by Bella J.
I’d heard about the mafia initiation, and I always found the notion of it absurd and creepy. But while I stood there watching the card with my blood burn into nothing but ash, solidifying my place in their family, it gave me a strong sense of belonging. By doing this, I didn’t only vow to be loyal to the Valentis, I also showed the depth of my commitment to Karina—to the daughter of the man who had now become my boss.
Like I said, powerful shit.
I inhaled and dragged my hand through my hair before deciding to pour myself a drink while I waited for my woman to get branded as well. My woman. God, it felt good thinking of her in that way.
I flopped down on the very expensive leather couch and let my mind drift to thoughts of the future. Thoughts of how Karina was now mine, and how I was going to enjoy every goddamn minute of it. For a while, there, her pussy had “forbidden” written all over it, but now because of a symbol marked on my skin and because of my vow to put her and her family first, I had every fucking right to claim that sweet Heaven between her legs every time I wanted—and no one could do shit about it.
“With that look on your face, I shudder to think what the hell is going on in that dirty mind of yours.”
I looked up and spotted Dante standing in the doorway. “Oh, you have no idea how dirty my mind really is.”
“Oh, God, stop.” Dante held his hands up. “If those dirty thoughts have anything to do with my little sister, I’m going to be forced to put a bullet in your spine.”
I grinned like a fucking idiot. “Then you better load that gun…brother.”
“Good God, you’re an asshole.”
I laughed as Dante took a seat on the couch across from me. Dante was the brother I liked most. He didn’t go around acting like he had a stick up his ass like Antonio did. In fact, I would even go so far as to say Dante and I had some sort of friendship brewing. We might end up being drinking partners very soon—which was a big fucking deal in the world of manly friendships.
“For the life of me, I don’t know what my sister sees in you.”
“Oh, that’s easy. It’s because of my big—”
“For the love of Christ, do not finish that sentence.”
I burst out laughing, and Dante snickered.
I nodded toward the door. “She done?”
“Yeah. The tattoo she got isn’t as detailed as ours.”
“Where is she?”
Dante got up and walked to the table and poured himself a drink. “I think she’s having a little father-daughter bonding time.”
“Ah.” I nodded.
When Dante took his seat again, I noticed the hard look on his face and knew something was up.
“What is it?”
Dante glanced up at me while twirling the crystal tumbler in his hand. “You’re officially a part of this family now, Stone. That means you’re gonna have a lot of catching up to do, starting with the Mancusos.”
I leaned forward, placing my elbows on my knees. “What’s going on?”
“This war between us and the Mancusos is far from over. In fact, I suspect it’s only just begun.”
“What makes you think that?”
When he glanced away like he was unable to look me in the eye anymore, I knew what it was.
“It’s me, isn’t it?”
He gulped back his entire drink and slammed the glass down on the table in front of him. “You killed Enzio Mancuso, the heir to the Mancuso throne, so to speak. So, I’m pretty sure all hell is about to break loose.”
I jerked out of my seat. “That fucker kidnapped Karina and tried to force her to marry him. God knows what he would have done to her if we didn’t find her in time. And let’s not forget he had a motherfucking gun aimed at my head. What was I supposed to do? Give him a medal?”
“I know. But the fact remains you killed him, which means the war that lies ahead would make the past battles seem like child’s play. We are open game for the Mancusos now. By killing Enzio, we have given them all the ammo they need to come for us, guns blazing.”
With anger pulsing through my veins, my vision nothing but shades of red, I started to pace, the itch to take care of those fuckers once and for all crawling all over my skin. “They won’t get near her, Dante. I will kill every motherfucker who dares to come near her.”
Dante’s expression settled into a somber look when his eyes finally met mine. “I don’t think this is about Karina anymore, Stone.”
The prickle of warning in the back of my skull traveled all the way down my spine as the realization dawned on me. Of course, they didn’t want Karina anymore. The only reason she had been the target was because of Enzio’s sick obsession with her. But he was dead, killed by my hand, and that meant…
“They want me.”
Dante didn’t move. “Not all of you.”
“What does that mean?”
“What they want is revenge for what has been taken away from them—their blood. They want payment for the wrong that has been done to them.”
“Wrong? What wrong has been done to them? Karina was the one who got kidnapped, for Christ’s sake.” Good God, I was about to have a fucking aneurysm. “Their son was one twisted son of a bitch with issues, issues only a bullet in the chest could cure. How can they exact payment if I did the fucking world a favor?”
