For the Sake of Their Son (The Alpha Brotherhood #5)(38)
Author: Catherine Mann

Salvatore straightened his standard red tie. He wore the same color gray suit as always, like a retirement uniform. “Why don’t you ask the guys inside?”

“They only have babies. They’re new parents.” Like him. Treading water as fast as he could and still choking. “You have an older boy.”

“A son I rarely see due to my work schedule.” He winced. “So again I say, I’m not the one to help.”

“Then your first piece of advice would be for me to spend time with him.”

“I guess it would.” He glanced over at his son, whose thumbs were flying over the buttons. “Gifts don’t make up for absence. Although don’t underestimate the power of a well-chosen video game.”

“Thank God we have the inside scoop with Troy’s latest inventions.” Maybe that’s who he needed to be talking to. Maybe Troy could invent a baby app. Elliot shoved a hand over his hair, realizing how ridiculous the thought sounded. He must be sleep-deprived. “I’m a little short on role models in the father department—other than you.”

Salvatore’s eyebrows went up at the unexpected compliment. “Um, uh, thank you,” he stuttered uncharacteristically.

“Advice then?”

“Don’t screw up.”

“That’s it?” Elliot barked. “Don’t screw up?”

“Fine, I’ll spell it out for you.” Salvatore smiled as if he’d been toying with him all along. Then the grin faded. “You’ve had to steal everything you’ve ever wanted in life. From food to cars to friends—to your freedom.”

“I’m past that.”

“Are you?” The savvy Interpol handler leaned against the centuries-old brick wall, an ivy trellis beside him. “It’s difficult for me to see beyond the boy you were when you arrived at my school as a teenager hell-bent on self-destructing.”

“Self-destructing?” he said defensively. “I’m not sure I follow.” He was all about winning.

“You stole that car on purpose to escape your father, and you feel guilty as hell for leaving Lucy Ann behind,” Salvatore said so damn perceptively he might as well have been listening in on Elliot’s recent conversations. “You expected to go to jail as punishment and since that didn’t happen, you’ve been trying to prove to the world just how bad you are. You pushed Lucy Ann away by getting engaged to Gianna.”

“When did you find time to get your psychology degree between being a headmaster and an Interpol handler?”

“There you go again, trying to prove what a smart-ass you are.”

Damn it. Didn’t it suck to realize how well he played to type? He took a steadying breath and focused.

“I’m trying to do the right thing by Lucy Ann now. I want to live up to my obligations.”

“The right thing.” The colonel scratched a hand over gray hair buzzed as short of Elliot’s. “What is that?”

“Provide for our son… Marry her… Damn it, colonel, clearly you think I’m tanking here. Is it fun watching me flounder?”

“If I tell you what to do, you won’t learn a thing. A mentor guides, steers. Think of it as a race,” he said with a nod—which Elliot knew from years in the man’s office meant this conversation was over. Colonel Salvatore fished out his phone and headed back to sit silently beside his son.

Elliot pinched the bridge of his nose and pivoted toward the iron gate that led to the back street. He needed to get his head on straight before the race. Hell, he needed to get his head back on straight, period. Because right now, he could have sworn he must be hallucinating.

Beyond the iron gate, he saw a curly-haired brunette who looked startlingly like his former fiancée. He narrowed his eyes, looking closer, shock knocking him back a step as Gianna crossed the street on the arm of a Brazilian Formula One champion.

* * *

Lucy Ann usually found race day exciting, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of impending doom. The sense that she and Elliot weren’t going to figure out how to make things work between them before the end of their time together. Thank goodness Mrs. Clayworth had taken the baby back to the condo to nap, because Lucy Ann was beyond distracted.

Sitting in the private viewing box with Elliot’s friends and the relatives of other drivers, she tried to stifle her fears, to reassure herself that she and Elliot could find a way to parent together—possibly even learn to form a relationship as a couple. That she could figure out how to heal the wounds from his past, which still haunted everything he did.

The buzz of conversation increased behind her, a frenzy of whispers and mumbles in multiple languages. She turned away from the viewing window and monitors broadcasting prerace hubbub, newscasters speaking in French, English, Spanish and a couple of languages she didn’t recognize. She looked past the catering staff carrying glasses of champagne to the entrance. A gasp caught in her throat.

Gianna? Here?

The other woman worked her way down the steps, her dark curls bouncing. Shock, followed by a burst of anger, rippled through Lucy Ann as she watched Gianna stride confidently closer. Her white dress clung to her teeny-tiny body. Clearly those hips had never given birth. And Lucy Ann was long past her days of wearing anything white thanks to baby spit-up. Not that she would trade her son for a size-zero figure and a closet full of white clothes.

Above all, she did not want a scene in front of the media. Gianna’s eyes were locked on her, her path determined. If the woman thought she could intimidate, she was sorely mistaken.

Lucy Ann shot to her feet and marched up the stairs, her low heels clicking. She threw her arms wide and said loud enough for all to hear, “Gianna, so glad you could make it.”

Stunned, the woman almost tripped over her own stilettos. “Um, I—”

Lucy Ann hugged her hard and whispered in her ear, “We’re going to have a quick little private chat and, above all, we will not cause a scene before the race.”

She knew how fast gossip spread and she didn’t intend to let any negative energy ripple through the crowd. And she definitely didn’t intend for anyone to see her lose her calm. She hauled the other woman down the hall and into a ladies’ room, locking the door behind them.

Once she was sure no one else was in the small sitting area or in the stalls, she confronted Elliot’s former fiancée. “Why are you here?”

Gianna shook her curls. “I’m here with a retired Brazilian racer. I was simply coming by to say hello.”