Page 45 of Kissing the Villain

I was closing on a new shopping center worth over thirty million dollars. Not bad for a week’s worth of work.

“She’s having night terrors,” my brother told me. “Maybe it’s too soon. If we push her… You know what the doctor said.”

“She can handle it,” I assured him. “Her doctor agreed this treatment will work if done correctly.”

“If we don’t fuck this up. We’re not doctors.”

“You’ve worked with a lot of veterans who have PTSD.”

“That’s irrelevant,” he shot back. “Men are different. They don’t want to talk about shit like women do. They’d rather shoot something.”

“Well, don’t even think about giving her a gun. She’d sooner turn it on you than use it for target practice.”

“She needs a doctor,” he muttered. “She’s not fucking okay.”

“I got it covered. We’ll have someone on the inside. Wait until the party this weekend. You’ll see.”

He released a sigh. “Is it who I think?”

“Yes. She’ll deal with Alex and make her feel welcome. Help us lower her guard.”

I had a contingency plan for my contingency plan. With Alex and her health, I covered all of my bases. I wasn’t a man who left anything to chance. We needed her to be sane and compliant, which would never happen in her current state. The Devil’s Knights needed their queen, and it was time for Alex to serve her true purpose.

“Okay,” Marcello agreed. “I’ll work on a cover story so Alex doesn’t get suspicious. If she asks too many questions…”

“Alex has always wanted a friend, Marcello. So let’s give her one, okay? She could use some female companionship.”

“Carl Wellington is throwing us a life raft. We can’t screw this up.”

“We will get Alex back. She’s still in there, just confused.”

Alex was the key to everything.

Knowing she would never completely belong to me, I pushed her away. I avoided the marriage to keep her to myself for a bit longer. The Devil’s Knights didn’t get to have their queen until I allowed it.

“She’s trashing her bedroom as we speak,” Marcello grunted. “What should I do with her? She’s out of her mind.”

I opened the security app on my laptop and flipped through the cameras until I found her bedroom. “Has she taken her medicine today?”

“I gave it to her with breakfast.”

“Then, give her a sedative.”

Alex threw a twenty thousand dollar vase across the room. Punted an irreplaceable Fabergé egg like it was a football. I won that in a game of poker from a Russian mobster.

“It’s like she’s possessed,” I muttered. “What did you do to her?”

“What you said. Locked her in the room without dinner.”

She deserved a spanking for trying to run from Wellington Manor. But I was halfway across the world, so I figured a few hours in isolation would sort her ass out. It would give her time to think about what she had done. But as usual, Alex was full of surprises.

“It’s not just the tantrum.” He sighed. “She’s like a cat in heat. I’ve had to push her away several times since I brought her back to Devil’s Creek.”

I cleared my throat and loosened my silk tie, letting it hang around my neck. “If she needs someone, I’d rather it be you.”

Marcello wanted Alex and never hid his desire from me. None of The Knights did. They had waited years for my girl to accept her place among them. The Queen of The Devil’s Knights symbolizes power in our corrupt world.

If Alex were mine alone, I would have been a better man. At least, I wanted to believe I would have treated her differently. Instead, I fought a relationship with her every step of the way. But now, this soon-to-be king needed his queen.

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