Page 84 of Leading Conviction
“Oh,Mamá. I miss you,” she whispered, swallowing back emotion she’d been keeping to herself for way too long.
With the information overload yesterday, it’d been yet another shot to her soul that her own father had killed her mother. It was something she’d always wondered, like an awful itch at the back of her mind. But before coming to BlackStone, thinking that her father was capable of killing her mother felt like paranoia.
She hadn’t been paranoid, though, and itwashis fault. These were two facts she was going to have to start accepting. Her mother, Thomas, Hawk… aside from Tommy, every person who ever loved her had been stolen from her in one way or another by the man she hated. She wanted justice.
“Hawk is fixing it. He has to,” she told herself out loud.
She sighed and shook her head, resolving not to think about it anymore. Her task for the morning was to make breakfast for everyone. That was her contribution to the team, for now. Maybe one day she’d be able to spruce up the austere aesthetic with some of her art. But in the meantime, she would just have to cook while she waited impatiently for the men to come back.
And they would. Theywouldcome back.
“He has to come back.”
Hannah made the promise to herself as she went to the kitchen to scrounge up some breakfast. Twenty minutes on the dot after she told Tommy to come help her, Nora’s bacon had finished baking in the oven and the kid—somehow still half-asleep despite his shower—walked out of the room like a zombie drawn to the rich scents of spice and frying tortillas. Hannah could’ve sworn his eyes were closed as he cracked eggs. When they’d finished plating thehuevos motuleñosand placing the fried plantains around the tortilla smothered in delicious beans, vegetables, chorizo, and eggs, she gave Tommy a plate to eat at the kitchen’s bar top.
As he tiptoed up onto the high barstool, Callie emerged from one of the rooms, wearing a black T-shirt and cargo pants from what Hannah was beginning to suspect was an all-black wardrobe.
“Buenos días, Callie. How did you sleep?” Hannah asked as she passed Callie a full plate. “When you were able to, I guess.”
Once the question had left her lips, her cheeks heated as she remembered she’d been able to sleep, thanks to Callie and Nora staying up to protect her. But if Callie hated the role of babysitter she’d taken on, she didn’t show it.
“Great. I’m pretty used to odd sleeping schedules, so last night was nothing. Thanks for breakfast, by the way. This looks amazing.”
Hannah nodded with a smile, grateful for the conversation. “I hope you like it! How’s Nora?”
“I haven’t checked since Wes messaged they’d landed outside of the warehouse. Have they reported back yet? I know the signal was spotty in the mountains.”
Hannah shook her head, a spark of worry in her chest. “I’m not sure. I’ll find out in a minute. I’m going to take this other plate to Nora now. Do you mind watching him?”
“Mom, I don’t need a babysitter. Draco wouldn’t even tell me where the weapons room is so there’s nothing crazy for me to do except watch TV,” he grumbled.
Despite the boy’s insistence, Callie huffed a laugh and nodded to Hannah. “No problem.”
“¡Gracias!” Hannah yelled over her shoulder.
Balancing both plates and two mason jars of tea, she toed the elevator’s down arrow button to take her to the ground floor and made her way to the war room. When she got to the room, she called through the cracked door before opening it with her elbow.
“Buenos días, Nor-ah!”
Hannah jumped as Nora shot up in her seat, her bottle-green eyes wild and her purple curls wilder. Her rose gold frames barely hung on to the edge of her nose and her pale cheeks pinkened as Hannah cautiously walked through the door with the plates and glasses.
“That scary, huh?” Nora chuckled while straightening her glasses and patting her hair self-consciously. “I’ve never been a morning person.”
“You’re not scary. It’s just the way you sprang up like a purple-haired spider monkey surprised me, is all. Were you sleeping?”
“Oh no, just wasn’t expecting a breakfast delivery this early. But don’t you look pretty? Love those blue heels.”
“Thanks! I love them, too. I’ve been in sneakers and T-shirts for too long. It feels good to dress up a little. Or at least notlooklike I live out of a suitcase.” Hannah chuckled and set the plate in front of Nora at the computer desk before gasping and jerking it back.
“Oh my god, I forgot. Someone mentioned you’re a vegetarian? But wait, no… you asked for bacon—”
“I’m a nonbreakfast vegetarian. Now, gimme, gimme.”
Nora lunged from her seat, somehow keeping her butt in the chair as she grabbed the plate. She placed the meal on the desk before snatching one of the bacon slices Hannah had piled onto the plate next to thehuevos motuleños. After she stuffed a piece into her mouth, she sighed contentedly.
“I love all of Gaia’s creatures, but a woman can only have so much self-control. I can’t be expected to be a food martyr when godsdamned bacon is involved.”
Nora ate another piece of bacon, and Hannah laughed as she moaned like it was the best thing she’d ever tasted.
