help himself. He has to know whether the truth means he's lost Eva forever.

I actually believe those new contemporary novels will come out Aug. 15 and Nov. 15. Because Sylvia has become a wildly successful author, so successful now that her novels come up for pre-order status. When a publisher is taking pre-orders from readers, that publisher will make certain a reader gets something exactly when promised.

 

It was only recently that Entwined jumped to pre-order status. It's my educated guess that halfway through the Crossfire series, Sylvia became a victim of her own success to Penguin Books. It's one thing for a publisher to co-ordinate the release of books by a good author, especially an author in a niche genre (like romance.) It's a completely different and far more complex process to release books from an author now so successful that millions of her books are being sold and that she has jumped to main stream standing.

 

At a time when all of a sudden the romance genre became really big business through the door Fifty Shades opened, Sylvia Day suddenly emerged as well known as E.L. James. She went from a genre author to serious main stream with the Crossfire novels being positioned at the front of the store, not in the romance aisle. Entwined may have gotten pushed back a couple of times, because this was going in the middle of when Sylvia was gaining her main stream standing. But that, I can almost guarantee, is the last time that's going to happen to Sylvia. Moving forward, Penguin Books is going to deliver on the date the company promises, not delaying anything any more.

   

Hi LNCronan,

I am beginning wonder whether all of this waiting has turned you into a “red herring†hunter (wink, wink) . I just wanted to clarify from stand point that Nathan was always dangerous. He escalated from cat killer, brutal rapist and torturer, blackmailer and yes potential murderer (I take it from Detective Graves view Nathan was plotting Eva’s demise). I could also imagine that Nathan was busy torturing and killing neighbourhood cats before he escalated to his violent crimes. I would almost bet money on it.

 

Yep, Nathan always was dangerous - no question. Even as a teen-ager, he was a truly evil individual. One could argue that the potential for anything, even murder, was there from the get-go, probably from even when Nathan was a kid.

 

But there's a huge, very scary difference between being "capable of anything" and actually being actively homicidal. All the signs pointed to Nathan having escalated all the way to being actively homicidal, and what's worse, his self control was starting to slip -- so it was only a matter of time before he killed.

 

Detective Graves does not believe Nathan had set out to kill Cary. Her theory was the beating was meant to intimidate Gideon. But here's the awful thing - once Nathan got going, he went postal. And he could have ended up killing Cary anyway. Even one good blow to the head with a bat can cause a fatal head injury. Same deal with blows to the chest hard enough to break ribs -- that can cause fatal internal injuries.

 

Someone can start by simply meaning to beat someone up and lose control so badly the person ends up killing the victim. Especially when a person is using a weapon like a bat. Even when using something like a pool stick or a bottle.  That happens all the time in fatal barroom brawls.

 

Unlike Gideon, who supposedly maintains enough control to know when to stop, Nathan went into a frenzy. I don't believe for a second Nathan stopped on his own -- he got interrupted and ran. (You know what my theory on that is -- the person tailing him at a safe distance came running, but I'm willing to concede some bystander approached.)

 

I further believe that soon after he learned about the beating, Gideon had his security people search Nathan's hotel room top to bottom -- and would have gotten the same expert conclusion that Graves came to, which was the sort of stuff found is the sort of stuff one finds after a stalker has killed his/her victim. Stuff found "after it's too late" is how Graves characterized it.

 

After all, the best of the best private security people are elite retired cops and military, who upon achieving minimum retirement age, trade their public servant salaries for extremely lucrative private salaries in the security profession.

 

Gideon had some sort of private meeting with his security people Tuesday night at his apartment. My guess is the expert opinion he got was Nathan was a full-fledged homicidal maniac, an expert opinion from one or more retired homicide cops now working for him.

If Corrine is going to go all "Fatal Attraction," (as we're joking) it's a good thing Eva doesn't own a pet anything. Cat, dog, bunny, goldfish.

 

Seriously, though, the horror of having her pet cat killed and left on her bed as a warning to keep silent she's being systematically raped in her own home is awful. When Eva told Gideon that part of the story, his immediate response was ...

 

"Jesus Christ." His chest was heaving. "He wasn't just f****** up, he was insane."

Hi LNCronan,

I have to wonder to myself what exactly Christopher Jr. would have to say to Magdalene in order to get her into bed. There is something sort of sick and twisted about a woman commiserating with a man about her heartbreak while she screws his brother. Is it just me or does that stink?

Why is it that Christopher Jr. became the go-to guy for sex and commiseration about Gideon? Why sleep with him? Did she not realize that Gideon wouldn’t want to sleep with her if she slept with his brother?

 

Magdalene would have been putty in Christopher's hands, because of the self-esteem issues she's got, and because of what a manipulative S of a B he is. 

 

Signs that Magdalene really needed to have her head examined, not just get a pretty haircut:

 

