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“He’s my bodyguard,” she agreed. But so much more.
“That why he brought you to North Dakota? He wanted to keep you close?”
He’d wanted her to stay with Memphis and Lane. “Coming was my choice. Midas believes my abduction is linked to his father. Since it’s my life, I wanted to hear what his father had to say.”
A low whistle escaped Terrance. “You are not going to like what he has to say.” He sawed a hand over his mouth. “No one ever does. The man is as close to true evil as I’ve ever encountered.”
Goose bumps rose on her body.
“If it gets to be too much, I can have a guard escort you to the warden’s office.” He motioned toward the warden. Warden Walker had been in the little greeting party that met them at the gate. Tall, fit, tan, Walker had been quiet during most of the trek to the observation room.
“I don’t like this,” Walker said now. “Henry is working an angle. He’s always working one.”
“Midas can handle him,” Alina said. Her voice sounded confident. She had faith in him.
“Nobody can handle Henry.” Terrance tugged on the knot of his tie.
She didn’t get to say anything else because the door had just opened in that little interrogation room. A guard came in first. Squeaking steps. Keys jangling at his side. Slight paunch and nervous eyes.
The prisoner arrived next. Tall, as tall as Midas. With powerful muscles that stretched his prison uniform. His wrists and legs were shackled, and he walked forward with mincing steps.
Her breath sucked in when he turned to glance toward the mirror.
“Looks one hell of a lot like his son, doesn’t he?”
Yes, he did. They appeared more like brothers than father and son. Same jaw. Same nose. Same cheekbones. But Henry had a buzz cut so you could barely see his dark blond hair. His face appeared harder, colder, than Midas’s.
Henry smiled.
Her goose bumps got worse. The curve of his lips was the same as Midas’s, but the eyes were wrong. The amber color matched, but there was no emotion in Henry Monroe’s eyes. It was like staring into a void.
Then he blinked, and emotion flew into his stare. A deliberate trick? Because suddenly, he looked happy. So pleased.
Her stomach twisted. “Midas shouldn’t be in there.” She wanted to run in and pull him out. “He shouldn’t be around that man.” Alina was very, very afraid for Midas.
But Henry stopped focusing on the mirror. I think he was smiling at me. And he turned toward Midas. “Son,” he announced in a deep, rumbling voice. Midas’s voice. “I have missed you.”
Another guard shuffled in behind the prisoner.
***
Midas unclenched his back teeth. Tension had his body so stiff that he practically ached, and it took all of his self-control not to leap across the table and wipe that smug smile off his father’s face.
I have missed you. Such utter bullshit. “I think you missed freedom,” Midas returned flatly. “Missed being outside. Missed good food. Missed…hunting.”
The guards secured Henry at the table. Then they backed up.
“But I don’t think you missed me,” Midas finished. He didn’t glance toward the mirror. Alina was beyond that glass, watching every moment. He hated for her to see his father, and he was adamant that his father would not see her.
Henry Monroe would never get close to Alina. Midas would make sure of that.
“You wound me.” A dramatic sigh. “You are my only son. My flesh and blood. How could I not miss you? It’s been years.”
“You set me up for murder.”
“Did I?” His brow furrowed. “I don’t remember that. I just think the incredibly inept DA screwed the case. Terrance wanted to be famous, and he jumped the gun so he could be on TV. Why would I want my own family in a cell? It’s not a fate I would wish on my worst enemy.”
Midas had often felt that he was his father’s worst enemy. “Bowie Dodge is dead.”
