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My younger brother followed orders, never went against the family. Which was why he’d agreed not to interfere with Alex and me. I sacrificed a lot for Marcello, for all three of my brothers.
Each of them owed me.
“Where is Alex?” Marcello bit out before I could ask.
Sonny pointed his finger at the back of the apartment. “She’s in my room with Bash and Damian.”
I followed his finger. “Is she okay?”
“Did they touch her?” Marcello said through clenched teeth.
He shook his head. “No, we found her before they left The Mansion. She’s fine. Tired and probably feels like shit from the drugs and the lingering effects of the tear gas.”
Marcello’s eyebrows knitted as he glared at his friend. “Tear gas?”
Sonny slid his arm across Marcello’s back to hold up his weak body. “Yeah, they hit you guys at all ends. My guess is they injected you with something first. Then threw a couple of flash bang canisters to slow you down just in case the drugs didn’t hit you right away.”
“I’m glad they didn’t.” A mixture of relief and dread filled my stomach thinking about all the possibilities of what could have happened to her. “Alex wouldn’t be here if I didn’t wake up.”
Marcello squeezed my shoulder. His lips parted, as if he wanted to say something, but then he turned his head away. He was thankful, but too fucking proud to say it aloud.
“Did you secure the perimeter?” I scanned the empty room. “Where are the rest of the Knights?”
“Drake is with Cole and my brothers. We threw everyone out, except for the kitchen staff. Figured we still need to eat.” Sonny rolled his shoulders. “We still don’t know who gave the Russians our location. The Mansion is on lockdown until further notice. Your father dispatched Alpha Command. They’re arriving soon.”
“My men will handle the security,” Marcello interjected. “That will buy us some time to come up with a new plan.”
My brother had trained each man in Alpha Command. He didn’t have my book smarts, or Bastian’s ruthless business sense, or Damian’s hunting skills, but he was born to lead soldiers. Marcello wanted to attend York Military Academy instead of Astor Prep. But my father would not allow him to leave Devil’s Creek. Back then, he wanted us under his authority at all times.
We walked toward the back of the apartment, with Sonny on Marcello’s right and me on his left.
“I’m fine,” Marcello groaned, trying to slip out of our grasp. “Stop fucking babying me.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I snapped. “You can barely stand.”
Sonny tipped his head back and laughed. “It’s okay to accept our help, Cello.”
He was the only person who called my brother that. It was a stupid nickname, and Sonny had one for each of us. Not me, though. I would have bashed his fucking skull in if he tried that shit with me.
We stopped at the end of the hallway.
Sonny reached for the doorknob, and I pushed out my hand. “Wait. Where is my mother’s ring?”
I needed to propose to Alex.
We didn’t have any time to waste now that our enemies had infiltrated our secret hideout. We had tons of safe houses and places off the grid, but with Alex’s solo showing at the Blackwell Gallery coming up, we didn’t want to travel too far from Devil’s Creek. Besides, we all had companies to run. And we weren’t pussies who backed down to a fight.
Sonny reached into his pocket and handed me the dark blue satin box. I cracked open the box and studied the thirty carat round brilliant cut diamond.
The Salvatore diamond.
Alex’s idol—my mother—was the last person to wear it. My great grandfather had stolen it from Italian nobility and passed it down. Pretty soon, our girl would be a Salvatore.
Alexandrea Salvatore.
I liked the sound of it.
I didn’t have pockets, so I handed the ring back to Sonny to hide it from Alex as we stepped into the bedroom. Half of her body laid on top of Bastian. He had his arm around her, his fingers a few inches beneath the waistband of a pair of boxers. They were too big and probably belonged to Sonny. I hated the thought of her wearing another man’s clothes.
