Chapter 13
POPE
Roselli’s SUV pulls to a stop in front of a towering construction project in Mid-City. Though only partially completed, several floors appear illuminated, as if already in use or under active construction. Which is unlikely this time of day.
So, this is where he’s been hiding out…
I gaze up at it as one of his goons steps from the passenger seat and opens my door. An invitation to get out of the vehicle I never wanted to enter in the first place. I look over at Daniele, who has sat silently in the back seat with me the entire drive.
His hard eyes remain locked on me, assessing and examining, but the fucker hasn’t said a single word. Almost as if he thinks his silence will build up the tension enough to make me actually fear him.
Too bad he underestimates me and what it would take to get under my skin.
The big man urges me from the car with a firm hand on my forearm, and when I stand to my full height, he gives me a once-over, probably realizing that any benefit he typically has over most people is a bit lost when it comes to me.
Though he probably has fifty pounds of muscle on me, that just means he moves slower. This guy hasn’t trained at the gym with a world-class boxer like Atlas—an advantage I mentally note in case it comes into play later.
I’m not above fighting my way out of this with my fists if I have to.
Dad and Bishop are going to kill me for allowing myself to get taken like this by someone like Roselli, but Dad also always trained us to pick our battles. And there was no way I was getting out of that one without bloodshed—likely mine.
At least by going voluntarily, I might have a chance of getting out of this alive and with some information that might help us all protect Alessandra and Benjamin.
I step away from the vehicle so he can push the door closed, and another door opens and closes behind me before Daniele joins me on the cracked pavement, adjusting his suit coat.
He spreads his arm wide in invitation, like we’re about to go on a tour of the building rather than have a confrontation that will surely end with some sort of ultimatum. “Shall we?”
Do I have a fucking choice?
Roselli leads me in through massive glass doors and an unfinished lobby to a bank of elevators, then punches a button and leans against the wall between the two sets of doors.
His eyes roam over me, sizing me up.
I have six inches on him and a father who’s lethal and trained me to be, too. Then again, so does he.
Cristiano Roselli didn’t exactly have a reputation for the warm and fuzzies, and though things are still a bit unclear about how involved Daniele was in his father’s business, he certainly plays the part now.
He screams dangerous and determined.
If he’s willing to snatch one of the Hawkes like that, then he’s capable of anything. Using me as a hostage, perhaps, to negotiate the return of his son.
The elevator dings, and his musclemen nudge me in. Daniele follows, never taking his eyes off me, and we ride up in awkward silence for six floors until it dings and allows us out into another unfinished section.
A huge wooden desk sits in the middle of the vast open space, a leather chair behind it, and a single folding chair facing the monstrosity—ostensibly for me.
He motions toward the flimsy piece of metal, then walks around and takes his seat, like the man firmly expects me to take mine.
Instead, I stand and cross my arms defiantly.
He raises a brow at me, then smirks. “Well, Dr. Pope Clarke. I guess we’ve never formally met, even though I believe you were at The Grind at least half a dozen times I’ve played there.”
I don’t bother acknowledging his observation.
We aren’t here to discuss our shared past or to exchange pleasantries.
His jaw hardens, his hands fisting on the armrests. “And you’re the man who’s shacking up with my girl and my baby.”
I barely fight back the low growl starting in my chest.
My girl…
My baby…
He may have been the sperm donor, but this piece of shit will never be Benjamin’s father. Not in any way that matters. And Alessandra was definitely never his girl.
His eyebrows pop up. “Nothing to say? Well, then, let me do the talking.” He releases an exaggerated sigh. “As you can imagine, things have been a bit tense since my father’s death. Add onto it me finding out that Alessandra was pregnant and had been keeping it from me.” He raises his hands almost innocently. “I may have gotten a little overzealous in trying to discuss the situation with her.”
This time, the growl slips out. “Overzealous? Is that what you call dragging a pregnant woman with you out into a fucking hurricane and trying to hold her hostage when all she was trying to do was get to her family and safety?”
