Page 163 of Kissing the Villain

Keep going.

I pushed myself up from the ground. Every bone and muscle in my body ached as I walked down the long hallway. The ceiling felt too low, the walls too close. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, my pulse pounding out of my skin. I swayed from sideto side, still feeling like I was dreaming, forced to grab the cold, rough wall for support.

A chill rolled through the dense passage, filling my nostrils with the scent of moss. The faint smell of the sea lingered in the air. We were at the marina, but how far underground had they taken me?

As I rounded another corner, I stopped dead in my tracks. Seven men in hoods stood in front of double doors. They were about a hundred feet away, their gazes locked on me.

It was too good to be true.

Luca raised his hand, beckoning me with his finger.

I shook my head.

The hell with him.

A smirk tugged at Luca’s mouth.

Why did he look so happy?

Because he won.

My heart raced as he approached me with a sadistic expression on his face. The landscape blurred before my eyes, and two versions of my handsome devil were there. On shaky legs, I slumped to the side, forced to hold on to the wall so I didn’t crumple to the ground.

“When will you learn?” Luca said in his usual cold tone. “You can’t escape fate, baby girl.”

I used the wall for support, finding it impossible to hold myself up. As my feet slipped out from under me, I saw Luca’s pretty blue irises before I lost consciousness.

59

LUCA

Alex lookedlike the perfect sacrificial virgin as she slept on the altar. Except I had taken her innocence a long time ago. Nothing about her was pure. My sleeping angel was just as fucked up as the rest of us, tainted by the corruption and hatred of our families. We had a long road ahead of us, one paved in the blood and bones of others.

With her head turned to the side, her blonde curls covered part of her face. A soft purr escaped from her perfect pink lips. She was so beautiful that it made my chest ache. I liked to break things. Alex was one of my pretty, broken things I had to piece back together. But none of her pieces fit perfectly, not after the shit she had endured in her short life. Not after her bitch mother had hurt her beyond repair.

The day we met, I knew all of her secrets. Even though she tried to cover them with lies, I always knew. She could never hide from me. Everything I had done was to protect her from the monsters.

And I was one of those monsters.

Marcello stood beside me at the altar as I slid the loose curls off Alex’s forehead.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

I lifted an eyebrow. “You think I’m mad?”

He nodded. “Don’t act like you’re not pissed at me.”

“It’s done.” I waved my hand at him. “Over.”

“She has to choose,” he pointed out.

“Alex knows who she wants, Marcello. Even you know she will marry me. She’s the only one who doesn’t know that.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “So what do you want to do with her?”

“Let Alex think she has a choice.”

He turned to look at me. “Meaning?”

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