Page 94 of Kissing the Villain

“Hold secrets over their heads,” Bastian chimed. “That’s what Damian and I do with the Atlantic Airlines board.”

“Because you learned from the master,” Drake quipped with eyes on me.

We had a saying in Devil’s Creek.Secrets are commodities. I collected secrets as if they were money, because they were more valuable.

My father cleared his throat as he entered the room with Carl Wellington III. Carl looked like a Founder, dressed in a six-thousand-dollar suit, and he had an air of entitlement surrounding him.

He tipped his head to the group. “Gentleman,” he said as he sat in the chair beside me. “I have no time to waste. So let’s make this fast.”

“We have a problem,” my dad said, dropping into the armchair on my right. “The Albanians stole from one of our containers.”

“Fuck,” I groaned. “Which one?”

He ran a hand across the dark stubble along his jaw with his cold, hard stare fixed on me. “One of the Basiles’ orders.”

“I’ve been tracking the shipment,” Sonny interjected. “I checked the video feeds on the ship. Nothing looks out of the ordinary.”

Dad cleared his throat. “I believe they stole from the container after the harbormaster signed off on it.”

I stamped my cigar in the tray, breathing through my nose to contain my rage. “What about the other containers?”

“Untouched,” my father said. “As far as we can tell. After a full inventory, we’ll know more in the next few hours.”

“What is The Founders Society doing about it?” Drake asked, his focus on Carl.

“We have teams looking for the Albanians,” Carl said with authority. “Let us handle them. Your job is to keep my granddaughter safe. Alex is your primary focus.”

“No one will touch her,” I assured him. “You have my word.”

His expression darkened. “If anything were to happen to Alex, things would get worse for The Devil’s Knights.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

“And for your family,” Carl added with a bite to his tone.

“No harm will come to Alex while she’s in our home,” my father said. “We have guards, motion sensors, and cameras watching her twenty-four hours a day. Marcello is with her right now. He’s hardly slept since he arrived home with Alex.”

Carl pressed his lips together. “She needs to know the truth about Aiden. This has gone on long enough, Arlo.”

Dad gritted his teeth, then glanced over at me.

“Give us more time,” I said. “We’ve made a breakthrough with Alex. She remembers stabbing me. What happened to Aiden will come back to her.”

“You agreed to my terms, Luca.” Carl sighed as he shoved a hand through his white hair in irritation. “Until Alex returns to her old self, you don’t have my permission to marry my granddaughter. So I hope you know what you’re doing for your sake.”

I had to marry Alex for the Salvatores to rise within the ranks. My dad would have accomplished this over thirty years ago if Alex’s mom hadn’t run away. Her bloodline could betraced to Alexander Hamilton, whom her grandfather named her after. And our children would solidify both of our futures.

“Alex is making progress,” I told Carl. “It’s only a matter of time before she comes to terms with everything.”

“The doctors warned you,” he challenged. “Exposure therapy can be dangerous for someone in her condition. It can have the opposite effect.” He pointed a long, bony finger at me. “You did this to her. And you better fix what you broke.”

“Carl.” My dad threw out his hand to interrupt him. “Alex played her part. You can’t blame my son for everything.”

“What about her brother?” Carl ticked his jaw. “Losing Aiden triggered a series of events none of us could have predicted. I tried to stop Aiden from getting involved with The Serpents. He didn’t belong with them.”

“And I agreed with you,” Dad said. “All of us did. Even Alex tried to talk Aiden out of it.”

“I’m partly responsible,” I said to Carl. “I will admit to that. But my father is right. You can’t pass all the blame to me.”

---