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‘He’s interested in the stuff I do.’

‘Drawing, painting and taking pictures?’ Javier asked, eyebrows shooting up.

‘I think you might be one of the few people on the face of the earth who I really, really dislike.’

‘One in a million. Quite the compliment.’

He slanted her a slow, curling smile that did something to her insides, made her feel flustered and aware of herself in ways she couldn’t quite understand.

‘What would you like to eat? We can continue this conversation over some food.’

Hope barely noticed the waiter he’d beckoned. She ordered off the top of her head. Pasta and a salad.

‘It’s not meant to be a compliment and I don’t just paint and draw and take pictures. I’m not a primary school teacher running classes for the under-fives.’

‘Definitely not my brother’s type.’ He murmured thoughtfully. ‘I’m guessing you’re sweetness and light with him, though.’

Javier leaned towards her, his elbows on the table. ‘I could find out where my brother is by employing someone to hunt him down…’ he said, deadly serious, ‘…but this is a family matter and the less involvement from strangers, the better.’

‘I see.’

‘And…’ Javier confessed heavily, ‘…while I don’t suppose he would appreciate me descending on him without warning to find out what the hell he’s playing at, it’s my only option.’

Their eyes met. Hope saw something there, a flicker of discomfort and hesitation that made her think of Carlos’s many conversations with her about his brother. She’d gotten the impression that there was no love lost between them. Javier was the older brother who was cold, ruthless and dictatorial. Heartless.

But was there more? The very brief shadow that had crossed his face seemed to suggest that.

In truth, wasn’t there always more to the story than the first version you were handed?

From the outside, she’d always known that people had felt sorry for her—the poor kid with the negligent mother. From the inside, Hope had known a different truth. She had known a broken mother, uncertain and oh so young at the time. Yet a mother whose heart had always been filled with love, even if she had brought so many of her own fears and insecurities to the table that her parenting had often fallen short.

‘What do you know about my brother?’ Javier asked, breaking the silence. ‘Do you know that at sixteen he went off the rails completely and became heavily involved in the drug scene?’

Hope sucked in a steadying breath and shook her head slowly. She knew that their parents had died when he’d been very young but largely Carlos had talked about the present and about the major dilemmas facing him that needed resolution. He was torn apart dealing with a sexuality he’d become accustomed to hiding from his brother, writing it off as something that would disappear all in good time. His life was geared towards taking his place on the company board of directors, getting married and having children in due course. Being gay didn’t feature at all in that very traditional scenario.

He felt that he had done so much to disappoint Javier that he almost didn’t know how to begin to sift through it all and reach a place of acceptance for the choices that he’d made.

He’d skirted over much of his past because he was too consumed by the present to give it much thought.

So, drugs?

‘Why? How?’ she asked quietly. But she was already answering her own question. He’d been a confused teenager, probably acknowledging feelings he hadn’t wanted to accept with no one to talk to about it. Drugs would have dulled the fear and the panic.

‘The whys don’t matter,’ Javier said abruptly. ‘The situation was dealt with. Now, though… If he’s disappeared with no forwarding address, I can only assume that he has something to hide. The obvious conclusion is the reappearance of the drug habit he had seven years ago.’

‘Of course the whys matter,’ Hope contradicted heatedly. ‘It’s important to get to the bottom of stuff. To find out why people do the things they do and behave the way they behave. How else can you ever get to really know them?’

‘The matter was sorted. Until now I haven’t had any reason to believe that my brother’s life wasn’t back on track,’ Javier said.

Hope didn’t answer. Surely Carlos wasn’t on drugs? That was ludicrous. He would have told her. He told her everything he was doing. Didn’t he?

‘I need to find out that Carlos is all right,’ Javier said heavily. ‘I’ll confess that over the years we haven’t had the easiest of relationships. He won’t thank me for showing up without warning but he’d thank me even less if he knew that other people had been involved. Which is why I’m here. To get information from you without involving third, fourth or fifth parties.’

‘I can’t help you, I’m sorry.’ But things seemed less straightforward now in the light of Javier’s revelation. If Carlos needed to think, would drugs end up playing a part in that? Especially if they’d done so before in moments of extreme stress.

‘I think you can.’

‘I honestly don’t know where he is, Javier.’