• Instead of relying upon her own attractiveness, she molded herself into trying to remind Gideon of Corrine. Magdalene wore the same hairstyle (long straight black hair) as Corrine.
• Magdalene had, in her own mind, been competing against Corrine for years. Even though Corrine had dumped Gideon, married another man, and (as the story first opened in Bared) been living in Europe for years. Still, Magdalene was competing against a memory.
• For all we know, Magdalene was competing against Corrine even while she and Gideon were still together all those years ago. The story strongly suggests Magdalene knew the couple back in the day. So did she long for Gideon even then, and immediately put herself into position to fill the vacancy Corrine created by leaving?
• Magdalene was willing to appear to all the world as the main girlfriend of a celebrity who actually was publicly dating other women too. Magdalene was the woman most photographed with Gideon, but per the Internet research Cary gave Eva just before she went out on her first date with Gideon, he was photographed with others too (all of them brunettes, of course.)
• Whatever the public might have assumed (Gideon was lovers with some or all of those trophy dates, especially Magdalene) the truth was that in fact it was a celibate social arrangement. Magdalene is fully aware that hidden out of the spotlight, Gideon sleeps around with other women that he used only for sex.
• Magdalene was fooling herself into believing the sleeping around was something Gideon just needed to get out of his system. Then he'd marry her.
• She was actually willing to tolerate being the arm candy of a sexually active man who didn't want her sexually, tolerate it because her long-range goal was to upgrade from trophy girlfriend to trophy wife. I'll bet Magdalene would have waited until the wedding night to sleep with Gideon.
• But here's the thing -- would she have tolerated Gideon having mistresses after he married her? I'll bet she would have been willing to do even that.
• In the meantime, she was so sexually frustrated that she actually carried on an affair (of sort - it's a stretch to call it an affair) behind Gideon's back with his own half brother.

 

I wonder whether Christopher actually is what Dr. Lucas accused Gideon of being: a narcissistic sociopath and a misogynist. Wouldn't that be a red herring. One of the story's open villains (Lucas) accusing the hero (Gideon) of being something he's not, all the while the hero is providing little red flags to the heroine (Eva) that another character (Christopher Jr.) is seriously mentally broken. Here are some red flags I picked up:

 

• From the night Christopher met Eva, who was on her first date with Gideon at the time, he tried hitting on her. He was still hitting on her at the end of Reflected. After Eva had lunch with him that day, he told Eva he wants to take her out (yeah, like that's gonna happen.)
• From that first night, Gideon warned Eva to stay away from Christopher. At the time, we'd be led to think it was just Gideon's possessiveness. But once we found out about Christopher using Magdalene, we knew Gideon had good reason to warn off Eva.
• Gideon mentioned he thought Magdalene "would have been safe" from Christopher based on the fact her mother and Christopher's/Gideon's own mother were best friends. This implies Christopher has had a regular pattern of seducing women and using them. Gideon assumed (wrongly) a woman whose family was very close to Christopher's own family would be off limits to even Christopher. He wouldn't be so dumb as to use/abuse someone close to the family. Unfortunately, Gideon found out that even a Magdalene wasn't safe.
• Gideon once described his half-brother to Eva as being unstable and dangerous. And that Gideon has tried everything (money, threats) to deal with Christopher, all in vain. The best Gideon can do, so he feels, is to try to manage Christopher.

 

Narcissists can be extremely charming on the surface in order to get people to like them and pay attention to them. It's a form of manipulation. Sociopaths (a layman's term for borderline personality disorder) can also be charming and manipulative. And it's pretty obvious Christopher has a low opinion of women and has no problem using them (and in the case of Magdalene emotionally abusing her by manipulating her distress.) That's something a misogynist does.

In the United States medical system, which is a private for-profit system truly run by the insurance companies paying the bills, PhD students who already possess bachelor's and/or masters degrees in psychology are medically/legally qualified to diagnose and treat some patients. And be paid to do it by insurance companies. Even while still in school studying for a doctorate. Happens all the time, especially because it's not uncommon in the United States for someone to get his/her bachelors and masters degrees studying full time, then start working full time in the human services/mental health profession while simultaneously going to school part time in order to pursue a PhD.

 

I've had two friends do just this (in fact, one of them with a master's in clinical social work has been working for more than a decade as a therapist at a psychiatric hospital while studying, one course at a time, to get her doctorate.) By the time my friend has her PhD, she'll also have many years of clinical experience under her belt. Already, she's far more of a real-life skilled professional to treat patients than some newly-minted PhD who went to college full-time uninterrupted. When that newly-minted PhD was still in high school, my friend was working full-time helping people get better and was already taking post-graduate level courses.

 

I'm not saying how the Vidals handled Gideon was right. Ethically it was all wrong, and legally some very serious laws were broken. However, the medical ethics and legal violations did not include having a person studying for but not yet completed a PhD provide anger-management therapy to a patient. Most especially someone under the (supposed) direct supervision of a clinician (the woman) who was either a PhD psychologist or a medical doctor psychiatrist.

 

Honestly, GiGi, I live less than an hour south of the Canadian border, and there are some times when I wish I were a citizen of your country. Whose medical system, I believe, is much fairer and much more ethical -- the only goal being providing the best possible care for patients. And whose standards of care are much higher, including the standard of which professionals provide what treatments. Down here, the goal is for the hospitals, medical insurance companies, and especially the drug companies, to make the best possible profits. Which means whenever possible paying clinicians who do not bear the title "Dr." to treat patients. They're far less expensive than Drs. And if someone requires a medical doctor, trying whenever possible to have primary care physicians manage chronic conditions instead of specialists.

 

And with that, I'm climbing down off my soap box about how medical patients in this country suffer financially -- and how it is all too feasible for even filthy rich parents privately paying out of pocket and able to afford the best to actually be able to get away with short-changing the level of care given to a child they didn't care about enough. Except for the whole sexual abuse thing and the cover-up, the level of care Gideon got passed muster here.  In fact, if he were a regular kid with medical insurance, he most likely would have gotten therapy from a non-PhD. And only after his parents fought the insurance company to agree to let him see a therapist.

 

Very, very sad :(

Last thing for the morning, in answer to GiGi's rhetorical question, "Sylvia herself said that Corinne was a good woman, so is Sylvia now lying to us as well. First we can believe her words and then we can't Which is it?

