Page 20 of Midnight Revelations

His head slumped back against the wall as he gave me his attention. “What?”

“All records can be altered by the right person. Never trust anything unless you see it with your own eyes or hear it with your own ears. This life is a fucked-up mess and the winner is the person with the biggest balls and a spine of steel. You hit hard and fast first and never apologise for it.”

“That’s not really relevant here, now is it?” He gave me hisI’m a cocky bastardgrin that set my back molars grinding together.

I crouched in front of him. “I think you’ll find it is, Michael. You’ve trusted the wrong people and forgot the basic rule of this family. Secrecy. Cardinal rules are created to be adhered to and you’ve been a little silly lately. Have a good day.”

Maybe I’d said too much, but Michael had already been labelled for death and our loving Dad had done nothing to save him, even though he was his favourite.

“I’ll walk out with you,” Aaron said with a sigh. “I have a few meetings this afternoon.”

I nodded and moved to the door without so much as a backward glance at the perverts still assembled there.

“Dad was very interested in this woman he mentioned earlier,” Aaron said when we were outside. “Do you care about her?”

Aaron was the brother I was closest to. There was only a year between us and we held the same ideals, but I was trusting no one when it came to Lucrezia. I gave him the same practised smile I used earlier. “When do I have time for relationships, Aaron? She’s like Xavier’s little sister and needed some help with her business. I wasn’t lying earlier when I said it was a good investment in the future. Her designs have people talking and she’ll make a lot of money. Those opportunities are rare to find, and who doesn’t need a legitimate route to bring diamonds in through?” I shrugged.

“Okay, but I just wanted to let you know that Dad was interested.” He squeezed my shoulder on the way past to his car.

Fear rippled down my spine and formed a heavy lump in my stomach. If Dad had his gaze on Lucrezia, then I needed to convince the entire world that she meant nothing to me. I only hoped that she remembered what I told her in Paris.

***

Chapter Eight

Ash

Xavier paced the room while Jordan brought schematics up on the screen. Dad had been a busy man and horror washed over me at the extent to which he was involved with Malcolm’s mess.

“If he was anyone else, the Council would sanction a hit on him,” Jordan grated out, stabbing the keys on his keyboard. “How did we not know about any of this?”

Xavier rubbed the back of his neck. “How many others do you think are involved?”

“How the fuck do I know?” I snapped. “If you’d asked me, I would have told you that Dad wouldn’t have been stupid enough to get involved in this, never mind dragging my brothers into it behind him.”

That was what bugged me more than anything. Michael, I could understand, since he’d always been a twisted little shit, but I thought better of Oliver. He was getting married in a few months and was still going to take some lost soul and torment it even further.

Xavier stopped beside me. “Sorry for giving you a hard time, lately. I didn’t realise you had so much to deal with. I guess I lost focus because of Cassandra.”

I nodded absently. At least he could go home to Cassandra and hold her to reassure himself that she was okay. Lucrezia was back in Tuscany and all I had were some text messages, and let’s be honest, they could be sent by anyone if she’d been kidnapped.

Needing something to do, I wearily pushed myself to my feet and moved to the terminal that I tended to use in our office. Dad had given me access to his accounts and I needed to see how far this rot went.

I scoured through his financials, looking for clues to start to piece this picture together. He had a taste for expensive collectables and women of rare beauty. There were huge payments going out of this account every single month, but there were also payments coming in from a variety of sources. I began to track all the incomings and outgoings to see exactly who Dad was in business with. It would help us cast the net wide to try and capture as many people involved in this as possible.

A spreadsheet started to show the account numbers, payments, debits, and who they were linked to. Xavier disappeared and returned with a bottle of scotch and three glasses. He poured our drinks and helped Jordan plan the attack on Dad’s property. It made me wonder how many houses he had that I knew nothing about. Probably the same number I had that he possessed no knowledge about. We both lived in a world filled with deception and corruption.

A map started to emerge like a web of lies and corruption with Dad sitting in the middle of it as a big fat spider ready to pounce. Accounts were dotted across the globe in safe havens where no one could find them without the relevant codes for access. I added back doors that meant Dad couldn’t drain or move the accounts without a failsafe being initiated—one that allowed me to drain it first.

“All the locations are in hot spots for people being taken,” Xavier said from behind me. “This doesn’t look like he’s buying for his own pleasure. That amount of cash means he’s involved in the initial buying process and taking what he wants along the way.”

“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “I was afraid of that by his reaction earlier. It was why I asked him for all the account details.”

I didn’t tell the guys about the contract I made Dad sign. That was an insurance policy I hoped never to have to use. It was currently in my vault in one of our properties, far from prying eyes and enquiring minds.

“Motherfucker,” Jordan muttered. “Are you fucking serious?”

“What now?” I groaned. Surely there was nothing worse than what I had already discovered.

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