Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

B raxton

San Diego.

Sunshine. Beautiful people. Incredible scenery.

It was the city I’d grown up in, the one where my stepmother still lived and the opulent location where both of my brothers and I owned houses.

Or in our cases, incredible sprawling estates.

While there was extreme wealth in the city, as well as just the opposite, we’d been born luckier than most, our father parlaying his original business idea and venture into a multimillion-dollar company. Now it was worth billions, thanks mostly to my brothers. Progressive Media Productions was a force to be reckoned with.

While there’d been a significant change in operations nearly eight months before, sadly, our father now dead, the three of us still found time to operate both our lucrative wealth management firm and the Royal Players Club.

Our baby.

However, doing triple duty was as taxing as it was rewarding.

The three of us juggled with long hours and little sleep, which meant for the most part our personal lives had been put on hold. Well, Valerio had been lucky enough to find the woman of his dreams. Maybe if I kept repeating he’d been lucky, I’d find the right one. Not a chance.

Sighing, after parking my Lamborghini, my most prized possession, I yanked my sunglasses off, shoving them into my pocket as I walked into the massive steel and glass building housing Progressive Media. I’d returned from the island trip only a couple of hours before receiving the rather urgent call from Valerio that a meeting needed to be held.

So, here I was, interrupting my day to see what the hell was so important.

As I leaned against the elevator wall, crossing my feet at the ankles, my thoughts managed to drift to the lovely yet mysterious woman for about the thousandth time. It didn’t make any sense she’d had such a profound effect on me or that I’d felt a sense of loss when she’d disappeared.

But I still felt that way.

All I’d learned was that she’d taken her earlier illegal winnings, heading to Miami where she could board a plane to God knows where. Dozens of guests used the city as a hub instead of a destination. She certainly hadn’t left a message or a forwarding number. I rubbed my jaw, cognizant of the fact I hadn’t shaved since she’d left. It was ridiculous but maybe it was some odd way of holding onto her.

Fuck me.

She was a thief, a highly skilled card shark, and I was lamenting losing her. Especially when I doubted that I’d ever see her again. The elevator doors opened, bringing me back to reality.

I headed to the suite of offices, pushing my way in through the double doors.

“Mr. Royal. It’s good to see you again,” the receptionist said as I breezed in.

“Nice to see you as well.” Sadly, I hadn’t learned every staff member’s name. Our father had controlled this world with an iron fist, which had pushed Gage and me into preferring to only come to the office for the quarterly board meetings.

It still seemed surreal the Royal siblings were now completely in charge, but the heavy workload meant bigger profits.

As if money was all that mattered in life.

As I made my way down the bank of well-lit hallways, only a few employees bothered to glance in my direction. Few changes had occurred. There had been no need, our father’s iron fist matched with a decent heart.

Valerio’s office was located next to mine, Gage preferring to have a smaller one on the opposite end of the building. So far, our father’s remained empty but at some point, that would need to change. It was tough to think he was gone, the events leading up to it difficult to process even after all these months.

I walked in, the door partially open. What I noticed immediately was that it had yet to strike the noon hour and both men were indulging in a drink.

The other aspect I noticed was the total silence.

They didn’t even notice me when I walked in, both absorbed in whatever task they were performing.

“What is this, a wake?”

Valerio lifted his head first. “Close the door.”

“O-kay.” I did and when I turned back around, Gage had risen to his feet from his original perch on the leather loveseat. They both looked anxious.

I glanced from one to the other, smirking as I did. Neither one was the kind of man to allow anything to bother them.

Ever.

“I obviously missed something while I was gone,” I told them.

“How was the island?” Gage asked.

Shrugging, I headed to the bar. One drink wouldn’t kill me. Besides, I had plans on finishing up some paperwork and watching a game on the television. That was the extent of my day. “Beautiful as always. Several new members came on board and as to be expected, they didn’t read the rules. I also caught a poker card shark in action, which surprised the hell out of me.”

“A card shark. Fascinating. What was he doing there?” Valerio flanked my side as I poured a scotch.