Two words: red herring. Making us believe something at a certain point in the unfolding narrative. Which is different from lying. Something might be true at first, but then radically change later. Which is different from something never having been true to begin with. The very nature of the literary device red herring is to deliberately mislead the reader into believing one thing in order to send the reader down one path. But then later  -- boom -- the plot twists and leads the reader down another path, to where the story had been going all along -- a different place. Red herrings are always one of two things: something that used to be true becoming no longer true -- or -- something was never true to begin with.

 

I think with Corrine, she started out as actually good. But jealousy and desperation later changed her into something else. Maybe at the time of Bared, when Sylvia said Corrine was good, Corrine actually was. But what Sylvia did not say was Corrine would always remain good, That in Reflected and Entwined, Corrine would still be good. See the difference?

At the time, Sylvia said Corrine was good, this was the Corrine we all met at the very end Bared to You. The only Corrine in existence to the outside world then. Bared was the only Crossfire novel published: Reflected had not yet been released, and Entwined was still in the process of being written.

The Corrine we see through Eva's eyes in Bared was sweet, kind, and even soothing. Corrine herself told Eva she was grateful to Eva for changing Gideon's life. But we did have a little red flag - Corrine was phoning Gideon daily. Actively pursuing him, in other words. And at the end of Bared, Corrine had just an hour before finally met Eva -- and seen Gideon with Eva -- for the first time with her own eyes.

 

The Corrine we see in Reflected is a conniver determined to destroy what Gideon has with Eva by running Eva off for good, doing so by calculatedly manipulating Eva's weaknesses. This is not a good woman anymore. What changed? Now she knows for certain the man she's been in love with for ten years really has fallen passionately in love with Eva. Corrine's hopes have turned bitter, and with them, herself. She's no longer the kind person who crashed that fundraiser dinner. That night changed her life forever, and next morning, day one of Reflected, she woke up a different person.

Here's a hypothetical of Sylvia saying something is true at the time of Bared but then later becomes not true,  because a character changes.

 

What if someone asked Sylvia, when only Bared was out, whether or not Gideon was a violent adult. We knew then that he had violent nightmares of himself as a teenager hurting the man who raped him. Maybe those nightmares were revenge fantasy. Gideon never actually acted with great violence in real life, either as a teen or as a man at that point in time. So if Sylvia was asked then whether or not Gideon actually is violent (when awake) Sylvia might have said Gideon's extremely violent only in his dreams. She'd certainly never say something at that time Gideon is capable of cold-blooded murder. So it would be a red herring to let us think Gideon would always remain a good man not capable of extreme violence.

In Reflected, the very character of Gideon himself changed to someone capable of the ultimate violence - stabbing a man to death in cold blood in a very calculated plot to get him. But this was because Gideon's own life changed. Nathan evolved from someone just in Eva's past to a present-day blackmailer and then to a dangerously violent man capable of murder himself and a real danger to the one person Gideon loved with all his heart and soul. For the very best of motives (to save Eva's life) Gideon turned into a killer.

I hope that makes sense -- that Sylvia might say one thing about a character to describe how that character publicly stood at the time she said it, but then later on, the character changes (for the better or worse.) as the narrative evolves and later books are published.

   

Hi LNCronan,

I hope Victor finds out the good old fashioned way, with his detective skills. I think that could make for some really interesting dialogue between all of the characters and it could also provide for more friction and possibly more interesting storylines. Could you just imagine the discussions? Juicy! Sigh!!

 

I can see Victor initially as very anti-Gideon when he learns just enough to know Gideon is a suspected murderer, horrified at what Gideon did and he (Victor) wanting to save his daughter from having anything to do with a very dangerous man. But then when Victor learns the full truth about why Gideon did it, he'll come over to Gideon's side, understanding that Gideon saved his daughter's life from a rapist/stalker would-be killer. Victor would wish he'd had the chance to kill Nathan himself.

 

It'd be sweet, too, if Victor on his own, using his own police skills, figures out the deep, dark secret of Nathan's criminal past, his more recent crimes (like beating Cary half to death) and just how truly dangerous a man Nathan had been. In other words, Victor puts the pieces together himself instead of getting the info leaked to him by Detective Graves.

 

Victor is a street cop, pieces of the story strongly suggests. On her desk at work, Eva's got a picture of him in his cruiser, during one of her weekly calls to her Dad, he had to cut the conversation short in order to respond to a police call, and in the not-too-distant past, he pulled over one of Eva's then-boyfriends getting a b*** job from another woman. I envision him as a patrol supervisor -- skilled and experienced, overseeing much younger cops, but still out there on the street himself, the most dangerous position in police ranks. Salt of the earth and a courageous man to stay out there at an age where he easily could be behind a desk.

 

Detective Shelley Graves is at the opposite end of the police spectrum from street cop. She is a homicide detective, the elite of the elite. Cops need to possess outstanding skills and a long track record of solving cases in order to get there. Plus many detectives, especially homicide ones, usually are college educated, having degrees in criminal justice. Another contrast to Victor, who worked hard to pay Eva's tuition for San Diego State but probably never went to college himself.

Hi GiGi!

 

You posed the excellent question, " ....if Gideon jilts Corinne, do you think that she may team up with Christopher Jr. to seek revenge? Who knows better about how to push this man's buttons than these two."

 

Now, now, you just contradicted yourself (giggling good naturedly). Isn't Corrine a good woman? Why would she seek revenge by teaming up with a sworn enemy of Gideon's.  Good women don't do bad things.

 

Seriously, though, I can see Christopher attempting to repeat with Corrine the exact same thing Christopher did with Magdalene - "comforting" Corrine. I suspect he socially connected with Corrine immediately upon her moving back to New York, even while Gideon was still openly dating (and sleeping with) Eva. 

