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So my father was getting what he’d always wanted: a true heir. He’d tossed me aside, threw me to the wolves, and left me to get eaten alive, not giving a single shit about me, all because he was having a boy.
But that’s how he’d always been, so it shouldn’t have surprised me.
What Rocco said next would’ve made my eyes bug out if I wasn’t already lost in thought about my father’s new heir, my future brother. “No, what I’m talking about is creating another opening on the Hand.”
Luca wasn’t as speechless as I was, for he asked, “What are you talking about? You’re not… you’re not going to kill one of them, are you?”
Rocco shrugged. “Not unless we have to. Miguel has come upon some information that will rock their world.” He paused, those dark eyes shifting to me. “Although I wouldn’t shed a tear if we had to rid the world of some of those pompous members. Shay, for instance.”
I didn’t like hearing that. I didn’t like hearing any of this.
“What dirt do you have on one of them?” Again, Luca tried digging, which I was thankful for, because I was too stunned at the direction this conversation had taken to say much of anything. “I don’t know what you could possibly have on them to open up another spot on the Hand.”
Rocco chuckled, a dark, menacing sound. “You could say Miguel stumbled upon a secret that a certain member of the Hand has kept hidden for over twenty years now.” He took another sip of wine. His glass was almost gone; he must drink a lot, and that made me nervous. As he looked between us, he went on, “I suppose it’s time I let you two in on the secret, since Miguel wants to go public with it soon.”
What was I expecting? I didn’t know, but it wasn’t what Rocco said after that.
“Apparently, years ago, Atticus Jameson was having an affair with the matriarch of the Hawke family. Not surprising, given how he’s now grown attached to the same girl his sons have. But that’s just it—all of his sons are slaves to Shay. Dex, Jett… and Nixon.”
I blinked, my mouth falling open.
“Nixon?” Luca repeated. “You’re saying Nixon is… is—”
“Nixon Hawke is actually Nixon Jameson. Not many people know. It is a secret Atticus has spent Nixon’s entire life hiding. It took a lot of money for someone to talk—so much that Miguel had to come to me for help. With there being no true heir for the Hawke bloodline, another position opens up, which leaves one for Miguel and one for me.” As Rocco spoke, he sounded ridiculously happy about it, almost gleeful that he and my father were going to spill such a long-kept secret.
Nixon Hawke was not a Hawke at all. He was a Jameson, Atticus’s son. I was pretty sure he was older than Jett and Dex, which meant the twins were not next in line to take Atticus’s place on the Hand; Nixon was.
Did Shay know this? Was she aware of Nixon’s true bloodline? Fuck. This was big. Bigger than me. I couldn’t believe my father had done all this, kept it from me this entire time.
But I knew why he’d done it. He knew if he’d told me, I would’ve gone straight to Shay to tell her to try to make up for flirting with Nixon during that bonfire. He didn’t trust me with the information—he’d been smart. Rocco, on the other hand? Not so smart.
My loyalty wasn’t with the Moretti family. It was with me, and I knew right then what I had to do.
“Won’t Atticus get pissed off at you two? Who’s to say he won’t try to have you two killed, or that he’ll even give you the positions on the Hand after you throw this bomb?” Luca asked some very important and also very logical questions. I was glad he was able to talk right now; I was still caught up in what Rocco had said.
“I’m confident we can handle anything Atticus throws at us,” Rocco said, smug. “And, besides, if he’s kept that a secret, he has more. A man like that doesn’t stop at hiding one thing. Miguel’s on the trail of something else, something even bigger—something that might turn the Palmers against Atticus if they knew.”
“What?” Luca glanced at me. It was clear he was only being so curious on my behalf, like he knew instinctively that I needed to know but was too shocked to speak.
Rocco smirked. “That, my boy, I can’t say until we know for sure whether it’s true or not. And that’s all I’m saying on the matter. Now, let’s finish this dinner before it gets cold.” He dug into the food, and that was that. He would say no more on the subject, leaving me to wonder just what the hell he was talking about.
There was more? More than Nixon being Atticus’s son and therefore his true heir? Shit. Honestly, I didn’t know what else there could be.
My mind spun with the new information, and it was hard to continue eating like nothing was wrong, like a bomb hadn’t just been dropped on me. I didn’t know what Luca was thinking, but I knew what I had to do.
I had to talk to Shay, but I couldn’t risk reaching out to her myself, so that left one person who might be willing to do it for me, even if it meant going against my father.
With dinner finished, I retired to the room I shared with Luca, and I texted Zander. I didn’t tell him what I’d learned, but I did tell him I needed to talk to Shay ASAP, and if he could arrange a meeting between us, I would be forever grateful. The sooner the better.
He responded to me immediately, saying he’d get it done. He then asked how I was, and though I wanted to tell him how awkward the dinner had been, besides the whole Nixon thing, I didn’t. I couldn’t be attached to my phone constantly. He and I would just have to find a place and a time to meet, somewhere we could talk in private without worrying about anyone else listening.
Luca walked into the bedroom, gently shutting the door behind him. His dark eyes rested on me, and I could tell what he was going to say, so I held up a finger. “I’m going to handle it,” I whispered.
He strode across the room, closing the distance between us. “Don’t do anything rash,” he said, his voice in less than a whisper. “I know you probably want to talk to Shay, but if you do, my father will know it was you who talked.”
“So what? Do you think I care that he knows my loyalty isn’t with him?” I frowned. “I don’t care, Luca. I don’t care about any of this. I thought you would’ve known that by now.”
He sighed and rubbed a hand along his jaw. To say he looked exasperated would be an understatement, but again, I didn’t care. “Just… just please think about it, okay? Once you show my father he can’t trust you, he’ll do everything he can to make your life a living hell.”