“He was a beautiful woman and I couldn’t quite figure that out. I don’t think she needed the money. She definitely didn’t need to grab attention that way. She was pretty damn good too, the best I’ve ever seen.” I hated to fully admit she’d fooled the system to a point. If Travis hadn’t been trained to spot a card shark, something I’d also learned years before, her nefarious actions might not have been detected. Our guests weren’t exactly there to be observant. They trusted their little fantasy world to be safe.

It was another reason I’d wanted to keep Jasmine quiet.

“Jesus Christ. Did you have her arrested, at least tossed off the island?” Gage was grinning when he asked the question.

I turned around, leaning against the edge of the bar. “No, I handled punishment my way.” How could I not grin?

“Oh, does that mean you turned her into a sex slave?”

I could tell Gage was mostly kidding. When I didn’t answer right away, keeping the mischievous smirk on my face, he stormed closer.

“No. You did not!”

“I did,” I told him. “And I admit I enjoyed it very much.”

“Well, how nice you had a good time. Where the hell is she?” Valerio’s tone was grating, the man unusually tense.

I was about to ask what the fuck had gotten stuck up Valerio’s ass when Gage was suddenly right there in front of my face.

“Who was she?” he asked, way too eager for his own good. “Someone of importance?”

“Not that I know of. A woman by the name of Jasmine Sinclair. Yes, I tried looking her up but what’s the point when I will never see her again? She disappeared after our illustrious required night together.” I still found my cock aching when just thinking about her. “I put the fear of God into her.”

“The fear of God. Let’s hope you did,” Valerio interjected. “We are being scrutinized, threatened, and pushed every other month or so. I hope the fuck’s sake she didn’t take pictures, her real plans to talk with a reporter.”

“Not a chance,” I insisted. Granted, I should have had her room searched. It would seem I was losing my touch. Or my hunger was so great I’d fallen for her ruse. Not my finest hour.

“Hmmm… Why do I know that name?” Gage asked absently, a faraway look in his eyes.

“I don’t know but it’s a fairly common name. She’s not from this country, which makes the search more difficult.”

Valerio was studying me, paying close attention to every word I said. “And it’s not like we can use our dark web contacts to track her down.”

I glanced at Gage. “Why? What is going on? When I walked in, the two of you looked like you either had a few really bad days or someone pissed in your Wheaties this morning.” I issued my glare to both once again. We had contacts everywhere, people and companies on both sides of the law capable of providing us with vital information when and if necessary. Our father had insisted we use ruthless tactics to protect every aspect of the family’s regime.

Valerio sighed, rubbing his jaw before shoving his hand into his pocket.

“And you look like shit,” I told him. Valerio was always perfectly coiffed, especially for business. Today, he was without a tie, one side of his shirt barely tucked in; his hair was slightly disheveled as if he’d just rolled out of bed and there were dark circles under both eyes.

Rarely did anything bother him.

“You don’t look so hot yourself, buddy,” he retorted, directing his gaze to Gage.

While Gage was younger, it appeared both men had aged since I’d last seen them, which had barely been ten days before. We all had our share of worries, our father’s murder still nagging each one of us. However, the tragedy had made me angrier and stronger, less likely to tolerate anyone’s bullshit.

“What is going on? I only flew in a few hours ago yet here I am called to a special, el pronto meeting. Confession time.” I took a sip of my drink.

We would always have issues to contend with, from fluctuating stocks and disgruntled shareholders to enemies who enjoyed watching us squirm, but I had a bad feeling whatever had happened while I was gone would alter the course of our future.

Gage returned to his perch on the posh leather, searching for something on his computer,

“A couple of days ago, I had a couple suspicious emails from people claiming to be from the FTC,” Valerio said almost in passing, his voice lower than normal. “After I ignored them, I had phone calls.”

“The Federal Trade Commission?” I asked, knowing full good and well that was the agency he was referring to.

He nodded. “The last time I told the fucker off since he was hassling me. Then two representatives showed up at the office.”

