Page 216 of Kissing the Villain

LUCA

While Alex wasbusy painting in my mother’s studio, I assembled the Knights so we could complete the final ritual for Aiden Wellington. He’d spent the past nine months working to become a Knight. Despite his protests, we owned his ass now.

Aiden kneeled on the stone floor in front of me, out of breath and covered in blood. Marred and dirty, his skin dripped with sweat and stunk of the sea and dirt. With his head lowered to the ground, he released a groan. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week, his limbs hanging limp at his sides.

Defeated and beyond salvation.

Corrupted by the Devil.

We had put him through hell for his Initiation. Each man in this room had endured grueling challenges and taken enormous risks to join the ranks of The Devil’s Knights. After Aiden screwed up his first task with The Serpents, he almost got himself killed. I saved his sorry ass—because of her.

And he would get to see his sister again.

The Devil’s Knights formed a circle around us, their faces obscured by the hoods of their cloaks. Aiden completed his initiation, no matter the cost. He was not the man his sisterknew. No one could return from what he had done in the Knighthood’s name.

“From Apprentice to Master,” I said to Aiden.

He looked up at me with tired eyes ringed with dark circles.

“From Squire to Knight,” the rest of the Knights echoed in unison.

With those words, Aiden became one of us.

77

ALEX

At night,Marcello sat at my bedside and drank scotch. So I’d searched the bathroom cabinets for painkillers and sleeping pills, anything I could get my hands on. I found an entire bottle of prescription sleeping pills hidden inside a vanity drawer.

Sorry, Marcello.

I had to drug him so I could sneak up to the library. Luca was too busy to notice if I left the house for an hour. And he trusted Marcello to monitor me. His brother had never let him down. Luca had no reason to suspect I would cause him any trouble. I was the perfect angel all day.

Marcello sat in the oversized plush armchair by the window. He sipped from his glass and rested it on his knee, staring at me. “Why are you giving me that look?”

I smiled. “I could use a drink.”

He set the highball glass on the table beside him and got up from the chair. “What do you want?”

“Sweet tea.”

Marcello blew out a deep breath and pointed at the bed. “Don’t move.”

I held up my hands in surrender. “Wouldn’t dream of it, boss man.”

He snickered at my nickname and left my bedroom in a hurry. With only a minute to dump the crushed pills into his drink, I removed the cellophane bag from under my pillow and slid off the bed.

Aiden was alive.

I felt it in my bones.

I was making the right choice.

The Salvatores forced me to do this.

Even though I felt like a horrible person for drugging Marcello, it only seemed fair, considering he had done it to me. I emptied the bag into his drink and stirred the white powder with my finger. I heard Marcello’s footsteps approaching my room from a distance. I shoved the empty bag under my blankets and hopped into bed.

Marcello walked into the room a few seconds later and handed me a glass of sweet tea.

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