Page 32 of Gambit
She takes a bite, and I can see her relaxing slightly, the food helping her regain composure. She’s not the type to fall apart—not for long, anyway. Her resilience is one of the many reasons I’m fucking crazy about her.
“Tell me everything Adam says,” she tells Oliver as he heads for the door.
“Always,” Oliver waves and disappears into the hallway. His footsteps fade quickly; he’s eager for answers just like the rest of us.
Tarquin sidles up beside me. “You think Peters has enough dirt to bury himself?”
“Most of these power-hungry fuckers do,” I say, checking my phone again as I get a text from Oliver’s mother, of all people.
“Erm,” I mutter, which pricks Eliza’s ears up.
“What is it?”
“Shannon Sterling, Ol’s mum. He asked her if she knew anything about Peters and asked her to get back to me. Apparently, she’s got some goods.”
“Oh?” Eliza ditches her plate to cross over to me quickly, glancing at the phone.
“Yeah.” The message is clear—irregularities in some charity donations, signs of embezzlement—just the kind of juicy shit we need. “Looks like we may have our first lead. Peters might be skimming from charity funds. If we can prove it...”
A slow, wicked smile spreads across her face—the kind that tells me she’s back in the game fully. “Oh, Mama Sterling needs a fucking medal.”
“She sure does,” I reply with a half smile. “Let me get back to her and see what evidence she has.” I wait a beat as another message comes through. “She said to meet. She has been holding onto this in case Ollie needed it, but she’s happy to hand it over to you, Eliza.”
“Really?” she asks, tears pricking her eyes. “Fuck.” She bursts out crying again, her tough facade crumbling for a second time under the weight of this unexpected support. “She’s beenholding onto this for Ollie, and now she’s giving it to me? Good thing it was the Sterlings and not the Carvers,” she mutters under her breath.
“Hey,” Raph snaps, pointing the pancake pan at her. “Dad is an asshole, but he’s our asshole. He came through when you were missing.”
I bite the inside of my lip at Raph’s sudden outburst in defence of his dad.
“I’m sorry,” Eliza stammers. “I didn’t mean… okay, I did. I thought he hated me. He snubbed the coronation, I just… He helped you find me?”
“We couldn’t have done it without him,” Tarquin adds quietly.
“Fuck,” she sobs again and runs from the room as I glare at Raph.
“That was uncalled for.”
“So was her comment.”
“She didn’t know, and why are you being so pissy about this? You’re coming across as a real cock right now.”
He sighs and turns back to the pan.
“Dad got in his head about loyalty the other day,” Tarquin says. “He can be a real douche sometimes, but James is right, Raph. Eliza didn’t know Dad helped out. We never told her. From her perspective, hehassnubbed her.”
“I know,” he mutters. “I’ll go find her.” He disappears, leaving Tarq and me to glare at each other. I quickly type a response to Shannon Sterling, arranging a time and place to meet discreetly. This could be the break we needed to expose Peters and protect Eliza.
Tarquin is watching me with an unreadable expression before he breaks into a sardonic grin. “Christ, if Peters knew what he was starting...”
“Yeah. He’s screwed himself over big time.”
We pause as another buzz sounds loud in the quiet of the kitchen.
“Okay, we’re on. Half an hour at the Rusty Anchor.”
“We’ll call in Drago to watch our backs,” Raph says, coming back in with Eliza, who looks appeased, as does Raph.
“You two good?” I ask.