“For what reason?” I huffed. There’d been certain people who had reported everything from bogus issues to insinuating we’d been involved in various heinous crimes. Hell, during my father’s tenure, some asshole had contacted the police screaming there was a dead body in the lobby.

Had the three of us crossed various lines over the years, perhaps doing more than toeing the fine line between right and wrong? You bet. There wasn’t a successful businessperson around who hadn’t. Had we used methods of blackmail and extortion against an unscrupulous asshole?

An easy ‘hell, yes.’

However, the FTC enforced antitrust laws that prohibited anticompetitive mergers and other business practices that could lead to higher prices, fewer choices, and less innovation.

The three companies we owned had been under an umbrella corporation since the beginning. We weren’t price gouging anyone. And our choices of services had only increased both in value and in number over the years.

Valerio laughed bitterly. “They wouldn’t provide me with details since they were just sniffing around but I could tell they were after something.”

“Which meant someone tipped them off bogusly,” I said in return. The practice certainly wasn’t unheard of.

“Whatever the case, I had a bad feeling and still do,” Valerio continued.

“We face that kind of shit all the time,” I said, half laughing. The two of them were more disturbed than normal. Shit. We’d had guns pointed in our faces by cops and idiots breaking into our offices looking for a quick buck. “That can’t be all that happened or you’re getting soft, brother.”

Valerio walked to the window, which had a spectacular view of both the city and the ocean.

Was he favoring his right arm? I couldn’t tell for certain.

“It’s not. The same day, I had a visit from the Security Exchange Commission at the Royal Agency. They just dropped by demanding credentials and our records. I managed to push them off, but they’ll be back with a court order.” Gage was damn good at dealing with the SEC, keeping abreast of any and all changes in the laws. Handling people’s wealth had strict overview as it should.

And the majority of our clients were worth tens of millions of dollars if not more.

“Let me guess. The reps touted impropriety yet refused to tell you the name of the whistleblower.”

When Gage did little more than sigh, I stepped forward. “Okay. So we need to narrow down the possible haters, developing a decent list of who we give holy shit to.”

Valerio was usually the calm and collected one who rarely had his feathers ruffled.

Not this time.

Whatever had been insinuated had burned him a new asshole.

“While you were punishing some broad, Gage and I developed that list.” He pulled something from his desk drawer, tossing it in my direction as if unable to give a shit if I could catch it in midair or not.

I did.

“Men from our little black book?” I asked way too casually for my brother’s obvious pissed-off mood.

“Stop acting like some freaking playboy, Braxton. We are running a billion-dollar business with high profile clients from coast to coast. We can’t afford to have rumors started in this town or any other.”

I’d never seen my brother so worried. It was completely out of character.

“Jesus Christ, Valerio. We’d dealt with much worse including months ago. Remember?” I slapped my crystal glass onto the bar, taking a few seconds to open the file. There were six names listed, only one of them a woman. There was even a goddamn politician on the list. I wasn’t aware he’d been one of our clients.

Although we had our share of wealthy senators and congressmen, most of which had come from old money.

In our ruthless positions, it was the men who were careless, acting as if they owned the world. Women, on the other hand, were cunning. Now I knew that firsthand, an attribute I’d obviously ignored up to this point. Sadly, I only recognized one of the names, a retired judge who’d worked with Valerio, ceasing to use the wealth management firm after our father’s death. There’d been no explanation but we’d suspected that as one of our first clients after we’d opened the doors, Pops had either coerced or forced the man to work with us.

From what I’d seen, the judge was just as corrupt and influential, yet he’d never caused another issue. That didn’t mean he wasn’t lying in wait, but worrying about who would attempt to bring us down next was futile and possibly damaging.

“Great. Is this divide and conquer?” I asked. “Hunt down and annihilate the person responsible?”

He wasn’t amused.

Then again, neither was I.

“We need to take this seriously. Whatever is going on is more about finding some deep dark secret.” Valerio seemed so certain.

“Jesus,” I huffed.

While there wasn’t a family who didn’t have one or another ugly secret on lockdown, our padlocked box was complicated. Part of the reason was the blend in our family, our father marrying a younger woman, Gage a product of their union. But all three of us had long suspected there was something darker in our family’s past.

