LN Cronan

Trey was still willing to sleep with Cary even after catching Cary in bed with someone else. Sad.  Magdalene probably would have even been willing to wait out Eva even after seeing Gideon making really hot love to Eva in the library.  Can you imagine Magdalene's face a couple of days later, invited up to Gideon's office to have lunch only to discover the real purpose of the visit -- Gideon showing her secret video of his stepbrother Christopher sexually using her. Using her at the very same party at which Gideon and Eva got busy in the library.  I wonder whether it was then and there that Magdalene dropped her Gideon torch. Would she still have stayed on the sidelines even after that? Because I'm sure Gideon was kind to her when he showed her the tape.  Or was it when Corrine moved back to New York that Magdalene finally decided it was over? Magdalene deciding that because the "real thing" (Corrine was back) Gideon wasn't going to settle for a "cheap knock-off" (her). Magdalene may have half-deluded herself into thinking Eva was just a sexual obsession but Corrine was always destined to be Mrs. Gideon Cross.  At least Magdalene got rid of the Corrine hairstyle. It's a radical change from waist-length hair to a sleek bob. I said it before, but I'll say it again. Magdalene needs more than a new haircut -- she needs to have her head examined.  Trey needs to find a down-to-earth gay man, not a high-maintenance male model who is bi-sexual and whose clear first preference is female lovers.

Hey Mrs. M!!!  Any thoughts on my additional theories regarding Christopher Vidal Sr. objectifying women, and this being a really bad influence on his son (Christopher Jr.) and stepson (Gideon)?  There is so little to go on about the man himself, but look at how both of the boys he raised objectify women -- and both sometimes act like, putting it crudely, "male sl***" Think Daddy Dearest was a very bad role model using both boys' mother as a trophy wife and disrespecting other women? Possibly even a serial philanderer who coldly discarded them soon after seducing them?  Could this account for Christopher Jr. being such a creep and trying to get women to cheat on Gideon with him. The thrill of the quasi-adultery. I wonder whether there's more behind simple jealousy of Gideon that makes Christopher go after his step-brother's women. Maybe it's the thrill of the cheat itself. Because Magdalene was as close to an official girlfriend (at least socially) that Gideon had when Christopher seduced her. And from the first night he met her, Christopher has hit on Eva. He's still at it -- at the end of their lunch near the end of Reflected, Christopher said he wants to take Eva out.  Then there's Gideon separating women into one of two groups: trophy dates for society functions or "strangers with benefits" (women strictly for one purpose, sex -- doesn't get to know them nor spend any time with them beyond the bedroom -- er, make that the hotel room) Only twice in his life has Gideon both slept with a woman and let it be known clearly to everyone he was in a committed relationship with her -- Corrine (his first lover) and Eva (his first love.)

 You make a compelling argument for Gideon being a complicated mix psychiatrically.  Being a narcissist or psychopath (formally known as borderline personality disorder) is not black and white. A person can have some of the tendencies of these conditions without being full-blown. And current research indicates childhood abuse is one of the main contributing causes of these conditions (collectively grouped as "personality disorders.") This is not to say every abused kid grows up to become narcissist or borderline. Plus there are some kids from loving homes who are, for lack of a better phrase, "born bad" -- damaged from the start and in extreme cases are what some would call "evil." Sickos who torture animals when young and people when adults. Some researchers believe there may be some biological factors involved too.  Descriptions of some of the things Gideon has done in the past indicate certainly some narcissistic behavior, and depending upon more of the stuff we learn he did in the past out of revenge against people who hurt him, he may also have done some of the things a borderline might do. Because borderlines especially can be very angry people who lash out.  But here is the important thing that shows Gideon does NOT have a full-blown personality disorder: EMPATHY. A true full-blown personality disorder involves as its hallmark a lack of empathy for others. Not caring for the feelings of others -- and using others to one's own ends. Lack of empathy is as part and parcel of a personality disorder diagnosis as mania is part and parcel of bipolar disorder diagnosis.  Gideon is capable of great empathy. This is more than just tenderness. He has empathy for Eva as a rape survivor. Too, I think he has empathy for Cary as being the product of a messed up home. Certainly, he cuts Cary a lot of slack -- so much slack it surprises me. I believe there's more to Gideon's putting up with Cary than the fact Cary is Eva's best friend. He may have empathy for the fact Cary has serious self-esteem issues. Because Gideon's got them too. His are beneath the surface -- Cary's are out there for all to see.  Another thing: Gideon is capable of great loyalty, something full-blown personality disorders are incapable of. The full-blowns are loyal to none but themselves. Gideon is extremely loyal to Angus (and vice versa). I am really looking forward to, when Entwined delves into Gideon's past, to find out exactly what Angus did that made such a difference to the damaged child Gideon was that today Angus is the only adult from his childhood Gideon has near him. Very near him -- daily. And Angus is not only his main driver; he's Gideon's bodyguard. There's something symbolic about Gideon trusting Angus with his body. I think that Angus is the one who on his own did what neither "the system" nor the Vidals did -- put a stop to the sexual abuse. And went on to become the one decent adult role model to young Gideon.

