Chapter 43
LUCA
The world stopped at the sound of his voice.
Alex’s head snapped toward Marcello. Chairs scraped across the tiled floor, and the Knights stepped forward in unison.
They stood in a straight line several feet from Marcello’s bed.
That was how we moved, how we operated. We were a team, a unit, and nothing could break our bond.
When I was younger, I fought to make friends with them. Even when my mother insisted, I wasn’t fond of friendship. I didn’t like needing people. My father instilled in me the importance of trusting only family.
After my initiation into The Devil’s Knights, I realized I needed them as much as they needed me. The shit we had endured together bonded us in ways that exceeded the bonds of friendship. We were closer than blood, like brothers in every way, and would kill for each other.
And we all agreed on one thing—protect our queen at all costs.
My father blew past them and stood beside Marcello’s bed with his hands shoved into his pockets. His usual vacant stare scrolled across his tired face, though I could tell he was pleased. My father rarely showed emotion, and watching him taught me how to conceal my own.
Carl Wellington snapped his fingers to gain the nurse’s attention and then moved toward the side of the bed with the monitors.
“Alex,” Marcello whispered, his eyes still closed. His voice was raw and even scratchier when he repeated her name.
Of all the names, it had to be hers.
Go fucking figure.
She rushed over to him.
Alex was all mine.
But as I watched her with Marcello, my heart sank to my stomach, and a foreign feeling stirred in my belly.
Jealousy .
After the nurses checked his vitals, Carl waved Alex forward.
She held Marcello’s hand against the mattress.
I caught the Knights staring at me from the corner of my eye.
They were all waiting for my reaction. Well, fuck them.
I wasn’t giving them shit, not after my little outburst that started a fight between Drake and me.
I could never allow them to see me weakened, especially not by a sassy, crazy girl who made me lose control. She was the cure for my madness and the constant thorn in my side. My queen would probably be the death of the Knights and me. But fuck, she was worth every bit of trouble.
Alex leaned over the side of Marcello’s bed and held his hand against the mattress. My brother stared up at her like she ruled his world—because she did. She was the center of our universe, the cure for our family’s curse.
“I thought I lost you.” Alex brushed her thumb over his cheek, a big smile on her beautiful face. “You scared me to death.” She blew out a deep breath and licked her lips. “How do you feel?”
“Like I got shot,” he muttered.
He attempted to smile, but he looked like he was in a ton of pain. Marcello winced, then turned his head away from Alex. My brother was like me. He didn’t want us to see him at his weakest point. Alex thought of him as indestructible, her hero.
She sat beside him, and he moved his hand to her thigh like they were lovers. How often did they sit like this? They looked so fucking comfortable with each other. She smiled and whispered something I couldn’t make out from this distance.
Anger swirled inside me like a volcano about to erupt. Teeth gritted, I shoved my hands into my pockets. I wanted to grab her by the hair and pull her off my brother’s bed, but I shoved down the rage.
My dad moved to my side, his jacket sleeve brushing my arm. “What’s going on with Marcello and Alexandrea?”
“Nothing,” I lied.
He shook his head in disapproval. “You’re losing your grip on her. Need I remind you of the importance of this union?”
“No. She’s mine,” I said, though my words lacked confidence.
Was she still mine?
I felt her slowly slipping away from me.
Alex had grown closer to my brother over the past few weeks because they were always together.
He had protected her when I couldn’t be there to save her.
I’d watched the video of them in her bedroom at least a dozen times.
She had the sweetest look as she begged him to touch her.
My cock got so fucking hard as she tempted him into pleasuring her.
It surprised me how much I enjoyed watching her with another man.
Last year, when she was with the Knights, she looked like a fucking queen taking charge.
I loved seeing her so empowered, but things were different now.
My girl craved someone other than me, and I only had myself to blame.
“She has feelings for Marcello,” my dad insisted.
It was a statement, not a question.
Anyone could see how much she cared about him. Marcello admired his queen and would have shown her real love. I’d shielded him from the brunt of my father’s rage. Because of that, he wasn’t as cold and cruel. His heart wasn’t black and tainted like mine.
“She has feelings for me, too,” I assured him. “Alex would never choose Marcello over me. She’s mad at me and trying to make me jealous.”
“Carl is planning a September wedding for whoever she chooses. She can only marry one of you. So you better get your head back in the game.”
“Alex is marrying me,” I challenged.
I would kill Marcello before I let him walk down the aisle with my girl.
Maybe I didn’t deserve her. I’d fucked up more times than I could count, but no one would ever take care of her like me.
No one could fulfill her desires or satisfy the darkness in her soul the way I did.
She would always come back to me, no matter what. I was sure of it.
