She shook her head, tucking her feet up onto the seat and leaning back against the armrest. “His prior behavior doesn’t make it look like he’s very interested in wealth. If anything, I’d say he’s been avoiding the family money.”
“I can’t get anything out of him, and I think he’s like a fucking science teacher or something, so I feel like a complete asshole doing any kind of true interrogation.”
“Is Declan in the holding cell?” India asked, looking over her brother’s shoulder.
He sighed, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, his eyes steady on the road. “Yeah. Not completely sure what to do with him, you know? We should turn him over to the law, but I kept everything quiet with the explosion.”
“Why?”
Moss shrugged. “I don’t know. I was going with my instincts at that point. The ones that irritate you.”
India rolled her eyes. Moss would sometimes act on pure instinct, and it drove her nuts. He placed a little too much trust in his ability to understand a situation based on instinct. “Can I talk to him when we get there?”
Moss blew out a breath. “I suppose he’s no danger to you. Perhaps he’ll talk to a cute little blonde woman more easily than he’ll talk to the scary fuck who grabbed him.”
“Hey, I can be scary!” she said, not denying that Moss was scary. There was no question there. If Declan had seen Moss in action, he’d be afraid.
When they got back to the offices, Enzo and Sean followed Moss into his office, looking a little like school children headed in to get a talking to from the principal, while India headed for the room they used as a holding cell. The man inside the room was sexy as hell, with medium brown hair and green eyes. He had a square jaw that reminded her of Sean’s, but his green eyes were shot through with gold and gave him the look of a feral cat as he paced the small room. As she walked in, he turned and stared her down and made a growling noise that also lent itself well to the feral cat thing.
“Who pushed you into it?” She asked without preface. He paused and stared at her, and she knew, with the same instincts that Moss knew things, the ones that had been formed in all of those years living with parents who were slightly psychotic spies, that he was there to take a fall, either as a distraction, or because he had been set up.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I can only follow the digital trail, and the digital trail leads to you, but there’s more, isn’t there? Is it those uncles?”
“Again, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I acted alone.” His voice was firm this time, but he had also looked startled. His poker face had slipped back into place that if India didn’t have the upbringing she had, she would have thought she had imagined his reaction.
“Look, if it’s a person who’s in trouble, if they’re holding someone as leverage, tell my brother.” India couldn’t figure out why Declan wouldn’t tell them what was going on. “We’re not bad people. We’re trying to protect your cousin.”
“What if I don’t want to protect my cousin?” he asked. “You’ve met my cousin, right? He’s a douchebag.”
“You don’t kill people for being douchebags, Declan. Maybe you want to punch Sean, but I don’t think you want him dead for the fun of having him dead. I think I met your father a few months ago, though. What about him?”
Declan studied India for a moment, and laughed, a slightly bitter sounding laugh. “You’re the little blonde bitch that beat the shit out of him? That wasn’t my father, that was our uncle. Carstairs.”
“Are they involved in this? My brother can help. We can help.”
He hesitated. “Why would your brother be able to do what I couldn’t?” And there it was. He was worried about someone.
“Because he’s Spencer Moss. He will do what needs to be done, no question.” She grinned and tried to step closer to him, but he flinched away. “You’re a science teacher, right? He’s ... not a science teacher.”
He combed his hand through his hair, mussing the soft waves a little more. “I grew up with this. My career was an escape. Moss seems a little not right in the head.”
India laughed. “Maybe not, but not in a bad way. He is the best of people, and he will help you.”
“Why do you care? You almost got killed in the explosion.” He blinked after that, and looked up at her, eyes wide. He hadn’t meant to say that.
“You stayed to watch?” she studied him, trying to understand, and he was definitely worried about something, dark circles under his eyes and a darting, wild sort of expression.
He grimaced and went back to pacing. “I didn’t want collateral damage, only my asshole cousin. Again, why do you care?” He bit out the words slowly and forcefully this time, boldly meeting India’s eyes.
“I’m a little in love with your asshole cousin.” She blinked, surprised by her own words and not exactly sure where that had come from.
Declan’s eyes roamed over her outfit, the ripped jeans over fishnets and the clunky pair of red Doc Martens. His eyebrows shot up. “Honey, I don’t think you’re my cousin’s type.”
“Don’t call me ‘honey.’ And the number of times he’s tried to have sex with me says otherwise.” She glared at him, trying to sound confident in her words, even though she wasn’t. “Anyway, it would be fantastic if you could tell us what’s going on, but we’ll find out either way. I’m betting they have your sister.”
His jaw clenched. “Just take me to the police and let them put me in jail,” he said. “Surely holding me here is illegal.”
