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Gideon shakes his head. “No, although I have a standing order with Adam. I haven’t checked the dropbox for a while. I can check it now?”

He holds his hand out for the tablet that Finn guards with his life.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Luca asks.

“I’d say so. If Carnell had access to the files on there, I’d know about it already,” Gideon scoffs and starts accessing his covert files.

“Holy shit. There are several here…going back to before Christmas. Hmmm…”

Finn looks over his shoulder, and his eyes pop wide.

“Your real estate agent made the list. For the new facilities? Her license has expired. And…Ro? Looks like one of the gaffers has a crush on you. The dude has a secondary Instagram where he posts thirst edits of you.”

Nix growls at that. “Really? What’s their name? Maybe I should show them you’re taken.” He points to his belly and lets his fangs drop.

Rowan puffs up with pride. “Yeah? Let’s do that. Who is it?”

Jay resists the urge to smack him on the back of his head for encouraging Nix to gohuntingwhen they get home. Nix has a very long memory. “No,don’t tell us. Please.”

Gideon laughs, and Jay recognizes his love of chaos in the chuckle.

“Okay, here it is. Rhodes…blah blah blah… criminal charges…”

Abruptly, Gideon’s face falls, and he jerks his gaze to Jay’s.

“I’m not going to like this, am I?”

“Un-fucking-likely. We already knew Carnell owns their house and the gyms, but your parents’ net worth is in the shitter, and all of their liquid assets have been seized.”

“That’s par for the course, but…shit,” Finn adds. “Do you think they turned to laundering money for cash flow to maintain their lifestyle? The club, the luxury goods, and their cars. It’s all money they’re getting from—”

“Carnell,” Jay whispers.

“Yes. Carnell saw an opportunity, maybe? Adam says the paper trail is weak and started up late last fall after he bought up the mortgages on your parents’ places. They’ve called in the FBI’s Organized Crime unit and fucking Interpol.Holy fucking shit.”

His parents are on the radar of the Feds and Interpol? They’re no fucking joke. He wishes he could have seen his father’s face when they charged them.

“Are you alright, Jamie?” Nix asks and stands so he can turn and sit again, this time in a straddle over Jay’s lap in the kitchen chair.

“Yeah. I’m good. Don’t fucking care.”

With a skeptical expression marring his face, Nix shakes his head. “The bond says that’s a lie.”

He hadn’t thought what he’d said was a lie. Not at first. And maybe it’s not entirely. So he sighs.

“Alright. So I’m upset. It’s a shitshow. Fuck. The company…we’ll need a plan for if this goes live. We might need to make a statement, anyway.”

“Jay, stop for a second,” Luca says. “What doyouwant to do?”

What does he want to do? Jay thought he was done with his parents. This should make him even happier to be done. And yet, he’s back here on his old home turf, and the desire to look them in the eye and get some answers is strong.

“No. No. Jay. I know that look. You told me you were done.” Gideon hands the tablet back to Finn as if he’s preparing to catch Jay when he makes a break for the door.

“Gideon, I need to ask them why. Even if it’s only my mother—she’s ignorant and vain, but I think maybe she’d talk to me. I could get some truth from her. Maybe see if she knows anything about Carnell. Surely you can see why?”

“Un-fucking-believable. If I’d known you were going to be so fucking stupid about this, I would have left them alone.”

“Don’t be mean. Jamie has unfinished business. I know what that’s like, and I know you do, too,” Nix chastises, and when he looks at Jay, he sees only understanding—something he hadn’t known he craved.