Chapter 86
LUCA
My heart sank to my stomach when I received the call from Marcello. The DeLucas had almost retrieved Alex from the car, but someone else had gotten to her first. For the first time in years, our enemies had outsmarted us. I was usually ten steps ahead, already plotting their next move.
I should have been more on point with Alex, but my head was all fucked up.
I wasn’t on my A-game. We boarded a private jet at an airstrip outside Atlantic City and headed toward Florida.
We were about an hour into the three-hour flight with the Knights.
A few of Marcello’s men from Alpha Command sat in the back of the plane, talking strategy.
We needed to charter a boat from Key West to the island where the Il Circo auction was held.
I finished the rest of the scotch in my glass and pushed myself up from the chair across from Marcello. I gestured for my younger brother to follow me into the back of the plane, away from the Knights. He hadn’t spoken about his ex-hookup or that they sold her at Il Circo .
We entered the bedroom, and Marcello shut the door. I sat on the bed and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my thighs.
“We’ll find her.” Marcello dropped onto the bed beside me and sighed. “I have a plan. It will work. Trust me.”
“I know. That’s not what I want to talk to you about.”
He blew out a deep breath. “Rhiannon O’Shea?”
I nodded. “What do you want to do with her?”
Marcello glanced over at me, and then his eyes went to the door as if he were afraid someone would overhear us. “The Knights can’t know what happened five years ago.”
“And they never will.” I tapped his knee with my hand. “This is a family matter. We will handle it the Salvatore way.”
“I’m afraid for Alex,” he said with the usual sadness. “They’re going to mentally and physically destroy her. She may never recover from this.”
“You helped me bring her back. We can do it again.”
I hated how much I needed help with Alex, but my brother had the magic touch. We pulled her out of her head last time. But could we do it again? We were both unsure if we could replicate our past efforts to save Alex from losing herself to the thoughts racing through her mind.
Marcello shook his head. “I don’t know if it will work this time.
Alex has been through hell, but nothing like this.
We may need to hospitalize her after this is all over.
She was already fragile before the kidnapping.
Kurti and whoever took her to the island will ensure she’s broken when we find her. ”
“You saw what they did to her. She’s probably already retreated into her mind to save herself from what’s happening.”
He nodded in confirmation, then turned his head to look at me. “Alex is family. And we protect our family. We’ll do whatever is necessary to help her. Whatever you need, I will be there.”
I gave him a surprising one-arm hug. At first, Marcello tensed because this was an unusual exchange for us, but then he pulled me into his arms like he needed this hug as much as I did.
We were both terrified for Alex, scared of what our enemies would do to her to make us feel the pain.
I’d felt nothing so excruciating in my entire life.
Physical pain was nothing compared to emotional pain.
“I’m sorry I got in the way,” Marcello said with his chin on my shoulder. “But I regret nothing that happened with Alex.”
“You love her,” I whispered. “I know. We all do.”
“I shouldn’t have captured her during the game. It was a dick move.”
“The other Knights would have done the same thing.”
“Yeah, but I knew it was Alex. I made a promise to you a long time ago, and I almost fucked this up for you.”
I pulled back so I could look into his eyes. “You did the right thing. Alex needed to see what it was like without me. She wanted to experience being with another man. Fucking you helped her realize she loved me.”
“Well, when you say it like that,” Marcello groaned. “Fuck you.”
I tapped his shoulder with mine, and we both laughed.
“So what do you want to do with Rhiannon? We can honor the deal we made with her dad or let the asshole who bought her get rid of our problem.”
He shoved a hand through his black hair and tugged at the ends. “I want her alive.”
“She’s a loose end,” I pointed out. “The girl knows too much about our family.”
“It was my mistake. She hasn’t talked in the last five years.”
“If she ever opens her mouth, we could lose everything.”
“There’s only one way to keep her quiet,” Marcello said with irritation.
“Marry her,” I muttered. “But that’s not happening as long as Dad is alive.”
“I can’t stand the sight of her,” he shot back. “Like fucking hell I could marry her.”
“You don’t seem to have a problem fucking her.”
He snickered. “It’s a hate fuck.”
“Are you sure?” I raised my eyebrows in question. “Because you seem to like hate-fucking her an awful lot.”
Marcello rolled his eyes. “I see her once a year.”
“You think you’re so slick, bro, but I know the truth.”
He lowered his head, staring at the gray carpet as he cracked his knuckles. “There’s nothing between us.”
We hadn’t been this close since… Ever. Somehow, fighting over Alex and later sharing her had bonded us. After she chose me, we’d grown even closer. And now that we had a common enemy to fight, we were finally acting like real brothers.
It should have been like this all along. I was too much of a miserable asshole to see that I needed him.
We were broken.
Alex fixed us.
Marcello cupped my shoulder, then shot up from the bed. “I have to speak with my team before we land.”
I rose to my full height, standing beside my brother. “What’s the plan?”
“I’m still working out the final details,” he said in a firm tone. “We’ll have divers entering through the jungle. They won’t have as much security on that side of the island.”
I nodded. “That’s smart. We can catch them off guard.”
“This is an ambush.” Marcello scratched the dark stubble along his jaw. “Whoever took Alex wants all of us dead.”
“That could be anyone,” I said to state the obvious. “We have more enemies than we can count. But who would be interested in taking out the Knights and the Irish?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. My team is working on finding a link to Il Circo and us. So far, I have found nothing out of the ordinary.”
“I can’t think of anyone who’s worked with us and the Irish and had a problem.” I pressed my lips together, deep in thought. “I’ve gone over every deal with Salvatore Global and the Knights for the past few years.”
“Maybe this isn’t about us.”
“Dad?”
He nodded.
“But why would they take Alex?”
“Because she can’t produce a Salvatore heir if she’s dead.”
“And if she dies, Dad would default on the deal he made with The Founders Society.” I scrubbed a hand across my jaw. “Who has a vested interest in The Founders Society?”
“Wellington,” he said.
“Carl wouldn’t have someone kidnap his granddaughter.”
“Look at what he did to force Aiden to join the Knights. There’s nothing the old man wouldn’t do to maintain his legacy.”
“It doesn’t add up,” I fired back. “Wellington planned every detail of our wedding down to the color of the bows on the chair backs. He didn’t have someone take Alex.”
“Think about it.” Marcello leaned into my shoulder and lowered his voice.
“If Dad defaults on the deal with The Founders Society, the Founding families will cast us out. Wellington knows how to play the game. He liked Mom but never wanted to make a deal with Dad. He only arranged the marriage between you and Alex because of what her mother did to ours.”
“Anything is possible,” I agreed.