Chapter 55
LUCA
After dinner, I changed into khaki shorts and a polo shirt.
I wanted to take Alex on a date, but I couldn’t risk someone grabbing Alex.
With the help of the Knights, I’d been working around the clock all week.
Alex thought I was ignoring her for the hell of it, but I did nothing without a purpose.
It was better if she didn’t know what was coming.
I found Alex in her bedroom, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the mattress.
She looked up when I entered the room, smiling at me as she patted the space beside her on the bed.
Alex sat with one leg crossed over the other, dressed in pink sleep shorts and a matching tank top.
Her nipples poked through the thin fabric, the hardened points begging me to notice.
I stopped beside the bed and placed a black satin box before Alex. She peeked up at me, eyes wide with wonder, a smile in place as she glanced at the box.
“What’s this?”
I slid the box along the duvet until it tapped her fingers. “Open it and find out.”
She flipped the lid, unable to contain her excitement, beaming with delight at seeing the diamond and sapphire necklace worth as much as a luxury car.
Only the best for my girl.
Alex lifted the necklace from the box. “My birthstone? But my birthday isn’t until September. What’s the occasion?”
I took it from her hand and draped the gems around her neck. “This necklace belonged to my mother. She would have loved for you to wear it.”
Her mouth hung open in surprise. “Thank you, Luca. It’s beautiful.”
“So are you.” I bent down and kissed her cheek. “I want to show you something. You must keep this secret and only use it in an emergency.”
Her eyebrows knitted together. “Like life or death important?”
I nodded. “If it comes to that, I need to prepare you.”
She dug her teeth into her bottom lip. “Luca, you’re scaring me.”
“Don’t be afraid, baby girl.” I stroked her cheek, and she leaned into my touch. “I will protect you from the monsters.”
She laughed. “Then who will protect me from you?”
“I’m the least of your problems.”
Alex tugged on her pajama top. “You said to get comfortable. Is what I’m wearing okay?”
“Grab a jacket. It gets cold on the beach at night.”
She entered the closet and came out wearing a light jacket and jewelweed sandals with a blanket tucked under her arm. We walked down the hall and climbed the stairs to the third-floor library. Alex gave me a curious look.
I held open the library door and ushered Alex inside. The house was full of secret passageways and hidden laundry chutes. I wanted Alex to know about one passage in particular.
Her eyes traveled up and down the two-story library in awe. “I thought we were going to the beach.”
“Shortcut.” I led her to the front of the large, open room with vaulted ceilings and endless cases of books. “My grandfather built this house during Prohibition. My family used the secret passages to move illegal alcohol and evade the cops.”
“Nothing has changed,” she quipped.
Pressing my hand to the center of the bookcase on the exterior wall, I reached for a book a few shelves above my head and pulled it down.
“ The Count of Monte Cristo ,” Alex said with laughter in her tone. “What an appropriate choice, given the situation. Are we digging our way out of this prison?”
“Nah, my ancestors already did that for us.”
I pushed on the shelf, and it swung inward, revealing a stone encasement and a narrow spiral staircase. Lights built into the walls illuminated the cramped area.
Alex poked her head into the space, her eyes wide. “Why are you showing me this?”
“In case shit goes down, and you need an exit strategy.”
“If that happens, you’d better be at my side. You’re talking like you’re going to die.”
“You can’t kill the Devil, baby.”
She shook her head, a smirk playing on her gorgeous lips. “No one is invincible, not even you.”
“You let me do the worrying.” I held out my hand. “After you.”
She took one hesitant step forward. “For the record, I’m creeped out right now.”
“If you feared for your life, you wouldn’t think twice about running down those stairs if it meant freedom.”
“Why don’t you go first?”
“I have to seal the passage behind us.”
“Can we come back this way?”
I nodded.
Without further complaint, she crept down the stairs, using the wall for support.
I closed the door and pulled up the lever before following her.
As we descended the stairs to the catacombs, the air became denser.
My nostrils tingled at the earthy smell pouring through the cracks in the old stone walls.
Alex sneezed a few times. “Damn allergies,” she groaned with her hand over her mouth.
I grabbed Alex’s shoulders and steered her toward my father’s favorite place in Devil’s Creek—his precious wine cellar.
My dad loved his wine, which had a dedicated room that was bulletproof, theft-proof, and temperature-controlled.
