Chapter 75
ALEX
My jaw dropped when I entered the ballroom.
After leaving without notice, I thought Madeline Laveau would never work with me again.
She stood at the center of the room beneath a massive crystal chandelier, studying the art on the walls.
Luca had insisted he speak to Madeline alone while I ate my breakfast, and then he kissed me goodbye and left the house.
“Madeline,” I squealed as I threw myself into her arms and smothered her with a bone-breaking hug.
Breathing in her flowery perfume, I drank her in, the heavenly Jo Malone scent filling my nostrils. She was in her early fifties. Her hair was a shade of dark brown that was almost black, her eyes the color of whiskey.
“I’m so sorry I left without notice,” I muttered. “We were so close to finishing the chapel restoration. But my family…”
“I understand, Alex.” She held me at arm’s length. “No worries. I finished the chapel two days ago with the help of my new apprentice.”
Her words hit me like a punch to the kidney.
“Your grandfather contacted me the morning after you left. Then I heard from Arlo and Luca Salvatore.”
“So it’s true? You’re the new director of the Franco Foundation?”
She brushed her hair behind her ears and nodded. “Arlo approached me with the opportunity last week. I declined since I was working on a project. But I received a call from Luca yesterday morning, insisting I take the position now that you’re marrying into the family.”
“Oh, did he? He must have been persuasive.”
She smiled. “He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
Of course, he did .
But how did Luca convince her when Arlo could not? That seemed strange, but she didn’t offer more information, and I didn’t push the subject.
“I’d like you to work with me,” Madeline said with her eyes on the bland watercolor painting. “Your future husband would like it, too.”
“I would love to assist you in any way I can.”
“One day, you will take my place.”
I nodded, now understanding why Luca had called my mentor.
And why she had accepted. This was a short-term gig until I learned everything I needed to know.
I would have refused the position if Luca had offered it, but he knew I would one day feel worthy of running his mother’s foundation if I had studied under Madeline.
“The Franco Foundation is in Manhattan. I’m surprised Luca would suggest an arrangement that requires me to move to the city.”
We were a few hours from New York, the coastal town hidden among the upper echelon of Connecticut’s elite.
She shook her head. “No, we’re working from the Salvatore Estate.” Her eyes roamed around the room and then met mine. “I hear Evangeline’s studio is incredible. Luca assured me we would have access to everything we need to get started.”
I’m sure he did.
She looked uncomfortable, but not in Devil’s Creek against her will. Madeline would not let the Salvatores bully her. Knowing Luca, the offer she couldn’t refuse was a secret he held over her.
Secrets are commodities.
“Evangeline’s studio is upstairs.” I pointed at the entryway doors. “I can give you the tour.”
“Next time,” she said with a forced smile. “I’m meeting the moving company at my new house within the hour.”
“Where are you staying?”
“In The Hills. At the Whittakers’ house.”
“I didn’t realize the Whittakers were out of the country again.”
“They’re in South Africa until the end of the year. Luca arranged everything.”
“If you need help, let me know. I don’t mind.”
She patted my shoulder. “The boy next door already offered to cut my lawn and help around the house.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What boy next door? None of the homeowners on that street have children.”
“He lives in the house with blue shutters.”
My old house? That’s not possible…
“What did he look like?”
She bit the inside of her cheek, thinking it over. “He was tall, built like a football player. You know, big shoulders.”
Aiden .
“How old was he?”
She scanned my face and rolled her shoulders. “Probably around your age.”
My heart sank to my stomach, churning up bile.
“What color hair did he have?”
“Blond curls that kept falling into his eyes.”
“Anything else you remember about him?”
She bit her bottom lip as she thought it over. “He had a beard.”
Not like Aiden.
Madeline had never met my twin. If he were in Devil’s Creek, Aiden would have reached out. My brother wouldn’t have left me waiting for answers.
“Did you catch his name?”
She shook her head. “No, we only talked for a minute.”
Aiden. His name has to be Aiden.
A few hours after Madeline left me with a thousand questions, I sat on the back patio with Kali and ate lunch.
She wore a red sundress that brought out her blonde hair and pale, freckled skin, glowing as we sipped from our champagne glasses.
After the bomb Madeline had dropped on me, I wanted to get wasted.
“I have to tell you something,” I blurted out after my second drink. “You won’t like it.”
She leaned closer with her elbow resting on the table.
“This morning at breakfast…”
Kali waved her hand. “Don’t worry, girl. Damian and Bash FaceTimed me afterward so they could get off.”
My face dropped. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, they were like animals in heat. I had to run into a bathroom between photo shoots and talk to them.”
I refilled my glass and took a sip. “You’re not mad?”
She gave me a confused look. “Are you kidding? No way!”
“This is so weird,” I confessed. “It must be for you, too.”
“Nah.” Kali shook her head. “I’ve known about the Knights and their Queen for a long time. But I didn’t expect to like you so much.”
“You never minded?”
“I was kind of jealous at first. Not anymore.”
“Luca brought my mentor to Devil’s Creek,” I told her. “Madeline is taking over as the new director of the Franco Foundation.”
“That’s awesome, girl. You must be so stoked.”
I nodded. “But there’s something else. I think my brother is alive. Madeline described her new neighbor. He fits Aiden’s description.”
Eyes wide, Kali set her glass on the table. “Have you told Luca?”
I shook my head.
“So what are you going to do?”
I blew out a deep breath. “I need to see for myself.”
“You can’t leave without Luca knowing about it.”
Pain stung my chest, stirring up a wave of emotions that churned the alcohol in my stomach.
“It’s like a part of me died with him,” I confessed. “I need to find him, dead or alive.”
Kali reached across the table and held my hand. “I hope you find your brother.”
Tears burned my eyes, and I forced them back. “If there’s a chance Aiden is living in our old house, I have to know.”
“I understand. This place makes me feel like I can’t breathe.”
I nodded in agreement. “How did you leave town undetected for so long?”
She glanced over her shoulder at Dom, who stood watch by the door about thirty feet away from us. Marcello was at the cliff’s edge, his gaze flicking between the beach and us. They couldn’t hear us talking from this distance, but we were careful and spoke in hushed tones.
“I planned my escape over months. Living in The Hills makes it easier to move around undetected.”
“What about passports and credit cards?”
“I hired a forger, a man from Beacon Bay who hates the Salvatores. He hooked me up with fake driver’s licenses and passports.
I wore different wigs and never used the same identity for over a month, switching between them as I traveled throughout Europe.
I don’t know how Marcello found me. I was so careful.
But when I saw him in Bordeaux, I thought I was hallucinating.
I’d made it three years… And then, I ran into Marcello.
He was standing beside the Garonne River, waiting for me. ”
“What did you do?”
“I ran. But that asshole is fast.” She chuckled. “I didn’t stand a chance in heels.”
I stared at the water crashing against the rocks from a distance, wondering how to sneak away for an hour without one of my armed guards.
Then I remembered the secret passage in the library, The Count of Monte Cristo , and the catacombs that led to the beach.
Luca showed it to me in case we were under attack and I needed to get out in a hurry.
This counted as an emergency.
Even if the boy Madeline described wasn’t my brother, I had to see for myself. And I had a plan.