Chapter 25
LUCA
Sonny led Alex by the hand through the great hall. He showed her to everyone in town like she was a prize he had won. She laughed and smiled, covering her mouth with her hand whenever Sonny cracked a joke.
In a perfect world, she would marry a guy like Sonny. He had more freedom and control over his life. She could spend months on his yacht, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, drinking, and painting.
But she was a Wellington.
And she was mine.
I moved to my father’s vacant chair at the front of the ballroom and tapped Marcello’s arm. “What are you and Cormac up to?”
He rolled his eyes. “Nothing.”
“Bullshit,” I snapped. “If either of you fuck with my plans, I’ll slit your throats and paint the town with your blood.”
“I’d like to see you try, brother .”
Marcello was a trained killer skilled in weapons and hand-to-hand combat.
No one sane would mess with him. But sense had left my crazy ass a long time ago.
My younger brother led a team called Alpha Command at Salvatore Global.
They were a group of mercenaries and thieves our clients employed for their illegal businesses.
On the books, they handled security for my family’s company.
I glanced at my younger brother, hands steepled on the table. “She needs to remember.”
Marcello sipped his scotch. “Be patient.”
“I have been patient for nine months,” I pointed out.
I watched Alex with Sonny. She flicked her curls over her shoulder and laughed.
He held our queen close, keeping her safe from the other monsters lurking in the ballroom.
The Devil’s Knights would die for Alex. We would do anything to protect her from our enemies.
The Knights needed Alex to unlock her repressed memories and overcome her trauma.
Come back to us, baby girl.
Our survival depends on it.
“We need to escalate our plans,” I told Marcello. “What we’ve tried so far isn’t working.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“She thinks Wellington is innocent. Her precious Pops plays his role so well.” I shook my head, disgusted. “Look at him.”
Our gazes shifted to the dance floor, where Carl led his granddaughter away from Sonny.
They engaged in a heated conversation as he spun an upset-looking Alex in circles.
With an angry scowl in place, her lips moved as if she were arguing with him.
A master strategist, Carl knew how to play the game.
I raised a glass of scotch to my lips. “She thinks she’s doing him a favor. That she’s saving him from his past transgressions. Wait until she finds out why she’s here.”
An evil grin tugged at the corners of his mouth.
“Any updates on the next shipment? The Basiles called last night about their usual order.”
“I’m waiting for the confirmation.”
“If Alex tries to run again, you can throw her ass in the shipping container. Maybe it will wake her ass up.”
He scanned the room for Alex, not trying to hide his desire from me. “She’ll behave. I’m making headway with her. Give me more time.”
“You locked her in a room and drugged her. She’s biding her time until she can run again.”
“She cares about her grandfather too much to risk it. I think she learned her lesson the first time.”
But did she?
Marcello’s phone rang with a new message.
He read it, committing the cipher to memory, then showed me.
It was the date and the coordinates of our next shipment.
We partnered with Mac Corp and Battle Industries to provide weapons and illegal technology to our business partners for intel and manpower to use against our newest enemies.
They were sniffing too close. And with their attention pointed at Alex, I needed all the friends I could get.
“The Basiles are coming to town in a few weeks,” I told Marcello.
I hated working with the Basile family, but they were old family friends from Sicily.
We would never deny their requests, not even when they violated my paper-thin morals.
Their connections to the criminal underworld were crucial to our business operations.
People whispered about my family being in the Mafia, guilt by association, but there was no escaping our relationship with the Basiles or the Five Families.
Marcello deleted the message and stuffed the phone into his pocket. “How many containers are we adding?”
“Four more to accommodate the Basiles. Coordinate with Sonny.”
“You wouldn’t put her in a container, would you?” Marcello’s eyes narrowed. “Because we could lose her forever. She’s afraid of the dark and confined spaces.”
“I’ll do anything to bring her back to us.”
Marcello’s cell phone dinged with another message. “Fuck.”
“What now?”
“Someone attacked the men at our safe house in Beacon Bay.” He rose from the chair. “I have to go.”
“No.” I threw my arm out in front of him. “Send Roman and his team.”
His fingers moved across the keypad of his phone. “Done.”
“They’re getting closer.” I stood beside him. “It’s only a matter of time before they come for her.”
He stuffed his hands into his pockets and sighed. “The Founders Society will deal with them.”
“The Albanians have gone underground.”
“Once Alex gets her memories back, she will marry you.” He scratched the corner of his jaw, licking his lips. “We’ll complete Legare , and everything will return to normal.”
I almost laughed at his suggestion. “Normal? Like we know what that means.”
“The Charter forbids us to admit new Knights until after Legare . If we don’t speed up the process with Alex, we’re all fucked.”
“Her mind can fracture, Marcello. So we have to be careful with how hard we push her.”
His gaze shifted to the right side of the ballroom. “Let me talk to The Serpents.”
Hades leaned against the wall, a drink in hand, as he spoke to Morpheus. Minos was on his right, chatting with a pretty brunette dressed in a pink gown. Tall and imposing, Lethe loomed over the girls attached to his arms.
They all used nicknames associated with the Greek underworld.
Hades, the God of Death. Morpheus, the God of Sleep.
Lethe, after the River of Forgetfulness.
Minos, the Judge of the Dead. And they lived up to their names.
Aside from their tattoos, they blended in with the Devil’s Creek elite.
No one seemed to notice the monsters hidden beneath the carnival masks.
“Alex doesn’t remember them,” Marcello assured me.
“No, I think she does. She has nightmares about men in scaly masks. Seeing them again might fuck with her head. It might push her over the edge. This is all part of the plan.”
Alex’s psychiatrist told me about her night terrors after I dangled his affair over his head. A divorce would have cost him a shitload of money. That was why I loved collecting secrets. They were worth more than money in my world.
“She danced with Morpheus.” Marcello tipped his head toward the tall blond with spiky tips, wearing a red and gold mask. “You thought it would trigger her, but she doesn’t look upset.”
“That’s because Sonny is working his magic on her.”
No woman could resist the golden boy of Devil’s Creek. Sonny was funny and charming and put people at ease. We sent him whenever we needed to schmooze. To get someone on our side without threatening them.
Alex gave Sonny a dreamy look.
She liked him.
Of course, she did.
Everyone liked Sonny Cormac.
“Bring Alex to my bedroom after the party.”
Marcello’s eyebrows rose, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
“Let’s see how the rest of the party goes. Maybe someone in the crowd will trigger a reaction from her.”
He focused his attention on Alex and nodded.