Chapter 3 #3
I throw up my hands. “Am I the only one who feels like I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop?
It’s been one thing after another for years, and now both Jack and Allegra are pregnant.
What the hell do you think the man’s going to do when he finds out his grandchild is coming and is going to be a Hawke? ”
Everyone shifts restlessly.
The question has been on everyone’s mind since we learned that there wasn’t technically anything medically wrong with either of them.
No nefarious plots that made them ill.
No poison or other means of hurting them physically.
Just the Hawke sperm going to work creating the next generation.
And one of them also carries Satriano’s blood.
Gabe shifts restlessly. “All we can do is keep pushing our sources and hope that one of them comes up with something useful on McDonald or Satriano.” A ding sounds in his pocket, and he reaches in and pulls out his phone. “Speaking of which…”
He scans the screen, his jaw hardening.
Shit.
That doesn’t look good.
His eyes darken as he reads the message. “Shit.”
Savage raises a dark brow. “What?”
Gabe lifts his head and meets his best friend’s gaze. “That was a text from one of my contacts in Europe who is familiar with Satriano and his group over there from before they moved here.”
My frustration starts to boil over waiting for him to tell us whatever he’s learned. “And?”
Hard green eyes sweep from Savage to me, and when he’s like this, I truly see the lethal sniper he once was still living in his gaze. He’s pissed. And worried. Bordering on murderous. “He says Michael McDonald is a munitions expert. Specifically…explosives.”
The word sends a shiver down my spine as flashes of what happened to The Grind flicker through my head.
Flames shooting into the night.
Charred wood.
Broken tile and ceramic.
The smell of smoke clinging to the air.
Utter devastation.
The destruction of something Angelina worked so damn hard to create.
“Fuck.” I scrub my hands over my face, then scan the room again. “Anyone want to rethink that vote we just had?”
Everyone exchanges uneasy looks, but Dad shakes his head.
“We go forward with it. We have bomb-sniffing dogs that can check the entire hotel tower, and we don’t allow anyone—and I mean anyone—within a hundred yards of the property unless they’re on a very short list and they’ve been quadruple checked.
Nobody we don’t already know will be there, and we’re going to scour everyone’s backgrounds just as a safety precaution. ”
I grit my teeth, fighting the urge to argue with him, but I know I’m not going to get anywhere because they’re right as much as they’re wrong. If we keep caving, if we cower in the face of this vague threat that Satriano poses, we will never get anything done.
We won’t have any businesses left to run before too long.
And the Hawke Hotel and the casino are our future.
Assuming things continue to go well, plans to expand on the entire Gulf Coast are already sketched out and front and center in everyone’s minds.
The only hiccup is Satriano and the fact that he has been buying up competing properties behind our backs for God only knows how long without us even knowing about it—and the fact that he might resort to violence to ensure he comes out on top.
The unease in the room matches what currently wraps tightly around my spine, and Coen and Allegra appearing in the open doorway doesn’t help, given the nervous look both of them wear.
Luca narrows his dark gaze on them. “What are you doing here?”
Coen ushers Allegra in ahead of him with a hand at her lower back. “We just got a call that you need to know about.”
Allegra swallows thickly, pressing a hand over her still-flat belly that won’t stay that way for long. “It was my dad. He said ‘congratulations,’ and he ‘can’t wait to meet his first grandchild.’”
Ice floods my veins, making my vision blur for a moment as I clench my fists at my sides. “How the fuck does he know you’re pregnant?”
She shakes her head, sending her dark hair flying around her face as unshed tears shimmering in her eyes. “I don’t know.” The typical warm gray there darkens slightly with her growing fear. “But he’s hacked medical records before, right?”
I exchange a look with Dad.
Gabe shoves his phone back into his pocket with a muttered curse. “He has.”
Savage watches the newest member of the Hawke family carefully, and even though his shoulders are tense, he keeps his voice level when he finally asks the question we are all wondering. “Do you think this means he’s going to show his face again?”
Allegra bites on her bottom lip and glances up at Coen, who wraps his arm around her shoulders protectively.
“He might. Family’s always been the most important thing to him.
Like I told you before, this all started because of his brother’s death and because he justified it saying he was doing it for me, to secure my future.
Even though he told me he’s cutting me off for choosing Coen, this baby changes things for him. I know it does.”
Savage’s jaw hardens, and he offers a slow nod. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”