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.”
4
FOUR DAYS LATER
BISHOP
Today should be a huge celebration.
This land that holds the second Hawke Hotel tower was once owned by Falcon Enterprises. Controlled by a man who was our sworn enemy. We feared him. We fought him. Now, I can’t imagine Cass not being one of us.
Opening this tower should feel like putting the final nail in the coffin on everything that went down with him and all the bad shit that happened when we thought Falcon was behind the attacks on us, but instead, I’m more on edge than I have ever been.
From up on the dais, I survey the gathering crowd in the lobby.
Shockingly, my suggestion that we move the festivities completely inside because it would be easier to manage was taken to heart. I hadn’t been sure it would be. It meant severely limiting who is here—even more so than we had already decided to. But at least in the tower itself, we have control. Unlike the groundbreaking for the main hotel when anyone could’ve taken a shot at us standing out in the open.
I often wonder why Satriano didn’t that day…
It would have been the perfect opportunity to attack us—when we were distracted and concentrating on the festivities. When he did show up, everything was over, almost as if it were a taunt about the fact that he could have easily done much worse and didn’t. Another statement that we weren’t truly safe anywhere.