I stopped in front of a wall of glass and pressed my palm to the hand scanner.
The wine collection was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, estimated at over twenty million dollars.
Once my handprint was accepted, the glass door slid to the right.
Stone walls with oak accents gave the space a rustic vibe.
Wine racks built into the walls reached the ceiling on three sides.
A high-top wooden table sat in the center of the room, with a dozen chairs surrounding it.
Empty decanters and glasses were on top of the table, turned over.
“I feel like I’m in a Bond movie,” Alex said in disbelief.
I smacked her ass. “You’d make a good Bond girl.”
She squealed as she entered the room. “As long as I don’t get a name like Pussy Galore, I’d be down with playing sidekick to a hot secret agent.”
She walked down the line, her eyes traveling over the bottles until she settled on one and held it up for me to see.
I shook my head. “Not the Chateau Margaux.”
She put the bottle back in its place and spun around to face me. “Which bottles can we drink?”
I closed the distance and plucked two bottles from the “cheaper” racks.
The Dom Perignon Brut Rosé spoke to me. It was the champagne I drank with Alex the night we met.
I grabbed two bottles, then slipped my fingers between hers.
After the door was sealed behind us, we walked toward another hidden door at the back of the house—an entrance we used to conduct illegal business transactions.
“This place freaks me out,” Alex whispered. “It’s so fucking dark and creepy.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe, Pussy Galore .”
She chuckled. “If I were a Bond Girl, I’d go with Betty Boner.”
“We’re here,” I told her, pointing at the steel door leading to a hidden tunnel.
Alex grabbed the bottles from my hand so I could flip the bolts and slide the door to the left. The saltiness of the sea rolled through the cramped space.
I took the bottles from her hands and tipped my head at the dark space. “After you, beautiful.”
Alex looked worried, then bent down, inching through the narrow channel. I closed the door behind us and left it open a crack. No one knew about this entrance to our house. They would never make it past our alarms even if someone found it.
The tunnel dumped us on the beach at the dead center of my property. The wind whipped through Alex’s hair and blew it in her face. She groaned as she pulled the strands out of her mouth and shoved them behind her ears.
After Alex shook out the blanket, she plopped down on the sand and patted the spot beside her. My gaze flicked between Alex and the water.
“You look less serious when you’re not wearing a suit,” Alex commented. “But still ridiculously handsome. Get down here so we can get this party started.”
“I’m not a man who takes orders.”
She rolled her eyes and tapped the sand with her palm. “Tonight, you do.”
With an exaggerated groan, I dropped beside her and set one bottle on the blanket so that I could open the other. I moved Alex between my legs, with her back against my chest. We passed the bottle back and forth like old times. It was peaceful and perfect, exactly what I had envisioned.
“This is nice.” She rolled her head to the side and peeked up at me. “I’m not used to this side of you.”
“You said it best with your paintings. The Devil has many faces.”
“I like this one.” She smiled. “I’m getting ideas for another Devil-inspired painting.”
“You can’t deny how you feel about me. It’s in every one of your paintings.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “Who says the Devils are you?”
“We both know they are, Queen D.” I kissed her cheek. “I consume your dreams and your nightmares.”
“I loved painting you when we were younger.” She closed her eyes and rested her head on my shoulder. “You’re beautiful, the perfect subject. Perfect bone structure. Symmetrical. How could I not paint you?”
“But as the years passed, your Devils became more aggressive-looking, violent, and angry.”
“Because you changed. Art tells the truth…”
“Even when people tell lies,” I finished for her, a direct quote from my mother and one of her most popular paintings.
“I’d like to resume my work at the Franco Foundation.”
I sucked her earlobe into my mouth. “Consider it done.”
Alex moaned. “Mmm… That feels good.”
I threw the empty champagne bottle on the sand and rubbed her shoulders.
Alex closed her eyes and moaned. “You have your moments, Luca. This is one of them.”
After finishing the second bottle of champagne, we stood at the water’s edge. The warm water brushed our toes. I lifted my shirt over my head and dropped it onto the sand. Alex turned to face me, taking in the sight of me shirtless. Her tongue slid across her bottom lip.
“See something you like?”
Alex laughed. “Who says I like you?”
“Baby, we both know you do. You’ve always run from me, but you can never hide. I know you inside and out.”
“As I said, you have your moments.”