Fucking idiot. There is no good in you.
He dismissed that thought. He had more important things to think about now. “Perhaps I’m just having a good day,” he said aloud.
“You never have good days.” Eva’s sharp gaze scanned his face. “Hmm, in fact you’re not only not seething, you’re looking damn smug. Have you got more information you haven’t shared yet?”
Gabriel straightened. “We need to wait until the others are here.”
He didn’t want to have to talk about this twice, particularly to Alex. There were questions he had to ask and who knew what memories it would bring up? Alex could be unpredictable at the best of times and this … well, shit, maybe he knew about his father already. But possibly not about Tremain. Still, one thing was for sure: the guy wasn’t going to like it.
Eva pulled a face and went to sit in the armchair by the fire, drawing her legs up and under her like a cat. As per normal, there was food set out on the table in front of the fire, a decanter of scotch and some wine. She hadn’t touched the food or the alcohol. A teacup and saucer were on a little side table next to her chair, the liquid inside it steaming gently. Probably her usual cup of lemon-and-ginger herbal tea.
Eva had never been one for alcohol.
Abruptly the door behind him opened and Zac came in, brushing the snow off his black overcoat. His amber gaze settled on Eva first—as if checking to make sure she was there—then shifted to Gabriel. “I have something you might be interested in,” he said, not even bothering with a greeting.
Gabriel stiffened. “What?”
“Ah. So the others aren’t yet aware?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Zac didn’t look particularly perturbed, shrugging off his overcoat and tossing it carelessly over the back of the couch. He moved around the side of it and sat down, putting the briefcase he’d been holding on the table, disturbing some of the plates of food.
“Christ,” Eva muttered from her place in the chair, “Gabriel was right. You’re just like a damn dog, shaking your fur and getting into the food.”
Zac’s expression didn’t so much as flicker. “And you like it that way, angel. Don’t tell me you don’t.”
Gabriel skirted around the couch. “What the fuck, Zac?”
The other man opened the briefcase, extracted some papers, and handed them to him without a word. Gabriel looked down. They were financial statements concerning Daniel St. James. Honor’s father. They detailed large sums of money paid into his account after his death from a company called Mainline Holdings Limited.
“Mainline Holdings is a shell company,” Zac said calmly. “And I’m sure you can guess who’s behind that.”
Oh yeah, he could. Because he’d gotten his people to investigate into Tremain’s financial situation and they’d come up with the same thing. Gabriel looked at him. “How the fuck did you know?” Honor hadn’t told anyone else but him that Tremain had paid St. James’s debts. And this information hadn’t been in the files Zac had sent him earlier.
Zac leaned back against the couch, still calm. His tie was perfectly centered, the red edge of one of his tattoos peeking over the collar of his pristine white business shirt. “I found a few inconsistencies in the data I sent you so I did a bit more research and found these transactions. They were remarkably well hidden. I also noticed that you had your people do some digging. They’re clumsy, Gabriel. Very clumsy. You should come to me when you need stuff like this.”
Jesus. Time to do another overhaul of his systems security. “Or you could just mind your own fucking business.”
The other man only smiled. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“Zac?” Eva demanded, her voice low and dangerous. “What haven’t you been telling me?”
At that moment the door opened again and it was Alex, late as usual.
He was in a black suit, his matte black tie loose, black shirt open at the collar. His hair was untidy, like someone had run her fingers through it, his blue eyes brilliant as sapphires. “Sorry, I’m late,” he said, clearly not sorry at all. “Maya was insatiable. Jesus, is there scotch left or have you drank it all again, Gabriel?”
No, he didn’t want to discuss this with Alex. But he was going to have to. Taking a step over to the table, he pulled the top off the whisky decanter and poured a measure out. Then he held the crystal tumbler out toward his friend.
Alex came over and took the glass, his gaze turning sharp. “Oh dear,” he said. “You look serious. At least more serious than normal. Which is a bad fucking sign, I guess.”
“I suggest you drink that,” Gabriel said curtly. “All of it.”
