Chapter 47
MARCELLO
My bedroom door creaked open in the middle of the night. After Alex woke up from another nightmare, I was wide awake and unable to sleep.
My dad entered the room and stood beside my bed. “Marcello,” he said in a hushed tone, his voice deep and husky. “Are you awake?”
“Yes,” I whispered. As he attempted to flick on the lamp beside my bed, I said, “No. Alex is with me. Leave that off. It took me forever to get her back to sleep.”
Moonlight from the balcony doors cast a soft glow over the bed.
My father wore his usual black Brioni suit with a red silk tie.
It had a checkered pattern I would never forget.
When I was a child, my dad choked me with that tie because I didn’t listen to his orders.
A man of few words, he preferred cruel and hateful actions.
“How long has this been going on?”
He tipped his head toward Alex. She slept with her ass in the air, face mashed into the pillow.
“The girl has taken a liking to you,” he commented. “Your brother is not in his right mind. He’s never been able to separate his feelings over your mother’s death from his feelings for Alexandrea. I need you to do what your brother could not.”
I tried to sit up, and the pain from the gunshot wound raced up my arm. “What do you need from me?” I choked out, fighting off the wave of pain.
Pain is weakness leaving the body . My father had drilled that into our heads as children because he usually inflicted the pain.
He dropped into the chair beside my bed and leaned forward, resting his hand on the edge of the mattress. “I should have given her to you. Luca has fucked this up. Wellington won’t give his approval for Luca to marry Alex. Not until she decides between the two of you.”
My jaw fell open in shock. “You want me to steal her from Luca?”
He gave me a sly smirk. “Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted, my boy? To take over for your brother.”
Luca deserved none of the shit he’d gotten. He was a spoiled brat, hellbent on destroying everyone around him for personal gain. We’d never been close, not until after Alex stabbed him. Then things changed. My brother began relying on me more, bringing me into his inner circle.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I want her.”
I’d always wanted Alex Wellington. When our families introduced us, I wondered how she would taste, smell, and feel in my arms. Luca was planning to let her go. He couldn’t even stomach the sight of her, and somehow, she still found her way to him.
“You have until the end of the summer,” he said sternly. “Make Alex fall in love with you. That’s what the girl is after. She’s like your mother, a romantic.”
“What will happen to Luca if she chooses me?”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about him right now. His actions over the past year have shown his lack of control. But you, Marcello, have always known how to control yourself. Can I count on you to do this for me?”
“Yes,” I muttered. “Whatever you need, Father.”
“She cares about you, Marcello. This should be easy for you.” He squeezed my hand hard enough to leave marks, his tone more menacing. “We need the Wellington dowry. And we need an heir. We have little time before I lose my standing with The Founders Society.”
“I understand.”
“Good.” He grinned, patting my thigh. “Get some rest.”
The following day, Alex lay on the bed beside me, tracing her nails up and down my arm. The soft, soothing motion signaled my cock that it was time to wake up. I fixed myself beneath the blanket. After two weeks of Alex fussing over me, I had a hard-on that would not quit.
She leaned over me, her sweet scent invading my nostrils. I closed my eyes as my skin pebbled with goosebumps from her delicate touch. Her skin was so soft and warm, and she smelled good enough to eat. I licked my lips, trying to push down the memories of Alex from the past.
I’d always known she was Luca’s girl, but that didn’t stop me from wanting her. All The Knights wanted a piece of their queen. As she stared into my eyes, her nails raking down my arm, I remembered my promise to her brother after he joined The Serpents.
On the morning of the children’s charity gala, I picked Aiden up at his house in The Hills.
Luca had already taken Alex to New York with him.
As the future CEO of Salvatore Global, Luca had responsibilities that often required him to leave Devil’s Creek.
Alex was my brother’s date for dinner, where she would play her role as his future wife.
Aiden had asked for my help with The Serpents.
I figured we could still maintain the illusion that we hated each other in front of Alex.
It would be better if she didn’t know I was secretly friends with her brother.
I often met him in Beacon Bay to spray paint and get drunk at The River Styx.
Despite how Luca felt about Aiden, he wasn’t bad company.
I thought one of us should give him a chance since he would eventually be family.
Aiden slid into the passenger seat of my Maserati with his eyes focused on me. “Thanks for doing this. I didn’t know who to ask. Alex has been giving me shit all week about The Serpents.”