He slams his fist against the desk, the sound reverberating off all the exposed metal beams in the vast space. “Her family? My son is my fucking family, the only family I have left, and I’ve never even met him because of you and that bitch.”
I physically fight the desire to lunge across the desk and wring his fucking neck until he takes his last breath, staring into my eyes. Given the fact that I’m unarmed and the two men standing on either side of me certainly are, I wouldn’t get very far. “What is it you want, Dan?”
He chuckles. “Isn’t that obvious? I want my son!”
“That won’t happen.”
His dark brows rise. “You think I don’t know the Hawkes have been looking for me? You think I don’t know you sent Satriano after me like a fucking bloodhound?” He grins. “He may have caught my scent a time or two over the last few weeks, but my father taught me well.” Leaning back, Roselli rests his head on his hands. “I wasn’t always interested in this business. I reaped the benefits of it—the money, the easy living—and I enjoyed my life as it was. Playing guitar, picking up girls, having a good time with pretty little things like Allie.”
I grit my teeth.
He continues on, kicking his feet up onto the desk, showing off his Italian loafers. “The violence never appealed to me, though.” His eyes harden. “Until I saw my father shot full of holes outside one of the Hawke businesses.” He sneers. “I knew the minute it happened that the Hawkes were behind it.”
I snort, shaking my head. “You know that isn’t true. Stone, Isaac, and Kennedy were all shot, too.”
“Collateral damage.”
“You’re a fucking idiot if you believe that we had anything to do with it. That was one hundred percent Satriano’s doing.”
Roselli shrugs. “Supposedly. But whether it was him or your family, I learned a lot that day. Mainly, that I actually did have an interest in my father’s business…and that Allie was carrying my child.” He shakes his head slowly. “She did a good job of dodging me. I’ll give her that. Though, I never understood why, since we ended things on mutually agreeable terms and always had such a great time together. But she figured it out, didn’t she, who I was? She heard me on the phone that day…”
I nod. “She did.”
And she did the right thing trying to keep her baby from your clutches.
He drums his fingers on the table. “Smart girl. Smarter than I gave her credit for, frankly. I guess I shouldn’t have underestimated her. She’s a Hawke, after all. Which leads me to the current predicament…” He climbs to his feet. “You have stolen my son, and I want him back.”
“I haven’t stolen anything. He isn’t yours to take from Allie.”
“Like hell, he isn’t.” He smashes his fists into the desk again. “My blood flows through his veins—Roselli blood—and I have no intention of letting him go.”
I square my shoulders, puffing out my chest. “Neither do we.”
He smirks. “So, an impasse, then.”
The bastard walks around the desk, then leans against it, only two feet in front of me. Without even moving, I could extend my arm and suffocate the bastard. It would be worth it if I thought I could do it before the bullets killed me.
I glance to either side, but the two men are watching me carefully.
Daniele chuckles. “I’d reconsider whatever you’re thinking, Pope.”
Shit.
I scan all around me for any weapon that might actually get me out of here alive. Because from the sounds of it, Dan intends to use me as bait to lure Allie out with Benjamin. But there are any number of people he could have grabbed, members of the family who might be considered higher-value targets. “Why’d you bring me here, Roselli?”
“Because I know Allie’s at your place. After weeks of following everyone in your family, it was pretty fucking obvious why everyone kept going there.” He nods. “Smart. A good, defensible location. We would never get in.”
“Exactly.”
His already dark eyes go almost black. “But not everywhere else your family members go is so defensible.”
An icy chill floods my veins.
“Like the gym where Atlas trains and that your sister is so fond of frequenting to spar with him. In fact, I saw her there just this morning with that pretty little blonde…Astrid, isn’t it? Atlas’s twin sister?”
I swallow thickly.
“One day”—he raises a finger and taps it against his cheek—“I even saw Isaac with his fiancée and their two little ones.” He shakes his head, tsking. “What a shame it would be if any of them suffered injury while at a location where the Hawkes love to spend time.”
Fisting my hands at my sides, I snarl at him. “Fuck you, Dan.”
