Page 181 of Kissing the Villain

My jaw unhinged at his confession. “They have pictures of me?”

He nodded. “And sex tapes.”

I covered my face with my hands and sighed. “I can’t believe this.”

“I’m sorry, baby.” He reached over and squeezed my thigh. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I kept you away from Devil’s Creek to keep you safe.”

“Why do they want me?”

“They borrowed fifty million dollars from the Knights and refused to pay the loan.” He swerved around a woman driving at a snail’s pace, his movements effortless. “So I took Marcus Kurti’s wife as collateral.”

“You killed her,” I whispered.

On the day of the shooting, Luca taunted the men with the possibility of the crime boss’s wife being alive and used it to get me away from them.

“He left me no choice. That motherfucker wasn’t paying us back, no matter what I held over his head. He’s in too deep with the psychopaths tied toIl Circo.”

My grandfather insisted that I take Italian lessons after I met Luca. He thought it might help me uncover information aboutthe Salvatores. Il Circo means “The Circus” in Italian, which only piqued my interest more.

I moved my hand to his thigh as he raced up the hill. “What’sIl Circo?”

“A club where anything goes.” He flew past the guard gate with Marcello behind us in the Maserati. “It’s by invitation only. They hold monthly auctions on the Dark Web. Men from the depths of the criminal underworld will bet on anything from women to the outcomes of death matches.”

My stomach churned at his confession, and I was almost afraid to ask, but I had to know the truth about our situation. I turned in my chair so I could see his face. “Have you ever placed a bet?”

He shook his head. “I have a lot of vices, but there are some lines I don’t cross.”

“Who is trying to kidnap me? The Albanians?”

“If they get their way and list you for sale at theIl Circoauction at the end of this month, we will have many more men to handle. And given the Knights’ current predicament, we don’t have the manpower to fight a war on our own.”

“That’s why you need me to become your queen?”

“Yes,” he admitted. “I’ve been doing everything in my power to stop the bleeding. Drake monitors the Dark Web for suspicious traffic that links to you or the Knights. But it’s only a matter of time. The Kurtis have a long-standing relationship with the men atIl Circo. If they want you added to the action, it will happen eventually.”

My heart slammed into my chest, my pulse pounding so hard my ears rang. “What happens if they succeed?”

“I won’t stop until I have eliminated the threat.” He tapped his fingers on my leg to the beat of the song on the radio. “The Knights are working around the clock to ensure your safety. We won’t let anyone hurt you, Drea. I promise.”

“I know you will protect me, but I’m still scared.”

“It’s okay, baby.” He smoothed a hand over my thigh. “We will get through this together. You have the Knights at your disposal, which means you have an army of men willing to die for you.”

“I don’t want anyone to die for me.”

“Knights defend their Queen at all costs. It’s one of our most sacred laws.”

“Luca, you’re not dying for me. I can’t lose you.”

He gave me one of his sly grins that made my heart race. “You saying you’d miss me, baby?”

I licked my lips, my focus on his delicious mouth I wanted to kiss. “Of course, I would.”

“We’re at war,” he said with zero emotion. “Anything can happen to me. I accepted my fate a long time ago. If I have to die protecting you, I will. You are all I care about, Drea.”

I could hardly catch my breath as I said, “Luca, please be careful. After what we just went through with Marcello, it would break me. You think I’m crazy now. There wouldn’t be a single trace of me left if you died fighting for me.”

He patted my hand on his thigh before he switched gears. “I know, baby. And I’m sorry about what I said after the shooting. I was jealous of you and Marcello and shouldn’t have acted that way.”

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