Chapter 8
ALEX
Luca hadn’t spoken to me for weeks. He’d gotten what he wanted and hadn’t even called to explain why he left.
I hated him.
Marriage was no longer an option. I didn’t care that my grandfather needed this union to work or that my family’s empire would crumble if the Salvatores exposed our secrets.
I wanted to be free.
Free of Luca.
To keep my mind off Luca, I drove with my brother to Beacon Bay. He wanted my help with another one of his crazy ideas. Aiden supported me no matter what, so I agreed to break the law with him.
I picked up the spotlight lamp from the ground and inspected our work. We covered the brick wall behind the bakery in various shades of red, white, and black spray paint.
I stood beside Aiden and admired the Greek mythology-inspired mural.
He wanted to gain the attention of a secret society called The Serpents, and according to Marcello Salvatore, this was the way to do it.
While I’d grown closer to Luca, Aiden spent most of his time with Marcello and his best friend, Sonny.
“When we work together,” my brother said after a long pause, “we do some amazing shit. It’s like we have the twin ESP thing going on when the muse takes over.”
I nudged him with my elbow and laughed. “There’s no such thing as twin ESP.”
“We’re connected in ways no one else understands. No one gets us but us.”
I smiled up at him. “So true.”
Our parents did not understand us. For most of our lives, they had left us to fend for ourselves, disappearing for days or weeks at a time. If not for the generosity of our grandfather, we would have starved.
Aiden folded his arms over his thick chest and glanced at me. “Think this will catch The Serpents’ attention?”
“I don’t see why not. This is some of your best work.”
Aiden preferred street art to contemporary art and desperately wanted to earn a place among the legendary artists. No one knew The Serpents’ real identities, only the code names of the group’s four leaders: Hades, Morpheus, Lethe, and Minos.
Considered among the most prolific and edgy street artists, they created some of the best murals I had ever seen. I loved their pieces’ dark and urban feel, always inspired by Greek mythology, specifically the underworld.
Aiden grabbed the spray paint can from my hand, stuffing it into his hoodie pocket. I thought we would return to the car, but he led me down a dark alleyway between two tall buildings.
“Aiden, you said we would paint and go. If someone catches us, Pops won’t bail us out of jail.”
He snickered. “Pops doesn’t care what I do… as long as I don’t ruin his precious princess.”
“We’re a team. If you insist on breaking the law, I will go down with you.”
“You didn’t have to come. I would have rather you stayed home and focused on your next exhibition.”
“Stop chasing ghosts, and I won’t have to follow you.”
He tugged on my hand and sighed.
“Where are we going?”
“Marcello showed me the back way.”
“To where? Our deaths? You can’t trust Marcello. He’s a Salvatore!”
“He’s not Luca,” he challenged.
“Marcello isn’t as bad as Luca, but I still don’t trust him.”
Aiden stopped walking and leaned against the brick wall. “Do you trust me ?”
“With my life.”
“Go with the flow. Okay, Lexie? Can you turn off your brain and do that for me?”
I would have done anything for Aiden, so I nodded, gulping down my fear of dark and creepy places. My brother was always my fierce and loyal protector. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt me.
“Are you okay?” I asked him, noting the dark circles around his eyes. “You seem a little off tonight.”
He rubbed his tired eyes with the back of his hand. “Nah, I’m good.”
“Are you sure? Because you don’t look like yourself.”
“How do I look?”
“I don’t know.” I stared at his eyes, which looked droopy on one side. “Are you high?”
Aiden groaned and turned away from me. “Didn’t I tell you I would stop doing that shit?”
“Yeah, but?—”
“But nothing. I’m fine. Stop worrying about me.”
“That’s all I do is worry about you. If you keep taking risks, you’ll get into real trouble.”
Aiden reached into his pocket and offered his car keys. “If you want to leave, I won’t stop you. You don’t have to come with me.”
“Yes, I do.”
We slipped through dark, narrow alleys, exploring the underbelly of Beacon Bay.
I could see why the Salvatores didn’t want us living here.
The mansions were on the north side of town closest to the bay.
But on the south side, we were surrounded by dilapidated buildings, factories, and old, dingy houses.
Aiden stopped at the side entrance to a rundown bar on a dimly lit street corner. Written in red letters, a black sign that read The River Styx hung from chains above the door.
A shiver rolled down my back. “Why are we here?”
My brother flashed one of his boyish smirks. “You know why, Lexie.”
I scanned the desolate street, checking both ways, hoping no one murdered us. “This place gives me serious serial killer vibes.”
My brother snorted. “We’re just checking the place out. Act normal.”
I yanked on his shirt as he walked toward the door, forcing him to stop. “Your obsession with The Serpents will get you killed.”
He turned to look at me. “Marcello said they hang out at this bar. He knows Hades. This is where I will find him.”
The leader of The Serpents called himself Hades. His second-in-command named himself Morpheus, after the Greek god of sleep. Then there was Lethe, named after a river in the underworld, and Minos, who judged the dead.
“You don’t know what they look like,” I pointed out. “You can’t waltz into a bar like this and ask for Hades.”
“I got a plan,” he assured me and opened the door.
He had a plan, alright.
It just wasn’t a good one.