I watched as Riley enthusiastically hugged each one of them as she said, “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
Hudson shrugged. “We like Eli and Jade.”
As the siblings continued to chat, I was wracking my brain.
Hudson Montgomery.
Jaxton Montgomery.
Cooper Montgomery.
Montgomery Mining Company.
The lightbulb finally went off.
They were those Montgomery brothers.
I frowned as I looked at Riley Montgomery.
Montgomery Mining was the biggest operation of its kind in the whole damn world. Had been for decades.
Obviously, Riley was part of that dynasty, along with her three brothers.
Why in the fuck am I just learning about this right now?
“Montgomery Mining?” I asked aloud. “You three head the company, right?”
Hudson nodded. “We do. And I’m assuming that you’re one of the lost Sinclairs.”
Shit! I really hated it when people referred to our family that way.
“We’ve never exactly been lost,” I said in a gravelly voice. “I’ve always known my exact location.”
“No insult intended,” Cooper spoke up. “All of us admire your whole family. Jade is an incredible woman. She’s told us about how you guys all killed yourself to get her an education. And Eli is a friend.”
Jaxton added, “Being a lost Sinclair isn’t a put-down, Seth. It’s actually a compliment, considering how hard you all worked to help each other out. None of you needed money to succeed. But if some family was going to be found and inherit a fortune, you all deserved it.”
“I’m not sure how many people in this room could manage success without money,” Hudson mused.
Maybe I had overreacted. I was a little touchy about my father being a bigamist, which made me and my siblings bastard Sinclairs.
I relaxed and actually found myself enjoying the banter with the brothers as we made casual conversation.
There wasn’t a single thing about any of the Montgomery brothers that was pretentious, even though they were filthy rich. Yeah, they were in the required formal wear, but they looked even more uncomfortable than I was with the company around us.
Am I the only one who notices how damn badly they want to get the hell out of this atmosphere?
I could sense that they were kind of kindred spirits, so I chalked up my awareness to like-mindedness.
I was eager to end the evening, and they obviously wanted the same damn thing.
“So what’s your relationship with our sister?” Hudson asked bluntly.
“We’re friends,” Riley answered swiftly.
Friends, my ass. But I let her get away with the proclamation. For now.
Hudson lifted a brow. “That didn’t look like a friend reaction a few minutes ago. Seth and I were moments from exchanging blows. And doesn’t he own the property that you were trying to acquire for endangered birds? I thought you two were doing battle, not chumming around.”
“Seth is giving the property up,” Riley said as she beamed at her brother. “It’s going to become a wildlife sanctuary.”
“That right?” Hudson looked at me.
I shrugged. “I’m not quite sure I’d get away with building on that site, since Jade is my little sister.” I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell Hudson about the agreement I had with his younger sister so she could acquire that land.
Jaxton laughed. “Probably not. It sucks that you lost that opportunity. Citrus Beach is growing.”
“There will be others.” In that moment, I knew I was showing my weakness for my family, but I didn’t give a damn. There were limits to what I’d do to be hard-nosed. And making my sister sad just happened to not be one of them.
Maybe I had manipulated my way into Riley’s life by holding out on forking over the prime building lot, but I wasn’t a complete asshole. Giving over that property had been inevitable. I just wasn’t willing to do it easily. Not when I had the chance to use it to spend time with a belligerent, beautiful attorney who had caught my interest from the very first time I’d met her.
“You can take the hit,” Cooper added. “It might not feel good, but Eli has told me about some of the stuff that you have in the works for Sinclair Properties.”
I’d never miss the money, so it was no big deal to me. Sure, it would have given my business a bigger boost. However, Sinclair Properties didn’t really need that much of a climb to keep growing, and there were plenty of other lucrative deals to make up for the loss.
“If you’re interested in investors, I don’t think any of us would mind coming in,” Cooper said enthusiastically.
I certainly wasn’t going to give up the opportunity to get the Montgomery brothers as investors. We quickly made plans to meet up and discuss the possibility.
I was definitely interested. Besides the fact that the Montgomery brothers had an endless amount of cash to push into Sinclair Properties, they’d also have endless knowledge they could share with me.
They’d be doubly valuable, but I still tried not to show them how eager I was to get them into the business.
Honestly, if I had the Montgomery brothers, I really didn’t need a lot more backing for Sinclair Properties to explode.
Before we parted ways, I hesitated. I wanted to ask them one more thing. “Aren’t you guys treasure hunters?”
If my memories were correct, the three brothers traveled the world to look for lost artifacts.
I was a guy, so of course I was interested in their adventures. My brothers and I had always dreamed of hunting for hidden treasures, probably because we’d been so damn poor. I was eager to hear about their searches that had actually brought success.
“The main industry for Montgomery is mining diamonds and precious gems. The treasure hunting is more like . . . a hobby,” Hudson answered.
“It’s something we all like to do,” Cooper explained. “But our mining operations have to take priority. Montgomery has been around for generations. It’s our legacy.”
I lifted a brow as I stared into Riley’s beautiful eyes. “Is it your legacy, too?”
She shook her head, but didn’t speak. I suspected there was more to her story. I wanted to know what it was, but now wasn’t the time to push her.
As Riley was hugging her brothers good-bye, Hudson pulled me to the side. “I don’t buy the friends bullshit. If you hurt her, I’ll kill you,” he said in a dangerous tone.
I nodded my head sharply. “Understood. I have two younger sisters.”
I got Hudson’s message loud and clear, but it sure as hell didn’t feel quite as good on this side as it did when I was the protective big brother. I’d felt the same way about Eli when it had been obvious that Jade was crazy about him. Noah, Aiden, and I had grilled the hell out of him, and pretty much threatened him the same way Hudson was doing to me now.
Note to self: apologize to Eli for being an asshole back when he was first dating my little sister.
I retrieved Riley’s jacket and tugged her toward the exit once we’d ended the discussion with her brothers.
I was determined to find out exactly why my date hadn’t leveled with me about her connections, or her past.
I handed the valet the ticket for my vehicle and then turned to Riley. “When were you going to tell me that you’re completely familiar with this world? Hell, you must have grown up in it. Montgomery is a giant, and you were raised filthy rich, right? No fucking wonder you knew every person at the party. I thought you were nervous about going into a world you aren’t completely comfortable with, but you’re actually one of them, aren’t you? Why in the fuck didn’t you tell me that?”