“You’re just in time,” I told them. “Lunch will be ready in a few minutes. We’re having pizza.” I glanced over my shoulder at Ella. “I heard pepperoni and sausage is your favorite.”
“Yeah, it is.” She smiled. “It’s pretty much all I’ve been eating since returning to the States. The pizza sucked in Ireland.”
I wanted to make a good impression on Ella. She was Olivia’s half-sister, and I needed any ally. One day, we could have been family. That was if Olivia ever forgave me.
Cameras followed us as we walked down a long marble hallway lined with armed men. I ramped up the security over the past few months, adding additional guards every week.
When we entered the kitchen, Olivia was there, coordinating our meal with the chefs. She tensed up as if I had touched her. I hated her not responding to me anymore. Like I was some kind of predator she had to guard herself against.
“Liv, you know Aiden and Sonny.” I inched toward her and tipped my head at her sister. “This is Ella Doyle. Their girlfriend.”
A moment of recognition lit up her face. She eyed up her sister, and I wondered what was going through her head. I did the same thing when I learned Tate was my brother. I studiedevery detail of his face and noticed all his micro-expressions. Even his laugh and the way he moved. I wanted to know if we had anything in common apart from sharing a father.
“Hi.” Olivia looked at Ella, then my friends. “All three of you date each other?”
She wasn’t normally so awkward and just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Yes,” Sonny said, slinging his arm across Aiden and Ella’s necks. “We’re a throuple.”
“Hmmm.” She pressed her lips together, eyes on Aiden. “Must run in the family.”
Wow, that was rude.
Aiden shot me a look, as did Sonny. I rolled my shoulders and offered an apologetic look.
Most people thought Alex’s relationship with the Salvatore brothers was strange and somewhat unbelievable. How did one woman please four men? And why did they want to share her? That part made no sense to me.
“Join us for lunch,” I suggested. “You like pizza.”
Olivia frowned. “That’s okay. I’m still not feeling good.”
She’d been sick a lot lately and had lost her usual glow. Last week, she even vomited on the floor. I offered to have my concierge doctor stop by the house, but she not-so-politely declined. Instead of a simple thanks, she rolled her eyes, said she was fine and not to worry, and walked away.
I propped my hip against the kitchen island and touched her shoulder. “You barely eat, Liv. I’m worried about you. Tate wouldn’t want this for you.”
“I’m fine, Drake.” She nodded at the door to our right. “Go hang out in the dining room until your pizza is ready.”
I tried to talk to her, but she turned away from me. Taking that as a sign to leave, I led my guests into the dining room. Thebanquet table could fit thirty people comfortably and made the house feel even colder. I ate most meals here alone.
We gathered at the table, and as I glanced at each of their faces, I felt my grip on reality slowly slipping. Like it had with Marcello. Whenever I was with people I knew, I lowered my guard, accidentally showing them my vulnerability.
And I hated it.
Sitting at the head of the table, I sighed, feeling even more miserable than I looked. “If I could bring her brother back,” I said to Sonny, who was on my right, “I’d give up everything just to reverse that moment and take his place.”
The door to the kitchen swung open. Olivia emerged, holding open the door for two women carrying plates. They set them on the table and rushed out of the room.
Olivia stayed behind, a tear sliding down her face. “You’re brilliant, Drake, but even you can’t invent a time machine. If I could, I would go back in time and never have met you. I would tell Tate not to accept your fucking charity. And I would…” She wrapped her arms around her middle. “I would…”
Before I could react, Ella rose from her chair and pulled me into her arms. “It’s okay, let it out. I know exactly what you’re going through. And I can promise you it gets better with time. It will always hurt, but it gets better.”
“You don’t know how this feels.” Olivia sobbed. “No one does.”
“Yes, I do.” Ella wiped the tears from Olivia’s face. “Nine years ago, I had to watch my mother get brutally raped and murdered by five men. There was nothing I could do to stop them. Not unless I wanted to suffer the same fate. There’s nothing Drake could have done to save Tate. Just like I couldn’t have overpowered five men.”
I’d done my research on the Doyle family. Nothing but heartache surrounded them. Death was a normal part of theirlives. When I first learned of Olivia’s parentage, I considered not telling her. Cian Doyle was dangerous and not an ally of The Devil’s Knights. At least not until Ella got involved with Sonny and Aiden.
Olivia sniffed back more tears. “How did you survive?”