Still, to see him this rattled was unnerving as fuck.

When I returned the favor, tossing the file back in his direction, I knew he’d attempt to catch it. The guy had been a pitcher on his baseball team. He winced, dropping the entire thing after missing by a long shot.

“What the hell is wrong with your arm?” I demanded, closing the distance.

“A little accident,” Valerio answered more curtly than normal.

“An accident or were you shot?”

Valerio sighed. “I caught someone breaking into the offices.”

“He tried to be a hero, tangled with the fucker. He was shot in the process,” Gage stated as he finally looked up from his computer screen.

“Is he in custody?” I demanded.

“He got away but he took something from the computer system I’ve yet to be able to detect.”

“The security cameras?”

Snorting, it was quite obvious to tell my brother was angry and embarrassed.

“The perp disabled them.”

“Fucking fantastic. We have two of the most secure office buildings in the city. We own a highly sophisticated security system that’s supposed to be infallible and we have security guards on staff and this unknown dude made off with proprietary information and shot you in the process. Am I capturing what happened correctly?”

Valerio was even more exasperated. “Look, shit happens, which is why this needs to be stopped now.”

“I agree but how do you plan on doing that?” I was beginning to think one drink wouldn’t be enough.

“The person in question is another old friend of our father’s. Jameson Bishop.”

“Secretary of the state?” I mused. They’d gone to college together for one thing, shifting to separate paths after graduating. Jameson’s father had insisted he follow in his footsteps, forcing the man to head to law school then pushing him into political service.

Our father had been set up in business by our grandfather. At least that’s what we’d been told over the years.

“Yes. Just because he works with a bunch of fucking diplomats doesn’t mean he isn’t as corrupt as any other man.” Valerio seemed so certain Jameson was behind the situation, which prompted me to need questions answered.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

My fucking brothers shared another look. Valerio sighed, the sound exaggerated enough it was as if the entire weight of the world was on his shoulders.

“Fucking tell him, Val,” Gage huffed.

We normally didn’t keep anything from each other, closer than most brothers. I was getting pissed at this point, enough so I had to curtail my increasing level of anger. Being enraged wouldn’t make anything easier.

“Fucking tell me what?”

Valerio was still hesitant. As the oldest son, he’d been the keeper of family legacies and heritage. I had a bad feeling about this.

“Look, Gilly called me about three weeks ago. She mentioned she’d found a hidden compartment in the tool shed outside the house. She was finally getting around to cleaning out Pops’ things.”

Gilly was Gage’s mother, a lovely woman that both Valerio and I felt close to. Her loss and sadness had affected all of us, all three of us ensuring her life was made as easy as possible now. “Pops never stepped foot in that tool shed and you know it. He hired workers to do everything.”

“True, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t decide to use it to keep certain belongings.”

“What was found?” I was growing weary of the dancing back and forth around this. Okay, I got my brother didn’t want to disparage our father. But if doing so meant the businesses were in danger then I certainly didn’t care if Sebastian Royal’s name was slung through private mud.

“It took me almost a week to stop by.” Valerio was still being a cagey fuck.

“Fine. What the fuck was found? I have a basketball game to watch.”

“It was an entirely different set of names and information than what had been handed to us when we’d opened Royal Players Club.”

“Including?”

“Important diplomats here and abroad. You need to remember that our father had huge plans on opening branches in several countries.”

I narrowed my eyes, still trying to piece together the strange puzzle. “Okay. That list is what, a hundred years old?” I laughed, polishing off my drink after doing so.

“He continued to add to it until he died,” Gage added. So obviously the two of them had chatted before calling me in.

“Great. What does it mean? From what I heard, he made the decision to concentrate his business in the US, only offering services when people stepped foot in the country.” I made the statement, but Dad had never been the kind of man to open up about his tactics or his plans. Even to his own sons.