Dante got up and straightened in front of me. “They don’t see it that way.”
“Well, someone should help them open their fucking eyes.”
“Stone.” Dante pinned me with his stare. “The only way the Mancusos will let this go is if they have your head.”
I froze, no longer feeling the need to pace, since everything inside me turned into ice. How did I not figure this out sooner? Of course, the Mancusos would want revenge. No one went around killing Mancusos and got away with it. They would want to inflict the same kind of pain, the same kind of loss they were forced to experience, on me.
Oh, God…
“Fuck.” My legs weakened as a thought popped into my head, and I fell back onto the couch, staring but not seeing anything but the dread spreading through me.
“What is it?” Dante took a step forward, and I looked up at him.
“I think you’re wrong, man.” I pulled my palms down my face.
“Why do you think that?”
“Dante, they don’t want my head.”
“Stone, what the fuck are you talking about?”
“Jesus Christ.” My skin went damp as fear wracked through my body. “Dante,” I glanced up at him, “they want her head. Karina. They’re going to go after her.”
Dante fell on the couch beside me. “What are you saying?’
“I’m saying they’re going to go after what I couldn’t bear to live without. They are going to exact revenge by inflicting pain that would be worse than death for me.”
The way Dante’s face turned from a natural to a deadly pale color, it was clear he realized what the fuck I was trying to say.
“Karina,” he whispered, and my heart skipped a beat when he said her name. Just the thought of losing her, of letting one of the Mancuso bastards lay another hand on her, made the animal in me want to tear everyone the fuck apart. I would go on a rampage through Hell if it meant keeping her safe—which was exactly what I planned to do.
I stood and stared at Dante. “We keep this between us, you hear?”
“We need to tell Antonio.”
“I agree. But I don’t want this getting to Karina. We handle this on our own, and we’ll take care of it without her knowing.”
Dante shrugged. “It’s going to be a tough one keeping this from her, especially if we need to double security when it comes to her. She hates being chaperoned and guarded.”
I let out a breath. “I know.”
“Listen, Stone, maybe we should tell her. It’s going to be easier to protect her if she knows why we’re doing it.”
“No.” I scowled at him. “She’s my woman, Dante, and I am telling you she is not to know. Oka
y? She’s been through enough.”
Dante cursed, threw his head back, and stared at the ceiling before he finally looked back at me. “Fine. But believe me when I say war is right at our fucking doorstep, so you need to be prepared.”
“I know. But we wait for those cocksuckers to make the first move. Hopefully, they’re not as stupid as we suspect they are, and they won’t attempt to take us on.”
“Who is stupid, and who is going to take you on?”
I jerked around when I heard her voice and stared at Karina as she glanced between me and Dante.
Her face, her skin, everything about her always managed to make my heart beat a thousand miles an hour. And now, even after what Dante and I had just discussed, I was more determined than ever to hold on to what I had found in her. Love, passion, devotion—a fucking reason for living, and I’d be damned if I let anyone take that away from me.
“Oh, nothing.” I started toward her and plastered the biggest smile on my face. “I was just telling your brother my plan, and that anyone who was stupid enough to take me on would get their ass handed to them on a silver platter.”
I grabbed her and pulled her hard against me, allowing her sweet scent that always made my cock twitch to surround me.
She yelped and smiled as she stared up at me with those beautiful irises that had me completely and utterly pussy-whipped.
“And what is this plan of yours?” She bit her lower lip, and all I could think about was how goddamn much I wanted to be the one biting that lip. I made a mental note to do a lot of biting later.
With one arm around her waist, I pulled her up and pressed my lips against hers. Every fucking time I kissed this woman, it was as if we literally melted into each other. It was like something out of this fucking world.
In the far corner of my mind, I heard Dante clearing his throat like an asshole, but I ignored him and forced my tongue deeper into her mouth, loving the way she tasted. With a lot of goddamn effort, I eventually tore my lips from hers and gazed down at her before pulling a box out of my pocket, flicking it open.
She glanced at the open box, and her eyes widened when she saw what was inside.
“Lorik, what is this?”
I smiled one of my trademark smug, happy, bordering on arrogant smiles. “This is my plan, princess.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Which is?”
I leaned down, brushing my cheek against hers, and whispered into her ear, “To make you my wife.”
