Page 94 of Hot for Hostage

He leaned back in one of the leather chairs on the other side of my desk now, rambling on about work and all the problems that needed to be dealt with. A new gambling den had popped up downtown, cutting into our profits, and he wanted me to take care of it.

I grew bored with the visit quickly.

My gaze strayed to the top drawer of my desk, where I’d hidden Sadie’s lace underwear for safe keeping. I’d told Sadie I’d only be gone a couple minutes, but nothing I’d done or said had convinced my father to leave yet.

I was debating telling him there was an emergency when he changed the subject. “Word on the street is you pissed off Zain Ali.”

That pulled my attention away from the drawer.

“Come again?” I asked. Zain was the one poaching men from us, not the other way around. I had the proof in a shed in my backyard. “I haven’t done shit to Ali.”

The brow over Seb’s eye patch rose. “Ah, so you didn’t shoot his brother in the leg before stealing the kid’s dog yesterday?”

Closing my eyes, I cursed under my breath. It wasn’t often my father said things that surprised me. “Fessy is Zain Ali’s brother?”

“An illegitimate one.” He twirled one of my pens around his finger. “Hashim got one of his mistresses pregnant. Fessy was kept a secret, but Hashim wanted the boys to know each other.”

This had to be a joke. “How did you find out?”

The pen-twirling came to a stop, and he smirked. “His wife wasn’t as happy about it. She made a lot of noise after she buried the bastard.”

Then it was likely Zain and his men who’d shown up at Sadie’s apartment. Based on what I knew about the hotheaded, trigger-happy Ali heir, nothing good could come of that. “Why would Fessy start his own crew with the Skulls if he already had family connections?”

“I never said the boys liked each other, but that doesn’t mean Zain wants anyone messing with his blood.” Seb tossed the pen onto my desk with a sigh. “Just tell me you didn’t blow up our decades-long truce with the Ali family over a damn dog, Davian.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. This was bullshit. “There’s more to the story, but it’s not his dog.”

“I don’t care whose goddamn dog it is.” His gaze hardened. “I don’t need Zain shitting in my backyard right now.Handle this.”

I bit back a retort. Zain had started poking around Lorenzo long before I shot Fessy. More was going on here.

“I’m already handling it,” I said instead.

Along with a dozen other messes my father had made.

“Are you?” Seb practically growled. His fatherly façade vanished as he leaned forward. “Zain is threatening war because you shot his little brother, and this is how you handle things? By baking cupcakes and getting your dick wet?”

The room went still, and I replayed his words.

There was no way my father could know Sadie was here. Not unless one of my men had told him—or he’d heard it from the same person who’d told him about Fessy.

The smile that slid across his face was anything but warm. “Yes, I met your charity case in the kitchen. Garishly pink hair? Big buggy eyes? Surprisingly nice legs for how short she is.” He leaned back in the chair, looking bored. “At least now I know why you were suddenly so interested in that damn dog shelter.”

I picked up the pen he’d been playing with, making an effort to keep my voice level. Unaffected. “You talked to Sadie?”

“Sadie,” he echoed with deliberate slowness, as if tasting each syllable. He grunted. “Pretty name. But I taught you better than this. If you want to roll around with a pretty girl, go to the clubs. Don’t bring strays home.”

My fingers tightened around the pen, adjusting my grip. “What did you say to her?”

He only leaned back further in the chair. Amusement flashed in his eye. “Look at you. I heard you were taken with her, but I didn’t want to believe it. Are you really getting worked up over a skirt?”

A sharp knock on the door barely stopped me from gouging my father’s other eye out.

I slipped the pen into my pocket and stood, grateful for the distraction as I strode to the door.

Antonio’s frowning face greeted me. He didn’t waste time on pleasantries. “Has the girl talked to you yet?”

I already regretted not going for Seb’s eye. “No. What happened?”

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