“And Mercedes assigned him to me.”
“Yes. You’d made a name for yourself in karting and then in Formula Two. Mercedes promoted you to Formula One when you were twenty. Anton’s four years older than you are. They assigned him to you because he was young enough to be relatable but responsible enough, they hoped, to keep you out of trouble.”
“He seemed like a straightforward guy. Serious.”
“He is. Anton's a hard worker and not the type to waste his time flattering you. He’d tell you things straight and sometimes you’d butt heads because of that. But at the end of the day, you appreciated his honesty.”
“How often did we butt heads?”
“Rarely. I’ve never seen you truly lose your temper in your whole life and Anton almost never lost his. When that did happen, though, you used to say everyone would duck and run for cover.”
“Huh.”
“I was jealous of him at first,” Jude admitted, “because it felt like he'd taken my place as your brother. I got over that pretty quickly, though, because I didn't want to spend my life doing what Anton did—flying around the globe, working to motivate you to the top of podiums.”
“Anton and I were like brothers?”
“Right. Closer than friends but too argumentative to be colleagues.”
“When I asked him if he had any idea who might want to kill me, he suggested I find out who’d benefit the most financially from my death. My will names you, Fiona, Max, and Anton. Do you or any of those other three want to kill me?”
Jude laughed. “I’m certain we’ve all wanted to kill you from time to time. But Mom, Anton, and I are also the closest people to you, which is why we’re the least likely to kill you even when you make us crazy.”
“And Max?”
“There’s sometimes friction between you two but also a lot of affection and history. You're half-brothers. You share blood. I’m sure that’s why you included him in your will.”
“Is there enough friction between Max and me that he’d want to kill me for the money he’d inherit from me?”
“Max doesn’t need money. He owns a successful company.”
“In my will it mentioned what was to happen to my share of the Camden family trust money in the event of my death. That section was hard to follow. Can you put it in plainer words?”
“Sure. If a recipient of the Camden trust dies without having children, any unused funds in the trust go to another Camden family member. In your case, since Dad’s living, the funds would have gone to him if you'd died.”
“So Felix is the person who’d have benefitted the most from my death.”
“Financially, yes. But Dad would never hurt you. Plus, he needs your money even less than Max. He made a fortune playing football, he received his share of the family trust, and now he makes a great salary commentating. He’s a smart investor. He’s got more money than he knows what to do with.”
“What if it just appears that way? What if he's somehow lost it all?”
“Nah. Dad has too much pride and is too dependent on luxuries to lose it all.”
“He’s the type of person who’s at the center of scandals. Maybe he’s done something terrible and somebody’s blackmailing him?”
“Dad’s arrogant enough to think he can weather scandals. And the truth is, he has. A lot of people can’t stand him, but a lot of people idolize him. If he’d been susceptible to blackmail, our mother and Max’s mother would’ve made out like bandits.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“You bet. Anything else I can do?”
“Help me figure out how Alexis died,” Jeremiah answered.
“I’m game. How?”
“I’ll think on it and call you back.”
He gripped the steering wheel as the sports car shot down a straight stretch of road bordered by trees. His muscles recalled this sensation—the solidity of the wheel against his palms.