I glanced in the rearview mirror and reversed out of the driveway. “She can’t find out that we talk.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Aiden shot back. “I know. What’s with all the secrecy, anyway?”
Luca had plans that involved Aiden, and I wasn’t about to reveal them to him.
Carl Wellington had clarified that Aiden would choose the correct path regardless of how we had to get him there.
If Aiden didn’t become a Knight, he could never ascend to The Founders Society.
And since he had no interest in joining either of those societies, we had to force his hand.
“Luca doesn’t want Alex to know,” I said as I flew down the hill to Beacon Bay. “Trust me. It’s better if she’s not involved. There’s too much at stake.”
Aiden rested his elbow on the armrest and glanced over at me. He looked like fucking hell, his eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot.
“When was the last time you slept?”
“Two days ago,” he admitted with a sigh.
“You need to get your shit together. Seeing you like this makes Alex upset.”
“My sister is busy with Luca.” He ran a hand through his messy curls that were longer than usual. “She won’t even know.”
“Don’t involve her in this shit with The Serpents.”
He nodded. “You care about my sister, right?”
“She’s going to be my queen.”
“C’mon, Marcello.” He tapped my arm with his fist. “I know you have a thing for Alex. I’m not blind or stupid.”
“I don’t expect you to understand what our queen means to us.”
I’d wanted Alex from the moment I saw her at the Midsummer Night’s Dream party. She was a knockout, a perfect ten in her skimpy fairy costume. But I knew beforehand that she would marry Luca. No matter how much I wanted her, she would never be mine.
So, I watched her from a distance, observing every move she made to ensure her safety. However, I often checked on her because I wanted to see her. I needed to know she was happy, and Luca took good care of her.
“My sister’s involvement with The Devil’s Knights is another reason I can’t join you,” he groaned. “Alex deserves better than this shit. The whole concept is fucking ridiculous. Why do you need a queen?”
I ignored his question. Technically, he was an outsider, even though he knew how the organizations worked. He’d always been interested in The Serpents because of their flair for the unusual and the fact that they were all talented artists who expressed their political views through their murals.
“You could join us instead of The Serpents,” I insisted. “It would make your grandfather happy.”
“I don’t care what Pops wants me to do. I will never submit to Luca,” he fired back. “I have tried so hard to keep Alex away from him, and no matter what I do, I can’t keep her from running back to him. I don’t want her to become your queen.”
Aiden was aware of what would happen at Legare.
The thought sickened him. He’d expressed his disgust when we drank at The River Styx a few times.
If he had his way, Alex would have been halfway around the world painting and selling her art.
He never wanted this life for his sister, and I couldn’t blame him.
“Promise me one thing, Marcello.”
I turned onto Beacon Parkway and looked over at him.
“If anything happens to me, promise you’ll keep Alex safe. That you won’t let her fall apart without me.”
“I won’t let anything happen to our queen,” I assured him.
“I’m not worried about you protecting her from your enemies. If this job goes south, Alex will go off the deep end. Her condition is fragile.”
“I don’t know what you want me to do, Aiden. I’m not a doctor. I don’t know how to handle someone with her medical condition.”
“Luca doesn’t know what she needs,” he said with desperation in his tone. “He makes Alex the worst version of herself. She could get better if she were with someone else.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him. “You think I can do a better job?”
“I know you can.”
“Nothing will happen to you,” I said, dismissing his fears.
He shook his head, and curls fell in front of his clear blue irises.
“What I’m doing for The Serpents is dangerous.
I can’t tell Alex about any of this. She’ll only worry more.
” Aiden sank back against the leather chair, pushing the hair off his forehead.
“There’s a chance I won’t come back from this job.
So I need you to promise you’ll help her.
She likes you, Marcello. I know she does.
And if anyone can bring her back from the dead, it’s you. ”
“I promise,” I said, and I meant it.
As Alex continued running her fingers down my arm, she snapped me out of my memory of the past. I made a promise to her brother, one I intend to keep.
So many times, I’d wanted to tell her the truth.
That her brother was within her reach the entire time.
The Knights had rules for a reason, and if Alex knew the truth, she would have gotten into trouble. And she was in enough danger.
Alex looked into my eyes as she stroked my arm. “What are you thinking about, Marcello?”
I held her gaze. “You.”
Always you.