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Chapter One
“Ithink I’d have killedyou again if I had found you dead, Rick.”
Rick swallowed, knowing that every word spoken by the man framed on the doorway was true. He was more than a few years younger than Rick, but only the greatest fool on Earth would let something like age make him think Helios Andreadis was harmless. At sixteen, Helios had turned his back on his inheritance and moved halfway across the world to build his own billion-dollar underground racing club. That was the least of his achievements.
Standing six-foot-seven, golden haired, and with striking leonine eyes, Helios was often compared to the sun god. It should have been a comforting analogy, but the younger man’s cold hard visage reminded Rick that suns could just as easily burn people alive with its heat and, in some cases, destroy entire planets and galaxies.
“President,” Kellion Argyros murmured. “Maybe we can let Rick lower his hands first and have a peaceful discussion?” Normally, the VP of Afxisi would have a wickedly charming smile playing on his handsome face, but not now. It had been almost three days to the second since they discovered MJ had been abducted, and they had been on the road since then.
The tension eased from Kellion’s frame when Helios slowly nodded, lowering his gun. Helios had been like a ticking bomb all these days, and there was no telling what could trigger him. Even now, the memory of how Helios had gone berserk upon finding out MJ had been taken made Kellion wince. He definitely did not want that to happen again.
“Shall we sit down?” Yuri Athanas’ voice was quiet and smooth, the sound of it having a calming effect on everyone in the room. Helios shook his head, but Kellion took the decrepit-looking chair across Rick’s narrow bed. Beside him, Andreus Economou, the club’s hot-headed treasurer, walked towards the dusty window, taking a peek outside before perching himself on the window sill.
Sparing a glance at his surroundings, Yuri noted a few interesting things about the room that Rick had rented for the week. Unused towels, an unpacked bag, and the neat bed. “You really didn’t plan on staying here for a week, did you?”
Rick shook his head. “No. The men after me tend to be lazy. When they find out I’m checked in for the week, they’ll take their time to get to me. By the time they come here, I’d have crossed several towns already.” He looked at Helios. “You’re either a really good tracker...or you’re more desperate to find me than James’ men...or your brother Herod’s.”
The mention of his older brother’s name made Helios take a deep breath. Yet another man whose death was pending. He would get to Herod soon, but for now, he had to focus on what mattered most to him. Helios said abruptly, “MJ’s gone.”
Rick paled. “How?”
Helios’ fists clenched. “It was my fault—”
“No,” Kellion said sharply. “It was not. If anything, this was my fault since I’m in charge of security when you’re unavailable.”
“It was all our faults,” Yuri said flatly. “We underestimated the enemy, and we had not seen fit to let MJ know the danger she was in. And now, she’s the one paying for it.”
“Do you know why James took her, Rick?” Helios gritted out. “What kind of sick bastard would give his own daughter to a psycho like Manolito Chavez?”
“You don’t know?” Rick asked tiredly. “James is not MJ’s real father. I’ve done my own research before I got out of town, and I was fortunate enough to be able to speak to Madeline Cartwright’s lawyer before he passed away. He had taken care of the adoption, made it legal, then at James’ behest, got rid of the paper trail to prevent anyone from knowing that MJ wasn’t his real daughter.”
“Does MJ know?” Helios asked.
Rick shook his head. “I don’t think so. If she had, she wouldn’t have stayed that long in their house.”
“Do you know who her real father is? Maybe he has something to do with the abduction. We can’t rule that out,” Andreus said.
“No – and neither did the lawyer. All he could give me was a name that kept coming up when MJ’s parents would argue in his office. The name is...Vlahos.”
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