took the thick document Nick handed him, a building contract for a high-rise in Sydney, a thick sheaf of plans and a set of costings. “Good flight?”
Nick grunted and gave him a “you’ve got to be kidding” look, then transferred his attention to the newspaper Gabriel had set down on the coffee table with its glaringly bright photograph. “Zane.” Amused exasperation lightened his expression. “In the news again, with another woman.”
For reasons he didn’t want to examine, Gabriel folded the newspaper and placed it on the floor beside his briefcase.
He had read the article again on the flight. The journalist hadn’t gone so far as to say the child was Zane’s—the details supplied had been sketchy and inflammatory—but the inference was clear enough.
Turning his attention back to the document Nick wanted him to look over, he forced himself to concentrate on his family’s most pressing problem. An archaic clause in his father’s will, and his elderly uncle and trustee, Mario Atraeus, which together had the power to bankrupt them all if he didn’t move swiftly.
The situation had been workable until Mario had started behaving erratically, refusing to sign crucial documents and “losing” others. Holdups and glitches were beginning to hamper the bank’s ability to meet its financial obligations.
Lately, Mario’s eccentricities had escalated another notch, when he had tried to use his power as trustee to leverage a marriage between Gabriel and Mario’s adopted daughter, Eva Atraeus.
In that moment, Gabriel had understood what lay behind Mario’s machinations. A widower, he was worried about dying and leaving his adoptive daughter alone and unmarried. In his mind, steeped in Medinian traditions, he would not have done his job as a father if he hadn’t assured a good marriage for Eva.
Gabriel, as the unmarried head of the Messena family, had become Mario’s prime matchmaking target.
Gabriel was clear on one point, however. When he finally got around to choosing a wife, it would be a matter of his choice, not Mario’s, or anyone else’s.
He would not endure a marriage of convenience simply to honor family responsibilities.
Placing the document on the coffee table, he checked his watch. “I can’t release the funds. I wish I could. I’ll have to run it past Mario.”
A muscle pulsed along the side of Nick’s jaw. “It took him two months to approve the last payment. If I renege now, the building contractor will walk.”
“Leave it with me. I’ll be able to swing something. Or Mario might sign.”
“There is one solution. You could get married.” Nick’s expression was open and ingenuous as he referred to the grace clause in their father’s will, which had its base in Medinian tradition. Namely, that a formally engaged or a married man was more responsible and committed than a single one. It was the one loophole that would decisively end Mario’s trusteeship of his father’s will and place control of the company securely in Gabriel’s hands.
Nick slipped his cell out of his briefcase. “Or you could get engaged. An engagement can be easily terminated.”
Gabriel sent his younger brother a frowning glance, which was wasted as Nick was busy reactivating the phone and flicking through messages. No doubt organizing his own very busy, very crowded, private life.
Sometimes he wondered if any of his five brothers and sisters even registered the fact that he was male, single and possessed a private life of his own, even if it was echoingly empty. “There won’t be a marriage, or an engagement. There’s a simpler solution. A psychological report on Mario would provide the grounds we need to end his trusteeship.”
Either that, or hope that he could work around the financial restraints Mario was applying for another tortuous six months until he turned thirty-one and could legally take full control of the family firm.
“Good luck with getting Uncle Mario to a doctor.” Nick’s gaze was glued to the screen of his cell as he thumbed in a text message. “I don’t know how you stay so calm.”
By never allowing himself to get emotionally involved with his own family.
The practice kept him isolated and a little lonely, but at least he stayed sane.
Nick gave up texting and sat back on the couch, the good-humored distraction replaced by a frown. “Mario could ruin us, you know. If you can get him to the doctor, how long will it take to get the report?”
Gabriel repressed his irritation that Nick didn’t seem to get it that the last thing Mario wanted to do at this juncture was cooperate in the process of proving that he was past it, and wresting his power from him. “I’m seeing Mario as soon as I get back from Medinos.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Before or after his nap?”
Gabriel crumpled his empty foam cup and tossed it into a nearby trash can. “Probably during.”
Nick said something short and flat. “If I can’t get the family firm to finance me, I will go elsewhere.”
Otherwise he would lose his shirt financially. Their younger brother, Damian, was in the same position, as were a number of key clients. If Gabriel couldn’t streamline their process, they could lose a lot of business. Worst-case scenario, the bank’s financial rating would be downgraded and they would lose a whole lot more.
Gabriel checked his wristwatch, placed the document in his briefcase, collected the newspaper and rose to his feet.
Nick followed suit, picking up his briefcase. “My finance deadline is one week. I don’t want to take my business elsewhere.”
“With any luck, you won’t have to. Apparently Constantine wants a favor.” His cousin Constantine Atraeus was the whole reason Gabriel was on Medinos in the first place. Constantine, who was the head of the Atraeus Group and enormously wealthy, was sympathetic about Gabriel’s situation. He had faced a similar problem with his own father, Lorenzo, Mario’s brother, who had behaved just as erratically in his old age.
Nick grinned. “Cool, that means you’ve got leverage.”
But Gabriel didn’t miss the flat note in Nick’s voice. If he couldn’t obtain Constantine’s backing to have Mario removed as trustee, and at the same time extend Gabriel a personal line of credit that Mario couldn’t interfere with, Nick would walk.
His brother kept pace with him as he strode toward his gate. He directed a frowning glance at the folded paper. “Isn’t the girl with Zane the O’Neill girl from Dolphin Bay you dated once?”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened. He hadn’t expected Nick to remember Gemma. “It wasn’t exactly a date.”
Date was the last word he would use to describe the unscripted, passionate night they had spent together in a deserted beach house. “Gemma works for the Atraeus Group. She was Zane’s PA.”
Nick shrugged. “That explains it, then. You know what the tabloids are like. They were probably just out on some business date.”
“Maybe.” But if the child was Zane’s, there was no question that Gemma had gotten herself entangled with Zane, to her detriment.
And
