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Gage was right. Decisions had to be made. There wasn’t a whole lot of time to let her process everything before making them. Hawk tried to catch Remy’s gaze. “I think that’s up to Remy.”
She looked up at him. “Sorry, what?”
“The next step. It’s up to you. I know there’s a lot going on in your head right now, but we need to make some decisions. What do you want to do now that you have the key?”
She looked at him. “How did you know it’s the key? When we were with Maria, how did you know that it was specifically this key?”
Fuck.He’d been hoping she wouldn’t ask that. He felt the weight of all three Callahan’s stares on him. He hated talking about this stuff. It made him feel…fucking ridiculous. He cleared his throat. “Gus said that your grandfather used to say the club was thekeyto his success. That just stuck with me.
“When we looked in the window of the shop, you pointed out all the different charms mixed in with the gold beads. I got to thinking as you and Maria were talking. Your grandfather walked every day. He would need to be able to access wherever it was at any time, but he would also want to know it was still safe. What if it was like the logo on your shop? In plain sight, but only relevant to those in the know? I decided that made sense. And where else to put it but in a window where he could see it every time he walked by? I was betting on him having a key to Maria’s shop just in case.
“Then I just let my eyes wander over all those charms in the window. When I saw the key, I just… I knew.”
He stopped talking. He had nothing else to say. It was all true, just not maybe the whole truth. He had known the minute he saw the key. As soon as he saw it, his sixth sense had pinged, and along with Gus’s retelling of her grandfather calling it the ‘key to his success.’ He’d actually contemplated leaving it there and not telling Remy he’d found it, but no need to share that thought either.
“So”—he locked gazes with Remy—“now that you have the key, what do you want to do with it?”
She let out a breath. “I’m not sure. I don’t think I have much of a choice. Do you?”
“You do, actually,” Logan said as he placed a tray of pita chips and spinach dip down on the coffee table. “From my understanding, you have several different options.”
She arched a brow. “Explain please.”
“One, you can keep the key and assume your family’s seat on the board. We have no idea what that means, but it does seem to come with money from what you’ve said. Two, you can turn the key over to Archer Gray and let him do whatever he wants with it, which would hopefully keep you out of harm’s way, or three, you could turn it over to one of these groups of people who are looking for it in exchange for keeping you safe.”
Remy’s gaze locked with Hawk’s again. His stomach knotted. Logan was presenting everything in a rosy light, like it would all be easy, but there were no guarantees.
Hawk told her, “There are some serious disadvantages to each, which I think you need to consider.”
“Such as?” she asked.
“If you give it to another interested party in exchange for protection, you would only have their word that they would follow through on their end of the deal. They may take the key and then kill you anyway.”
She glanced at Logan. He nodded. “Hawk is not wrong.”
Hawk went on. “You can give it to Archer Gray but, again, you have no guarantee that whoever he gives it to won’t come back and kill you just to be sure that your family’s claim on the key is completely destroyed.”
“Again,” Logan said, “he is not wrong.”
Hawk leaned forward. “The last option, where you become a board member means you will be caught up in whatever this society entails, just like the rest of your family. There is no guarantee you’ll be safe that way either, although, theoretically, once you have your seat on the board, you are supposed to be untouchable, if Dragan’s source is to be believed. I’m not sure that’s true.”
Remy chewed her bottom lip as she looked about the room. Logan handed her another cup of tea.
Remy accepted the tea and took a small sip. “Well, I guess I’m damned if I do or damned if I don’t. I’ll have to think about it. If I do decide to give it to someone, how do we make that happen?”
Hawk’s breath froze in his chest. Was she really thinking of giving it away? He viewed that as a far more dangerous scenario. Keeping it at least afforded her some protection. She could run her shop like her grandfather had done, and hopefully no one would be the wiser. Giving it away meant she’d be looking over her shoulder all her life. Did she not see that?
He cleared his throat. “I think, if you want to do that, we’d have to come up with some sort of plan for the handoff. It would involve a lot of security and would be dangerous.”
“The board meeting is at some event tomorrow night, yes?” Gage asked.
Hawk nodded. “Some charity event at a museum. How many of those could there be on a Wednesday night in New York City?” The whole idea seemed ludicrous to him, but then again, the whole idea of the Lock and Key Society was beyond his comprehension. It was just too scary to contemplate.
“You’d be surprised,” Logan chimed in, “but if I had to guess, I would suggest it’s the one at the Gotham Art Museum. Tomorrow night, they are celebrating their major donors by having a massive dinner in one of the atriums.”
Gage said, “That would seem to me to be the safest place for you to hand the key off to another party if you wish to do so. Security will be onsite. People are less likely to whip out guns in that kind of a setting, especially since it might kill their chances of actually becoming part of the society.”
Remy frowned. “How do you mean?”