One last thing that bugs me about Gideon's life with the Vidals ..... why wasn't Gideon renamed Gideon Vidal? He was a young enough stepson (pre-school) that it would not have been extremely unusual to do so, especially with his biological father dead. It would have been the kind thing to do too, given that the fiction story name "Cross" would have been every bit as notorious, especially in  in New York, as a real-life example, the notorious Ponzi schemer "Madoff." Gideon was bullied because of his last name.  Nope. It's my belief that Vidal Sr. cared a great deal about a son named Christopher Vidal Jr. Namesake and heir. And the name Vidal Records. Signs of his power and prowess. The stepson "Cross" shunted aside and likely destined for social shame as an adult, bearing the stigma of a father who ruined a lot of people and then blew his own head off.  So it must burn Vidal Sr. that Gideon Cross is one of the richest men in the world, more admired and famous than Vidal. Who named his empire Cross Industries instead of something else not bearing his last name (real life examples: Facebook, Microsoft, Apple.) And who now holds over Vidal's head the financial power that if Cross wanted to do so on a whim, destroy Vidal Records and with it the name upon which his stepfather's personal fame and fortune is based. Send Vidal into financial and social obscurity.  I love the fact Gideon almost always answers his phone "Cross" ....... unless he sometimes says "Angel" when the other person on the line is Eva. Whom I hope at the end of Entwined (because romances have happy endings) will become Eva Cross.

So here's my theory about who the "real" Christopher Vidal Sr. is .....  A man who got Elizabeth Vidal, a stunning woman, as a trophy wife for a bargain. He's rich. She's the recently widowed woman of a serious financial crook turned suicide, who would have left her penniless and with a young child. Vidal could have cared less about the son -- he wanted the mother. As soon as he could, he begot his own child on her, who turned out to be a boy that became Vidal's namesake. Gideon would have been shunted even further aside. It was only when Gideon became a bad influence on Vidal's son/heir and a problem for the pending arrival of Vidal's daughter, that Vidal even bothered to get Gideon help. Then Gideon got sexually abused, and Vidal used his money to cover up the crime.  Vidal doesn't respect women. He came on to the reputed new girlfriend of his stepson the first time he met her (Eva at the party - I think Vidal's remarks about her attractiveness were a bit inappropriate.) His son goes around trying to seduce his stepbrother's women (Christopher Jr. keeps hitting on Eva, starting with the instant he first met her. Christopher actually did seduce Magdalene, who had been to the world as close to a steady girlfriend as Gideon had just before Eva.) Even Gideon himself, prior to Eva, objectified women. There were two categories: steady arm candy (i.e. social trophies) and short-term casual sex partners. The only two exceptions: Corrine, his first serious girlfriend, and Eva, his first true love.

Based on all the backstory above, here are some Vidal questions I hope Entwined will answer. I'm even hoping Sylvia will toss out some Gideon/Vidal Sr. clues as spoiler question answers. Or snippets (Though thus far, the snippets are all juicy Gideon/Eva stuff and that's fine by me. I still laugh about "bad girl" nightclub Eva daring Gideon to "punish" her. And the new one this week, snippet 9, of Eva's weeping and Gideon's holding and kissing her made me reach for a tissue.)  Did the pediatrician exams actually FAIL to turn up trauma signs, because at the time there weren't any -- yet? Hand jobs wouldn't leave any marks. Or, did the exams, in fact, turn up trauma signs? There are several ways oral and/or anal penetration would leave marks on a child. Forcible anal penetration would leave the most severe physical trauma signs of all on any child, male or female. If there were trauma signs, was Elizabeth Vidal herself lied to? By pediatricians paid off by her husband? (Let's be honest, some doctors can be bought. Especially someone like a Terry Lucas, fresh out of medical school, probably struggling under student loan debt, and so willing to be talked into being paid a lot of money by Vidal Sr. in return for silence.) Biggest question of all: regardless of what the exams did (or did not) reveal, was the abuser subsequently allowed to continue to have unsupervised access to Gideon? Because if this were true, his mother's failure to believe him, devastating on it's own, would be so much more devastating. Not only did she fail him, but now because she thinks Gideon is lying, the coast is now clear for the abuser to be as brutal as he wants.

