Chapter 57

Drew’s POV

The office was quiet, the kind of quiet that let you hear your own thoughts whether you wanted to or not.

I leaned back in my chair, staring out at the skyline, my mind still on what had happened earlier with Kimberley and the talk with Lila.

I sat back in my chair, tie loosened, one arm draped over the armrest, eyes on nothing in particular. My office had that twilight quality, the sun gone but the lights not fully taking over yet.

Max’s name kept circling in my head.

I’d agreed to help Lila find out what he was doing, but the truth was, I wanted to know for myself.

The phone on my desk was still and black, but I knew the call would come. The investigator never missed a deadline.

I kept circling the same images from earlier. Lila in my office, sitting so still while Kimberley tried to unsettle her. The way she hadn’t flinched told me more than any words she could have given me. She had also played Max without him realising it, and that alone meant I couldn’t afford to treat this as just another problem to solve.

My phone rang, just right on time.

“Tell me what you’ve got,” I said as soon as I picked up.

The investigator got straight to it. “Max Archer. Publicly, he’s a respected art mogul, owns galleries, sponsors exhibitions, speaks at high profile events. That’s the image he sells. But behind the scenes, he plays a different game.”

I didn’t interrupt.

“He looks for opportunities where people aren’t paying attention. Gains their trust, gets close, finds out what they’re working on and then cuts them out and takes the deal for himself. He has done it more than once.”

“Go on.”

“Right now, he’s chasing a private art collection in Italy. Late 19th century European works that are very rare. The seller is an old collector who doesn’t deal with many people. The sale is being handled through a small gallery in London and they don’t have the resources to do deep checks, so they’re vulnerable.”

“And Max’s plan?”

“He’s using some investors' money meant for a different project to buy the collection. He plans to sell it to a museum in Asia at a much higher price and return a small portion of the profit to the investors, while he keeps the rest. It’s risky, but he’s done similar things before.”

That was exactly the kind of move I’d expected from him.

“Who are the investors?” I asked.

“We have two investors in Hong Kong, one in Sydney, and one in New York. None of them know what their money is really being used for.”

I let that sink in. “What about his connection to Lila? Is there anything suspicious about it?”

The investigator continued. “Yeah about that. They went to the same school and were good friends so it was quite easy for Lila to trust him.

When he reappeared in her life recently, she just saw him as familiar, harmless friend and he took that opportunity get close to without raising any suspicion.”

My jaw tightened.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“His relationship with Kimberley is quite suspicious though, on paper they look like they are just business partners and truly they've closed some deals together but they’ve also been at the same events, same dinners and same circle. She’s likely giving him access to certain people and information.”

I sat in silence for a moment, thinking it through.

Max liked to move fast and stay just ahead of the people he was using. If I wanted to catch him, I had to let him think he was still in control.

This Italian deal could be the perfect opening.

“Keep watching him,” I said. “I want every name, every partner, every investor he’s working with. And don’t make a move until I say so.”

“Understood. You’ll have it in forty-eight hours.”

I ended the call and stayed in my chair.

Now I knew exactly what kind of man Max was and exactly how to deal with him.

He thought Lila was easy to play.

He thought he could sabotage my launch, now he has me to deal with and now Lila isn't going to be the only one playing him.