Page 92 of Kissing the Villain

“That has nothing to do with me,” I shot back.

“It has everything to do with you. As punishment for marrying your dad, your grandfather cut your mom off. Took away her trust fund and banished her from Devil’s Creek.”

“I already know this.”

“Just listen.” He put a gentle hand on my knee. “When your mom came crawling back to my father, he offered her a way to maintain her lifestyle. But she had to promise her firstborn daughter would marry a Salvatore. If she had a son, he would become a Knight. And she had both.”

My eyes widened at his confession. “Aiden hated Luca because he didn’t want to be a Knight. So why didn’t he tell me?”

“We don’t allow women into our inner circle. Just the queen. Until you take the oath, I can’t tell you much more.”

“It could have easily been you,” I commented. “Instead of Luca.”

“Yeah.” His eyes were downcast as he picked at the loose string hanging from the top sheet. “But it wasn’t. So Luca gets you.”

“What would have happened if my mom didn’t have kids?”

“She didn’t have a choice.”

“What if she couldn’t get pregnant?”

He shrugged. “Thankfully, that didn’t happen. If a Salvatore doesn’t have children with someone from a Founding Family…”

“Luca needs to have a son with me,” I muttered.

He nodded. “If Luca had died last year, our families would have forced you to marry me.”

“I don’t want this… I never wanted this life.” I shook my head, fighting the tears ready to spill from my eyes. “I’m not ready to be the Queen of The Devil’s Knights.”

“Alex,” he groaned, his grip tightening on my knee. “You don’t have a choice. We need you. Forget about your issues with Luca. The Knights need a queen.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Water crashed from a distance, carrying through the open French doors. My heart never raced when Marcello was at my side. He didn’t judge me or make me feel like the crazy girl. Just let me work out my shit.

This felt like the tip of the iceberg. What would I learn after I swore the oath? Would I even want to become one of them? I was lucky if I made it through the day without something triggering a flashback. In my condition, I could not be a queen.

“You were a dick when I first got here. What’s changed?”

His fingers slipped through my untamed curls. “When I saw you were crying in your sleep, I realized we were to blame. Luca pushed you to that point. We couldn’t put it all on you.”

I opened my mouth to ask another question, but a noise penetrated the air. It sounded like an engine backfiring. Marcello shot off the bed, grabbed both of his guns from the nightstand, and shoved them into the holster strapped to his chest.

I crawled to the edge of the bed. “What’s going on, Marcello?”

His cell phone rang as another noise boomed from a distance.

“Was that a gunshot?”

He raised the phone to his ear, muttering a few words in Italian. Then he hung up, his focus shifting to me. “Stay here.”

I slid off the bed as he crossed the room.

“What’s going on?”

Marcello grabbed my shoulder, and shadows danced across his dark blue irises. “Stay in this room, Alex. You’re not to answer the door or leave for any reason.”

“What the hell was that noise?”

“We’re under attack,” he said in a calm tone. “Listen to me, Alex. This is for your safety. Stay here until I get back.”

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