Page 59 of Captive Lies

“Morris, what’s going on?”All those cops can’t be here regarding Mom’s accident, canthey?

“There’s been an incident in the parking lot. Andy wasshot.”

“What? How?”Goddammit.Why?

Morris nodded to where Jake was fast approaching, facegrim.

“Donovan, what the fuck is going on?” Grant met his head of security halfway. “I heard Andy was shot.” His eyes zeroed in on Tyler who was talking to a Boston cop and his blood iced. “What’s Tyler doing here?” he growled. “I told you to have him take Blaire home. Who’s. With.Blaire?”

“Mr. Thorne …” Jakehesitated.

Grant backed away from him, the distressed look on his man’s face sent a riff of foreboding up his spine. “No,” he whispered. His mind balked at what Jake’s eyes were telling him. “Fuck! No.” He swallowed hard. “Tellme.”

Jake blew out a breath. “Morris saw Blaire leave with Andy, so when Tyler came into the ER to take her home, he went outside to look for them. He was too far away when he saw what happened. A black van stopped behind Andy’s car. Three men jumped out. One of them shotAndy.”

“And Blaire?” Grant asked, his chest tightening as his breathingfractured.

“They took her, Mr. Thorne,” Jake said. He sighed heavily. “I’msorry.”

Grant leaned against the wall, blood draining from his head as fear for Blaire coiled in his gut. However, something wasn’t adding up. “When did this happen? Justnow?”

“Three hoursago.”

“Blaire was taken three hours ago and nobody told me?” Grant roared, grabbing Jake by his shirt. “What the fuck,Donovan?”

“What’s going on?” the senator asked, stepping out of theroom.

“Blaire was taken,” Grant threw over his shoulder before returning his glare at Jake. He gave his head of security a shake. It was either that or slam him against the wall. “Why the fuck wasn’t I informed immediately when ithappened?”

Donovan’s jaw hardened. “You were sequestered in a private waiting room and August Lynch was its gatekeeper. He told us that you and your family were not to bedisturbed.”

An anguished roar echoed in the hallway and it was only later that Grant realized it had come from him. He shoved Jake to the side when he spotted Gus. He stalked over to his father’s political advisor, hauled back, and punched the bastard across theface.

* * *

Gus Lynch waslucky the Boston PD was in the ER waiting room or Grant would have killed him. When he learned that his mother had been attacked and was in critical condition, he managed to keep it together for his dad and Val. But when he found out that Blaire had been abducted and that fact had been kept from him for three fucking hours, Grant completely lostit.

Rage. Blinding rage gripped him and despair tore at his guts. His girl was gone. His woman was taken and it was his ownfault.

What Grant wanted to know was why Andy removed Blaire from the ER. If the man wasn’t all drugged up, he’d have subjected him to an inquisition. Rather than wait for the Boston PD to obtain a warrant for the surveillance video, Grant used his influence with the hospital administrator to obtain a copy of the footage. Being a major benefactor of the institution had itsadvantage.

Grant saw how he’d treated Blaire in the waiting room and his heart twisted at how lost she looked. Andy said she’d been planning to leave him. After the hostile reception she’d received from Grant and everyone else in the ER waiting room, he couldn’t blame her. There was a lot he needed to make up for but, first, he needed to get her back. What slayed him the most was the point where she’d given up the struggle after seeing Andy go down. The footage was grainy, but it was obvious she just stopped fighting. It was as if she’d given up. Grant took the blame for that too.I’ll find you, Blaire. Don’t you dare give up hope on us. Don’t you fuckingdare.

“Mr. Thorne, your mother is awake.” A nurse approached his huddle with Tyler andJake.

“Thanks, I’ll be right there.” He looked at Jake. “Find Blaire’s burner. She didn’t have a purse with her at the ER. We need that phone to contactLiam.”

Grant made his way to his mother’s room. He took in a deep breath and schooled his features before he opened the door. Bandages obscured his mother’s head. There was bruising beneath her eyes, but she smiled weakly when she sawhim.

His father was standing at the foot of the bed and Val was sitting by herside.

“I thought my son had forgotten me.” Her voice was low andscratchy.

“Had to deal with an issue,Mom.”

“It’s always one thing or another, isn’tit?”

Grant forced a chuckle, but it sounded so hollow, hegrimaced.

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