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“And whose fault is that?” Dad turned his scary dark brown eyes on me, giving me a look that burned my skin. “You haven’t spent much time with Alexandrea since she arrived in Devil’s Creek.”
“I was trying to keep psychopaths from kidnapping her.” My nostrils flared, annoyed with his intrusion into my life. “She understands that.”
He released a dark chuckle as he gazed at Marcello and Alex. “You threatened to break her finger to put a ring on it. I expect you to know better than to handle her like that. She’s a lot like your mother, Luca.”
“I apologized. Alex knows I didn’t mean it.”
“A queen demands respect,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Alexandrea doesn’t know it yet, but she is queen material. You almost had her. She was right there within your grasp before you played games with her. You have screwed up everything for this family with your petty bullshit.”
“Her mom killed mine. That’s not something I could just get over.”
“No?” Dad cocked an eyebrow at me. “Because I disagree. Put your ego and pride aside. What’s done is done. Leave it in the past. She is nothing like her mother, Luca.” He snickered. “I can assure you of that. Alex may look like Savanna, but that’s where their similarities end.”
“I know that now. It took me a long time to see it.”
“Alex is your second chance to become part of The Founders Society someday. If you had done what I had asked of you five years ago, you would have already married her. We would have an heir from a Founding Family. And we wouldn’t be standing here right now.”
“She’s a means to an end,” I whispered with a nod, repeating the words he’d said to me for years. “I know, Dad. You’ve only told me a few hundred times.”
“Without this union, we will lose everything. You have seen firsthand what happens to men banished by The Founders Society. Do you want that to happen to us?”
I sighed. “Of course not.”
“If she favors your brother, then he will marry her.”
“She’s not marrying Marcello.”
He rolled his shoulders. “Doesn’t matter to me.”
“Well, it matters to me.”
I looked over at Carl Wellington, who was on the other side of the room talking to Sonny. My father’s gaze followed mine.
“Carl’s vote with The Founders Society carries a lot of weight. We don’t have the same connections or status as the Wellingtons. But we have money and the Knights. As long as you stick to the plan, we will have everything we want. I have spent years working toward a future for my sons. Don’t fuck this up.”
“I have the situation under control.”
I watched Alex fawn over my brother like he was a newborn baby. The same anger and rage I’d felt as a child toward him bubbled up, simmering right at the surface. When I hated Alex, I didn’t care if my brothers fucked her. They could have killed her for all I cared.
But things were different now.
Hands balled into fists at my sides, I gritted my teeth and pushed down my unwanted feelings. I could deal with hurtful emotions, but I could never process intimacy and… love.
Marcello often told me I needed to learn how to deal with my emotions. It was easier to trap them inside a box and throw away the key.
“You have one job to do,” my father said in a harsh tone. “Do you understand me?”
Alex held my brother’s hand on top of her knee with a smile that illuminated her face. He said something to her, and her laughter floated through the air. They had a natural ease in their interactions. Unlike Alex and me, they just clicked. She needed him in her life.
“I will fix this,” I told him.
Luca carried me in his arms, kicking open my bedroom door with his foot. Half asleep, I laid my head on his warm chest, curled up against him. His delicious scent filled the air, and I drank him in as he lowered me onto the mattress.
He got on the bed beside me and brushed the curls off my cheek. Like hot pokers branding my flesh, his fingers trailed down my cheek, leaving a brush of fire in their wake.
I fell asleep in Marcello’s hospital bed after he passed out from the pain meds. My grandfather had assured me Marcello’s vitals looked good and that he would likely make a full recovery. But I was too afraid to leave his side until Luca swaddled me like a baby and took me upstairs.
“Luca,” I whispered as I laid my head on the pillow. “Will you stay with me?”
