Chapter 10
ALEX
On the short limo ride home from school, Aiden was quiet. He sat with his arms folded over his chest, staring out the window.
“You like Sonny,” I said to break the silence. “I know you do. He’s cute.”
Aiden slid his arm across the bench behind me and groaned. “I don’t like Sonny. He’s too pretty for me.”
He was such a liar.
“Yeah, right.” I sipped from a bottle of expensive water, the label displaying some fancy name I couldn’t pronounce. “I saw you looking at Sonny. I mean, I get it, Aid. If I didn’t have to marry one of the Salvatore brothers, Sonny would be my next choice.”
He leaned closer, invading my senses with his manly cologne. “After what they did to you today, which one of them will you choose? Hmmm? Do you like being treated like shit?”
Why was he being an asshole?
He was in such a nasty mood all day. I was grateful to abandon our old life for this one. No matter what my grandfather asked of me, I would do it—within reason, of course—anything to avoid getting sent back to my parents.
“I like Marcello,” I admitted. “He’s cute. Did you check out his arms? Oh, my God! They’re so big.”
“You don’t know how to handle them. And you can’t trust them. The Salvatores are criminals. Pops says they’re in the Italian Mafia.”
I gasped. “Really? The Mafia?”
He nodded. “Be careful, Lexie. That’s all I’m saying. Don’t lower your guard with them.”
“I won’t. I know better than to trust anyone but you.”
The limo stopped in the circular driveway at Wellington Manor. Aiden grabbed our bags from the floor, always such a gentleman.
The driver opened the door and offered his hand to me. “Welcome home, Miss Wellington. Your grandfather is waiting for you in his study. You too, Mr. Wellington. It’s urgent.”
“What now?” Aiden groaned, flinging our backpacks over his shoulder. “Never a dull fucking moment at this place.”
“It beats our old home,” I pointed out. “I’ll take living with Pops and Blair any day over our parents.”
“Blair,” Aiden bit out with a snarl. “That fucking bitch grinds on my nerves. I can see where Mom learned how to parent us.”
I shivered at the mention of our mother and grandmonster, as Aiden called her. You could tell Blair raised our mom with strict rules.
As we approached the house, the front doors opened. Charles emerged, smiling. He was the grandfather I wanted instead of Pops.
“Miss Alexandrea,” Charles said, practically glowing. “Master Aiden. How was school?”
Aiden liked it when he called him that. He said it reminded him of Batman and Alfred.
“It was okay, I guess,” I said, following Charles inside the house. “We’re still getting used to Devil’s Creek.”
None of these spoiled rich kids would understand my life. They didn’t know what it was like to go days without eating. We used to live for Mondays, white-knuckling it all weekend until we got our free school lunch.
We were survivors.
Charles led us to our grandfather’s office, which was decorated with leather furniture and dark wood. A bar spanned the right wall, and two nailhead couches sat between a coffee table carved from a tree trunk.
Pops sat behind an oversized desk. “How did the Salvatore boys treat you?”
“They’re kinda mean. But no worse than my mom. I can handle them.”
“She’s not telling you the truth,” Aiden interjected. “Luca made her get on her knees in the refectory. The other two put their fucking hands on her like she’s their property. I’m not okay with this, Pops.”
“Neither am I,” he snapped, reaching for the phone on his desk. He picked up the receiver and dialed a number, raising it to his ear. “Arlo, it’s Carl.” He paused. “No, everything is not okay. Your boys put their filthy hands on my granddaughter at school today. I will not allow it.”
A beat passed.
“Save your apologies, Arlo,” he hissed. “Luca is rotten to his core. So are the other two you adopted. If you don’t do something about them, the Salvatores will never get admitted into The Founders Society. Do you understand me?”
He slammed the phone, his cheeks flushed with anger.
“That should take care of the issue. I’m sorry, Alex. Those boys won’t harm you again. If they try anything, let me know. I will threaten everything the Salvatores hold dear.”
Aiden could say whatever he wanted about Pops and the Salvatore brothers, but at least they didn’t want to hurt me. Sure, their intentions were questionable. I knew better than to trust rich people.
But I needed them to want me.
My survival depended on it.
Pops rose from the chair and removed a set of keys from his pocket. “It’s time you both understood what will be required of you someday.”