“It means our father had every tiger, lion, and bear by the balls and then some. My guess is that he held fucking secrets you couldn’t even begin to imagine, prepared to use the information to destroy careers. I don’t know how he garnered as much as it appeared he did and obviously, we can’t ask but what he held inside the padlocked box could turn the world on its ear. Plus, I’ve only scratched the surface as to everything inside the book.” Valerio sighed, glancing out the window.

“What good is it now?”

As it seemed they did so often, Gage and Valerio shared a look.

I didn’t need to hear the specifics to know Valerio was on edge or the reasons for it. There wasn’t a powerful man around who didn’t use some vile secret against their enemy, but I had the distinct feeling we were talking a whole new ballgame. “Let me guess. You think Jameson Bishop would love to get his hands on the information, stopping at nothing to do so.” Maybe I was speaking out loud just to help myself think, but it was the only real reason my older brother could be so unnerved.

Valerio nodded. “I think it’s entirely possible. However, my suspicions can’t be proven at this point, which is troubling. Above all, we need to tread lightly. It’s also possible Pops hadn’t used any of the information. Maybe no one knows we have it.”

“If they do, it’s a perfect reason to create as many headaches as possible. Although a risky game. We could in turn open up all those cans of worms,” I suggested. “Let me guess. That’s what you think has occurred.”

“Yes. Which is why we need to keep our eyes and ears open. Do you remember that charity benefit the three of us were invited to a few months ago?”

I also wasn’t into playing twenty questions. “Vaguely. Isn’t it in DC?”

“It is. A good cause and reason for various diplomats to either attend or donate funds in a public way.”

The typical Washington political game. “I’m not following you.”

“Bishop is going to be there. One of us needs to attend,” Valerio recommended.

“Oh, fuck, no. I’m not political,” I retorted, laughing.

Gage whistled from behind us. “Maybe you’ll have an incentive to jump on a plane.”

“What?” I asked.

“Did you bother to dig into the internet regarding that card shark of yours?” Gage was amused, his eyes darting to his computer screen.

“She’s not mine and what was the need?”

“If you’d dug a little deeper you might have learned who she is and more important, who her father is.”

“Are you planning on keeping me in suspense as well?”

Gage was the jokester of the group.

My mood was worsening by the minute.

“Took a bit to dig but it appears her father is none other than Justin Sinclair, an Australian diplomat with less than stellar credentials given his caustic mouth and his inability to keep his dick in his pants. He’s perhaps the most hated man in Australia, but those who love him would follow him off a cliff just like a cult member.”

What the hell?

Gage wasn’t the most diplomatic person in the world. “What does that have to do with a goddamn thing?”

He spun his laptop around, the article on the screen from a direct news source in Sydney. I inched closer, reading the headlines. “He was appointed as the Australian ambassador, arriving less than a week ago. Curious timing, eh.” I read more, realizing Justin had been hounded by his opponents and critics alike. “You don’t need to be a genius to realize he’s looking to be elected prime minister in the upcoming years. A tall order but with the creds of being a former ambassador behind him, he could win over those not yet committed.”

“I can’t imagine what her life has been like being scrutinized so much.” I was just musing more than anything, trying to find a reason she’d lied and cheated. I had to wonder what Justin had done to get so far ahead in a cutthroat political arena.

Valerio peered over my shoulder, half chuckling. “It can’t be a coincidence his daughter just appeared as a guest at one of our kinky resorts. Justin’s name sounds familiar as well but in an entirely different way.”

“Maybe one of those dignitaries Pops kept hidden away. Justin Sinclair had been around for a couple decades fighting the good fight.”

I had to admit the possibilities were slim to nil. If she had been attempting to get information out of me as directed by her father, our connection would have seemed contrived. I was fairly certain of it.

After both Valerio and I pulled away from the article, he locked eyes with mine. I sensed Gage was still searching, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

“If you do believe in coincidences,” he said less than two minutes later, “I have a bridge I need to show you in Brooklyn.”

Both Valerio and I glanced in his direction again.

“Guess who’s on the fancy-dancy foundation event’s guest list other than Jameson Bishop?” Gage was grinning from ear to ear.

Sighing, I felt the ache behind my eyes I could usually avoid hit me hard. “Jasmine Sinclair.”