Page 8 of Betrayal

“Not usually in public and not for far too long.”Casildo leaned back with his fingers linked behind his head.“Anna works for Changing Minds.Just a guess here.But you and she disappeared early last night in quick succession.”

“I went home alone.”Hunter bared his teeth.

The enveloping jacket Anna had worn to the bar had quashed his fleeting fantasy.The hot chocolate rather than the Moet as a nightcap had signalled she wasn’t the type to pretend alcohol had befuddled her judgement if she found him naked in her bed.Her absorption with natural airflow, the ratios of babies and children to toilets and beds, a ring collection that could double as knuckledusters, and her no-nonsense “I’ve brought my car” were red flags she wasn’t looking for a one-nighter.Damned if he knew why, but she intrigued him.

Casildo jack-knifed to an upright position.“She’s not your type.”

“I don’t have a type.”

Since Nick’s reappearance, Hunter had lost the freedom for true intimacy with a woman.Getting close to him was as good as having a price on your head.Some of Casildo’s concern was for the lady.“I wheel and deal.I’m a carbon copy of mybiologicalfather—a ruthless negotiator who doesn’t give a damn about who gets hurt along the way so long as I make obscene profits.Anda womaniser.”

“Says some stupid wanna-be business blogger trying to make his name riffing on Greek mythology and father-son struggles for power.”Casildo raised his voice, a sure sign he was pissed off.“I reckon it’s suspicious that blogger only appeared after you refused Nick’s royal command to become his junior partner.You should sue.”

Heads turned toward them in the small café.

“Who?Nick or the blogger?”Hunter held up his water glass and pointed, receiving a nod from the waiter.“But I agree, Nick Richardson is the blogger’s logical source for the most personal stuff.”

“I know some people who could shut Nick up.”Cas was half-serious.

“No, you don’t.”

“Well.”Casildo dragged a hand through his hair.“I know some people who know some people who might know—"

“Ignoring him has worked in the past.”But Nick’s obsessions were becoming a bigger problem for Hunter.The attack on Raed Hariri was premeditated and brutal.

“You were a kid, then you were dirt-poor.Now you’re competition.Helping us has put you in his gun sights.”

“I’m not competing on a bloody thing.”Hunter let his frustration show, but since Nick had re-entered his life, blog and media posts insisted Hunter was trying to sabotage Nick’s business and seduce his women.The thought turned Hunter’s stomach.

“Existing is competition,” Casildo said solemnly.“The man’s a sicko.”

“Changing the subject, bro.Take me over the steps again.”

“What steps?When you offered to yet again be my knight in shining armour—"

The name was an old joke from primary school days.Hunter had been cast as lead in a school play.In the final scene, the female lead had simpered and declared that he was her knight in shining armour.She’d married a few years ago and moved interstate.Hunter had been at her wedding.

“What happened to the Great Dane, Cas?Bet you got out of the car and walked it to the kerb.”Casildo was more Sir Galahad than Hunter would ever be.

“Roads are dangerous for dogs.”Casildo shrugged when Hunter raised an eyebrow “Changing the subject,bro.When you offered to buy the building, I called Dad.The lease freeze was in case Nick Richardson—I’m not going to call that pile of doggy do your father.I favour nurture over nature, and my dad and your uncle did the nurturing—"

“Not relevant to here and now.”Hunter stopped him with a raised hand.

“Always relevant.”His friend wrapped an arm around Hunter’s shoulder to pull him in for a quick hug.“As I was saying, we halted leasing in case someone was snooping about.The story we’ve put out there is that you need more floors for your new HQ.If news got out that we were signing leases on those floors, it would blow our cover story.But Dad wouldn’t have reneged on a promise, not even for you.”

“Essentially, he did.He just didn’t know it.”Hunter waited for Casildo to absorb the hit.“So, what did we miss?”

“The managing agent was overzealous?”Casildo tapped the spoon against the side of his ceramic cup, a slow drumbeat of suspicion.

“The agent told Changing Minds H.S.Thompson demanded vacant occupancy.”

Casildo hit a button on his phone.The call was short and in Arabic.“The agent was relaxed about a freeze, said they’d had some interest in one floor, but the tenant hadn’t called for a few days and were unsure anyway.”

“He lied.”Hunter’s life had become a cobweb of lies where Nick Richardson had crafted the web and was tightening the threads prior to cutting off Hunter’s supply lines for his building jobs.Nick’s invitation for Hunter to become his junior partner would help Hunter grow, or so Nick said.Given Nick’s track record as a parent, Nick wanted Hunter to fill the role of dutiful, fawning, powerless flunkey.

In truth, Nick wanted to absorb Hunter’s business and expected Hunter to be grateful.

Nick Richardson was a fantasist.

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