Page 18 of Captured

“Agreed. But given this Smithson guy…”

“We have to treat it seriously,” Cyril finished for him. “Even if Typhon is merely attempting a show of strength, it’s one we need to match. I agree with the queen, captain. You’ll need to be on hand for the party to watch over Ms. Grant.”

“Of course, sir.” Dimitri’s head had started to pound. He’d have to pull it together around the blonde. Keep his focus on the mission and only the mission. “So, Wednesday night, then. How long will she be at the event?”

“Three hours, max,” Cyril said. “We won’t be alerting Raptis of our concerns. You’ll be there as part of the detail for Kristos, in the background. The party will have dining, dancing, a speech, then all guests will depart.”

“I’ll tell Lauren. She’ll want to be prepared—” The queen turned to him unexpectedly. “Unless you’d rather speak with her, Dimitri?”

No chance in hell wouldthatbe a good idea. “Be my guest.”

He had his own battles to wage to make this assignment work. And none of them involved getting anywhere near Lauren Grant.

Eleven

“What do I need to know?” Stefan asked quietly.

Lauren looked across the limo to Oûros’s answer to James Bond, who was also her date for the evening. The other girls were following in a separate set of limos, but she’d been sent on ahead to be at the Raptis house before her parents arrived.

Her parents. God.

Stefan didn’t press her with another question and instead let her root through her response to the first one on her own. She hadn’t even been surprised when they’d come to her with the news of Smithson’s attendance at the ball. She’d known from the moment she’d seen that damned black-and-white box that he’d be making an appearance in Oûros sometime soon.

Coming in with her parents, though—that was a master stroke. One she should have anticipated.

“My parents won’t cause a scene, if that’s what you’re wondering,” she finally said. “Nor will Smithson. We’re on good terms, as far as anyone knows. My father is eager to see me married off, and it would seem that Smithson has been designated the boy most likely.”

“Though he’s hardly a boy.”

She grimaced. “And he’s nowhere near likely.”

Stefan’s lips twisted in amusement, and Lauren flapped a hand at him. “My personal feelings about him aside, he’s cunning, and he’s got the Midas touch. He’s made an extraordinary amount of money in a comparatively short time, and he’s a fast friend of my parents.”

Stefan glanced at her, one elegant brow lifting. “He didn’t come from money?”

She shook her head. “He met my father when he was a college intern, and he was an orphan, didn’t know his parents, the whole up-from-nothing story. He worked his way through school on his own, learned society manners and negotiating skills as he needed them. He’s my father’s proudest achievement.” She grimaced. “Fortunately, he’s never officially offered to date me, so I’ve never officially turned him down.” She caught herself nervously spinning her bracelet. “I really don’t think my parents have any idea how dangerous Smithson is.”

“And how dangerous is he?”

Lauren colored. “This all sounds completely over-the-top. I’m sorry.”

“You’re genuinely worried. Explain why.”

“I—I’ve started to believe some of the things I’ve been told about him. That he’s a man who operates outside the law. That he’s done things you can’t find in dossiers or police reports. Things that get covered up.” She knew it wasn’t enough, and she swallowed, saying the words for the first time to anyone who wasn’t a trusted member of her staff. “That he’s made deals with crime syndicates all over the world. And that he’s successfully made those deals work, or he’s successfully screwed the people who he’s realized don’t have the strength to screw him back. He’s laundered money, trafficked contraband. He’s got the Russian mob on speed dial. And the Chinese. And the Korean mafia as well.”

“You said you’ve been told this? And you have proof to back it up?”

“Not even remotely. He’s the one who told me.” Stefan’s gaze sharpened on her, and she shook her head. “This is what he’s murmured to me in dinner conversation at my parents’ house over the past few years. The way you might tell someone about the new sport you’ve taken up or the latest diet you’ve tried. I’ve never heard a whisper of any of this outside those conversations, and I’ve been completely unable to verify any of it via a third party.” She glanced out the window, unseeing. “Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“So if he’s ever questioned...”

“He’ll know I’m the leak.” She shook her head. She couldn’t tell Stefan her real fears, her concern for what Henry would do to her family—her sister. He wouldn’t understand. “I can’t discount what he’s said, though. Henry has never lied to me. He hasn’t had to lie. But I can’t involve the authorities until I have proof. And I have. No. Proof. The few whispers I do catch in the wind turn to smoke by the time I get to the source. I can’t risk moving until I have something real.”

“Understood.” Stefan studied her from his side of the limo. “Explain his attention to you personally.”

She sighed. “I wish I could. He has enough money to attract any woman, and yet he’s been fixated—in my mind alone, perhaps, but it’s my mind that’s in sway here—on me. Since I was barely more than a kid. At first, it was the whole doting-uncle thing, then it got weirder.”

“Sexual.”

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