CHAPTER ONE
Ariana Leotokos lifted the gauzy curtain away from her bedroom window to watch her father’s yacht pull up to the dock. The vessel held another willing victim for her father’s childish and vindictive game, another desperate soul. There had been six so far, some cautious, some arrogant, all of them trying to solve the puzzle of the Minotaur. All of them had failed, and all of them had been publicly humiliated and financially ruined by both their folly and her father’s power.
Would the seventh be any different?
The yacht had moored, and Ariana leaned closer to see who would disembark. First Aries, one of her father’s many henchmen. And then...
He looked different. He didn’t, she acknowledged, look like a computer geek. Her father had enticed some of the brightest, youngest minds in the IT world to attempt to disarm the Minotaur virus. Most of them had looked anemic and underfed, sporting goofy, graphic tee-shirts and glasses. This man didn’t look like that at all.
She couldn’t see him all that well from this distance, but she still got a sense of innate power and authority. He was tall, for he had to duck underneath the yacht’s awning as he came onto the dock. His hair was dark and cut close, and when he lifted one hand to shield his eyes from the sun Ariana saw the muscles ripple underneath the cotton fabric of his pressed polo shirt and khakis.
Her breath caught, and she cursed herself for a fool. He was just a man. And yet, if he were different, he might be her one chance at freedom.
She felt her breath catch again when the man dropped his hand from his eyes and looked upwards... straight at her. From this distance she couldn’t see the color of his eyes but she felt the intensity of his gaze. Or was she just being fanciful? How could he even see her from such a distance? Belatedly she realized she almost had her nose pressed to the glass and she stepped quickly away from the window, letting the curtain fall back into place. Yet her heart still thudded, and her palms were slick. He could, she thought with a thrill of fear, be the one.
Theo Atrikes surveyed Miles Leotokos’s villa with cold dispassion. Clearly the man was trying to impress-or really, intimidate--him, but he refused to be wowed by any of it. Not the multimillion dollar yacht, nor the private island in the Aegean Sea, nor the sprawling villa in front of him. So the man had money. He'd always known that, and anyone with a little brawn or brains could make money.
Still, he felt something--a pulse of awareness--as he stepped off the dock onto the gravel path that led up to the villa. Someone was watching him.
He glanced upwards, and saw a dark outline at one of the upstairs window. The sunlight gilded her figure in gold--for it was surely a woman. A tall, slender woman who still possessed ample curves.
Interest flared. Was it Leotokos’s wife? He didn’t know much about the man’s family. The billionaire tycoon was intensely private, and wisely so, since Theo had his own doubts about how legitimate his business was.
His mouth curved in a grim smile. No, not doubts. Certainties. And he intended to act on those certainties tonight.
Dropping his gaze from the upstairs window, he set his mouth in a grim line and followed Leotokos’s underling into the villa.
Theo hadn’t actually expected Miles Leotokos to meet him, although he could not deny an intense curiosity about the man who had, without knowing it, dominated most of his life. The man who had picked him up at Piraeus in the yacht left him at the door to the villa, and a stony-faced butler type took over, leading him into a spacious reception room with a lot of pricey antiques and old art.
"Would you like a refreshment, sir?"
"Just water, please." He paced the room while he waited, examining the obvious signs of Leotokos’s wealth. One of the paintings on the wall looked like an original Van Gogh. He heard the door open, and turned to accept the glass
Ariana Leotokos lifted the gauzy curtain away from her bedroom window to watch her father’s yacht pull up to the dock. The vessel held another willing victim for her father’s childish and vindictive game, another desperate soul. There had been six so far, some cautious, some arrogant, all of them trying to solve the puzzle of the Minotaur. All of them had failed, and all of them had been publicly humiliated and financially ruined by both their folly and her father’s power.
Would the seventh be any different?
The yacht had moored, and Ariana leaned closer to see who would disembark. First Aries, one of her father’s many henchmen. And then...
He looked different. He didn’t, she acknowledged, look like a computer geek. Her father had enticed some of the brightest, youngest minds in the IT world to attempt to disarm the Minotaur virus. Most of them had looked anemic and underfed, sporting goofy, graphic tee-shirts and glasses. This man didn’t look like that at all.
She couldn’t see him all that well from this distance, but she still got a sense of innate power and authority. He was tall, for he had to duck underneath the yacht’s awning as he came onto the dock. His hair was dark and cut close, and when he lifted one hand to shield his eyes from the sun Ariana saw the muscles ripple underneath the cotton fabric of his pressed polo shirt and khakis.
Her breath caught, and she cursed herself for a fool. He was just a man. And yet, if he were different, he might be her one chance at freedom.
She felt her breath catch again when the man dropped his hand from his eyes and looked upwards... straight at her. From this distance she couldn’t see the color of his eyes but she felt the intensity of his gaze. Or was she just being fanciful? How could he even see her from such a distance? Belatedly she realized she almost had her nose pressed to the glass and she stepped quickly away from the window, letting the curtain fall back into place. Yet her heart still thudded, and her palms were slick. He could, she thought with a thrill of fear, be the one.
Theo Atrikes surveyed Miles Leotokos’s villa with cold dispassion. Clearly the man was trying to impress-or really, intimidate--him, but he refused to be wowed by any of it. Not the multimillion dollar yacht, nor the private island in the Aegean Sea, nor the sprawling villa in front of him. So the man had money. He'd always known that, and anyone with a little brawn or brains could make money.
Still, he felt something--a pulse of awareness--as he stepped off the dock onto the gravel path that led up to the villa. Someone was watching him.
He glanced upwards, and saw a dark outline at one of the upstairs window. The sunlight gilded her figure in gold--for it was surely a woman. A tall, slender woman who still possessed ample curves.
Interest flared. Was it Leotokos’s wife? He didn’t know much about the man’s family. The billionaire tycoon was intensely private, and wisely so, since Theo had his own doubts about how legitimate his business was.
His mouth curved in a grim smile. No, not doubts. Certainties. And he intended to act on those certainties tonight.
Dropping his gaze from the upstairs window, he set his mouth in a grim line and followed Leotokos’s underling into the villa.
Theo hadn’t actually expected Miles Leotokos to meet him, although he could not deny an intense curiosity about the man who had, without knowing it, dominated most of his life. The man who had picked him up at Piraeus in the yacht left him at the door to the villa, and a stony-faced butler type took over, leading him into a spacious reception room with a lot of pricey antiques and old art.
"Would you like a refreshment, sir?"
"Just water, please." He paced the room while he waited, examining the obvious signs of Leotokos’s wealth. One of the paintings on the wall looked like an original Van Gogh. He heard the door open, and turned to accept the glass
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