Katya, following on his heels, rolled her eyes. “Thank you, but computers are my fatal weakness. I think Eva beats me on that front.”
“True.” Alex reached out, winding a casual arm around Katya’s waist and holding her close. “But I don’t think Eva could beat me in a fight.”
Eva, who’d settled herself in her usual armchair, gave the two of them an incredulous look. “You beat him in a fight?” she asked Katya.
The Russian woman was blushing, which was rather sweet. “I would have. If he hadn’t used a couple of dirty tricks.”
Alex smiled at her. “Emphasis on the dirty.”
Gabriel cleared his throat ostentatiously. “Okay, enough with the romantic bullshit. We need to hear what Eva found on that computer.”
“As I recall,” Honor murmured, “you were the one who started it, but by all means…”
“Well hell,” Alex said as he rounded the couch to sit down next to Honor. “People are actually eating my goddamned food. Finally.”
Katya came to lean against the arm near where Alex sat, while Gabriel seated himself in the armchair on the other side of the fire from Eva. As he did so, Honor rose, dusting cracker crumbs from her skirt then moved over to his chair, calmly seating herself in his lap like she was sitting on a throne.
Another little barb of anguish slid through Eva, spoiling her enjoyment of the relaxed atmosphere. Probably for the best anyway. It wasn’t as if the information she’d discovered was particularly pleasant.
“Where’s Zac?” Alex asked, glancing around before looking directly at Eva.
Naturally. Because everyone expected she and Zac to be together. Because they always were. Unfortunately that wouldn’t be for much longer.
The barb of anguish settled deeper inside her.
“He’ll be here,” she said shortly. “But I can start without him.”
“You don’t have to.” Zac’s deep voice came as a shock to her system. “I’m here now.”
He strode into the room, tall and forbidding in his black suit and charcoal tie. The chiseled lines of his face were impenetrable as rock, the expression in his amber eyes completely opaque. How he usually was in other words.
But Eva could see the tightness in his jaw and the tension in his shoulders. A stiffness in the way he carried himself.
It didn’t give her any satisfaction that he was in pain too.
Zac came over to stand behind the couch. He wasn’t wearing his overcoat or gloves today, the ink on the backs of his hands dark against his skin. “Go on, angel,” he said in his usual calm tone, the look he gave her one of measured interest. Treating her as he normally did and not as if she’d told him she loved him not a few hours earlier.
Not as if they’d shared the deepest parts of themselves the night before.
She looked away from him, determined to be as calm and emotionless as he was. “Okay, well, I spent the afternoon decrypting the info on Fitzgerald’s computer. It wasn’t easy.” At least, it wouldn’t have been if she hadn’t been so determined not to think about Zac. “Some of the info had various fail-safes embedded in it, which meant quite a few of the files were wiped unfortunately. But I did find evidence that Fitzgerald was building quite the empire.” She paused, looking around the room at her friends. “The Lucky Seven was one of a number of different establishments around the world that operated as Fitzgerald’s shop front. The drugs and money laundering seem to be a sideline to the main operation. Which is basically people. Women, mainly.”
“Fuck,” Gabriel muttered. “Dear old Dad.”
“I could say the same thing,” Alex said, his voice stripped of the sarcastic amusement that had been in it before. “My Dad was one of his fucking cohorts. Not that he was happy about it from what we’ve been able to figure out.”
“Yes, Fitzgerald mentioned Daniel,” Zac said without inflection. “He ordered his death.”
Honor and Alex shared a glance at that. Katya slipped off the arm of the couch and went around to sit next to her lover, putting one hand on his thigh.
Eva wished she didn’t have to see that. Wished she wasn’t quite so aware of it.
“I figured as much,” Alex said, covering Katya’s hand with his own. “I suppose the consolation is that he didn’t want to be part of it anymore.”
“Neither did Guy,” Honor murmured. “He wanted out too.”
Eva folded her hands in her lap. But it wasn’t like touching someone else for comfort. It really wasn’t. “I found quite a few emails and various other files, with names and things. A few financial details, money transfers and receipts. But…” She hesitated, glancing at them all. “Fitzgerald was very careful. Even on his private computer, everything was very vague. There’s actually nothing concrete to tie him personally to this. Everything I found on his computer could be explained away easily enough I’m afraid.”