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“In my line of work, I spend a lot of time waiting and planning. Books help kill time.”
I peeked up at him with a smile. “What’s your favorite book?”
“The Iliad.”
“What do you like about it?”
He shrugged. “The themes, I guess.”
“Brad Pitt looked pretty hot as Achilles in Troy. That’s all I’m sayin’.”
Marcello’s laughter shook through me. “The movie version isn’t the same as Homer’s poem.”
I rolled onto my side, so I could see his face. “What themes do you like in the book?”
Marcello turned his intense gaze on me, searing my skin with one look. “Homer’s story focuses on the glory of war, fate, mortality, honor, duty, friendship… and love.” His blue irises held mine as he said the last part. “I can relate to it.”
“Do you remember the party your brother threw the day before I left for my final year at RISD?”
“How could I forget?” Marcello licked his lips. “You wore that red bikini that barely covered your tits and ass. I had a front-row seat to the lap dance you gave my brother.”
I waggled my eyebrows at him. “Did you want me back then?”
“Yes,” he said without hesitation.
“It’s funny you like The Iliad so much. At the party, Luca said I was his Helen of Troy.”
“And you told him to start a war for you.”
I sighed at the years of heartache I’d brought upon myself after that night. “My first year of college sucked because of Luca. Every time a guy asked me out, he suddenly canceled on me.”
“The war was with you,” he pointed out.
I drew a breath between my teeth and nodded. “I’m afraid it will never end.”
“It will,” he promised. “Luca needs some assurance that you’re his.”
“But I’m not.”
“Until you give in to him, he will continue to act out. When my brother sets his sights on something, he always gets it. You are the biggest challenge he’s ever faced. He doesn’t realize he needs to come to terms with his feelings if he wants to keep you.”
“How do you understand this, and he doesn’t?”
Marcello smirked. “My brother is a genius, but he’s too fucking stubborn to see what everyone else can see.”
“What’s that?”
“You love him,” he said with sadness in his tone. “And you would marry him if he’d return your feelings.”
“I don’t know what I want anymore or how I feel about him.” With a groan, I covered my face with my hand. “I need time and space to wrap my head around everything. Aiden is still missing, men tried to kill me, you almost died. We have more important issues to worry about than me marrying Luca.”
“I’m not normally home this much.” He brushed his fingers down my arm, creating tiny bumps on my skin. “Luca will have more time for you.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. Every time we discussed the possibility of us having a future, Marcello steered me in Luca’s direction. I could tell he cared about me. So why did he keep championing Luca? Was he that loyal to his family he would rather give up what we could have together?
I pushed my feelings aside, maintaining a cool exterior, so he couldn’t see how much it hurt me. “What exactly do you do for Salvatore Global?”
“I lead Alpha Command.”
“Yeah, I know.” I flipped onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. “But what does that mean?”
“On the books, we handle security for the largest companies in the world.”
“And off the books?”
Marcello’s fingers caressed mine, snapping my attention back to him. “I lead a team of mercenaries. When corrupt men need an army with no affiliation or interest in their conflict, they hire us.”
For some sick and twisted reason, it turned me on knowing Marcello was the leader of a bad ass army. I imagined what he would look like in camouflage pants and no shirt and almost drooled on myself.
“Do you steal?”
He gave me a nonchalant shrug. “Whatever the job requires.”
“So you’re like the anti-Robin Hood,” I said with a chuckle. “You steal from the rich and give to the rich?”
He shook his head, a ghost of a smile crossing his lips. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way of looking at it. But no, it’s not that simple.”
“What attracted you to that kind of work?”
“Luca’s book smart. His mind works in ways mine never will, and my father knew that. My dad said I had to find my place in the family.”
“Yeah, he’s kind of an evil genius.”
Luca got into Harvard University without using any of his family’s connections. He let his SAT and test scores speak for themselves. That crazy asshole was accepted without bribing anyone or donating a new wing at the school.
Marcello bobbed his head in agreement. “I hated school. It was boring and didn’t seem to have a point. I wanted to attend York Military Academy, but my dad wouldn’t allow it. So I begged him to let me train with some of his men at Salvatore Global when I was a sophomore in high school. It was basically like ROTC but it was more intense.”
