With a final glance from left to right, Tom could hardly believe his luck at finding the corridor deserted. Slamming the door, he leant back against it and froze, holding his breath, his senses finely tuned for any noise or movement. All he could hear was the muffled music and buzz of chatter from the main casino.
His heart pounded. He had to wait to see if anyone had spotted him slipping out here, but didn’t think anyone had. The casino was packed with many unknown faces, so his wouldn’t stand out. Any other night, yes, but not this night.
Tom’s breath caught in his throat, the cocaine rush in full swing. Taking advantage of the wake was the best idea he’d had in ages – if not ever.
Although it was more than tempting to partake in the free bar, he had no time to waste. There would be ample opportunity to benefit from multiple bottles of the best champagne to his heart’s content once he’d located the proof needed to back up his threats. It stood to reason he’d find it here. If not exactly what he was looking for, then something offering what he required, either way.
Tom’s face split into a wide grin. Being as he was feeling lucky, he might even stumble across a few other things that would come in handy – like carelessly left around details of upcoming prosperous deals, perhaps? Or even wads of cash?
His eyes sparkled. Now that would be nice.
On the same vein, he couldn’t make it obvious someone had been in here. The element of surprise was reduced if people had an inkling something was afoot.
No, he’d waited far too long to get compensation and, no matter how tempting it was, he must exhibit control.
Resentment festered further. He’d seen the casino – in fact, it had been difficult to drag his eyes away from that massive room, dripping in money. Money of which a fair chunk was owed to him. They all owed him. Even behind the scenes was bloody posh. And what had he got? Three grand?
Satisfied no one had detected him and the corridor was clear, Tom stealthily made his way along the thickly carpeted walkway.
He glanced through the panel of the first door he came to, the reflection of the sneer on his face mirrored back at him through the crystal-clear glass. This room wasn’t posh enough to be the boss’s office – or what would have been the boss’s office.
Continuing, he passed three other rooms, stopping at the one at the far end. This was it. He pressed himself against the glass. Empty too. Not that he expected anything otherwise, but it always paid to be alert.
Trying the heavy silver door handle and finding it unlocked, Tom breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t actually considered what he’d do in the event of it being locked, which was a bit short-sighted, but it wasn’t, so no point in worrying about that.
He glanced at his watch, aware his window of time was narrow. Opening the door, Tom rushed into the office.
‘Look at him,’ Andrew hissed to Neil, contempt clear on his face as he nodded towards Gary. ‘Are you telling me he looks comfortable in his own skin?’
Neil shook his head in exasperation. ‘He looks about as comfortable as I would in a bird’s fucking dress!’ He raised his bottle of beer. ‘As much as I hate to say it, I really do think he’s behind all of the shit going on.’
Andrew’s eyes narrowed as he continued staring at Gary. ‘He can’t even stand with us, the traitorous cunt.’ He shoved another cigarette in his mouth. ‘He knows we know – you can see it. Oh, he might have denied everything, but he knows.’
Neil nodded. ‘And to think all these years we’ve been forced to accept him, when he’s not even our proper brother?’
Andrew rolled his eyes. ‘Or even related at all…’
Neil glanced at his father and then at Seb, who was eyeing both him and Andrew edgily. ‘What are we going to do about it? Seb ain’t convinced and won’t hear a word of it.’
He turned back to Andrew. ‘You haven’t helped matters either by taking it upon yourself to off Phil. That wasn’t what Seb wanted and he’s bloody livid. You’re lucky you’re still walking!’
Andrew scowled. ‘Seb doesn’t know what he bloody wants at the moment. He’s not thinking clearly. Someone had to do something rather than to allow the man to walk away with all the risk that brings.’
His fists clenched in his pocket, his nails digging into his palms. ‘And no, he hasn’t said a word about it yet. He’s far too busy buried between Sam Reynold’s legs, handing over our business, to lose any sleep over what I did,’ Andrew spat.
‘I wonder who Gary’s shagging to help his cause?’ Neil sniped. ‘Most likely Maynard!’
Andrew laughed loudly at Neil’s barb, then watched Gary suddenly slam his beer bottle down, whisper something to their mother and then storm off across the casino. ‘See he’s got his knickers in a twist again?’
‘Probably off to look for his boyfriend to slag us off,’ Neil grinned.
‘Give it a fucking rest,’ Seb hissed, moving closer to his brothers. Not trusting himself to contain his wrath for the stunt Andrew had pulled in overriding his decision the way he had, he’d purposefully maintained as much distance between them as possible.
