“Nothing.” I tapped my fingers against my phone. “I’m thinking.”
“Thinking? Don’t go giving yourself an aneurysm.”
“The Violet Hale wedding. I still don’t know how I lost the job.”
“Would you ever wise up and catch yourself on?” Brody leaned back in the leather chair and swung his steel-toed boots on top of my desk, sending dried flakes of mud crumbling onto the polished surface. “You’re not going to have to close the doors over one lost event.”
I reached over and shoved my brother’s feet off the desk. “I don’t understand how a Mickey Mouse company won the contract. Something about Tessa Maken doesn’t add up. I don’t trust her.”
“You don’t even know her. You can’t—” Brody raked his fingers through his dark crew cut. “She’s not Grace. Get over it.”
“I did. I have. A long time ago.” I eyed my brother, daring him to bring up Grace’s name again. Three years had passed, and while memories of our time together no longer sucker-punched my solar plexus, they still touched a nerve. “I have to find out how I lost the contract.”
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe this Maken woman is decent at her job?” Brody, not hiding his annoyance, pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I doubt it.” I straightened the pens beside my ink blotter and blew out a breath. “There’s no way she can organize this wedding in a week. Even I’d find it tough, and I’m the best at what I do.”
“Chill, bro. Forget it and move on. Stop with the whole Magnum P.I. thing.”
I gripped a pen and clicked it repeatedly. “If I’d won the contract, do you know how many high-profile events would’ve come my way? How many new clients and connections I’d have made? How much money?”
“There’ll be others. You’re not hurting for business. If you want my advice—”
“I don’t.”
“Too bad. You’re getting it. You’ve never organized a wedding before. Stick to corporate conferences. That’s where your bread-and-butter is, and it’s what you know. I can’t see you elbow deep in frilly dresses and cakes.”
“I’d have hired someone. It’s called delegation.”
Brody jumped to his feet and drummed his fingers against the edge of my desk. “Enough of this depressing crap. I’m off to the bar. If you decide to pull the stick out of your arse, stop by.”
“Say hello to Lorcan for me.” My cell rang. An international number flashed on the screen. Finally. I accepted the call, and said, “Be with you in a second.”
“Who’s that?” Brody nodded toward my phone.
“It’s personal.” I pressed mute. If my brother knew I was talking to the man who’d left our sister Erin at the altar and then wiped her bank account clean, we’d end up in a brawl.
Betraying my family this way was unforgivable, but I needed answers, and I’d get them any way I could. I swallowed back the guilt gnawing at my throat. Sometimes business won over family.
“Secrets?” Brody raised an eyebrow.
“If there’s anything you need to know, I’ll tell you.”
He shrugged and walked toward the door. “Stop obsessing.”
“I’m not obsessing. Just keeping an eye out for my business.”
“Don’t do anything stupid.” With a terse wave, Brody left the office.
I unmuted the call. “It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, it has.” Shane’s rough Southside Dublin accent hurt my ear so much I put the call on speaker. “How’s ya sista?”
My jaw clenched. If the piece of scum were in front of me, I’d break more than his nose. More like every bloody bone in his scrawny body. “You said you wanted to discuss Tessa Maken.”
He chuckled. “The lovely Ms. Maken is as devious as she is beautiful. Isn’t afraid to use her face, tits, or ass to get what she wants. One of the best swindlers I’ve come across.”
“Is that so?” Satisfaction rolled through me. Tessa had won the contract by being underhanded. I should have known.
“Compared to her, I’m an angel. She’s an extortionist. Knows every con in the book. Lies fall from her lips like crap from a cow with food poisoning.”
Feeling vindicated, I leaned back in my chair. “Why should I believe a word you say? You and the truth aren’t exactly friends.”
“After we hang up, check your inbox for a video of her pitch. Everything she says is bull. All researched and planned to build trust, confidence. She doesn’t have a fiancé. There’s no great love story.”
“Why not go to Violet and Archer yourself? The police?”
“The police? No way, man. Honor among thieves and all that. Besides, need to lay low for a few months. Biding my time is what I’m doing.” He gave a bitter sounding laugh. “She’s not as smart as she thinks she is. I can still get into her emails. When I read them and saw your name, thought you’d appreciate knowing she’d pulled one over on you.”
Irritation swished around my stomach. “All prospective vendors were anonymous. Why was my name in her emails?”
“Not as anonymous as you thought.” Shane laughed slowly as if loving every second of knowing something I didn’t. “I already told you, she’s good at what she does. She has a way of getting every piece of information she needs.”
“How does she think she’s going to get away with conning two international stars?”
“Hidden cameras in their bedroom and bathroom. Moles planted as wait staff. I’ve never met anyone like her in my life.”
I had. I knew her kind intimately. Money meant more to her than morals, and she’d do anything she could to get her hands on it. She saw people as stepping-stones, as things she could throw away once they’d fulfilled their use.
“What’s in this for you?” I woke up the computer screen and clicked my inbox.
“Think of this as an apology of sorts.”
I resisted the urge
