The Devil I Love (Devil's Knights 3)

“You saw what they did to her. She’s probably already retreated into her mind to save herself from what’s happing on the outside.”

He nodded in confirmation, then turned his head to look at me. “Alex is family. And we protect our family. We’ll do whatever is necessary to help her. Whatever you need, I will be there.”

I gave him a surprising one-arm hug. At first, Marcello tensed because this was an unusual exchange for us, but then he pulled me into his arms like he needed this hug as much as I did. We were both terrified for Alex, scared of what our enemies would do to her to make us feel the pain. I’d felt nothing so excruciating in my entire life. Physical pain was nothing compared to emotional pain.

“I’m sorry I got in the way,” Marcello said with his chin on my shoulder. “But I regret nothing that happened with Alex.”

“You love her,” I whispered. “I know. We all do.”

“I shouldn’t have captured her during the game. It was a dick move.”

“The other Knights would have done the same thing.”

“Yeah, but I knew it was Alex. I made a promise to you a long time ago, and I almost fucked this up for you.”

I pulled back so I could look into his eyes. “You did the right thing. Alex needed to see what it was like without me. She wanted to experience being with another man. Fucking you helped her realize she loved me.”

“Well, when you say it like that,” Marcello groaned. “Fuck you.”

I tapped his shoulder with mine, and we both laughed.

“So what do you want to do with Rhiannon? We can honor the deal we made with her dad or let the asshole who bought her get rid of our problem.”

He shoved a hand through his black hair and tugged at the ends. “I want her alive.”

“She’s a loose end,” I pointed out. “The girl knows too much about our family.”

“It was my mistake. She hasn’t talked in the last five years.”

“If she ever opens her mouth, we could lose everything.”

“There’s only one way to keep her quiet,” Marcello said with irritation in his tone.

“Marry her,” I muttered. “But that’s not happening, not as long as Dad is alive.”

“I can’t stand the sight of her,” he shot back. “Like fucking hell I could marry her.”

“You don’t seem to have a problem fucking her.”

He snickered. “It’s a hate fuck.”

“Are you sure?” I raised my eyebrows in question. “Because you seem to like hate-fucking her an awful lot.”

Marcello rolled his eyes. “I see her once a year.”

“You think you’re so slick, bro, but I know the truth.”

He lowered his head, staring at the gray carpet as he cracked his knuckles. “There’s nothing between us.”

“There was before Alex came back into our lives.”

“Alex changed everything.” He lifted his head and glanced over at me without meeting my gaze. “Look at you. The Tin Man has a heart, after all.”

I slammed my fist into his arm, and Marcello laughed, a deep rumble that came up from his stomach. We hadn’t been this close since… ever. Somehow, fighting over Alex and later sharing her had bonded us.

After she chose me, we’d grown even closer. And now that we had a common enemy to fight, we were finally acting like real brothers. It should have been like this all along. I was too much of a miserable asshole to see that I needed him. We needed each other.

We were broken.

Alex fixed us.

Marcello cupped my shoulder, then shot up from the bed. “I have to speak with my team before we land.”

I rose to my full height, standing beside my brother. “What’s the plan?”

“I’m still working out the final details,” he said in a firm tone. “We’ll have divers entering through the jungle. They won’t have as much security on that side of the island.”

I nodded. “That’s smart. We can catch them off guard.”

“This is an ambush.” Marcello scratched the dark stubble along his jaw. “Whoever took Alex wants all of us dead.”

“That could be anyone,” I said to state the obvious. “We have more enemies than we can count. But who would have an interest in taking out the Knights and the Irish at the same time?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. My team is working on finding a link to Il Circo and us. So far, I have found nothing out of the ordinary.”

“I can’t think of anyone who’s worked with us and the Irish and had a problem.” I pressed my lips together, deep in thought. “I’ve gone over every deal with Salvatore Global and the Knights for the past few years.”

“Maybe this isn’t about us.”

“Dad?”

He nodded.

“But why would they take Alex?”

“Because she can’t produce a Salvatore heir if she’s dead.”

“And if she dies, Dad would default on the deal he made with The Founders Society.” I scrubbed a hand across my jaw. “Who has a vested interest in The F Society?”