“Morgan has the right connections Santino needs,” Ciro explained. “Politically at least, which is exactly what they have been in need of. Marrying off the granddaughter to Santino’s son puts them in a position that makes Vito very uncomfortable.”
Everything inside of me went cold. Motherfucking hell. I’d had to deal with Santino’s bullshit for years. I knew exactly how the man was, but his son was a cruel sonofabitch. He beat his women bloody. Spider and Bash had given one or two of them jobs at Paradise City over the years, offering them a
safe house while they healed. They usually ended up staying because the alternative, the life they would have outside of the MC’s protection, wasn’t worth living.
Hawk and I shared a knowing look over Flick’s head and the look in my brother’s eyes told their own story. Carlo Santino had a very short life expectancy if he touched Gracie.
“So they took her for what?” Flick muttered. “A shotgun wedding?”
“More like an AK wedding, babe,” I told her, trying to ease some of the growing tension filling up the SUV.
“Is she with them?” Hawk was clenching and unclenching his fists now.
“There has been movement in and out of Morgan’s Connecticut residence, but so far no sign of your Gracie. I’ve got eyes on the house there as well as a few locations that Santino has here in the city.” Ciro glanced at the driver for a quick moment before turning his gaze back on us. “I could’ve taken the house at any time, but have been waiting on your arrival before making a move. I didn’t want to chance your woman being there and getting hurt by mistake.”
“Legally…” Hawk started and sucked in a deep breath before continuing, making me wonder just how bad his pain really was. “Legally, if Gracie turned out to be Morgan’s daughter, what would happen to the money that her grandfather seems to want so desperately?”
Ciro shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer and I don’t know the specifics of the will. I would only assume that it would still stand. Without a DNA test there is no way to disprove her paternity and at the speed the Morgans are currently moving, they wouldn’t need it to get the money released once she has married Santino’s son. Once they have the marriage certificate, the money will be released to her and they plan to highjack it.”
“Right.” Hawk nodded. “Let’s pay a visit to the old fucker. You got someplace safe we can drop Flick off at?”
I felt Flick stiffen beside me. “I’m not going anywhere without you guys. I promised Raven I would watch out for you and I’m not breaking that promise.”
Hawk didn’t even look at her. “Vito’s place okay?”
“Scarlet and Victoria are home, so that is out of the question,” Ciro informed us with a twitch of his lips at the mention of his boss’s twin daughters. “My mother was hoping to visit with Felicity. I’ll drop her off at my parents’ home and we’ll go straight from there.”
“I’m going with Hawk and Jet,” Flick told him with a stubborn tilt to her chin that I remembered well.
“You’ll go where you’re told to go,” Hawk snapped, his first sign of real emotion in hours. “You have no business even being here.”
“Jet.” She didn’t even try to argue with him as she turned those pretty blue eyes on me, a plea in them that I would have been helpless to ignore if it had been any other time.
This time I knew I couldn’t give in, even if it damned me that much more in her eyes. If Santino and his men were at the Connecticut house, there was no doubt there would be bullets flying as soon as we got there. I wouldn’t risk her safety even to soften her toward me.
Clenching my jaw, I turned my eyes on Ciro. “Drop her.”
I heard her suck in a pained-filled breath but didn’t dare look at her right then. Right now, when I could only guess how dangerous the situation we were about to walk into was, I couldn’t risk her. I’d gladly let her think it was the ruthless bastard in me by doing it without a flicker of emotion showing on my face. Because keeping this female safe was the only thing that kept me sane right then.
Chapter Eleven
Hawk
Everyone around me was talking about the plan to storm Morgan’s house. Strategizing on who needed to be where, who was going in first, what exits we should use. It wasn’t like we could just walk up and knock on his fucking door. Santino and his men were there, with who knew how many guns. We couldn’t risk Gracie by going in half cocked and blowing the place to pieces.
Even if that was what I wanted.
I had to remind myself that I had to be patient. I wouldn’t risk so much as a hair on Gracie’s precious head. It was hard to keep that in mind when my body was one huge ball of pain and my heart was throbbing from being away from Gracie for too long.
Was she okay? Was she scared? Had anyone touched her?
Those questions were driving me to the edge of madness because I didn’t know.
I fucking needed to know.
“How much pain are you in?”
I lifted my head to find Ciro’s scary ass standing beside me. The set of his jaw and the way his blue eyes shot cold fire out from under his ivy cap didn’t intimidate me like it did his own men. I’d worked with this huge Mafioso for over five years now.