Page 160 of Restless Hawke

She shakes her head. “I never even met the guy. But I heard enough to know that you don’t want to cross him.”

A strange silence hangs between us for a moment, the tones of the familiar song and the hoots and hollers of the patrons filling the void.

Isaac finally clears his throat. “Well, he’s here.”

The smoky scotch I just drank threatens to make a reappearance. “What do you mean?”

“The flight he got on, the end destination was New Orleans, and it landed several hours ago.”

“Shit.” I shove my hands through my hair, looking from him to Allegra. “But Satriano isn’t in town anymore.”

Isaac shakes his head. “Not as far as we know.”

Allegra nods her agreement. “I haven’t heard from him, not since we met with him months ago.”

That ultimately doesn’t meananything.

“He always likes to make a grand entrance, though, and appear at the most inopportune times for us. We have an opening. You know what happened at the groundbreaking.”

Isaac curses under his breath and downs half his beer. “Yeah, and then at the hotel opening, he tried to have Atlas throw the fucking fight, which would have crushed the high of the event. What do you think he’s going to do now that we’ve got the ability to double our income at the hotel starting next week with a second tower?”

Allegra’s face suddenly loses all color, and she presses her hand over her stomach again. “Oh, God…”

I rub her back. “Are you okay?”

She nods, but the paleness of her skin and her unfocused gaze suggest otherwise. “I’m going to go to the bathroom. I’ll be back.”

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

But she doesn’t offer an answer, just slides off her stool and rushes toward the bathrooms along the far wall.

Isaac watches her with concern. “She didn’t look all right.”

I slide off my stool. “No, she didn’t. I’m going to go check on her.”

She didn’t feel well earlier today, either.

But she said she was fine and still went to Wren’s class. Bishop would have told someone if she noticed an issue there or after. And if Allegra hadn’t been up to it, she never would have agreed to meet me here tonight for a drink after I finished up at the hotel.

I hustle after her and push my way into the women’s bathroom, not giving a shit who else might be in here.

The door to the handicapped stall stands ajar, and I can see Allegra’s feet sticking out as she kneels in front of the toilet retching. The sound fills the air, and I wince, worry instantly consuming me as I rush through the bathroom to her.

“Babe? Are you okay?”

She gasps, trying to catch her breath, and I drop to my knees beside her and grab her hair, helping her hold it back. “I don’t know. My stomach’s just been off…”

“I’m calling my mom. You and Jack are both not feeling well at the same time.”

She glances over at me, breathing heavily, trying to swallow before she wretches again.

“Your dad would never?—”

“Poison us?” She shakes her head, then seems to regret it as another wave of heaving rocks her body. Coughing through it, she gasps. “God, no. He wouldn’t…”

I wish I could be as sure.

“Well, something’s going on…”