Page 215 of Kissing the Villain

I refilled my glass and took a sip. “You’re not mad?”

She gave me a confused look. “Are you kidding? No way!”

“This is so weird,” I confessed. “It must be for you, too.”

“Nah.” Kali shook her head. “I’ve known about the Knights and their Queen for a long time. But I didn’t expect to like you so much.”

“You never minded?”

“I was kind of jealous at first. Not anymore.”

“Luca brought my mentor to Devil’s Creek,” I told her. “Madeline is taking over as the new director of the Franco Foundation.”

“That’s awesome, girl. You must be so stoked.”

I nodded. “But there’s something else. I think my brother is alive. Madeline described her new neighbor. He fits Aiden’s description.”

Eyes wide, Kali set her glass on the table. “Have you told Luca?”

I shook my head.

“So what are you going to do?”

I blew out a deep breath. “I need to see for myself.”

“You can’t leave without Luca knowing about it.”

Pain stung my chest, stirring up a wave of emotions that churned the alcohol in my stomach.

“It’s like a part of me died with him,” I confessed. “I need to find him, dead or alive.”

Kali reached across the table and held my hand. “I hope you find your brother.”

Tears burned my eyes, and I forced them back. “If there’s a chance Aiden is living in our old house, I have to know.”

“I understand. This place makes me feel like I can’t breathe.”

I nodded in agreement. “How did you leave town undetected for so long?”

She glanced over her shoulder at Dom, who stood watch by the door about thirty feet away from us. Marcello was at the cliff’s edge, his gaze flicking between the beach and us. Theycouldn’t hear us talking from this distance, but we were careful and spoke in hushed tones.

“I planned my escape over months. Living in The Hills makes it easier to move around undetected.”

“What about passports and credit cards?”

“I hired a forger, a man from Beacon Bay who hates the Salvatores. He hooked me up with fake driver’s licenses and passports. I wore different wigs and never used the same identity for over a month, switching between them as I traveled throughout Europe. I don’t know how Marcello found me. I was so careful. But when I saw him in Bordeaux, I thought I was hallucinating. I’d made it three years… And then, I ran into Marcello. He was standing beside the Garonne River, waiting for me.”

“What did you do?”

“I ran. But that asshole is fast.” She chuckled. “I didn’t stand a chance in heels.”

I stared at the water crashing against the rocks from a distance, wondering how to sneak away for an hour without one of my armed guards. Then I remembered the secret passage in the library,The Count of Monte Cristo, and the catacombs that led to the beach. Luca showed it to me in case we were under attack and I needed to get out in a hurry.

This counted as an emergency.

Even if the boy Madeline described wasn’t my brother, I had to see for myself. And I had a plan.

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