“No, Pope, fuck you.” He points at me. “You and the Hawkes are so high and mighty, thinking you’re better than everyone else, thinking that you’re the ones in control of this city, but not anymore.”
“You don’t control anything. From what I hear, half of your father’s men want you dead.”
He snorts. “That’s a situation that’s being remedied. And soon, this situation with my son will be, too.”
“You’re sorely mistaken if you think we would ever hand him over.”
“You will.” He grins. “When the Hawkes start dropping one by one, hell, maybe even two by two, there are so many of you to choose from, so many places of weakness in your security.”
It isn’t even a veiled threat; it’s a direct one.
Either we give him Benjamin or all of us will have a target on our backs.
“The only reason I’m not killing you now or using you as bait is that I need the Hawkes to call off Satriano. He may be coming for me anyway, but I need time to consolidate my father’s crew before I take him on. He doesn’t need to be involved in our personal family matters. You’ll relay the message to Allie and the rest of the Hawkes—I want my son back and for Satriano to stay out of our business. And the longer you take to accomplish that task, the more bodies are going to fall.”
* * *
ALESSANDRA
I pacethe length of Pope’s living room for the millionth time, glancing down at Benjamin to ensure he’s still sound asleep against my chest. His tiny mouth parted slightly, hands curled between us, he’s content and completely oblivious to what a bundle of nerves I am or all the tension in the room. “Where are they?”
It doesn’t matter how many times I ask tonight; the answer never changes.
Gabe casually takes a sip of his beer, then sets the bottle on the end table next to where he sits on the couch. “They should be here soon.”
I scowl at him, annoyed at another brushoff. “That’s what you said an hour ago. Wasn’t Pope just going to the hospital for his meeting today? Why did he stop to talk to Savage about anything?”
His green eyes unwavering, Gabe drums his fingers on the side of the beer bottle. He isn’t looking away, yet somehow not giving me anything, either.
But I can tell he’s hiding something and holding back.
After he got the call from Savage earlier and told me Pope was going to be home “later,” I instantly knew something was very wrong.
Gabe may be a master of many things, but I’ve learned to read him over the years, and when he gets like this—stoic and short with words—it usually means something has gone FUBAR.
Which typically pisses him the fuck off.
I can see the anger coiled inside his strong body. He’s doing his best to conceal it, to appear unaffected, but that only shoots my anxiety straight through to orbit.
It takes a lot to unnerve Gabe, and I am about to lose my mind if he doesn’t give me a real answer.
Pope, where are you?
This is the longest we’ve been apart since we left for that house in the woods near Shreveport. The minutes drag on to feel like hours, the hours like days.
Maybe the hospital told him he has to come back, or he’s fired.
Maybe he’s pissed at me for being the reason he had to take the leave in the first place.
Maybe he’s—
The lock on the condo door clicks, stopping me from driving myself mad, thinking of all the potential reasons he hasn’t come home.
I freeze and wait, holding my breath as the door swings open. Pope walks in and holds it for Savage, who follows closely behind, his salt-and-pepper hair in unusual disarray, like he’s been running his hands through it.
Oh, shit…
When Gabe said Pope stopped to talk to Savage, I had assumed it had something to do with his leave and going back to work, perhaps to discuss a change in the plans about who will stay here with me. But Gabe and Savage exchange a hard look immediately, and my stomach drops.
It’s something worse…
Pope closes the door and turns to face the room, looking completely exhausted, bags under his eyes, his forehead creased, and an unease wafting off him that he usually doesn’t carry.
I hurry over to him. “What’s wrong? What happened? Where have you been?”
He doesn’t say anything. He just reaches out a long arm and wraps it around me, tugging me up against him. With his strong body pressed to mine and Benjamin cradled between us, he leans down and presses a kiss to the top of my head and then to the baby’s. “I’m sorry I wasn’t back sooner. I…”
“Jesus, what the hell happened?”
Pope hasn’t touched me in weeks, not since the shower “incident,” yet the moment he walked through the door, his first move was to embrace me. Whatever happened has him seriously rattled.
