Page 142 of Restless Hawke
All they know is that Coen called and said they need to come over right away.
They’re in for a real surprise…
And not a good one.
I shift uncomfortably under the scrutiny. “Well”—I swallow through my suddenly dry throat—“Damiano Satriano is my father.”
You could hear a pin drop.
It’s so silent that I might have thought they hadn’t heard me, save for the tensing of Gabe’s jaw, the dark flash across Luca’s gaze, and the look Savage and Stone exchange.
I don’t know what I expected.
Gasps?
Recoiling?
Not this…silence.
It sends another shiver through me, and Coen brushes his lips against my temple.
“Keep going. Tell us everything.”
Everything.
Where do I even start?
At the beginning.
“He’s my biological father, but I didn’t even meet him until I was twelve…”
Coen brushes his thumb over my thigh gently, the soft material shifting under his light caress. “When your mom died?”
I nod, and all those painful memories rush back.
That police officer coming to the school to tell me there’d been a car accident…
Telling me she was gone…
Realizing I was completely alone in the world…
“I didn’t even know he existed. Mom had never really told me anything about my father, and I honestly never asked. We were a team. Best friends.” I shrug, tears pooling in my eyes. “I never felt like I was missing anything by not knowing who he was or having a relationship with him. The state was prepared to put me into foster care when this man just…showed up.”
Savage leans forward slightly, listening intently. “Where were you living at the time?”
“Near Olympia, Washington.”
He bobs his head slowly, as if he’s processing the information. “Remote?”
I nod. “I didn’t realize until much later that the places my mom was choosing were very deliberate.”
Gabe leans back in his chair, crossing an ankle over his knee. “She was hiding from him…”
It seems so obvious now, looking back on it as an adult with all the information.
Constantly moving.
Homeschooling.
