“It belongs to Carlos,” Angus said.
“Carlos is Cuban,” Hamish finished.
“Good for him,” Hale said. And then he stopped. There were four other people in the room, but Hale only looked at Kat, and something in his gaze burned her, froze her, made her want to run.
“I can explain,” she blurted.
“I’m sure you can. But I don’t want an explanation, Katarina. I’d rather have the truth.” The playful smile was gone. The spark in his eyes was extinguished. There was nothing but cold fury that stared back at her when he asked, “Why are you in London, Kat?”
“I tried to tell you, Hale, but—”
He took a slow step closer. “Why are you in London?”
“It’s probably nothing. And I didn’t want to worry you until we knew something for sure, so—”
“Why. Are. You. In. London?”
“Hale…” Kat reached for his hand, but he pulled away. He couldn’t touch her. “We came to get something out of your grandmother’s desk.”
“What?” he asked.
“We think…we heard that she might have had a different will. And we came to see for ourselves.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Hale shook his head. “Why would you think such a thing?”
For the first time, from the corner of Kat’s eye, she saw Marcus. He stood stoically at attention as always, but right then he made a subtle shift. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say a word, Kat said, “Uncle Eddie.”
“What about him?” Hale asked.
“He heard the will was a fake,” Gabrielle said. “A really good con.”
“So Uncle Eddie heard that my grandmother’s will was a fake?” Hale asked. “But you don’t come to me. You don’t say a thing to me because… Why didn’t you say anything, Kat? Why would you…” Then Hale’s voice trailed off. He glanced toward the window with its views of the Tower and Buckingham Palace—places of power, family. Deceit. And his voice was cold when he said, “I’m not really the heir, am I?”
Of all the lies Kat had told in her life, not one was harder than the truth.
“I don’t know. But something’s wrong, Hale. We don’t know what, exactly, but your grandmother did leave some papers in that desk.”
Hale spun on her. “What did they say?”
Kat hung her head. “Garrett got to them before I did. They’re gone, Hale. I’m sorry.”
“What did they say?” he asked, his voice cold.
“We don’t know,” Gabrielle said. But Hale just kept looking at Kat. “Sure you do. Don’t you, Kat?”
“It might have been a will. I don’t know, though. Like I said, Garrett got to the papers first. And then he destroyed them. They’re gone, Hale. I’m sorry. I’m so—”
“So you think Garrett’s behind all of this? So he can…what? What’s his endgame? What does he want?” Hale sounded very much like someone trying to look at things objectively. As though it were just another job.
Kat shrugged. “We don’t have a clue.”
“You know who might have been able to help with that?” Hale shouted. “Me!”
“Hale,” Kat said, reaching for him; but he pulled away. “I wanted to tell you, but—”
“But what, Kat? But I couldn’t be trusted? But I’m too immature to keep a secret? Maybe you think I’m a screw-up, too.”
“That’s not it.”