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“I’ll get your jacket,” Marcello said as he walked toward the closet. “It gets cold on the beach at night.”
He came out of the closet and slipped a light jacket over her shoulders and slid jeweled sandals on her feet. My brother always babied her. But that was what she expected from him. She wanted something different from each of us, which was why this worked so well.
We left her bedroom and climbed the stairs to the third-floor library. Alex shot a curious look in my direction. I held open one door, and Marcello grabbed the other. Bastian tapped her on the ass and ushered Alex inside the room.
The house was full of secret passageways and hidden laundry chutes. We had a lot of secrets, plenty of ways to escape our palace on the sea. My grandfather had the sense to build the house with various exit strategies. He was slightly paranoid, and with his Mafia business deals, it was a necessity.
I wanted Alex to know about one passage in particular in case shit went south again. We had the Knights working around the clock to help eliminate threats. My cousins were also working with their Mafia counterparts to deal with the Russians.
But with the bounty now five million dollars, everyone in the criminal underworld wanted a piece of our girl. The owners ofIl Circohad issued an order to bring Alex to the next auction at the end of the month. We had no way of knowing who would try to come for her next. There were too many people who wanted the reward for her head.
Alex’s 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 had 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 laughed. “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 inside, her eyes wide as she looked at me. “Why are you showing me this?”
“In case you need an exit strategy.”
“If that happens, all of you better be at my side.” She hugged her middle, biting her lip. “You’re talking like you’re going to die.”
“You can’t kill the Devil, baby.”
She shook her head and frowned. “No one is invincible, not even you.”
“You let me do the worrying.” I held out my hand and tipped my head toward the passage. “After you.”
She took one hesitant step forward. “It looks dark down there.”
Bastian cupped her shoulders and moved behind her. “There’s enough light to guide the way. Trust us, Cherry. We wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.” His hand moved over her stomach in a circular motion. “Orourbaby.”
She smiled at his last statement.
“If you feared for your life, you wouldn’t think twice about running down those stairs if it meant freedom.”
Alex peeked up at him. “Why don’t you go first?”
I tapped his shoulder. “Go ahead, Bash. I have to seal the door behind us.”
He moved in front of her and headed down the stairs, which led to the catacombs.
She took a step forward and then glanced at me. “Can we come back this way?”
I nodded.
Without further complaint, she crept down the stairs, pressing her hand to the wall for support. Marcello went down behind her, then Damian. I closed the door and pulled up the lever before I followed. As we moved through 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.
