“You want me to change?” Luca ran a hand through his dark hair and then waved his hand to dismiss me. “Fine. Whatever you want.”
“Words have no meaning without action.”
Pops grabbed my elbow. “You have people who need you. Men who would fight for you. Kill for you. Even die for you. This isn’t about you or Luca.”
With the Knights staring at me, my skin flushed with heat. I’d taken this fight with Luca a little too far.
“I planned your wedding for the second week in September,” Pops told me.
I cleared my throat, shooting daggers at him. “Excuse me?”
“We don’t have time to waste,” my grandfather explained. “The Knights can’t admit any new members outside of the yearly initiation process until they have a queen. It’s in the charter.”
“Don’t you make the rules? Just break them.”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. If I don’t follow the rules, then why should anyone under my authority?”
I bit my lip to stifle my nerves.
“The Russians will do anything to steal you from the Knights.” My grandfather’s expression turned grim. “They will come for you again, and when they do, they will have more men and a better plan. Without a queen, it weakens the Knights’ ranks, which puts you in a vulnerable situation, Alex.”
“I’m not marrying Luca just for the hell of it. You said I have a choice, and I’m not ready to make it.”
Arlo’s jaw tightened. Luca stared at the wall on the other side of the room. The rest of the Knights nervously shifted in their seats.
“Alex,” Pops boomed. “This is a sensitive matter.”
“You act like the Salvatores are your enemies when you have been plotting with them behind my back for years.”
“We owe them,” he said with authority.
“Why did you promise me to them?” I leaned forward and got in his face. “Hmm? Tell me the truth. I accepted this arrangement a long time ago, but I want answers. I’m sick of being the pawn of bored rich men.”
“You’re not a pawn,” Pops assured me, placing his hand on my shoulder to soothe me. “You have more power than you understand.”
“Then help me understand because I’m not interested in power or money. Tell me what you did,” I demanded. “If you want me to be part of your billionaire boys’ club, then I want to know your secret. Why do you owe Arlo a debt?”
He shoved a hand through his white hair and sighed. “Because your mother murdered Eva.”
My heart nearly stopped at his confession. I clutched my chest, eyes wide as I stared at his withered face for any signs of malice.
It was the truth.
Fuck.
Waves of cold rushed up and down my arms, slithering down my back. “What? Are you…?” The words were on the tip of my tongue. “No, she wouldn’t… She didn’t…” I shook my head, unable to think clearly over the ringing in my ears. “Why would she do that?”
“Your mother poisoned Eva with a drug produced by Wellington Pharmaceuticals.” He leaned closer and put his hand on my knee to stop it from trembling, but even his touch did little to quell the anxiety coursing through my veins. “The FDA took it off the market because of its side effects. Even in small doses, it causes death.”
I couldn’t stop blinking as I stared at my grandfather. My mother killed my idol. She took Luca and Marcello’s mother from them.
“She tried to poison me when I was a child,” I whispered in disbelief, tears spilling down my cheeks. “I was sick for weeks. Was it the same drug?”
Pops nodded. “Your father took you to the hospital before you overdosed. Eva wasn’t as lucky. Luca found his mother on the floor in her studio.”
I covered my mouth to stifle my gasp. “But the newspapers said she died in a car accident.” My eyes widened as I glanced over at Luca. “You’ve always known about this?”
Luca nodded.