Andrew was fast becoming a loose cannon and it was worrying. Increasingly so, but he could hardly smash his brother’s brains back into place here – they had to maintain appearances. But he would be picking it up with Andrew before long. That was a definite.
Now he’d have to pay off Phil’s wife and somehow justify how the death of her husband had occurred.
Seb’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t need all this extra crap. Hadn’t he got enough to deal with?
It was frustrating enough that all day he’d had to force himself to be cordial to Samantha Reynold, when all he wanted to do was scrub the snotty attitude from her beautiful face. That and kiss her until she quit glaring at him. ‘I know what you’re doing. Just give this shit with Gary up now, please.’
Andrew frowned. ‘Oh, come on! You’re the only one who th…’
‘I told you to fucking leave it!’ Seb spat. ‘And I meant it. You’ve done enough fucking damage as it is. You know exactly what I’m referring to.’
Putting his hand on Andrew’s shoulder, he grinned. To anyone watching it would look like they were having a jovial conversation, but Seb’s eyes portrayed to both of his brothers the exact opposite. ‘Gary knows you’re talking about him, as do I, and therefore, so will everyone else. I could even hear part of it. We do not broadcast our business, you know that.’
Seb lowered his voice to an almost inaudible level, using all his restraint not to wrap his hands around his brother’s neck. ‘You need to drop this shit before something stupid results from it.’ He jerked his head in their parents’ direction. ‘Do you want to cause even more grief? You’ve already offloaded one of our own! Dad thinks we’re a bunch of cunts because of the other night and I won’t have our mother getting wind of this crap about Gary.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Fucking sort it out now, do you hear me?’
‘Oh, bollocks to this!’ Andrew muttered, making sure the crowd-pleasing smile remained on his face. ‘I’m out of here.’
‘I’ll join you,’ Neil said and together they walked away, leaving Seb standing at the bar, his face thunderous.
Sweat pouring down his face, Tom was almost at the point of hyperventilating. Where the fuck was everything? He’d been through virtually every drawer he could get into. He’d even been through the filing cabinets, but had found nothing of any use, apart from that map, which had been stupidly left out on the desk.
He patted his pocket where he’d stuffed the piece of paper, knowing exactly what it represented.
Okay, so he had a pretty good idea of what patches to move on to next, but having this map removed a lot of the groundwork. It was useful, but not what he’d come for. Not even close.
‘Fuck’s sake,’ he muttered under his breath. He’d spent more time making sure everything was put back the way it was than looking for what he needed. It was not going well.
The safe wasn’t difficult to find, but he couldn’t get into the bloody thing. He glared at the large black metal monstrosity in front of him. The tools he usually relied upon for picking locks had failed dismally on this particular occasion.
Tom’s face screwed into a scowl. The one opportunity, and possibly the only opportunity he’d ever get, and he’d put his neck on the line for jack shit.
Gritting his teeth, he glared at his watch. It was no good. He’d have to go. Maynard’s alarm bells would ring if he failed to show up much longer, plus, the longer he hung around, the higher the chance became of somebody stumbling across him.
Slipping out of the office, Tom pulled the door shut. Despite the disappointing outcome, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least he’d got the map. Now he’d just got to get back through the casino unnoticed and then he was out of here. There would be another way to get the proof. There had to be.
‘Who the fuck are you?’ a voice suddenly growled.
Swinging around, Tom found a man standing a yard away, wearing a none-too-friendly look on his face. ‘Oh, hi,’ Tom stammered. ‘I was just looking for…’
‘This place is out of bounds! It’s staff only,’ the man growled, slamming Tom heavily up against the corridor wall, his head rebounding noisily. ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’
Terror and panic convulsed through Tom’s body. Getting caught would ruin everything. Everything. ‘I must have taken the wrong turning when I was looking for the gents,’ he blathered.
Before he could do anything else, Tom found himself pulled down by the hair, his head twisting at a painful angle.
‘You’re coming with me,’ the voice barked.
Tom had little choice but to follow in the direction where his hair was being yanked. His heart pounded. He couldn’t be discovered here. No, no, NO!
His hand fumbled to his waistband, his fingers closing around the handle of his knife. Pulling it from the holder, Tom lashed out, slashing a long slit down the front of the man’s thigh.
Howling in surprise, the man released his grip of Tom’s hair and barely had time to register the blade driving deep into his neck.