 

What might happen when Corrine finds out she had been in the same situation Magdalene used to be. The trophy girlfriend everyone (herself included) assumes is in first place to become Gideon's wife. But Gideon gets sex elsewhere. Magdalene was willing to put up with that for the time being. Corrine? I think not, especially because unlike Magdalene, Gideon has slept with Corrine in the past. So his seeing Corrine publicly but sleeping with Eva behind her back would be a form of sexual rejection.

 

When Eva met Christopher to take him to lunch (near the end of Reflected) Christopher asked Eva whether her inviting him had anything to do with " .... Gideon getting back together with Corrine." Was Christopher just assuming that based on press photos? Or was Christopher saying that because Corrine herself told him she believes it. Corrine's going around saying she got Gideon to come back, and Gideon's not denying it. (Because Gideon can't deny it to other people. He couldn't even deny it to Eva herself.)

 

So yeah, I can see Christopher, Gideon's sworn enemy, all too willing to help a scorned Corrine wanting revenge for feeling she was deliberately misled, cheated on in a way, or even outright jilted. That'd be a juicy plot twist in Entwined. In fact, it could even be the basis of a fourth Crossfire novel beyond Entwined.

 

How's this for a couple of Book Four theories: 

 

• Entwined ends happily with Gideon and Eva getting married. Corrine, the publicly scorned woman, seeks revenge against the pair of them in Book Four. Maybe by trying to drag their secret pasts into the public spotlight? Smearing the celebrity couple?
• Gideon finally faces down his family in Entwined, and we learn just how "unstable and dangerous" Christopher Jr. actually is (Gideon described him as that way to Eva), and how evil Christopher Sr. is, and how corrupt Dr. Lucas is. Gideon resolves his own side of unfinished business with them all. But in Book Four, they all lash back by trying to hurt Gideon in new ways -- because for them, their business with Gideon Cross is far from finished. He hurts them, then they turn around t** for tat seeking revenge.

Christopher is around 5-6 years younger than Gideon, and Gideon met Corrine at age 18, so that makes Christopher 12-13 at the time. We're not sure exactly when Gideon/Corrine got engaged, but the story strongly suggests it was in his very early 20s. She broke it off a year later. That makes Christopher still somewhere in high school age. Then Corrine married and moved to France.

 

I can see Christopher having a teen-aged fixation on Gideon's gorgeous girlfriend. But because Gideon was estranged from his family, (and the story strongly suggests he almost never step foot in the Vidal mansion once he moved out) Christopher would have barely known Corrine years ago. In fact, it's possible he never even met her back when she was Gideon's college sweetheart and then fiancee. I can see him having some sort of elaborate fantasy image of her though.

 

Now Christopher is in his early 20s, already some sort of executive at Vidal Records and mingling with music stars. He's pretty full of himself. And I can definitely see him believing the whole lie that Gideon jumped at the chance to get Corrine back as soon as she left her husband and moved back to New York. That Gideon held a torch all those years -- Corrine was the "one who got away."

 

Especially because this "one who got away" is what Magdalene firmly believed. Magdalene gave up on Gideon for good when Corrine came back into the picture. I'll bet back in the day before Eva, when Magdalene was sleeping with Christopher while convinced she still would be Gideon's wife some day, that she probably filled Christopher's head with all kinds of theories about the importance Corrine played in Gideon's life. The story strongly suggests Magdalene actually knew Corrine back in the day.

 

So I can definitely see Christopher buzzing around Corrine behind Gideon's back, trying to seduce her. Believing (falsely) Gideon's gonna marry Corrine once her divorce is final. It would be the ultimate revenge in the woman department for Christopher to get Gideon's future wife into bed.

The full announcement, on her Facebook page, mostly concerned other novels, but she did promise the Entwined publication date is absolutely firm - the publisher's not going to change it. She also hinted of more Crossfire news coming in the future. No, she didn't announced a fourth book in the series is a definite -- not yet.

 

The big announcement is that she has a new contemporary series coming out -- two brand new modern characters we've not met before. The first book is due to be released on Aug. 15 and the second on Nov. 15.

Re: Victor, Eva's father, I wonder whether Eva's new friend (or possible worse nightmare) Detective Shelley Graves is going to spill the beans to Eva's Dad too. Graves knows he's a cop -- and Victor briefly met Graves at Eva's apartment the night the detectives  showed up to question Eva, so Victor know Graves' name plus the fact she works in homicide at the NYPD. 

 

To Eva's knowledge (and thus our knowledge) we don't know who Victor's been talking to. But he's got to be asking questions, and my guess is he's decided to ask other people instead of Eva herself. And hitting a wall of silence. Cary's not going to tell him Nathan was a rapist, not a "bully." If he tried reaching Monica about her now-deceased former stepson, Monica wouldn't even return a call. Gideon? Yeah, right, Victor, try getting any answers out of that guy. 

 

And so finally frustrated by the fact no one around Eva will talk, Victor decides to try police back channels. A phone call to Graves? Maybe he's even already tried it days ago, but got silence from Graves. But now for her own motives, Graves is willing to tell Victor things.

I do need to quit stringing up Corrine though. I think I've beat her up enough. But she is not a good woman IMHO. Her being described as such in Bared was a red herring. She was rotten in Reflected, and I fear she's going to be a danger in Entwined, a danger to the secret love affair Gideon and Eva will conduct.

 

I'm going to gun for Christopher Jr. next. Because while Corrine has bluntly been trying to steal Gideon away from Eva, Christopher has been subtly trying to seduce Eva in order to play his own dirty trick on the half-brother he hates, Gideon.