We the readers directly know next to nothing about Vidal Sr., because we see the story through Eva's eyes, and she's met the guy only once, briefly, at the Vidals' garden party. But there's plenty of Gideon/Vidal back story to piece together from clues scattered in other parts of the two Crossfire novels. And because Entwined will delve into Gideon's dark past, I'll bet the bigger picture will paint his stepfather as a true villain. Page 220 of Bared describes Eva meeting Mr. and Mrs. Vidal (Gideon's mother) for the first time in the receiving line at the garden party. Elizabeth comes off as so touchy-feely that it makes Eva uneasy. Plus Elizabeth is, IMHO, overly blunt about the fact Eva's blonde, not brunette. Elizabeth does not make a good first impression on Eva. But Eva's first impression of Christopher Sr. is bland, SO bland I think this is a MAJOR RED HERRING. I'll bet you ladies that once we've sat up all night reading Entwined, we'll find out the man's got some serious skeletons. Maybe so bad that we'll be even angrier at Gideon's stepfather as we are at the pervert who at the very least molested Gideon (we know this based on the little Gideon told Eva near the end of Reflected, in which Gideon describes how he was touched) and who very likely brutally anally r****** Gideon (the nature of Gideon's nightmares, which involve reliving of physical pain, hint strongly of this.) This is how Eva describes her impression of Christopher Sr. when she briefly met him, the only time she's yet to interact with the man. Starting in the middle of Bared page 220:  " .... I found my hand clasped by Christopher Vidal Sr. In many ways, he reminded me of his son (Christopher Jr.) with his slate green eyes and boyish smile. In others, he was a pleasant surprise. Dressed in khakis, loafers and a cashmere cardigan, he looked more like a college professor than a music company executive. Here's what Christopher Sr. said to her. "Please call me Chris. It makes it a little easier to distinguish between me and Christopher (Jr.). His head tilted to the side as he contemplated me through quirky brass spectacles. "I can see why Gideon is so taken with you. Your eyes are a stormy gray, yet they're so clear and direct. Quite the most beautiful eyes I think I've ever seen, aside from my wife's." (Side note: Gideon got his stunning blue eyes from his mother, as well as his inky dark hair. Eva got her blonde hair from her mother and her gray eyes from her father.) Christopher Sr. asked Eva whether Gideon planned to come to the party too. When Eva answered, "Not that I'm aware of," Christopher Sr. answers "."We always hope .... please head back to the gardens and make yourself at home." And that, ladies, is it, of the direct knowledge we have from inside Eva's head about meeting Vidal Sr.. Pieces of backstory scattered elsewhere: Elizabeth's first husband, Geoffrey Cross, had been the chairman of an investment firm who got caught running a massive Ponzi scheme. Rather than go to prison, he shot himself in the head. Gideon, their only child, was 5 at the time of his father's suicide. Elizabeth married Christopher Vidal soon after and had two more children. Doing the math, it would appear Christopher Jr. was born very early in the marriage (making him around 6, maybe 7, years younger than Gideon. Ireland, their sister, was born 5 years after Christopher.) Elizabeth had a difficult pregnancy with Ireland. Gideon, a very young teen at the time, had serious anger issues, and his younger half-brother (5 at the time) had begun imitating Gideon by physically acting out. At that point, the Vidals put Gideon into therapy. The professionals treated Gideon at home (the Vidal mansion) instead of an office. The psychiatrist/psychologist was a woman. Tagging along was a doctoral student, who was male. The shrink was supposed to be treating Gideon, but she ended up instead concentrating on Elizabeth. The pregnancy coupled with two acting out sons was too much of a strain on Elizabeth. Gideon was increasingly left alone with the male doctoral student. It was at this time Gideon was sexually abused. Somehow (we don't know yet) his mother found out. She had him privately examined by two pediatricians (we don't know who, but evidence suggests one of them was Dr. Terry Lucas, who would have been in his late 20s at the time ad thus fresh out of medical school.) Elizabeth Vidal later told Eva, when Eva confronted her in Reflected, the examinations showed no sign of trauma. The conclusion: Gideon was lying for attention, because he was a messed up kid. The whole matter was privately covered up (instead of the mandatory reporting to outside authorities that even the mere hint of child sexual abuse should have been, regardless of the presence or lack of physical trauma signs.) Something Dr. Lucas did "alienated" Gideon from his family. And left a grudge so deep that Gideon as a man got revenge by carrying on an affair with Lucas' wife. After Anne Lucas fell in love with Gideon, he rejected her and "sent her back to her husband." We've seen in both novels the men hate one another's guts. Gideon left home for good when Ireland was young. I'm guessing this would be as soon as he turned 18 and was legally an adult. He attended Columbia University for undergrad. He didn't do grad school. It may be he even dropped out of undergrad to devote full time to start making a fortune. (Note: he wouldn't be the first gazillionaire to drop out of an Ivy league college to start a company and get filthy rich young. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg did, as did Microsoft founder Bill Gates, both of whom dropped out of Harvard.) Gideon got his start playing blackjack, counting cards to win and making useful business contacts while at the gaming tables. He went on to found Cross Industries, whose holdings include entertainment properties like casinos, hotels and resorts in Nevada and Arizona (probably other places too) and major real estate holdings in New York City. Somewhere along the way, Gideon's holdings came to include majority ownership of Vidal Records. (How he did this, we're not sure. But based on the vast wealth of Vidal Sr., I'm guessing Vidal Records is a public company, not private. The difference: public companies are traded on a stock exchange, and anyone can buy shares. The shareholders, not the founders, actually own the company, and a board of directors, not the founders, control it. Gideon could have acquired majority control by systematically buying shares every time some other shareholder sold his/her shares.) Eva wonders what the story is behind Gideon acquiring majority control of Vidal Records. She even asked him. But Gideon, ever evasive about many matters Vidal, wouldn't explain. Gideon almost never steps foot in the Vidal mansion he grew up in. His mother has visited him in his penthouse apartment (she's the only woman besides Eva and the staff to step foot there.) Gideon did show up at garden party after all, upon learning somehow Eva (and Cary) were there as invited guests. At the time, Eva and Gideon were four days into their first serious estrangement. Gideon had distanced himself because she'd witnessed his nightmares for the first time. Then he'd hoped she'd come back on her own. When she didn't, he decided to chase her that day. Upon finding out where she was, he rushed there. He hauled her into the library, where they talked, made love and reconciled. Then he took her away from the party after a brief, very frosty exchange with his mother and only a little bit of attention to his now-teenage sister Ireland. He spoke to Ireland only because Eva talked him into it.

