Page 120

“You need me,” Alex stated. “Always have. I need you, too, but I also need Marcello. Can you live with that?”
I wasn’t sure how to respond. What the hell did that even mean? She needed my brother for what? A friend, lover, a companion?
“Guess I don’t have a choice,” I said, deflated.
“Not if you want to keep me in your life.”
A normal man would have professed his love and begged her to stay. I was not about to grovel at her feet, so I stormed out of the room before I burned the fucking house down.
47
MARCELLO
My bedroom doorcreaked open in the middle of the night. After Alex woke up from another nightmare, I was wide awake and unable to sleep.
My dad entered the room and stood beside my bed. “Marcello,” he said in a hushed tone, his voice deep and husky. “Are you awake?”
“Yes,” I whispered. As he attempted to flick on the lamp beside my bed, I said, “No. Alex is with me. Leave that off. It took me forever to get her back to sleep.”
Moonlight from the balcony doors cast a soft glow over the bed. My father wore his usual black Brioni suit with a red silk tie. It had a checkered pattern I would never forget. When I was a child, my dad choked me with that tie because I didn’t listen to his orders. A man of few words, he preferred cruel and hateful actions.
“How long has this been going on?”
He tipped his head toward Alex. She slept with her ass in the air, face mashed into the pillow.
“The girl has taken a liking to you,” he commented. “Your brother is not in his right mind. He’s never been able to separatehis feelings over your mother’s death from his feelings for Alexandrea. I need you to do what your brother could not.”
I tried to sit up, and the pain from the gunshot wound raced up my arm. “What do you need from me?” I choked out, fighting off the wave of pain.
Pain is weakness leaving the body. My father had drilled that into our heads as children because he usually inflicted the pain.
He dropped into the chair beside my bed and leaned forward, resting his hand on the edge of the mattress. “I should have given her to you. Luca has fucked this up. Wellington won’t give his approval for Luca to marry Alex. Not until she decides between the two of you.”
My jaw fell open in shock. “You want me to steal her from Luca?”
He gave me a sly smirk. “Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted, my boy? To take over for your brother.”
Luca deserved none of the shit he’d gotten. He was a spoiled brat, hellbent on destroying everyone around him for personal gain. We’d never been close, not until after Alex stabbed him. Then things changed. My brother began relying on me more, bringing me into his inner circle.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I want her.”
I’d always wanted Alex Wellington. When our families introduced us, I wondered how she would taste, smell, and feel in my arms. Luca was planning to let her go. He couldn’t even stomach the sight of her, and somehow, she still found her way to him.
“You have until the end of the summer,” he said sternly. “Make Alex fall in love with you. That’s what the girl is after. She’s like your mother, a romantic.”
“What will happen to Luca if she chooses me?”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about him right now. His actions over the past year have shown his lack of control. But you, Marcello, have always known how to control yourself. Can I count on you to do this for me?”
“Yes,” I muttered. “Whatever you need, Father.”
“She cares about you, Marcello. This should be easy for you.” He squeezed my hand hard enough to leave marks, his tone more menacing. “We need the Wellington dowry. And we need an heir. We have little time before I lose my standing with The Founders Society.”
“I understand.”
“Good.” He grinned, patting my thigh. “Get some rest.”
The following day,Alex lay on the bed beside me, tracing her nails up and down my arm. The soft, soothing motion signaled my cock that it was time to wake up. I fixed myself beneath the blanket. After two weeks of Alex fussing over me, I had a hard-on that would not quit.