 

I've got to do some research into the books to find all the scenes in which Christopher crosses Eva's path directly plus the background story stuff she'd learn from Gideon himself. Because somewhere in the text (gotta find the page) is a possible red flag of Gideon describing Christopher as dangerous and unstable.

 

And I think Eva letting Christopher off easy near the end of Reflected is a red herring. Dr. Lucas, Elizabeth Vidal, and Corrine, all on Eva's hit list, caught h*** between Saturday night and Tuesday morning. But at lunchtime Tuesday, when Eva had worked her way down her hit list to Christopher, she ended up letting him off easy. Way too easy. Serious underestimation of the guy?

 

We've got a snippet out there about Gideon trying (in vain) to make Eva quit fighting his own battle. Could the battle in question be Christopher?

Some of the snippets themselves might be red herrings -- all are labelled as might be changed or deleted prior to publication. But I can't see Sylvia doing that to us. Some of us, me included, would be hollering (er posting) bloody murder about wanting to read exactly what Gideon did to (and with) Eva in that nightclub, her a "bad girl" needing to be "punished" and now pinned up against a wall, pantiless and grinding against Gideon's leg. That's got to be in the book. 

 

But what is "gospel" now is the official book excerpt on Sylvia's main Web site and now being used to promote the coming novel. It's the scene, from Eva's point of view, an hour after Reflected ends with her hugging Gideon on his doorstep. Now she'd back at her apartment. She's just come out of the shower. Gideon, disguised in sweats and wearing a baseball cap, has snuck into her apartment.

 

Here's the link to the main page for the forthcoming Entwined novel: http://www.sylviaday.com/books/entwined-with-you/

Morning, GiGi ....

My opinion is exactly that -- she didn't get additional opinions from other specialists. Wanna know why (in addition to the fact the woman was a rotten mother.) Who's paying the bills? Mr. Christopher Vidal Sr., that's who.

Who probably just bribed a couple of pediatricians in order to completely cover up the crime. Bribes that would go to waste if another set of specialists got involved -- because the more people involved, the greater the chance that one of them "can't be bought" and would blow the whistle to outside authorities, which is the ethical and legal thing a medical professional is required to do.

Here's my set of theories about how it all went down.

 

• Self-centered Elizabeth Vidal is all wrapped up in being coddled through her rough pregnancy.
• The psychologist/psychiatrist Vidal originally hired to treat Gideon has instead shifted all her attention to Elizabeth. Because Vidal pays her extra to do so.
• Remember, Vidal wasn't getting Gideon help for the kid's own sake. It was for the sake of his stressed wife and own son (Christopher Jr.) who'd started imitating Gideon's physical outbursts.
• Gideon gets shunted off onto the male doctoral student who'd been accompanying the main therapist now working with Elizabeth.
• The guy starts "treating" Gideon -- and abusing him. No one's really looking anyway. Not even his own supervisor.
• Something happens that gets Elizabeth's attention. Someone raises concerns. (Angus, maybe, who spends alone time with Gideon driving him to and from and can see something has changed. Angus does not know what exactly really is wrong, only that something's now really off)
• The doctoral student (who is, in the United States, already qualified by his lesser degrees to diagnose some conditions) feeds Elizabeth the story that Gideon's a liar and seriously ill.
• Vidal offers to get a sort of "second opinion" but not from another shrink. From a pediatrician.
• Pediatrician number one comes in. Genuinely finds nothing physical, because at the time, the abuse involved hand jobs, which would not leave physical trauma signs. Tells Elizabeth the exam found nothing.
• Vidal bribes the pediatrician to keep his/her mouth shut instead of outside reporting the mere accusations abuse might be going on. Yes, the pediatrician was doing something unethical and illegal by keeping his/her mouth shut. But after all, there weren't marks on the kid. So the doctor accepts a second fat check (on top of the original consultation fee Vidal paid) to keep quiet.
• The doctoral student then says, "See. I was right. Your son is lying. Because he's mentally ill and needs help. Let me try to work with him."
• Abuser is allowed to continue to treat Gideon. Escalates to anal r*** Now the coast is clear, because the kid's own mother doesn't believe a word the kid is saying.
• Something about Gideon continues to make Elizabeth uneasy. Vidal says, "Dear, I'll put your mind at ease. How about we get a second opinion with another pediatrician?"
• Vidal hires Dr. Lucas as the second pediatrician. At the time, Lucas is fresh out of medical school and probably saddled with well over $100,000 in student loans to pay back. He was already bought even before he stepped foot in the Vidal mansion.
• Lucas examines Gideon -- and does find the unmistakable physical trauma marks forcible anal r*** leaves on a child.
• Vidal seriously ups the bribe. Not only does he offer to pay Lucas' loans, but he offers to help Lucas get established in practice. Lucas, a greedy and socially ambitious man, sells his soul.
• At this point, Vidal does get rid of the doctoral student and the shrink too, in order to continue to cover up the crime against Gideon AND Vidal's own crime of bribery.
• Elizabeth is persuaded to accept the fact the kid has personality disorders and there's not much that can be done.

Note: in real life, personality disorders are extremely difficult to treat -- the mental health community has not yet figured out how to really fix folks broken with things like narcissism and borderline personality disorder (the formal name for sociopath.) The treatments currently available are of limited use. Borderline especially, a friend of mine who is a psychologist one told me, the bane of therapists existence.

Gideon never gets another bit of professional help. Grows up an "alienated" kid in his own family. Dismissed as effed up. Not truly loved by his mother, who is too wrapped up in her own social life. Ignored by his stepfather, who is a rotten human being behind closed doors. Gideon shuts himself down into a shell, creating the mask he would later be able to don so quickly as a man. Counts the days until he's 18.

