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The goon took hold of her bound wrists. Although she pulled back, her objection was to being led, not leaving the room… depending on what was out there.
He pulled her toward the door, toward Zeus. For a moment, she considered locking her hands together and smacking him as hard as she could. His anger was so blatant. How had she ever seen anything else? How had the bastard ever put a smile on her face, even for a few seconds?
“I don’t need him dragging me everywhere,” she said, left alone when the goon went to grab her jacket from the table in the window. “I can walk.”
“You’ll do only what you’re told,” Zeus said. “You’re going with Leonard. He’s checked everything out, so don’t think you can run or hide… You’re going to the house, to the mail, you get the keys, and Leonard will bring you back. That’s it.”
That didn’t sound so bad. Except for the whole Leonard bringing her back thing. “Okay,” Tess said with a nod as Leonard tucked her jacket over her hands to hide the rope. “I can do that.”
Zeus smiled and came in closer. “Garrick and two of the men are in the field.” Attempting to trace other operatives with Zone, she remembered. “And we know the rest of them leave Balfour’s house empty to go on a desert run each day.” Making a point of checking his watch, his smile was all the more gratified when it rose into view again. “There will be no one home, Mademoiselle.”
That was the moment Leonard, the security guy, chose to show her the gun on his hip.
“You better check with the boss man before you consider using that. I think he needs me alive,” she said, laying her gaze on Zeus. “Don’t you?”
He touched her face, or tried to, she was quick to pull away. “He doesn’t need to kill you. Just keep you from running away… Weak is exactly how a woman should be.”
“Not this one,” she said, tightening her jaw.
Not in front of him, no way. It was becoming more and more difficult to accept that the man standing in front of her was the same one she’d signed her Heart’s future over to.
“Go to the house, get the keys,” he said, inhaling like he was inconvenienced. “Then we can take you some place safe… Somewhere you’ll be monitored at all times.”
That was all the confirmation she needed. She couldn’t come back. Even if it came down to Leonard murdering her, she wouldn’t let herself be used. Not against her father. Not against Daire. She couldn’t be a pawn anymore.
Leonard snatched her arm to haul her out.
What a coward?
Zeus was a goddamn coward.
Leonard threw her into the car and went around to the driver’s side. Zeus didn’t want to be in the country. It was only his controlling nature that brought them back. That and her little tap-dance about the keys.
Zeus expected her to go to the desert house, retrieve the mail, and then he’d be back on top. The coward didn’t even have the balls to tell anyone they were in the country. If he couldn’t do that, he definitely wouldn’t be going to the house himself.
No doubt he thought nothing could go wrong if she and Leonard were the only ones there. With her hands bound, her options were limited. She could scream, shout, kick and swear. Except Hugo’s house would be empty. As was the one opposite, thanks went to Styx for the intel. There weren’t exactly a zillion houses on the street and it was right next to a golf course. A wide-open space.
In Vegas, all sorts of things went on. Different extravagances, a lot of flamboyant people gravitated there too. So there was a good chance that even yelling and struggling wouldn’t get anyone’s attention anyway. It all depended on how far Daire and her father were from the house. If the guys were just seconds away or on the route back, she might be able to cause enough fuss to delay her and Leonard’s departure.
But damn, her hands, she couldn’t even write a note to tell Daire she’d been there.
Going back to Zeus’s wasn’t an option. Bad enough they’d have to go back without the keys. What would he do then? Send her back the next day and the next? His patience wouldn’t last forever. He’d recognize it was a game, that she’d lied to him.
They turned into Hugo’s street.
Leonard slowed the car. “Get down,” he said, grabbing her head to thrust it down to her knees as he drove past the house.
“What the fuck are you—let me go!”
He balled his fist in her hair to shake her head. “Shut the fuck up or I’ll put a bullet in you just for fun.”
Fun? Is that what he thought? Unless the Olympus guys were far, far away, they would recognize the sound of a gunshot. It wasn’t like she wanted to be hurt, but if Daire heard the shot and came to check it out… The experience would be much more fun for her than it would be for poor Lenny.
She tried to sit up when he turned the steering wheel to take them back the way they’d come. Lenny was quick to grab her hair and push her down when they passed the house again.
“Geez,” she said, blowing out a breath to clear the hair from her face as she stared down into the empty foot-well.
“They’re still in there,” he muttered and let her go.
