hope there was a small part of Rip that was still curious about her gift. He might test her before he killed her.
“Where’s Darius?” she called over the whir of the chopper blades.
“I’ll take you to see him. I don’t think he’s well enough for travel.” Rip stared at her. Somehow, he hadn’t aged at all. She supposed evil did that to a person, because his dark-haired, olive-skinned good looks were still perfect, save for a few more lines around his eyes.
She hated to admit it, but they only added to his mystique. She also hated to send Jem away without Darius, but she knew better than to push.
“I’m not happy about this—you’re already breaking your promise,” she said.
“For Darius’s best interest, Grace. I also want to make sure you kept your end and there won’t be anyone following you.”
She turned and waved Jem off. The chopper rose and in minutes was back out over the ocean. She fought off the panic as she turned back to Rip and held out her hands. “Unless someone’s hiding under my jacket, I’m quite alone, as promised.”
Rip furrowed his brow a little, then motioned to the car. “Get in. We’ll go to the house so you can see your precious Darius.”
She did as she was told, and the car wound along the familiar single-lane roads up to the main house. Everything looked the way she remembered it, a paradise in hell. How it could be so beautiful and terrifying at the same time defied explanation.
He pulled into the circular drive in front of the house, and she waited until he came around to open her door. The perfect gentleman, as always.
She burned to ask him about Esme, but it was too soon. She needed to buy time, for Gunner to swim to shore in the dusk. For Jem and Avery to follow.
But if she saw a gun and an opportunity, she would take it. The time for playing it safe was long past.
“Where’s the staff?” she asked casually as they walked into the house.
“They’re preparing for a party I’m having next week,” he said. “It seemed like the perfect time to let them have their meeting, so you wouldn’t be overwhelmed.”
There were no bodyguards around either. None that she could see, anyway, but she doubted they were too far away. Surveillance cameras had been added since the last time she’d been here. They were small and Grace noticed them only because Gunner and Avery had given her a quick lesson in the hours before they’d begun to execute their plan. They wanted her to know what to look for, showed her how to disable cameras here and there without causing too much suspicion.
“Don’t do it if he’s close,” Gunner had warned. “I’d rather get around them than you get hurt.”
She kept her hands in her pockets now as they walked toward the small elevator that led to the basement.
The basement. She froze, but only for a second, because a sudden, strong image of Rip being killed flashed in front of her eyes. She caught herself before he noticed and walked into the elevator with him.
She stood, facing the door, nearly shoulder to shoulder with him in the small space. If he noticed she was nervous, he didn’t say anything, not even when she hesitated before she walked out of the elevator and into the cold cement hallway.
You’ll be okay down here . . . you survived the first time.
She moved ahead on her tour down memory lane. It was meant to break her, she knew. Rip had no idea that instead it was making her stronger.
“Keep moving—I know you remember the way,” Rip said.
“Yes, I do.” She turned to face him confidently. “I know you do as well.”
His smile faltered slightly, but only someone who knew him as well as she did would notice. Eight years of living with him had taught her something—she just had to free herself to remember.
“Darius is this way.” He motioned for her to follow him instead of her leading again. She watched the broad expanse of his shoulders as he marched down the small hallway and opened the third door on the left. He let her go inside and slammed the door behind her.
“Darius—oh, my God.” She moved forward to the man lying prone on the floor, chained to the wall.
He rolled over and opened his eyes. “How did he get you back here?”
She had to lie to him, get him to believe that she did this