The rest of them were staring at him, accusation in their eyes. And he couldn’t blame them. He’d walked out and left Violet with one of Europe’s most secretive and notorious crime bosses. Who also happened to be the brother who’d supposedly died sixteen years earlier.
And the brother who’d been trying to rescue her all this time. Because it was all so clear now, why Jericho had wanted her so badly. He’d been trying to get her free of her father the only way he could. So no, he wouldn’t hurt her.
“He won’t,” Elijah said. “Jericho spent a long time trying to get her free. He wouldn’t do all of that just to get rid of her now.” He paused, looking at all of them in turn. “He’s her brother, you do understand that don’t you?”
Woolf cursed under his breath and flicked a glance at Honor, who’d been waiting in his office with the rest of them when Elijah had finally gotten back.
“Yeah, I didn’t see that coming,” St. James muttered.
“None of us did.” Rutherford was leaning against Woolf’s desk with his arms folded. “You didn’t ever find anything about him, did you, angel?”
Eva sat next to him on the edge of the desk, her legs swinging. “Nope. Nothing at all. It’s like he doesn’t exist. Jericho I mean, not Theo.”
Katya was by the door, frowning at Elijah. “You said his father never knew he was dealing with his own son?”
“He didn’t.” Of that Elijah was positive. Fitzgerald had had no inkling and in fact had spent a good many resources trying to find out who Jericho was, since the man had hated mysteries. Which in many ways made it odd that he’d accepted Theo’s disappearance without any argument, especially when a body hadn’t turned up. “He tried to find out but came up against the same dead ends. Jericho didn’t want to be found and so he wasn’t.”
“Except we found him,” Woolf murmured. “We know who he is.”
Katya shifted. “We need to be careful. If he’s kept his identity secret for that long, he’s not going to be pleased that we know.”
“Good point.” Rutherford glanced at the small woman on the desk beside him. “I think perhaps a leave of absence might be a prudent thing.”
“What? You mean run away?” Eva scowled, obviously annoyed with the idea.
“Jericho is a bigger fish than Fitzgerald ever was, angel,” Rutherford said quietly. “He’s got more resources and his empire, from what we can see, is … massive. I don’t want you in harm’s way if he decides to make sure his identity stays secret.”
“But Theo wouldn’t…” Honor stopped. Her face was pale, worry clear in her eyes. “I mean I know him. At least I used to.”
“Forget what you know,” Elijah said curtly. “Whoever he once was, he isn’t now. Not after years spent building that kind of empire.” And he knew, better than anyone, how true that was.
Woolf had put his arm around Honor’s waist. “Zac’s not wrong, baby. I’m thinking you might be better off out of New York too.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. I’ve taken a lot of time off work as it is and I don’t have the staff to take the load like you all do.”
“I’m not talking outer space here,” Woolf said. “The lodge in Colorado has internet, you know that. You can work from there. Shit, that’s what I do.”
“Alexei,” Katya’s voice was quiet. “Perhaps you should—”
“Do you think you could wait till we’re in private before you undermine my masculinity, Katya mine?” St. James didn’t sound at all offended, only amused, his mouth curving in a private kind of smile. “Anyway, I don’t need to go anywhere. Not when I have my own personal ninja to protect me.”
There were lots of undercurrents in the room that Elijah found difficult to follow. The emotions that ran between all these people were deep with warmth and there was a tenderness in the way they looked at one another that, strangely, made him feel angry. Made him feel as if he was missing something.
Fuck, he had to get out of here, away from all this cloying emotional bullshit.
“Protect yourselves how you can,” he said coldly. “Are we done here?”
“Seriously?” St. James’s blue eyes had narrowed. “You just land this information on us and then fuck off? What about Violet? What about Jericho?”
“What about them? Violet is safe and Jericho is probably halfway back to Europe by now.”
“So you’re just letting him go?” Woolf was looking at him now. “After all that shit about revenge and taking him down, you’re letting him get away?”