But one adult does care and does become a positive role model in his life -- almost a surrogate Dad to replace the biological one who killed himself and the step one who failed him utterly. Angus. Angus teaches Gideon how to channel his anger positively through physical activity (like learning martial arts.) And who listens to Gideon driving him to and from school, asking him about his day. Every day. Earns Gideon's lifelong loyalty, and soon after Gideon finally leaves that household and has the money to take Angus with him, hires Angus.

In RIY when Eva gave her house key back to Gideon she said "I thought he might have whispered something, but I didn't catch it if he did"!!!!!!!  A fan asked Sylvia Day what did Gideon say & her response was that was an EWY spoiler so I know she will elaborate on it in EWY.  Anyway as I was reading Bared To You "AGAIN" for about the 15th time, Eva said in the beginning when Gideon made her for the first time b4 the Advocacy Dinner "I thought I heard him speak hoarsely, but I lost the words.  Do you think he said the same thing both times & it will be explained in EWY and if so what do you think it was that Gideon said!  I'm thinking that he was whispering "I Love You"!  What does everyone else think?

 

I think you're right Shycharn -- Gideon hoarsely said "I love you" to Eva in the middle of them making love their first time in the limo, words she didn't catch at the time.

 

Sylvia has hinted Gideon used the L-word too low for Eva to catch when Eva gave Gideon back her house key. At the time, Eva had run after Gideon for the first time (instead of the other way around) following one of his violent nightmares. Sylvia explained in another posting this development was crucial because for the first time, Eva broke her pattern of running away from him. For him, everything changed. For anyone looking for a good reason to re-read a part of Reflected (who, us?) the scene starts on page 122.

Working my imaginary way into Gideon's head about the real threat the whole Corrine situation had been to his relationship with Eva, and how close the relationship nearly got destroyed through the combination three things: Eva's raging insecurities and jealousies (Eva's bad), his stupid love triangle plan going horribly wrong (Gideon's bad) and Corrine playing dirty tricks behind his back to try to make Eva run away forever (Corrine's very bad.)

 

 .... there's an important scene on page 68 of Reflected, where Eva's talking to Cary first thing in the morning about the whole Corrine mess. We're led to believe Gideon is still asleep in Eva's room (red herring to deceive us into thinking the Cary/Eva conversation was private.) But Gideon was kind of withdrawn the next time he and Eva spend time together (the flight to Las Vegas later that evening.) Red flag, I think he was extra anxious about how things were going between him and Eva, which was really kinda tenuous. 

 

Because besides the whole Corrine thing, Cary also pointed out to Eva the stress Gideon was causing her had started triggering Nathan nightmares, which she hadn't had in a while but had a really bad one the night before. So on top of the Eva's serious insecurity problems, now Gideon's scared about the Nathan stuff triggering her.

 

I'll skip the Nathan stress nightmare part of it, which is a separate issue, and concentrate here on the whole Corrine stress part of it. Before I recount the Corrine related part of the conversation Gideon, I think, eavesdropped on, it's important to recount exactly what led up to Cary and Eva talking early that morning.

 

• It was only about 36 hours before that Eva found out about Corrine for the first time, when Corrine crashed that fundraiser dinner. 
• Eva pulled a runner at the dinner. Gideon chased after her and ended up having to work very hard to convince Eva he was never "in love" with Corrine and was only trying to be a friend. At least for than night, it worked. This is where we had our Bared to You happy ending.
• BUT very next day (we're now into Reflected), Corrine pulled the "nooner" stunt. The result was Eva fighting with Gideon the rest of the day over Corrine. They were still fighting that evening when they had their first counseling session with Dr. Petersen, a session where it slipped out that Gideon hadn't yet cleared out the f*** pad at the hotel.
• That night, when Gideon slept over Eva's apartment (and he had to talk his way into getting her to agree he could stay over), she had a really bad Nathan nightmare. He'd gone to clean out the f*** pad after she fell asleep. When he got back, she was in the middle of the terrible nightmare. So they never got to talk about him getting rid of the f*** pad.

 

So here we are now, early the next morning. Cary and Eva are talking. This is part of what Gideon likely overheard, a conversation full of red flags that would spell coming serious trouble:

 

"Do you think Cross had a nooner with his ex?" (Cary) asked bluntly.

"No"

"Are you sure?"

Sucking in a deep breath, I took a fortifying gulp and admitted, "Mostly. I think I'm the one doing it for him now. It's pretty hot with us, you know. But his ex has some kind of hold on him. He says it's guilt, but that doesn't explain his brunette fascination."

"It explains why you lost it and hit him -- her being around again is eating at you. And he still won't tell you what's going on. Does that sound healthy to you?"

 

Eva told Cary "mostly" NOT "definitely." Gideon pays close attention to things Eva says and even the little things she does. If he over-heard what Eva said to Cary that morning, he would have concluded (correctly) Eva is convinced (because she's insecure) that Corrine's still got some kind of sexual hold over Gideon still. And that the only edge Eva's got over Corrine right now is the hot sex.  Not that Gideon loves Eva (it's true but she doesn't believe it.) Wanting Eva sexually is the reason he's with Eva for now.   

 

Now keep that in mind as red flags when the story continues.