OK, one more post for the evening .... Â Why Gideon Just Doesn't Have a Clue Corrine's Chasing Him (and Magdalene Hanging On So Long) Is Nuts. Â Eva tries to explain this to Gideon. See page 331 of Bared. He just doesn't get it. Even when Eva tells him she thinks Corrine is stalking him. And explains that Magdalene wore her hair long to make herself look more like Corrine. Â She says something to Gideon that appears to go over his head at the time, but I'm hoping he remembers later about Corrine. Because he does remember things Eva tells him. Might not always take them as seriously as he ought to (and later finds out the hard way he should have.) But at least he listens. Â So I'm hoping as Corrine gets increasingly desperate in Entwined, that Gideon will remember what Eva said to him the night she met Corrine for the first time: Â Â Â Â "Don't you get it? You drive women off the deep end because you're the ultimate. You're the grand prize. If a woman can't have you, they know they're settling for less than the best. So they can't think about not having you. They just think of crazy ways to get you." Â He responded by joking that the one woman he does want, Eva, " ..... spends a lot of time running in the opposite direction."

Mrsmajessick, I must say I LOVE your observation that Gideon's moral compass started pointing in the right direction when Eva came into his life!!!! A really great way of putting it. Â Because as much as we love the good in Gideon, there's a lot of dark there too. He's done some pretty vindictive stuff. His capacity for cruelty even extended to Eva herself during much of the fight they had in the limo after he caught her passionately kissing Brett. It wasn't until she told him to stop treating her like a w**** (which is exactly what he was doing) that something sad entered his eyes. But rather than stopping it, he challenged her to stop it. He reminded her she could safeword at any time. So the punishment went on and on until he got the answer he wanted.

Nathan under surveillance when he attacks Cary ....  Remember the whole humor about Eva getting even with Gideon for having her closely tailed in Vegas by arranging for some goon bodyguard to plant himself within three feet of Gideon in Arizona? Cute, huh. But in all seriousness, physical surveillance of Nathan would involve people hanging back at a distance. Too close and he could spot a tail.  I think that at a distance, the tail spotted him attack, and he (or she) came running. Nathan got in several blows and then took off running as the witness (the tail) approached to intervene. Cary had a skull fracture, a broken arm and broken ribs. He said the first blow was to his head. After he went down and Nathan again raised the bat, I'm guessing Cory threw up his arm to protect his head. This is a classic defensive move that leads to defensive wounds to an arm. Second blow breaks the arm. And while the arm is up, the rib cage is exposed. Third blow is to the torso. Then Nathan hears something like "Hey you, stop!!!!"  Takes off running. The entire attack could have gone down in mere seconds. The tail would have stayed with the seriously injured victim to get help. And to try to figure out who the guy was and why Nathan attacked. My guess is the tail did not recognize Cary on sight (he was assigned to Nathan only.) Plus Cary's face was a mess. As a stranger, he wouldn't be able to get info about a semi-conscious guy. Digging for info through the hospital would take a while through back channels to learn Cary's identity. It probably took Gideon's people much of the weekend to learn the beating victim's identity. All sorts of alarm bells would have gone off then. Cary was attacked around the corner from a nightclub on Friday night. At the time, Gideon and Eva were at the concert. They left in his limo for an all-night drive to North Carolina. Angus drove part of the way, but they switched drivers somewhere en-route in the middle of the night. Gideon and Eva's cell phones were sent north with the car. No phone nor Internet at the beach house. They stayed all weekend. I presume they flew back Sunday in one of Gideon's jets. Originally, they were supposed to fly down, but Gideon ended up having them driven, giving him hours or privacy to fight/f*** with Eva about her kissing Brett. Neither took any phone calls. Because Angus didn't drive all the way, he wouldn't know the exact location of the secluded beach house if he needed to find Gideon that weekend. By early Saturday, neither Gideon nor Eva was reachable by phone. It wasn't until they arrived home close to midnight on Sunday and Gideon immediately checked his phone messages first that they found out Cary was in the hospital. Gideon arranged for Eva to stay by Cary's bedside all night. Early Monday morning before work, he stopped by to see her and to tell her he'd arranged with her boss to get her time off. He was as tender as ever. As he walked away, he answered a call to his cell phone. I think it was at that point he got the call telling him what his security people knew. So not only would Gideon have been told Nathan did it, but probably got an eyewitness report of just how postal Nathan had got, how enraged he was. Gideon sees what Cary looks like in the hospital AND gets a blow by blow (literally) description of what happened. No wonder Gideon's anxiety level for Eva rose to the point where he decided on Monday Nathan needed to die. After Gideon left the hospital, he started blowing Eva off, and he took Corrine out that night. Already, he was starting the Corrine-Gideon-Eva love triangle. Detective Graves had a couple of theories. That Nathan attacked Cary to try to intimidate Gideon, probably because Gideon wasn't giving in to the blackmail demand. That right away, being seen with Corrine in public was an attempt to fool Nathan into thinking Gideon backed off from Eva. But also it was to start to eliminate his motive to get Nathan (the motive being him in love with Eva.)  We know, from what Sylvia posted somewhere, he met with his security people Tuesday night at his home. My guess: there was a full meeting re-examining all the weeks of intelligence they had on Nathan. Plus someone probably would have "cased" Nathan's hotel room by then. Finding the scary stalker stuff that even Detective Graves later described as evidence leading her to believe Nathan would have killed Eva sooner or later.  Gideon already laid some groundwork on Monday. My guess is Tuesday night, armed with all the evidence of how dangerous Nathan was, Gideon decided for certain to kill Nathan as soon as possible. He threw together the arrangements for his alibi (and Eva's alibi) for their movements on Thursday night.