Savage and Gabe, too, given the way they look at each other.
“Come on, let’s talk.” Pope ushers me toward the living room and sits me on the couch, scooping Benjamin from my arms and holding him close like he needs to feel the baby against him to relay whatever he’s about to tell me.
Dread slithers down my spine as Savage joins us, settling himself next to Gabe. Each wears a mask of worry and distrust, the kind of thing you never want to see on the faces of men like them.
Savage inclines his head toward Pope. “You need to fill her in.”
Whatever it is, he went to Savage about it first.
Fuck.
I didn’t think things could possibly get worse, but judging by Pope’s clenched jaw and the way he clings to Benjamin, they’re about to.
His dark eyes that usually hold so much concern and affection turn to me, filled with a hatred I don’t know if I’ve ever seen there—one I didn’t think such a kind, thoughtful man like Pope could ever have. “I had the meeting at the hospital.”
I nod slowly. “Yeah, did it go that badly?”
He shakes his head, continuing to pace and rock Benjamin. “No. I need to make a decision by Monday…” His Adam’s apple bobs with a thick swallow. “But when I was leaving the hospital, an unexpected visitor intercepted me.”
Oh, God.
Bile immediately climbs my throat. “Who?”
The apology in his gaze tells me the answer before he even says it. “Dan.”
“No! Oh, my God.” I climb from the couch and rush over to him, scanning him from head to toe, looking for any signs of injury I might have missed when he first walked in. As aggressive as he got with me when I was heavily pregnant, I can only imagine what he would be willing to do to Pope now. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
He rests his hand free hand against my back, tugging me to him again, offering me the same comfort he does Benjamin. “No, I’m fine, physically. He took me somewhere that appeared to be a temporary base of operations. My guess is they’re long gone from there, though.”
Savage nods, his jaw locked with his frustration. “I sent Saint and Bishop over there the moment you called after he returned you to your car, and it was already cleared out. Even the desk you mentioned was gone.”
“Motherfucker…” Pope squeezes his eyes closed, trying to control his anger while he’s holding us. “They must be moving a lot, keeping to locations where nobody will look for them.”
Gabe leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “If they’re constantly on the move, it would explain why we haven’t been able to find him and why Satriano has failed, too.”
An icy chill rolls through me, making me shudder, and I bury my face against Pope’s chest next to Benjamin, not bothering to fight the tears as they come. “What did he say?”
Pope’s body stiffens, and I already know what his answer’s going to be. His hand rubs up and down my back, trying to soothe me before he’s even told me what that asshole said. “He said he wants Benjamin, and if we don’t turn him over, he’s going to start taking out the Hawkes, one by one.”
My breath catches. “Oh, my God…” I drag my head off Pope, shaking it as I peer back at Gabe and Savage. “What do we do? We can’t-I can’t—”
“No.” Pope grabs my chin, forcing me to look at him. “We’re not giving Benjamin to him, Teeny.”
Tears blur his face, and I swipe them away, looking at Benjamin snuggled close between us. “Then what the hell are we going to do? He’s going to come after us to get to him—”
Gabe cuts me off with a low growl. “He’s not going to do anything. He’s not going to hurt any of us. I don’t care if we have to put the whole family into fucking lockdown until we find him. We’ll do it.”
Savage nods. “Please, Al, I don’t want you to panic. You know we’ll always protect you and Benjamin. It’s never going to be an option to turn him over. We are going to meet with Saint and Bishop in the morning and put together a plan of action. Everyone else is going to stay on alert at all times with extra security. No one goes anywhere or does anything, period, until this is resolved.”
Now the whole family has to go through what I have the last six weeks…
Because of me.
They’re all going to be stuck, not living their lives, because of something I did, because of my mistake.
Because I trusted Dan and let him get close to me.
That isn’t fair.
It isn’t right.
This is my mess.
I should be the one who cleans it up.
