Page 56 of Captured

She didn’t have long to wait for the others. Two men appeared on either side of her, walking her out to where Smithson stood. She was glad for the full moon that had come out now that the heavy storm clouds had scudded away, glad for the white sand beach. But mostly glad that she hadn’t given in to her impulse to bring Dimitri’s gun with her. She wasn’t a bad shot, but this wasn’t a paper target. It was a man. And there were better ways to kill a man than with a gun you’d never tried to shoot before. She simply had to be patient, go with him. She’d have her chance.

Eventually.

Smithson turned as she moved up to him. “Lauren,” he said, opening his arms to her. It took every ounce of practice and restraint for her to stop with a small gasp and stiffen. Henry was no idiot. He’d be expecting her to be afraid of him.

Shewasafraid of him, but she was also so furious that it overrode her panic. She wanted to throttle this man, but more importantly, she wanted to keep Maddie safe. So she needed to play this right on the razor’s edge. Afraid but not mute, angry but not stupid. Always aware that he held the upper hand, until she found a way to change that.

Henry’s hard smile showed her that she’d executed her first move well. When she would have backed up, the two men flanking her held her steady, allowing Henry to approach her. “Your vacation has done you well, Lauren. You had to know I’d find you.”

“I didn’t think you’d look.” It was a gamble, but it paid off. Henry visibly relaxed, shaking his head as if she were an enigma.

“You say that, and yet when have I given any indication that I wouldn’t be here when the time was right? You always seem surprised to hear from me. Why is that, Lauren?”

Lauren swallowed, then voiced the words that had so long run through her head. “I’m one woman, Henry. Like any other woman. I have no idea why you find me so interesting when you could have anyone in the world—anyone.”Anyone except Maddie, you slimy son of a bitch.

“But that’s the wonder of it, isn’t it? I chose you. I vetted you before you were out of the cradle, planned for this day. Watched you grow, develop. I was the one who suggested the dancing lessons, do you know that?”

Lauren blinked at him, her lip curling in instinctive disgust. “I hated those classes.”

“I know,” Henry said, satisfaction thick in his voice. “That made it infinitely better, the idea that I could direct you, forceyou and your parents into activities you would never willingly have taken on otherwise. But I directed your lessons, your food, your friends. It was...exhilarating. And then when you started reaching your teen years and I saw the beauty you would become, it was as if an entire new vista of opportunity opened up to me. Imadeyou, Lauren Grant.”

“You didn’t make anything about me.” Lauren’s rage boiled out of control. She wanted to spit Henry’s words back at him, and she hated that she recognized the defensiveness within herself. She always reacted most strongly when the accuser was right. Could Henry beright? Had she changed who she was in reaction to him? The very thought revolted her, and she forced herself to open her eyes wider, her voice breaking. “You didn’t.”

“I did.” He turned to speak to his men. “You two, stay here. You,” he indicated the pair that had flanked her. “Come along. I find I’m not done with the chase yet.”

“What do you mean?” Lauren watched nervously as the men took their positions by the boat. “Where are we going?”

“Don’t look so frightened.” Henry’s laugh betrayed his enjoyment of the moment. “I merely thought it would be invigorating to take advantage of the lovely evening on a Greek island and take a tour around the beach. The men told me that there were some unusual sculptures hanging from the trees, and I know you’ve already seen them. We should have a look at them together.”

“It’s just a bunch of junk washed up from the sea.”

“But junk someone has seen fit to hang. That makes it art, don’t you agree?” He curved her arm into his, and she didn’t give him the satisfaction of making him tug her across the sand. She moved with him easily, her head high. Why hadn’t she taken Dimitri’s gun? The men hadn’t frisked her when she’d come out of the trees. Then again, they hadn’t needed to. Her shift was thin. A gun would’ve been immediately obvious.

“I never would have picked you to run away, you know,” Henry said. “Not in an obvious way like that. It proved an invigorating diversion.”

“I’m not ready to get married.”

“But I am, and as my wife, you need to get more in the habit of thinking of what is best for the two of us, and not simply for yourself.”

Lauren steadied herself, willing her skin to stop crawling. Maybe that’s why he’d sent her so many bugs over the years. To prepare her for this moment. “I hadn’t thought of it that way,” she said at length, since Henry was clearly waiting for some sort of response.

He chuckled. “You see? It’s a matter of perspective. And I’ve waited so long for this. Your father proved a hard man to convince, but he had his leverage points. Everyone does.” He drew in a deep, satisfied breath. “He taught me that himself.”

Leverage points? What was he talking about?

In the end, though, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered now that Maddie was at risk. “If I come with you, you’ll stop bothering my sister?”

“My dear Lauren, your sister is of no real interest to me. You’ve coddled her from the time she was born. She isn’t strong enough.” But as Lauren allowed a tiny breath of relief to escape, Henry squeezed her arm. “Though she is useful, I must admit. So no, I can’t say I won’t draw upon her influence once again. Though only for something I really, really want.”

Lauren closed her eyes, sending out a silent plea that Dimitri was somewhere in the forest around them, that he’d completely ignored her hurried note to him. Would he know this was where she’d headed? Had he even noticed she’d left?

She must have betrayed her hopes somehow. Henry leaned close. “And lest you be concerned about your bodyguardfollowing you, I have additional men in the trees in case he should be that foolish. We’re quite safe.”

Additional men?She knew Dimitri was trained military on top of being a demigod, and that he wasn’t an idiot. She also knew that he was far more familiar with this cluster of sea junk than Henry’s men moving through the shadows. That said, they wereexpectinghim. They were prepared. While he didn’t know they were out there...because she hadn’t told him what she was doing.Stupid!

She slanted Henry a glance. They were moving among the waving bits of boat and airplane, driftwood and shells. “Well, if you think he’s going to come after you, shouldn’t we be getting out of here?”

“Not yet.”

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