Hey GiGi, So many cool questions.  Re: limo sex scene versus the library sex scene. No direct correlations: each stands on it's own. But there's a lot of different layers to the library scene. It's well worth re-reading, because in it are scattered several tiny clues about Gideon's past as a child. Clues that almost certainly will blossom as Entwined takes us into the dark places of Gideon's past. There's so much going on in that scene between library what Eva and Gideon are doing (which is pretty hawt!). It's the things Gideon is saying that are important. It's a very long scene. And with the party scene around it, it's one of the longest sequences in the entire book (Bared). There's a reason for this, I believe. In the first book, Sylvia planted a lot of things she planned even then to play out in the subsequent novels. Like I said, we could devote an entire thread just to the party at the Vidal estate.  One thing I did want to mention about that whole party is what a creep Christopher Jr. is. Not just for "doing" Magdalene out in the hedges while she was so upset about having walked in on Gideon making love to Eva in the library. But for inviting Eva at all. Christopher had found out somehow she and Gideon were on the outs. He convinced her to come to the party promising her that Gideon wouldn't show up. Christopher manipulated her into coming by inviting Cary so that Cary could make some business contacts. What was Christopher hoping to do? Watch Magdalene go after Eva? Mess with both women? F*** both if he could get away with it. I really can't stand Christopher.

 Yes!!! Another member of Team Gideon Had Nathan Followed.  Gideon having had Nathan under surveillance is one of my firmest theories. It's the only explanation I can see for why Gideon knew on Monday that Nathan had gone postal on Cary, but the cops didn't learn until sometime after Nathan's body was found Friday (five days later) that Nathan had been the one who attacked Cary.  Gideon must have had Nathan under surveillance. Why wouldn't he? C'mon, this is the guy who has Eva followed around all the time, "keeping a protective eye" on her (otherwise known as stalking -- Gideon takes it way too far.) If he's going to keep constant tabs on Eva just because he's a control freak, why wouldn't Gideon be monitoring every last movement of a rapist who has explicit photos of Eva being victimized and who is trying to blackmail Gideon. You can't tell me he was constantly watching Eva and yet letting Nathan run around loose.  My own theory is that Gideon's original motive for having Nathan followed was two-fold: find out where the originals of the Eva photos were hidden, and to make sure he wasn't going anywhere near her. Gideon obviously had something planned. But the beating changed everything.  It's important to note two things Sylvia has clarified in spoiler-question postings:  Gideon shifted gears because he believed the danger level to Eva had become too high. The North Carolina trip was not part of the plan to pull away from Eva. It began after that.  They spent an entire weekend completely out of contact with the outside world (no phones, no Internet) in North Carolina. They got home to New York around midnight Sunday. By Monday night, Gideon was blowing off Eva and taking Corrine to dinner. So Gideon had to have found out on Monday that Nathan beat Cary half to death, because he'd begun pulling away from Eva. Thursday night, Nathan was killed.  Meanwhile, the official police case was still open when Nathan died. If the cops had known Monday (or Tuesday or Wednesday or even during the day Thursday), they would have arrested Nathan. When the cops showed up at Eva's apartment on Friday night, she instantly assumed they were there to see Cary in connection with the investigation into the assault.  It is interesting to note the cops never did tell Cary that Nathan did it. There's good reason for them to have kept their mouths shut. Because they now had an open investigation into the murder of the assailant, an investigation in which Cary's beating played some sort of part --- and an investigation in which Cary was surrounded by what cops call "persons of interest" (i.e possibly involved somehow): his roommate/best friend Eva, her boyfriend Gideon, her mother Monica, and her stepfather Stanton.  I do have a couple of things that puzzle me, which I hope Entwined clears up: Nathan had been stalking Eva. Did this continue after Gideon put Nathan under surveillance? And if so, what was Gideon doing about it then? Because I wonder if Nathan's stalking included being outside the Crossfire that afternoon Eva's mother, Monica, and Monica's driver/bodyguard, Clancy, spotted him on the sidewalk. What exactly was Gideon's original plan to punish Nathan for everything Nathan had done to Eva as a child and what Nathan was trying to do now (blackmail Gideon)? Gideon had to have had something specific in mind. As Sylvia says, Gideon does everything for a reason. Whatever Gideon had been planning, that changed suddenly after the Cary beating. Detective Graves herself told Eva her theory: Gideon now believed Eva's life was in danger. Graves even admitted she thinks Gideon was right. Sooner or later, Nathan would have killed Eva.

