“I’m sorry.” I stepped out of his embrace and ran my fingers through my hair. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”
I turned away, and Marcello grabbed my arm.
“Don’t be sorry. I was a mess when I got home. If it weren’t for Alex, I would still feel like I’m losing my mind. You and Liv need each other. It’s going to take time for her to see that.”
“She’s never going to forgive me.” I wiped my face with the Batman T-shirt hidden beneath my black suit. “Liv is only here because of the deal we made. I want to tell her she can go, but I’m afraid of what will happen.”
She’ll never come back.
My heart raced at the thought of losing Olivia forever. She was supposed to be mine. I made promises to keep her safe, to make her my wife.
I resumed my place at the table and put a cloth napkin on my lap. “At least while she’s living under my roof, I can keep an eye on her.”
Marcello lifted his fork and sliced into a juicy filet. “You’re making the right call.”
I nodded. “I hope so.”
“Avenge her brother’s death,” he said between bites of steak. “I know you’re resistant to using Lovelace to start a war. But it’s the only way our families and The Devil’s Knights will ever be free of The Lucaya Group.”
Instantly losing my appetite, I dropped the fork onto the plate and wiped my mouth with a napkin, throwing it onto the table. “We talked about this, Marcello.”
“You’ll be doing the world a service. The Lucaya Group has to go.”
“I don’t see you offering to help,” I shot back with anger dripping from my tone. “If this goes wrong, it’s my ass on the line.”
“I will help you. So will the Knights. But we need you to lead us.”
“This is my fight. Mark Ruben is funding them. If I cut off their financial support, I can draw him out of hiding. Without a steady cash flow, they don’t have an army willing to fight for them. I’m just waiting for him to make a move. He will eventually. Trust me.”
Tate warned me.
He knew this would happen and tried to get me to strike preemptively. Everyone wanted to turn me into a villain, but I was still clinging to the notion that I was the good guy. I was the hero in my story, and heroes didn’t kill people.
They saved the day.
CHAPTER 29
DRAKE
The time passed by in a blur of tears, nightmares, and heartache. Olivia still looked at me like she wished I’d died instead of her brother. She still acted as if I didn’t exist.
But I had a plan.
She hated me for taking away her brother. And since she had a family only twenty minutes away, I arranged for Sonny and Aiden to bring Ella Doyle to lunch. No one knew the truth about Olivia’s biological father. My friends thought they were coming to the house just for a get-together.
As they entered the house, Lovelace’s voice drifted through the speakers. “Welcome back, Mr. Wellington.” She paused and then said to Sonny, “Welcome back, Mr. Cormac.” Then she took a second to scan Ella’s face and run her image through facial recognition software before saying, “Hello, Miss Doyle. Welcome to the Battle Fortress.”
Ella looked at Sonny, her mouth hanging open in shock. “How does she know my name?”
“Lovelace knows everything,” I told her.
“Like Ada Lovelace?” She smiled. “The first computer programmer.”
“Exactly. It would surprise you how many people think I named her after the porn star.” I returned her smile and offered my hand. “Nice to meet you. At least this time it’s under better circumstances.”
We’d briefly met on the night I returned from New Mexico, but it was a quick hello. Back then, I was so mentally and physically damaged that I could not hold down a conversation.
As usual, Sonny wore a black suit and a tie. Most of the founders’ sons did, except for Aiden, who looked out of place beside Sonny. He was so much like his twin sister, Alex Salvatore, and dressed in ripped jeans and edgy T-shirts. Alex didn’t dress like an heiress, and neither did her twin brother.
