them on the defensive. He had been so close, so
close, but underestimating his cousin had cost him. Lucas was
stronger than he had thought. He would never make that mistake
again, but it was possible that once was all it would take to change
Creon from a savior to an embarrassment.
Now that his target was being protected by his own family, he
had few options but to wait and see if she was stupid enough to go
out on her own. He was hoping that if she went anywhere it would
be to the place she had once called home.
It wasn?t much of a chance, but it was all he had at this point. He
couldn?t go back to the yacht and face his other cousins emptyhanded.
He had to come up with something else?a lead, an opportunity,
something?before he involved any of the Hundred. No
matter how this turned out, his father could never know about his
failure outside the hotel. It was too humiliating to even think
about.
Tantalus had finally entrusted Creon with the truth, and for the
first time in over nineteen years, Creon had been allowed to hear
his father?s actual voice. He hadn?t been allowed in the same room,
or seen his father?s face, because that woman had deformed it so
monstrously it would be death to look upon him, but for the first
time in such a long time Creon had actually spoken to his father
and learned about the burden he carried.
His father praised him for being so strong and faithful over the
years. Then he told his son what had really happened in that rowboat,
how his thoughts and his will had been so grievously twisted
that he had had been led into a type of sin that had marked him
forever?marked like Medusa. Tantalus admitted his wrongs, repented
for them, and told his son that he had been trying to right
them ever since. He had sworn to remove the feminine evil of the