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“No.”
“What about family? People he’s been working closely with who are perhaps less than trustworthy? People who...”
Oh my god. Brad. Fucking Brad. Was this why Noar had been so hostile when Cara appeared at Morneau in Brad’s place? Was this why Brad had made a point of conducting all his meetings with Noar in German? Had it in fact not been to show off but to add a layer of obfuscation?
No. Now she was one hundred percent being paranoid.
Right?
But then why was she getting that sinking feeling in her stomach? In matters of business that involved reading people, her instincts were usually right. That they hadn’t been with Matteo was what made him such an enigma. She fumbled for her phone. “I need to make a call. It’s rather urgent.”
“All right.” He started to get off the bed, but she gestured for him to stay.
“Cara?”
“Oh! Tonya, hi!”
“What’s wrong?” Cara had told Tonya about the shares Noar was buying from Daniel Hauser, and that she and Matteo were doing some digging before telling the king about the transaction.
“Nothing, nothing. I just didn’t expect you to answer.” She’d been mentally rehearsing the voice mail she was planning to leave.
“You usually text before you call, so I figured it was important.”
“How’s Brad?”
There was a beat before Tonya answered what no doubt seemed to her a random question. “Improving. He’s agitating to come relieve you, if you can believe it. We’ve told him he’s being ridiculous. He’s still in the rehab hospital. But what’s wrong? You’re not calling about Brad.”
“Iamcalling about Brad, actually.” Matteo’s eyebrows flew up, and she watched him put it together.
“How so?”
She blew out a breath. She had to tread carefully here. “I know Brad and I have had our... issues.”
“Yes,” Tonya said mildly.
Cara would lay money on the fact that Tonya disliked Brad, too, but she had never said a negative word about him, even behind closed doors. Tonya never gossiped. “I don’t know how to say this, but I have a hunch about something, and I’d like to ask you to look into a few things. I don’t want you to think this is personal, though.”
“Your hunches are usually correct. Consider your suspicions about the obstructionists. You were right about the CEO, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And that equerry guy?”
“No,” she said swiftly, darting her eyes to Matteo. She felt oddly guilty. “He turned out to be . . .” Shit. He was going to know she was talking about him. Well, hell. They were in this together now. “The equerry turned out to be an unexpected ally.” The smile that earned her made any remaining discomfort evaporate. “He’s just discovered that Noar Graf is trying to buyanothermember’s shares.”
“Really.”
“Yes, and we have the sense Noar isn’t the type to be making this move on his own.”
“‘We’ being you and the equerry?”
“Yes.”
“And you think Brad is involved?”
“I don’t know. As I said, it’s only a hunch. But Noar seemed disproportionately upset that I was here instead of Brad. And Brad’s been having months of meetings—in German—with Noar one-on-one. And...”
“And Brad is a sneaky little shit who would sell out his own mother if it served his purposes.” Wow. So much for Tonya’s cool professionalism. Tonya must have taken her silence for the shock it was. “I think you and I have reached the point where we can level with each other, yes?”