• All the fighting Eva and he did since Corrine showed up in the picture -- all his hard work to assure Eva he did not love Corrine and that sexually he wanted only Eva, wasn't enough. She continued to walk around insecure and jealous, even though Corrine wasn't in her face since the nooner stunt. Corrine (temporarily) faded into the background. (But Corrine's mere existence in Gideon's life was still eating at Eva)
• Then Brett Kline enters the picture. Eva's also got an ex, and in her case, the ex DOES still have a hold on her. A sexual hold. Gideon saw that with his own eyes.
• Mere days later, Gideon ends up dragging Corrine very seriously back into the foreground (press photos and all!) He actively makes Eva insecure and jealous about Corrine. His plan (and her very life) depends on it on Eva herself falling for the act.
• Eva immediately gets even by taking Brett out.
• And things now are at a crucial place where Gideon can't explain his seeing Corrine again is just an act. Nor put a stop to Brett. The plan is in motion, and Nathan's about to die.
• Around 36 hours after Nathan dies, Eva finds out about the Nathan pictures AND the party pictures at the f*** pad hotel. 
• She assumes the worst about both - Gideon saw the pictures earlier that week and those pictures caused him to withdraw sexually from Eva. He'd already started taking Corrine out again that week. The night of the party, he slept with Corrine at the f*** pad. He used to sleep with Corrine there years ago, and took every woman since, even Eva once. 
• Game over (for now.) Eva said terrible things on the phone (accused him of cowardice and cheating) laid a guilt trip (she didn't blame him after seeing those Nathan photos) and pulled a (for the time) a serious runner. Maybe even permanent. 
• Gideon kept trying to hope the runner wasn't permanent. But he didn't get to talk to Eva at all until more than a week later, when he got her to go on that car ride with him. She convinced him she'd decided to move on (i.e. it really was over.) She didn't blame it Corrine (because thank God she'd just figured out own her own for sure Gideon wasn't sleeping with Corrine.) But still, it was over because he still wouldn't even tell her what was going on. About anything: his past, Corrine, why he was hurting Eva so terribly. Eva was DONE with Gideon shutting her out. So she was done with him.
• Gideon gambled by letting Eva in on his dark history of abuse. That's what finally made Eva stop running. She promised she'd wait.

I am loving the strong Eva!   You go girl!   LOL!

 

I didn't realize how crucial (to Gideon and Eva's relationship) the scene was at Corinne's apartment that morning...

 

Good morning, AMC!

 

All of us have our various theories about how Entwined is going to play out. For example, GiGi is convinced Gideon was not the murderer - that Stanton and/or Monica did it (and won't GiGi be thrilled to say "told you so" if she's right!! I'll be the first one in the forum to admit for months, GiGi had it all figured out.)

 

I've got a couple of theories I'm passionate about. One of the biggest of my theories is that Gideon will hate Corrine's guts when he learns for certain just how manipulative Corrine was, and how close Corrine came to running off Eva forever. And so Gideon won't feel the least bit sorry continuing to "use" Corrine as his public cover while he and Eva love one another in secret.

 

Jump in with your pet theories. I'd love to hear some!!!

We''ll have to agree to disagree on Elizabeth Vidal, GiGi. You're giving the woman a lot more credit that I am.

 

I'm not saying she ever stopped loving her son. It's apparent she still does. But he was a very messed up kid. He'd be the first to admit it. I think Elizabeth Vidal, based on what "professionals" claimed, believed without question that Gideon was even more damaged than she originally thought.

 

Here's my theories ....

 

We know, because of the limited info Eva has been told, that Elizabeth believed the death of his father messed him up as a little boy. Now all of a sudden, she's got professionals claiming the kid is really damaged, even worse that she feared. He's not just an angry kid. He's a little narcissist and sociopath. Meanwhile, now  Gideon's anger would have suddenly gotten much worse. Proof he's not simply an angry kid.

 

Why would Gideon get angrier? Because if Gideon hadn't already been raped before then, it was going to start happening soon. All because Elizabeth believed professionals who said Gideon was a little liar desperate for attention. She failed to protect him. Now the abuser has a clear shot to do whatever he wants to helpless Gideon. 

 

I think Elizabeth Vidal is a poor excuse for a wife and mother and it is karmic justice that even though, all these years later, she still loves Gideon, he can't stand her.

 

Gideon was raped, which damaged him but didn't destroy him. And it might be in Entwined we find out there's a lot more to his father's suicide than we originally assumed. That maybe even the guy blew his head off at home, and 5-year-old Gideon saw the body.

 

Here's what his avenging Angel (go Eva) said as her parting words to Elizabeth Vidal (Reflected page 299)

 

(Eva says ) " ..... he's broken and hurting and doesn't think he's worth loving. And you helped make him that way."

"Go to h***." (Elizabeth) stormed off.

"I'm already there," I shouted after her. "And so is your son."

Eva blindsiding Corrine that morning could have gone the other way, and Eva tottered on the brink for an instant, asking herself whether Gideon had just finished f***** Corrine minutes before. Fortunately, though, strong Eva kicked in, and she called Corrine on her lies. But now Gideon's got good reason to hate Corrine. Because if it had gone the other way, if Corrine's trick had worked, Gideon would never ever be able to get Eva back.

 

This is why I predict that in Entwined, Gideon will now ruthlessly use Corrine, instead of sitting there feeling guilty Corrine is assuming Gideon wants her back.

 

Re: the showdown with Corrine, in the end, Eva decided to confront the Corrine issue once and for all by going to the woman's apartment. I think having seen Corrine coming out of the Crossfire the evening before, this time actually with Gideon (proof she was at his office this time) and his hand at the small of her back was the thing that finally made Eva say "that's enough." Eva's purpose going after Corrine was to once and for all make sure Corrine had played a dirty trick, not had a nooner, at the Crossfire the morning after Corrine had crashed her way into Eva's world by showing up unannounced at that dinner. Imagine now in Entwined, with her and Gideon honestly talking about the whole Corrine act, Eva finally gives Gideon a full account of her (Eva's) side in the showdown Eva had with Corrine.

