Page 59 of Kissing the Villain

“I’d like to see you try,brother.”

Marcello was a trained killer skilled in weapons and hand-to-hand combat. No one sane would mess with him. But sense had left my crazy ass a long time ago. My younger brother led a team called Alpha Command at Salvatore Global. They were a groupof mercenaries and thieves our clients employed for their illegal businesses. On the books, they handled security for my family’s company.

I glanced at my younger brother, hands steepled on the table. “She needs to remember.”

Marcello sipped his scotch. “Be patient.”

“I have been patient for nine months,” I pointed out.

I watched Alex with Sonny. She flicked her curls over her shoulder and laughed. He held our queen close, keeping her safe from the other monsters lurking in the ballroom. The Devil’s Knights would die for Alex. We would do anything to protect her from our enemies. The Knights needed Alex to unlock her repressed memories and overcome her trauma.

Come back to us, baby girl.

Our survival depends on it.

“We need to escalate our plans,” I told Marcello. “What we’ve tried so far isn’t working.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“She thinks Wellington is innocent. Her precious Pops plays his role so well.” I shook my head, disgusted. “Look at him.”

Our gazes shifted to the dance floor, where Carl led his granddaughter away from Sonny. They engaged in a heated conversation as he spun an upset-looking Alex in circles. With an angry scowl in place, her lips moved as if she were arguing with him. A master strategist, Carl knew how to play the game.

I raised a glass of scotch to my lips. “She thinks she’s doing him a favor. That she’s saving him from his past transgressions. Wait until she finds out why she’s here.”

An evil grin tugged at the corners of his mouth.

“Any updates on the next shipment? The Basiles called last night about their usual order.”

“I’m waiting for the confirmation.”

“If Alex tries to run again, you can throw her ass in the shipping container. Maybe it will wake her ass up.”

He scanned the room for Alex, not trying to hide his desire from me. “She’ll behave. I’m making headway with her. Give me more time.”

“You locked her in a room and drugged her. She’s biding her time until she can run again.”

“She cares about her grandfather too much to risk it. I think she learned her lesson the first time.”

But did she?

Marcello’s phone rang with a new message. He read it, committing the cipher to memory, then showed me. It was the date and the coordinates of our next shipment. We partnered with Mac Corp and Battle Industries to provide weapons and illegal technology to our business partners for intel and manpower to use against our newest enemies. They were sniffing too close. And with their attention pointed at Alex, I needed all the friends I could get.

“The Basiles are coming to town in a few weeks,” I told Marcello.

I hated working with the Basile family, but they were old family friends from Sicily. We would never deny their requests, not even when they violated my paper-thin morals. Their connections to the criminal underworld were crucial to our business operations. People whispered about my family being in the Mafia, guilt by association, but there was no escaping our relationship with the Basiles or the Five Families.

Marcello deleted the message and stuffed the phone into his pocket. “How many containers are we adding?”

“Four more to accommodate the Basiles. Coordinate with Sonny.”

“You wouldn’t put her in a container, would you?” Marcello’s eyes narrowed. “Because we could lose her forever. She’s afraid of the dark and confined spaces.”

“I’ll do anything to bring her back to us.”

Marcello’s cell phone dinged with another message. “Fuck.”

“What now?”

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