Page 67 of Restless Hawke

Hard eyes meet mine. “You’ll play whatever role I want you to. To start, I’ll use you as a plant in various tournaments, along with others, to help control the play.”

“You’re going to rig the tournaments?”

He grins, taking a sip before issuing a chuckle. “The odds are always against you in a casino. Didn’t your family ever teach you that?”

“You don’t think you’ll be caught?”

“My own brother tried to kill me.” He shrugs. “If he couldn’t catch me, no one can.”

And that’s exactly what I fear.

For all the Hawkes have tried, the man appears to be untouchable. He somehow survived a car bomb, managed to stay hidden for decades while building a lucrative criminal empire, and swooped in to establish control over Roselli’s territory so quickly it would make a person’s head spin.

“You want me to play for you?” I raise a brow, skeptical that it could be this easy. “That’s it?”

“For now…until I think ofotherways to use you.”

If that isn’t ominous, I don’t know what the fuck is, and I suddenly wish I still had a full drink.

Because I can already see where this is going—what he will ask me to do.

What he willmakeme do.

Hawke Hotel can’t stand as his biggest competitor.

If this first location is as successful as we anticipate it being, there will be ten more locations scattered along the coast within five years—a rapid expansion plan. And Satriano doesn’t want a competitor.

Either we partner with him, or he eliminates us.

Plain and simple.

10

COEN

The moment Allegra steps from the sleek, black Town Car onto the sidewalk in front of Nana’s house, it’s abundantly clear this is an even worse idea than I initially thought it was when Savage suggested it and Kennedy insisted.

Coupled with the lingering unease brought on by Satriano’s surprise visit last night, the little shudder of anticipation that rolls through me at her approach isn’t a good one.

I am so fucked…

In the long list ofbad ideaswhere Allegra and I are concerned, this tops it.

I never should have allowed this to happen.

Never should have put her in the position to be the night’s entertainment at the Hawke table.

And that’s exactly what she’ll be—on display—and it will be open season to pepper her with thousands of inappropriate and invasive questions.

But there wasn’t any way to say no. Not after what both Bishop saw in the penthouse and Savage witnessed in the elevator. Once he extended that invitation and Kennedy threw her excitement at the idea on top, if Allegra hadn’t come, it would have raised evenmoreuncomfortable questions.

They would have wondered why I was hiding her—and that isnota story I intend to reveal toanyof the Hawkes.

It’s bad enough I crumbled so completely under her wiles, but to admit that to the family when I’m already skating on such thin ice would have been too much for even me to bear.

Just be her buffer.

It’s the least I can do, knowing what she’ll face the moment she sets foot inside.