Page 106 of Worth Every Penny

“I’ll call Martin Brooks directly. I’ll deal with him. Find out what he wants.”

Jack opens his mouth to speak, but at that exact moment, I see something dark flapping at me from across the other side of the street.

“Hey, Uncle Nico!” Charlie is waving a vast black golfing umbrella with Hawkston printed on the side, and yelling at the top of his voice.

I wave back, but Jack grips my hand in both of his, reclaiming my attention. “Don’t say anything to Kate. Please. If someone has to break it to her, it should be me. He was our father. Please, Nico. Swear it.”

Fuck. Every nerve in my body rebels, stinging my skin. I’ve held this back from Kate for long enough, but Jack’s right. Gerard wastheirfather, and this isn’t my secret to tell. With a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach, I nod, and Jack, seemingly satisfied, dashes back to the office in the pelting rain.

Charlie runs across the road, leaping over a puddle onto my side of the pavement. There’s hardly anyone else around now; the rain sent everyone scurrying for cover.

He holds the umbrella up so I can fit beneath it, too. I’m already soaking, but I duck under anyway.

“What’s up?” I ask.

He frowns. “There’s something I wanted to tell you.”

“Walk with me,” I say, and we pace back towards the office together, Charlie easily matching my stride.

“I saw something weird on Kate Lansen’s phone,” he tells me.

My heart skips a beat. Did I send her something inappropriate that he might have seen?

“What was it?”

“She had a picture of the van I graffitied. The exact same one. The one driven by the man…” His voice hitches and my senses come into keen focus.

I put a steadying hand on his shoulder, not wanting him to have to dwell on thoughts of his mother’s infidelity. “I know the one you mean. Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

That is an odd coincidence. “Okay. Leave it with me.” I feel his shoulder loosen under my hand. “Don’t say anything to Kate about it yet, though. I’m sure your dad doesn’t want it known that—”

“That he’s a cuckold?”

I raise an eyebrow, hoping to hell that Charlie’s not about to tell me my brother’s into watching his wife be fucked by other men. The conversation would be wrong on too many levels to count. “Where did you learn that word?”

“Othello. We studied it last term.”

“Ah.” Plain old cheating, then.Phew. “Actually, I was going to say it’s probably best people don’t know about you drawing onthe side of someone’s vehicle. You could’ve been charged with vandalism.”

“I know. Sorry.”

He looks so remorseful I can’t help but smile at the kid. He’s softer since his arrest, as if the run-in with the police has tamed him, and rather than the angry teenager, I can see the young boy beneath, trapped in a body that’s nearly a man’s.

We reach the Hawkston building and take the lift. I bid Charlie goodbye at the sixth floor and continue up to my office.

“Mr. Hawkston,” my PA chirrups from behind her desk.

“Victoria.”

Her eyes widen as she notices I’m soaked through. She jumps up and rushes to me, helping to peel off my wet coat. “You should have sent for the car,” she says, folding my coat over her arm.

I frown, flicking damp hair off my forehead with one hand. “I was preoccupied. Could you find Martin Brooks’ details for me? I think he’s at Argentum now. Put him through to me when you get hold of him.”

I head to my office and take a seat. I don’t think Jack’s right to keep this from Kate. I never agreed with it, but when your dying godfather asks you to do one last thing for him, you say yes.

And then you fly to the US and bury yourself in work so you never have to think about any of it again. Until Lansen becomes a viable proposition again and your best friend wants you to think about completing that deal you never finished all those years ago.

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