Turning his back on us, Pops lifted a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo from the bookshelf and then pushed the door inward.
He waved us forward. “In you go.”
I poked my head into the dark passage and shook my head. “No, I’m not… You can’t make me.”
Pops flicked on a light and then gestured for me to step inside. “It’s okay. No one is going to hurt you.”
Apprehensive, I entered the room, surprised to find wall-to-wall books and a massive table at the center. The room, which was all oak, had a rich scent with undertones of cigars.
“It’s a library,” I said to my brother.
“Yeah, I can see that.”
I expelled a deep breath. “I thought it was a closet.”
He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “What are we doing in here, Pops?”
“There’s more to the story about the Salvatores,” he explained as he plucked a giant tome from the shelf.
He set the leather-bound book, about five inches thick, on the table and told us to sit. We each took a chair between him and leaned over his shoulder to examine the strange book.
“You are both direct descendants of the United States Founding Fathers.”
A shiver slid down my arms at his confession. “Which one?”
“Alexander Hamilton.”
I gasped.
“Five descendants of the Founding Fathers formed the Founders Society in the late 1700s in Philadelphia.” He flipped a page and pointed at a yellowed image of five men.
“The secret society started as a transfer of information and power. But over time, they allowed more people to join the society, realizing there was strength in numbers.”
He turned a few more pages filled with rules, codes, and things that made no sense to me. Strange symbols and letters marked the corners of the parchment.
“I am one of the five elders of The Founders Society,” my grandfather told us. “Bastian Salvatore’s grandfather is the head Elder. One day, Bastian will take his place. And if you were to become his wife, you would also bear the responsibility of that role.”
“What about the other three?”
“Damian is a Townsend by blood. When the time comes, he will take his biological father’s place at the table. However, Luca and Marcello’s family is from Italy. Only through marriage and an heir could they become members.”
“That’s why they need me.”
He nodded. “We only offer one seat at a time, which would go to Arlo after Luca or Marcello replaced him as the Grand Master of The Devil’s Knights.”
Flicking a few more pages, he stopped on The Devil’s Knights. At the center, a knight in full armor held the Scales of Justice, but the weight was unbalanced. It dipped to one side from a giant serpent holding it down, slithering up the arm of the knight.
“In our world, there are several secret societies,” Pops said as if telling us a children’s story, “The Founders Society governs the smaller ones, including The Devil’s Knights.
After the first Salvatore settled in Devil’s Creek, he founded The Knights.
It was initially a Mafia-run group, but over time it changed.
Arlo Salvatore wanted to make them more legitimate in the eyes of The Founders. ”
My lips parted in shock. “So, the Salvatores are like… Mafia? Like The Sopranos?”
“They still have ties to certain families. And those connections proved to be useful.”
“Wow,” I mouthed. “So, Arlo is the Grand Master of The Devil’s Knights… and after I marry one of his sons, he will become a member of The Founders Society. And one of Arlo’s sons will take his place. Did I get that right?”
I was a little confused, but I understood the basic concepts. There was so much to take in that my head spun.
He bobbed his head. “Aiden, you will join The Devil’s Knights after college.”
“No,” he shot back. “I don’t want to be part of some dumb secret society.”
“It’s not dumb.” He snapped, his tone laced with irritation. “To understand how to protect your sister, you must become a Knight.”
That got his attention.
“Protect her how?”
“Alex will become the Queen of The Devil’s Knights after marrying a Salvatore.”
My eyes widened at Aiden, and his expression mirrored mine.
“I’m going to college with Alex,” Aiden said, arms crossed. “She needs me. I can’t leave her to join the Knights.”
Pops clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You have time. I just wanted you to know what awaits you.”
I skimmed through the book and stopped on a page about The Devil’s Knights’ initiation process. But before I could read it, Pops closed the book.
“Wait!” I flung out my hand. “I’m not done reading.”
Pops shook his head. “You must be a member to learn about the initiation process. But I will say this. After graduation, Luca, Bastian, and Damian will leave for initiation. Then, they will attend Harvard and live with other recruits. You won’t see much of them after this school year.
Initiation rules are quite strict. No contact for over six months. ”
My heart sank into my stomach, but I didn’t understand why I cared. The Salvatore brothers hadn’t made a good impression. So far, they were my least favorite people.