Chapter 20
LUCA
I was working from my home in Milan when my cell phone rang.
“This better be important, Marcello. I’m preparing for the settlement.”
“Luca, you need to come home.”
I dropped the computer onto the couch and sat up straight. “Did something happen to Alex?”
“Physically, she’s fine. Mentally, no. Alex needs you. She’s not okay.”
“I’ll be home on Saturday. She’s spent the last nine months without me. I think she can survive two more days until I finish this deal.”
I was closing on a new shopping center worth over thirty million dollars. Not bad for a week’s worth of work.
“She’s having night terrors,” my brother told me. “Maybe it’s too soon. If we push her… You know what the doctor said.”
“She can handle it,” I assured him. “Her doctor agreed this treatment will work if done correctly.”
“If we don’t fuck this up. We’re not doctors.”
“You’ve worked with a lot of veterans who have PTSD.”
“That’s irrelevant,” he shot back. “Men are different. They don’t want to talk about shit like women do. They’d rather shoot something.”
“Well, don’t even think about giving her a gun. She’d sooner turn it on you than use it for target practice.”
“She needs a doctor,” he muttered. “She’s not fucking okay.”
“I got it covered. We’ll have someone on the inside. Wait until the party this weekend. You’ll see.”
He released a sigh. “Is it who I think?”
“Yes. She’ll deal with Alex and make her feel welcome. Help us lower her guard.”
I had a contingency plan for my contingency plan.
With Alex and her health, I covered all of my bases.
I wasn’t a man who left anything to chance.
We needed her to be sane and compliant, which would never happen in her current state.
The Devil’s Knights needed their queen, and it was time for Alex to serve her true purpose.
“Okay,” Marcello agreed. “I’ll work on a cover story so Alex doesn’t get suspicious. If she asks too many questions…”
“Alex has always wanted a friend, Marcello. So let’s give her one, okay? She could use some female companionship.”
“Carl Wellington is throwing us a life raft. We can’t screw this up.”
“We will get Alex back. She’s still in there, just confused.”
Alex was the key to everything.
Knowing she would never completely belong to me, I pushed her away. I avoided the marriage to keep her to myself for a bit longer. The Devil’s Knights didn’t get to have their queen until I allowed it.
“She’s trashing her bedroom as we speak,” Marcello grunted. “What should I do with her? She’s out of her mind.”
I opened the security app on my laptop and flipped through the cameras until I found her bedroom. “Has she taken her medicine today?”
“I gave it to her with breakfast.”
“Then, give her a sedative.”
Alex threw a twenty thousand dollar vase across the room. Punted an irreplaceable Fabergé egg like it was a football. I won that in a game of poker from a Russian mobster.
“It’s like she’s possessed,” I muttered. “What did you do to her?”
“What you said. Locked her in the room without dinner.”
She deserved a spanking for trying to run from Wellington Manor. But I was halfway across the world, so I figured a few hours in isolation would sort her ass out. It would give her time to think about what she had done. But as usual, Alex was full of surprises.
“It’s not just the tantrum.” He sighed. “She’s like a cat in heat. I’ve had to push her away several times since I brought her back to Devil’s Creek.”
I cleared my throat and loosened my silk tie, letting it hang around my neck. “If she needs someone, I’d rather it be you.”
Marcello wanted Alex and never hid his desire from me. None of The Knights did. They had waited years for my girl to accept her place among them. The Queen of The Devil’s Knights symbolizes power in our corrupt world.
If Alex were mine alone, I would have been a better man. At least, I wanted to believe I would have treated her differently. Instead, I fought a relationship with her every step of the way. But now, this soon-to-be king needed his queen.
“Not like this,” Marcello said. “She has to choose at Legare .”
“If we even make it to Legare at this rate.” I rubbed a hand across my face, annoyed by the thought of Alex with anyone but me. “The doctor said sex helps her cope. Touch can bring her back when she’s having one of her fits. If she needs an orgasm, give her one. You can handle that, right?”
“Fuck off, dickhead.”
“What, Marcello? Afraid you can’t handle your queen?”
I loved taunting him.
“Please, brother .” His laughter pierced my eardrum.
“You’re the one who should be afraid. Alex has been begging for my cock from the second I dragged her pretty ass into my car.
Consider yourself lucky I haven’t taken her up on the offer.
Because if I were to fuck her, she’d never want your sorry ass again. ”
I snickered at his boldness. “Keep dreaming, little bro. I’ve already left my mark on her. Fucking you would be a half-assed replacement for the real thing. She would come crawling back to her master like a good girl.”
I didn’t want any man touching her. But if she needed a release and wanted to use my brother until I got home, I could live with it.
“Shit,” Marcello shouted. “Are you looking at the feed in her bedroom?”
I glanced at the video and gasped. With her eyes closed, Alex moved a table across the balcony and stepped onto it, her movements fluid, as if she were awake.
“Marcello, get in there. Now!”
She hopped onto the table, arms stretched out at her sides like she was Rose from Titanic , pretending to fly. The wind blew through her hair, strands smacking her in the face. Unfazed, she stood there as if she were invincible.
Did we fuck up already?
Marcello carried Alex into the bedroom and set her on the bed. She blinked rapidly, staring like she wasn’t in her body. My brother waved his hand in front of her face. Lips pressed together, she sat with her palms on her thighs and stared at the wall.
What the fuck?
“What do you want me to do?” Marcello turned his back on her and walked toward the ensuite bathroom. “She’s out of it. Unresponsive.”
“Plan B.”
He tugged at the ends of his messy black hair. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
I hung up and dropped my phone onto the couch beside me, staring at the ceiling. If anything happened to Alex, my family would lose everything.