“Maybe I should go and meet with him…”
Pope jerks slightly, his eyes hard. “No, absolutely not—”
“But maybe if I talk to him, maybe if I, I don’t know, make him see reason, maybe we can—”
His large hand comes to my chin again, stopping my babbling and forcing me to look at him. “No. That type of man can’t see reason. And you know what he would do to Benjamin if he got his hands on him because his own father did it to him. Look at how easily he’s been two people, how quickly he flipped from the guy you spent time with to someone willing to threaten that.” He says the words like they burn coming out of his mouth, pain lacing each one. “You’re not going anywhere near him.”
Tears stream down my face, and I fight the sob crawling up my throat. “But I have to protect everybody…”
“Leave that to us, Al.”
I turn toward Gabe and see the determination in his eyes.
He pushes up from the couch and comes over, then pulls me from Pope’s hold and wraps his strong arms around me.
I sag against him and let the sobs come. “Is this ever going to be over? Are we ever going to be safe?”
The man who has always protected the Hawkes, who has always been one of us even before he and Skye got together, kisses the top of my head. “We will, kiddo. I promise. This isn’t our first showdown with an asshole like Roselli, but it will hopefully be the last.” He pulls back and looks down at me. “Until then, you just sit tight here with Pope.” His gaze darts to Pope and the way he holds Benjamin, and he gives him a little knowing smirk. “He’ll keep you and Benjamin safe. I’ll be downstairs all night, and then we’ll meet in the morning. Just try not to worry too much, kid.”
I scoff, wiping at my tears that won’t stop falling. “Yeah, right. Easy for you to say.”
He shakes his head. “It isn’t easy for me to say, Al. Believe me. No matter how many times I’ve been in life-and-death situations over the years, it never gets easier. But you have to trust that we know what we’re doing, that we’re going to get him, and we’re going to keep everyone safe.”
Savage nods his agreement. “We’ve all lasted this long, and Roselli isn’t the first one to threaten us. He might not be the last, either, but Hawkes will always rise, right?”
I nod as the family “motto” echoes in my head. “Always rise.”
Those words have been repeated so many times over the years, when things got rough, when things went wrong, when any of us were struggling, and I want so badly to believe them.
When Savage says them, I almost do.
I walk over and throw my arms around him.
He kisses my cheek and squeezes me. “It’ll be all right, Al.”
Believe him.
I want to.
So badly.
I want to believe all them when they say that, but after six weeks and no progress, it feels like I’m stuck in some sort of purgatory—suffering for my sins.
And now the rest of the family will pay for them, too.
Gabe approaches as Savage releases me, and he gives me another quick hug before they make their way to the door. Pope follows them, and the three of them have a very quick, very quiet conversation before they leave. Then Pope closes the door and throws the locks into place.
One.
Two.
Three.
Tonight, it doesn’t seem like enough protection.
He turns back to face me. His body is so tense that it looks like he might snap in half, trying to contain the turmoil raging inside him. “Why would you even suggest going to meet with him, trying to reason with that sorry excuse for a human being?”
“Oh, God…” I sink to my knees on the living room floor and bury my face in my hands. “I don’t know. I just…can’t stand the thought of anyone else getting hurt because of my mistake—”
Another violent sob wracks my body, and I double over, trying to breathe but only able to cry harder as the world crumbles around me.
Pope squats next to me, still cradling Benjamin easily in his big hands. “I know, Teeny. But do you really think Gabe, my dad, and Bishop are going to let anything happen to anyone we care about?”
Of course not.
That’s the first thought that pops into my head.
Those three have secured the family and all our holdings, protected everything and everyone from all types of threats, so logically, I know they’ll use their entire arsenal to ensure the Hawkes aren’t touched.
But the last year has proven that even the best-laid plans can sometimes fail.
The explosion at The Grind…
The shooting…
No one can possibly plan for every scenario. There are too many variables. Too many places we’re vulnerable. Too many of us to hurt just to make a point, but Daniele seems determined to.
My gaze drifts to Benjamin, and I rest my hand on his back over Pope’s. “What are we going to do?”
“Anything necessary to protect him, Al. Anything.”