Alex’s posture didn’t change but the look in his eyes cut like razors. “I see. Well, never let it be said that I refused a drink.” He downed the scotch in one go and poured himself another. “Tell me.” The casual note in his voice had gone now; it was low and flat and dangerous.
Gabriel held out the financial statements. “Look at these.”
The other man took them and looked down. He was silent a moment as he scanned the pages. Then he glanced back up at Gabriel. “What the fuck is this?”
“Evidence that your father’s so-called gambling debts were paid by Guy Tremain.”
Alex didn’t move a muscle, his eyes glittering. “And?”
“Who is currently laundering money for the Lucky Seven casino.”
“You found this out how?”
Gabriel hesitated. Fuck it, might as well say. “Honor told me Tremain paid the debts.”
“Honor?” Eva sounded puzzled. “Why the hell would she tell you that?”
“Because I found out about a reservation scam he was running and I wanted to get more information about him. She was the logical person to ask.”
Alex downed the second glass of scotch, then, quite casually, tossed the tumbler into the fireplace where it smashed in a spray of glass and glitter of flames. “Money laundering,” he said, his voice deceptively mild. “And everyone seems to know about it except me.”
Shit. He should have told his friend earlier. Given him a heads-up at least. But he hadn’t.
You didn’t want to. Didn’t want to bring that night up for him again.
Yeah, that was the truth. He still remembered Alex stumbling out of the casino, the shirt he was wearing torn and his mouth bleeding. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was the look in his friend’s eyes. Like something in him had died.
That wasn’t the look that was there now, though. Anger made his midnight gaze burn bright blue.
“Yet you know something else we don’t,” Gabriel went on, knowing he had to continue. “Your father wasn’t gambling at that casino. He fucking owned it, didn’t he?”
Alex’s expression didn’t change. “Yes. He did.”
A strange anger surged through him. One he had no right to feel and yet did all the same. “Jesus Christ, Alex. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why the hell should I? It’s none of your goddamn business.”
“The fuck it is. Especially when Honor’s involved.”
“Oh?” Alex took a step toward him. “And how is Honor involved exactly?”
The other two didn’t say a word. They knew. This was Gabriel’s job. “I’ve been investigating Tremain, you know that. And I found out someone was making fake reservations and cancelling them. The money trail leads back to him. So I went to Honor and—”
“You brought her into it?” The look in Alex’s eyes blazed.
“Yes,” Gabriel said flatly. “She’s got a lot of fucking money invested in a company he’s running into the ground. Deliberately. If he goes down, so does she.”
A muscle ticked in Alex’s jaw. “That should have been my job, not yours.”
“Really? When you’ve been doing such a great job of it so far?”
His friend’s eyes widened, as if he’d taken a blow. “What the ever-loving fuck? You know why I haven’t—”
“Yeah, I know why. But you can’t come over all big brother now when you’ve been avoiding her for nineteen fucking years.” Protective anger rose. All he could see was the pain in Honor’s eyes as she’d told him about how her life had been after Alex had gone. After the brother who was supposed to keep her safe had disappeared, leaving her alone.
His friend was staring at him, blue eyes studying him with a terrifyingly sharp intelligence. And something flared in Alex’s gaze. Knowledge.
“You prick,” Alex said hoarsely.
Gabriel knew the blow was coming and he didn’t avoid it. Standing there motionless as Alex raised his fist and smashed it into the side of his face. Pain exploded like a star with his cheekbone at the center, radiating outward. But he’d experienced worse pain before and didn’t make a sound or flinch. Hell, he probably deserved it after all.
“What the hell, Alex?” Eva was saying.
Alex had drawn his hand back again, only to have Zac’s fingers wrap around his wrist, preventing him from landing another blow.
“Gentlemen, please.” Zac’s cultured English voice cut through the tension, polite yet deadly. “This isn’t going to make the meeting go any faster and it’s already become pretty fucking interminable.” The steel in the guy’s tone was enough to remind everyone that he could kill them all without even breaking a sweat.