 Hi AMC!  I believe Gideon did all of the above laying the groundwork to be ready for when Eva came back on her own. He'd be all able to prove how much he cared. So she would come back to stay.  He was deluding himself into thinking she would come running back -- deluding himself because life spoiled him in that department. The women always chased him. Even though he broke up with her, he was counting on her trying to win him back. Women always try to win Gideon Cross (before Eva Trammell, that was).  From page 227, a section of the library scene, where he admits he hoped she's return on her own, but when she didn't, he ran after her:      "I had hoped you would come back on your own," he murmured, "but I can't stay away anymore. I'll carry you out of here if I have to. Whatever it takes to get you back in the same room with me, talking this out."  Even more significant than creating a safe bedroom in his home and buying her a promise ring, Gideon entered therapy on his own. Eva had previously floated the idea of couples therapy, but he wanted to think about it. During the time they were apart, he sought out Dr. Petersen to enter individual therapy and to ask Dr. Petersen to take him and Eva as a couple if she would agree. Mind you, Eva never mentioned that specific doctor -- Gideon knew from having her followed to an appointment Eva had along with her mother.  Here's a man who as a child had his mother and step-father put him into treatment, treatment that led to the ultimate damage being done. I think it's safe to say that as an adult, Gideon wouldn't go within a mile of any therapist. But here he was so desperate, he'd gotten professional help for the nightmares (because that's what Dr. Petersen individually treated him for.) He'd already seen Dr. Petersen even before he chased Eva to get her back.

Oops, I double-posted response to GiGi's series part one. So I'm erasing the second one here. But since I need to fill the blank somehow, and we've continued to discuss would it be the ULTIMATE red herring that someone OTHER than Gideon murdered Nathan ......  If Gideon could confess such an awful truth to Eva, committing the ultimate crime, and see that she'll stay anyway, he'll be able to discuss awful truths about the crimes done to him, and what he later did in response.  From a plot stand-point too, Gideon confessing to Eva he murdered Nathan, would be crucial for these reasons:  The cops need a confession in order to nail Gideon. It's their last resort, because they haven't been able to get him forensically nor break his alibi. They could try to get this through setting a trap with Eva as the bait. (This is why I believe Detective Graves set Eva up, not did her a kindness.) If Gideon does confess to Eva, she faces a short-term legal peril of having immunity forced upon her in order to drag her in front of a grand jury to indict Gideon. The danger would be jail time for her for obstruction of justice. If Gideon does confess to Eva, and she does more than just keep her mouth shut -- if she actively helps him with the subsequent cover-up -- she becomes an accessory after the fact to first degree murder. She could face life in prison too.  Finally, if Graves has figured out (correctly) that Gideon loves Eva so much he would literally lay down his life for her, he'd do it figuratively to save her from being thrown under the legal bus. Threaten to send her to prison for obstruction, or worse, send her to prison for accessory after the fact to murder one, and Gideon would take a plea deal in return for them letting her off.   I think it's important, from a plot stand-point, that Eva's Dad is a cop and that Detective Graves met him. I wonder whether one of the things Graves is hoping might happen is that Eva's Dad will find out Gideon murdered Nathan and Eva knows this, that her Dad would try to get her "to do the right thing" by going to the cops and co-operating. And if she wouldn't on her own, Eva's Dad would throw Gideon under the bus himself in order to get Eva out of the legal mess she's in.