 

I'm taking this from Gideon's point of view about why I think he'd now hate Corrine.

 

• Remember, just below the surface, he's very insecure. He thinks (so we saw in the New Year's snippet, the one look we got into his head) Eva could have anyone and he still can't fathom why she wants him. Plus, Corrine's mere existence has caused Eva to pull past "runners" the thing that absolutely terrifies him. Even worse, Corrine coming back into the picture later prompted Eva to do a mini-cheat on Gideon by passionately kissing an old lover.
• First time Corrine forced the issue of letting Eva know she (Corrine) existed was what Gideon would now see in hindsight as a manipulative stunt -- blindsiding Eva at a society fundraiser. Gideon immediately scrambled to try to make sure Corrine did not upset Eva. It wasn't enough though -- Eva pulled a runner. Gideon had to work hard in the ensuing argument to convince Eva he did not love Corrine. Still, Eva remained insecure. It's Eva's problem, but Gideon paid the price, because Eva's problem threatened to destroy their relationship.
• The very next day, Corrine pulls something directly manipulative by messing with Eva's insecurities and raging jealousies. By trying to trick Eva into thinking Gideon f**** Corrine. What followed was serious arguing between Eva and Gideon about whether he was sexually exclusive with Eva. And Gideon had to have been angry at Corrine for deliberately upsetting Eva. We don't know what he did in response, because he never told Eva. But you can't tell me he didn't pick up the phone and call Corrine to demand she knock it off and steer clear of Eva.
• Still, Eva's raging insecurities about Corrine continued, Gideon knew, despite all his assurances. It was her half-conscious motive for kissing Brett, for whom she still had old sexual feelings and a past sexual relationship. She's so insecure and jealous about Corrine, that Eva retaliated by making Gideon feel bad. Now the shoe is on the other foot -- Gideon's own raging insecurities are triggered. About the hold Brett still has, years later, over Eva. T** for tat indeed.
• When Gideon had to (he felt) deliberately make Eva feel somewhat insecure about Corrine, so that Eva would convincingly play her part as short end on a love triangle, it backfired horribly. Based on circumstantial evidence, Eva concluded (reasonably) he was actually sleeping with Corrine again, because he was no longer sexually attracted to her (Eva). This time, he couldn't go after Eva to convince her otherwise. Too dangerous. His whole plan had blown up in his face. He had hoped Eva would have been simply insecure. Instead, Eva concluded he was a cheater. Eva pulled the ultimate runner -- she broke up with him. And he couldn't immediately run after her this time nor convince her otherwise.
• And in the middle of all of this, Eva somehow "reconnected" with Brett over lunch, and Brett's publicly declaring he's going to try to get Eva back. At a time when Gideon had truly given Eva reason to be completely insecure and jealous about Corrine. If the mere existence of Corrine led Eva to kiss Brett, and Gideon taking Corrine out to a restaurant prompted Eva to do the exact same thing with Brett the very next day, what might the (false) belief Gideon was now sharing Corrine's bed cause? Eva taking Brett back? Or at the very least, sleeping with Brett for revenge to show Gideon how bad she felt he'd resumed sleeping with Corrine?
• The mere thought of Brett making a play for Eva so scared Gideon that the next day Brett's declarations hit the Internet, Gideon did the very dangerous thing of re-establishing some contact with Eva. Because he had to try convince her to for him (Gideon) to come back. Still, he couldn't even tell her the truth it was all an act with Corrine and he always remained sexually faithful to Eva from day one of Corrine crashing back into his life.

 

So imagine his in-hindsight freak out when he learns Corrine tried the ultimate dirty trick -- fooling Eva into thinking he was now sharing Corrine's bed and life. No more hotel sex with Corrine. If Eva believed that, he'd never, ever be able to convince Eva otherwise.  If Eva had fallen for it, she would have concluded she (Eva) was right all along in her insecurity -- Corrine always had an unbreakable hold over Gideon, he never quit loving Corrine, and the only purpose Eva served in his life was to make him ready to go marry Corrine.

 

And that within one day of Corrine moving back to New York, he started cheating on Eva. Remember, the morning Eva had her showdown, Corrine tried to trick Eva into both thinking Gideon was in her bed that morning PLUS really DID have nooner with Gideon at the Crossfire the day weeks before Eva caught her leaving the building.

 

On that morning when EVERYTHING hung by a thread, he still couldn't have honestly talked about Corrine any more than he'd been able to right when Eva broke up with him. That's if Eva would even get into the car with him instead of slapping him across the face and literally running away from him. She'd never talk to him again, and she's probably do some more t** for tat by sleeping with Brett. Because twice before, that's exactly what part of Eva's over-reactions to Corrine caused -- Eva to go to Brett in retaliation. It would kill Gideon if Eva slept with Brett, and it would destroy Gideon's life to lose Eva forever.

 

In Entwined, Eva and Gideon both will learn, through experience, to finally blindly trust one another when it comes to Corrine (and probably Brett too, when he comes back.)

 

So I think that when Gideon finds out what Corrine did, even though (thank God!!!!) it didn't work, every last ounce of guilt over Corrine will be replaced with hatred that she tried to deliberately hurt Eva and forever destroy Eva's love for him.

 

So now in Entwined, Gideon isn't going to have any problem trotting out the cold, ruthless side of him and without any guilt do whatever it takes to manipulate Corrine any way he needs. Plus it might lessen the sting to Eva of Gideon having to continue to publicly act like he's back with Corrine. If Gideon had grown to hate Corrine, Eva would really believe it was "all just an act" and it wouldn't freak Eva out to during those occasional evenings when Gideon out in public being photographed on "dates" with Corrine