My dad shoved his hands into his pockets, his eyes on Alex as she kissed Marcello’s forehead. “I don’t care which one of you she marries as long as she produces an heir. We’re in trouble if we don’t fulfill the terms of the deal I made with The Founders Society.”
“Dad,” I groaned. “I got this. Trust me.”
“You could have locked down this arrangement years ago.” Disappointment scrolled across his face as he lowered his voice. “If it were Marcello, he would have married her already. We are in an impossible situation because of your inability to do the right thing.”
“I will ask her again soon,” I promised. “We had a rocky start. It took Alex a while to readjust to Devil’s Creek.”
“And whose fault is that?” Dad turned his scary, dark brown irises on me, giving me a look that burned my skin. “You haven’t spent more than a few hours with Alexandrea since she arrived in Devil’s Creek.”
“I was trying to keep psychopaths from kidnapping her,” I shot back, annoyed with his intrusion into my life. “She understands that.”
He released a dark chuckle as he gazed at Marcello and Alex. “You threatened to break her finger to put a ring on it. I expect you to know better than to handle her like that. She’s a lot like your mother, Luca.”
“I apologized. Alex knows I didn’t mean it.”
“A queen demands respect,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Alexandrea doesn’t know it yet, but she is queen material. You almost had her. She was within your grasp before you played games with her brother. You have screwed up everything for this family with your petty bullshit.”
“What I did to Aiden wasn’t about Alex.”
“No?” Dad cocked an eyebrow at me. “Because I disagree. So does Carl. You almost killed the only male heir to the Wellington fortune because of your selfishness.”
“Aiden was getting in the way of Alex and me.”
He shook his head, annoyed. “Alexandrea doesn’t belong to you. Have I not made myself clear?”
“She’s a means to an end,” I whispered. “I know, Dad. You’ve only told me a few hundred times.”
“Without this union, we will lose everything. You have seen firsthand what happens to men banished by The Founders Society. Do you want that to happen to us?”
I sighed. “Of course not, Father.”
“If she favors your brother, then he will marry her.”
“She’s not marrying Marcello.”
He rolled his shoulders. “Doesn’t matter to me.”
“Well, it matters to me.”
Ignoring my statement, he brushed up against my arm and said in a hushed tone, “I spoke with Carl. He refuses to give his permission for you to marry his granddaughter.”
I looked over at Carl Wellington, that sneaky motherfucker. He was on the other side of the room, talking to Sonny. “We don’t need his permission.”
“Yes, we do. You know the rules, Luca.” My father’s gaze followed mine.
“Carl’s vote with The Founders Society carries a lot of weight.
We don’t have the same connections or status as the Wellingtons.
But we have money and the Knights. If you stick to the plan, we will have everything we want.
I have spent years working toward a future for my sons. Do not fuck this up.”
“I have the situation under control.”
“You said that the last time.” He snorted. “She almost killed you.”
“I didn’t expect my plan to backfire.”
“From now on, anticipate every scenario, because that girl is more unpredictable than your mother.”
My mom was like Alex, a creative genius who was a little off her rocker.
The great Evangeline Franco had moments where she was a completely different person, like Alex.
Her moods would shift for weeks or even months at a time.
I knew when I pushed Alex over the edge that it would be a difficult task to revive her from the depths of her mind.
But my plan had worked. I just had to push her harder until the rest of her memories returned.
She needed to remember her role with The Devil’s Knights.
“I can handle her,” I assured my dad. “Alex knows she tried to kill me.”
“She must remember how close you had come with her and The Knights. Make her see the correct path to becoming queen.”
I stood there silently, watching Alex fawn over my brother.
The same anger and rage I’d felt as a child toward him bubbled up, simmering right at the surface.
Hands balled into fists at my sides, I gritted my teeth and pushed down my unwanted feelings.
I could deal with hurtful emotions, but I could never process intimacy and love.
Alex often told me I needed to learn how to deal with my emotions, but it was easier to trap them inside a box and throw away the key.
It was too painful to let people into my world.
No matter how much I denied it, I felt physical pain when I saw Alex with Marcello.
I’d felt it last year with The Knights as we drew closer to Legare .
“You have one job to do,” my father said harshly. “Do you understand me?”
Alex held my brother’s hand on her knee with a smile illuminating her face. He said something to her, and her laughter floated through the air. They had a natural ease in their interactions. Unlike Alex and me, they just clicked. She needed him in her life.
“I will fix this,” I promised. “Alex loves me. I know she does.”
He glanced at Alex, who ran her fingers down Marcello’s arm, telling him a story. “Carl is calling a meeting to discuss the future of The Devil’s Knights and the marriage to Alexandrea.”
“That’s good.”
Dad shook his head. “I doubt it’s good news for you. Carl isn’t your biggest fan. Learn to respect the Elders. We need their support.”
“Don’t worry, Father. I’ll be on my best behavior.”