 SQUEEEEE!!!! Serious online book club meeting in the overnight! Lots of excellent discussion by all the ladies! Lots of reading pleasure this morning, and over the next couple of days, I'm aiming to reply to numerous individual posts. I'm starting with your four-part series, GigGi.  Sometimes when a person is being abused, he/she retreats deeply into a protective shell. In extreme cases (like rape) a victim will so mentally detach that he/she disassociates entirely -- completely shuts down. It's a survival means at the time to get through something that could otherwise kill the psyche. Rape is an extreme form of abuse, but even other forms of abuse can send sufferers into shells. This is especially true of children, who have less capacity plus life experience to cope. So they protect themselves but shutting down a part of themselves and shutting out a part of the world.  At the time the abuse occurs, it is appropriate to have a defensive mental/emotional survival response kick in. But sometimes, that response of closing down keeps being used moving forward, used even when it is not the best way to cope, and used long past the point where a person's coping mechanisms should have evolved through life experience. Abuse survivors get "stuck" in a pattern.  One of the most important things adult therapy for child abuse victims can accomplish is to help them stop going into auto-pilot every time something, however big or small, feels threatening. And one of the greatest gifts life can give an adult abused as a child, to counter-balance people who damaged them, is to give them people whose love makes them grow. A romantic partner is only one example. Friendships so close the friends feel like family can fill a void emptied by actual family members. An older person can become a father/mother figure. A teacher/mentor can make a person believe in himself/herself.  Some additional thoughts that your bullet points raised for me:  In a way, Gideon's mother "left him" when she refused to believe he was abused. Makes sense now that Gideon would have a comfort level with women who would do anything to stay by his side. In this light, Corrine makes a lot of sense. So does Magdalene. Not only did Gideon chase Eva down initially (i.e. seduce her) he kept chasing her. Her runners absolutely terrified him, Sylvia explained in a post somewhere. Remember, too, what Magdalene revealed to Eva during her phone call the morning after Eva ran away from Gideon and Corrine sitting together at the dinner. Magdalene had never, ever seen Gideon chase a woman before after a woman pulled some dramatic gesture. And some women have tried similar drama stunts over the years -- Magdalene ought to know, because she watched like a hawk. In fact, Corrine herself pulled the ultimate drama stunt by breaking the engagement. Gideon himself believed Corrine did it to force him to fight for her. But it backfired. He was relieved, because he couldn't go through with marrying her. Gideon repeatedly told Eva "go slow" during the limo sex. He didn't restrain her arms, but he did try to control in other ways, like the pace. Lots of interesting flags in that scene. Starts on page 89 of Bared to You for anyone looking for a good excuse to re-read a really hot scene. There's even more interesting flags in the library sex scene, starting on page 225. Including strong hints that's the room in his parents house where he was victimized as a child. Significant to me is how long that scene runs -- all the way to page 239. It's one of the longest scenes in the entire series. I believe that's true because pieces of it are going to make a lot of sense when Entwined delves into Gideon's dark places of his childhood. We could devote an entire thread to that scene alone. Eva is the only lover he's ever brought home, and the only lover he ever dared to fall asleep alongside. He never dared sleep alongside Corrine, because he didn't want her to ever find out about his nightmares. He ultimately let Corrine walk away from the engagement, because he knew he could never share a home with her. In only a couple of days, Eva got what Corrine spent years in vain trying to get: into Gideon's home and his bed. Gideon and Eva broke up two times. The first time, it was Gideon who did it, in immediate response to her finding out for the first time about the nightmares. Next day, he sent a "Dear Jane" letter via interoffice mail - an envelope containing her apartment key plus a notecard "Thank you, Eva, for everything. Yours, G." Gideon sent Eva away, because he felt could never share a bed with her. Because of the nightmares. The break-up lasted four days, ending with Gideon chasing Eva to get her back. It's all contained as part of the important library scene in Bared to You. He literally physically walked into his own h***l (his parents' home) to try to keep her. I find it symbolic -- in Entwined, Gideon will figuratively go through his past h*** in order to keep her in his life forever.

OK, time to shut down my computer for the night. I had a great time this evening in our online book club meeting. Â ...... off to dream sweet dreams of Gideon and Eva holding one another and crying and starting to make sweet, slow, make-up sex after a terrible time spent apart.

AMC, that would be the ULTIMATE red herring. Sylvia leading us to believe Gideon did it, when in fact someone else plunged the knife into Nathan. Stanton? Monica? Angus? The list goes on ..... ..... but I don't see that particular red herring. I think what makes the unfolding story so poignant is that Gideon loves Eva so much and wants to protect her so much that he personally saved her life, though it meant taking the law into his own hands, so that once and for all she's safe from Nathan. Even at the risk of losing everything. Including Eva herself. Even if he never went to prison, Gideon would serve a life sentence of pain if Eva left him forever because she believed the terrible things she did. I think all the red flags pointing to Gideon as the killer are just that -- red flags leading up to Gideon telling Eva himself: I killed Nathan. I stabbed him in cold blood. I did it to save you.

 AMC is in Camp Cary Is a Problem for Gideon! Yes!  This should be really interesting in Entwined. Because for all of his faults, Cary's a nice but screwed up guy. And he does have Eva's best interests at heart.

