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“Princess,” he said in a sweet tone. “I have told you everything I know.”
“No, you haven’t. Why do you owe Arlo a favor? Why did you promise me to Luca? I accepted this arrangement a long time ago, but I want answers. I’m sick of being the pawn of bored rich men.”
“You’re not a pawn,” Pops assured me. “The queen is the most powerful piece in chess. And you, my dear, have more power than you understand.”
“Then help me understand because I’m not interested in power or money. Tell me what you did,” I demanded. “If you want me to be part of your billionaire boys’ club, then I want to know your secret. Why do you owe Arlo a life debt?”
He shoved a hand through his white hair and sighed. “Because your mother killed Eva.”
My heart nearly stopped.
“Wh… Are you…” I couldn't form the words as chills rushed down my arms. “No, she wouldn’t… She didn’t…” I shook my head, unable to think clearly over the ringing in my ears. “Why would she do that?”
“Your mother poisoned Eva with a drug produced by Wellington Pharmaceuticals. The FDA took it off the market because of its side effects. Even in small doses, it caused death.”
I couldn’t stop blinking as I stared at my grandfather. My mother killed my idol. She took Luca and Marcello’s mother from them.
“She tried to poison me when I was a child,” I whispered in disbelief. “Was it the same drug?”
Pops bobbed his head. “Your father took you to the hospital before you overdosed. Eva wasn’t as lucky. Luca found his mother on the floor in her studio.”
“That’s why you covered up her death with a car accident.” My eyes widened as I glanced over at Luca. “You’ve always known about this?”
Luca nodded.
“The night we met?”
Another nod.
“Now I understand,” I muttered. “Why you’ve been so… How could you even look at me knowing the truth?”
“I hated you at first sight,” Luca admitted. “And then you quoted my mom that night in my bedroom. I knew you weren’t like your bitch mother. But I still didn’t like you. I tolerated your existence. You just…”
“Grew on you?”
He smirked. “Yeah, I guess.”
I looked at Marcello, who gave me a knowing look. Everyone in the room knew but me.
“Why would she do that?” I asked Pops.
He rolled his shoulders against the couch. “She regretted leaving Arlo after I took away her trust fund. Your mother has no life skills. Neither does your loser father. Between the two of them, they couldn’t even pay the cable bill. If not for Arlo, your parents would have been living on the street.”
“Is that the only reason?”
“She was jealous of Eva,” Pops confessed.
I raised a curious eyebrow at him. “Because Evangeline was better than her?”
“Your mother doesn’t have enough talent to accomplish what Eva did in her short life. She believed Eva was in her way.”
“I wish you would have told me this years ago. It would have helped me understand why Luca was so angry with me. Why I had to marry him.”
“I’m sorry, Alex, but this is the least we owe them.”
He was right.
I felt like I owed them for what my mother did to theirs. She stole years of happiness from them. Luca and Marcello’s scars were a result of her behavior. It made sense why no amount of money would ever satisfy Arlo Salvatore. Nothing could repay him for taking the life of his wife.
“I think I misinterpreted your mom’s fresco,” I told Luca. “If I had known…”
Evangeline’s aura had darkened toward the end of her life, but was Arlo the result of her unhappiness? To some extent, yes. But what if my mother’s ongoing deal with Arlo was the source of her misery?
“You got most of it right.” He studied my face. “I know what you’re thinking, Drea. This changes nothing.”
“Did she know about me?”
“Yes.”
“She didn’t hate you,” Luca assured me. “My mother knew I had to marry someone from a Founding Family. She knew all about the deal my dad made. When I was a child, my mom told me I would marry a girl so beautiful she was worth painting.”
Tears stung my eyes, his confession slicing deep into my chest. “She said that about me?”
He nodded.
“Which is why we’re here today,” Pops interrupted. “Alex, you are the only female of age to marry a Salvatore. It is imperative your wedding take place in September.”
“I thought Luca had to marry by his thirtieth birthday.”
“The Devil’s Knights charter says the current Grand Master has to transfer his power to his oldest son by his thirtieth birthday. We can push the wedding out one month.”
“Okay,” I said, still deflated by the news about my mother.
I knew she was a horrible person, but I never thought she was capable of murder. Why would he give her a cent after what she did to his wife?