 The red hair is a red herring. Just like the red hair of the main receptionist on Gideon's floor is a red herring.  But a serious question I have for Sylvia, a spoiler question, is this: Gideon dated only brunettes, but did he also f*** only brunettes? (That Gideon made a one-time exception with redhead Anne for revenge.)  Is Eva really is something so special Gideon broke every last one of his rules? Including a rule that he only found brunettes attractive?  Think about this: Before Eva, Gideon had sex (and by sex, I mean full intercourse with Gideon holding the woman down) at one place and one place only - the hotel. Yet he nearly f****** Eva in his office when first chasing her. He had her on the couch, her skirt pulled up, then Scott interrupted Gideon over the intercom. Remember how incredulous Gideon was finding himself in that position in the middle of the day in his own office?!! And he told Eva in the limo while she was seducing him into having intercourse, that he was breaking every rule?

So my current stance on Magdalene is I feel a bit sorry for how pathetic she is. And I believe she's on Eva's side, but only because "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Corrine always was (in Magdalene's eyes) her true rival for Gideon. Eva became a serious rival to Corrine. So it made sense for Magdalene to side with Eva. Â But ..... I still don't completely trust the wench. I still think think Magdalene is capable of some vindictiveness against Eva, now that Eva has (so Magdalene thinks) lost Gideon too.

Aside from my firm conviction Gideon saved Eva's life by personally sinking a knife into the black heart of that sicko Nathan ..... Â ...... I do evolve my stances on certain characters and my view of certain situations. Because of other posters here. What people write makes me think. And rethink. And go back into the details again, to tease out something new. Â And I do enjoy playing devil's advocate too in order to spice things up to motivate other posters. I can look at something both ways: a "red flag" (a foreshadowing of a plot development) and a "red herring" (something the writer puts in a story to deliberately mislead the reader into thinking one thing, so that "bam" the writer can twist the plot.)

 I am laughing so hard right now!!!!  I am NOT Sylvia Day. I am not that talented. Nor am I some plant for Penguin Books drumming up publicity. I'm just a really big fan having a lot of fun in a forum.  But my journalism skills do come in handy for me to be able to organize information and write about it quickly and clearly. I used to be a newspaper reporter writing on deadline every day.  Yes, I have memorized the books, because the books have captured my imagination lately that I read them a couple of times. Plus listened to them on audiobook while running. It's a joy to listen to a professional reader give voice to the characters of a book., Plus listening reinforces memorizing things.  Fifty Shades of Gray introduced me to the genre of what Newsweek called "Mommy p***" and what I call "Really Hot Reading." But I find Fifty Shades to be -- bad pun intended -- full of black and white characters. With Anna Steele being the bland little virgin. The Crossfire Series characters are amazingly colorful. I'd rather be Eva Trammell than Anna Steele any day. And Christian has got NOTHING on Gideon Cross!

Hey, GiGi! Â I think Gideon wanted to chuck Corrine under the bus for Crossfire nooner trick. He went way out of his way just one night earlier to do everything he could to try to make sure Corrine does not upset Eva? What's she do the next day? Freaks Eva out. At that point in time, Gideon was still terrified Eva was going to run away for good. In fact, she'd pulled one of her runners the night before. Over Corrine. Â Even if Gideon toned down whatever he said to Corrine after the nooner trick incident, I can see him being enraged that Corrine pose a threat to destroying the one thing that meant everything to him: the relationship with Eva. Â As far as we know, Gideon had no more contact with Corrine since the night Corrine crashed the fundraiser. Yes, yes, I know know only what Eva knows, because the story is all Eva's point of view. But Gideon didn't go anywhere near Corrine socially between that time and the day he started using Corrine for his cover plan to kill Nathan. Because Gideon spent every free moment he could with Eva.

 Magdalene was always desperate. She is a hot mess. Trying to make herself look like Corrine. Accepting the fact Gideon was enjoying sowing his wild oats sleeping around. Willing to stand by patiently until he got that out of his system so he would settle down. With her. Meanwhile, she was sleeping with Christopher behind Gideon's back. Gideon's own half-brother. All of this going on while Magdalene is a old family friend of the Vidal clan. A family Gideon hates and rarely ever sees.  Good Lord, Magdalene needs more than a pretty new haircut. She needs to have her head examined!!!!! I hope she gets therapy. Because she's got some serious self-esteem issues.  I actually feel a little sorry for Magdalene. Unlike Corrine. Corrine deserves the broken heart that's coming.

OK, GiGi, I'll jump into the camp. No, not THAT camp. But the camp that Gideon wasn't sadistically vindictive to Lucas' wife. It was, however, a rotten thing to do, hurting her in order to get back at her husband. I think Gideon wishes in hindsight he'd not made Anne Lucas collateral damage in his grudge against Lucas. Â One tidbit worth noting is that Eva found out online the Lucases have been married for 20 years. So Lucas would already have been married to his wife at the time Gideon was sexually abused. Might that have played a role, consciously or subconsciously, in Gideon taking the opportunity to try to nuke the Lucas marriage. Â Oh and one more tidbit. Where is the only place Gideon has ever, prior to Eva, had consensual sex? The f*** pad hotel. So guess we know where he slept with Lucas' wife. Oh and she's not brunette. Nor blonde. She's a redhead.