—The End—
Prologue
LAYLA
This had everything to do with him. The fact that my hands and feet were tied. My body feeling like it had been run over by a ten-ton truck. How my head felt as if a jackhammer had been pounding against my skull. My mouth so dry, my tongue felt like sandpaper.
Everything about this exact moment had his name written all over it. The fear crashing against every bone, the terror flowing through every vein. It was because of him. Because of one man.
“You don’t seem too comfortable over there.”
I lifted my head and glared at the son of a bitch sitting on a chair across from me, his face painfully familiar. “That’s very observant of you.”
His lips twitched, a grin starting at the edges. “I have a feeling this is going to be fun.”
My heart thudded against my ribs. “What’s going to be fun?”
“Using you.”
I swallowed hard. “Using me for what?”
He rose from his chair and buttoned his black suit jacket. Dark eyes stared at me, his wicked gaze causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. I watched him as he held out his hand, an unfamiliar man placing a pouch in his palm.
My gut felt like it had been filled with concrete, my lungs struggling to expand under the pressure of panic. But I never took my eyes off him.
While he pulled out a vial from the pouch, testing it, liquid squirting out of the thin needle, my heart started to creep up my throat.
“What is that? What is in that vial?”
A malicious smile was his only answer.
I tugged against the ropes keeping my arms tied to the armrests of the chair. The closer he came, the more I yanked and jerked against my restraints. He nodded toward someone behind me, and two strong hands grabbed my shoulders, keeping me in place. I whimpered, tears finally slipping down my cheeks. I’d never experienced fear like this.
I closed my eyes when I felt his hand wrap around my arm, the coldness of his touch turning my spine to ice.
“Using me for what?” I whispered, my voice quivering.
A sob rolled over my lips when I felt the needle pierce my skin, the burn spreading through my veins. Within seconds, the fight in me calmed, my mind slowly drifting off into a maze of incoherent thoughts, pictures and memories that made no sense.
“Using…me…for what?” My voice no longer sounded like my own, echoing from far, far away.
And then I heard another voice break through—a dark, menacing sound that shook me to the deepest part of my soul. “It’s going to be fun using you, Layla…to destroy him.”
No.
God, no.
Everything darkened, my body numb and weightless. But there was one word, one name that resonated through the shadows.
“Dante.”
Chapter 1
Dante
Four months later
I needed a new ceiling design. The circles and swirls were making me dizzy. Or maybe it was my brain telling me to fucking sleep. I’d been lying there for two hours staring at the ceiling, listening to the rhythmic breathing next to me.
It was them, the women—the sex that made it impossible for me to sleep. A few hours ago, the three of us were fucking like savages, the black silk sheets covered in sweat. Big round tits, curvy asses, and tight pussies entertained me all night long. One would think I would be exhausted enough to at least get a good night’s sleep. But no. Not me. Not since my mind always wandered into the past after I indulged in some good old-fashioned fuckery. The irony of it all—the only time I was able to forget the past was when I found myself balls deep inside pussy. Other than that, the memories clung to me like a disease, and all the unanswered questions mind-fucked me every goddamn day.
I took a deep breath and tried to steer my mind in a different direction. I thought about Karina, my little sister who had a giant target around her neck. It had been months since Lorik put a bullet in Enzio Mancuso’s chest. We’d been expecting a retaliation attempt from the Mancusos ever since. But nothing. The fuckers were quiet…too quiet. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was coming. The silence before the storm.
Lorik, Antonio, and I had managed to double the security around Karina without her knowing. Lorik was right. The less Karina knew, the better. She had been through enough because of Enzio, the son of a bitch who now rotted in a damn casket somewhere. I was pretty sure the bastard had his own little corner in hell.
But something wasn’t right. The Mancusos hadn’t made a single move yet. It was like they retreated into the shadows, which was highly fucking unlikely. Lorik killed their underboss, for Christ’s sake. Stefano Mancuso’s firstborn son.
No way. A war was coming; I knew it. I could smell it in the air with every goddamn breath I took.
I gave it a few more minutes before I finally decided to give up on the idea of getting any sleep. Just as I wanted to move away from the two bodies cocooning me, I heard my phone buzz on the bedside table.
I reached over one of the twins, who stirred a little, and grabbed my phone.
“Yeah.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, my head starting to pound from lack of sleep. “Hello?” Silence. I checked the caller ID, but there was no number. “Hello? Who is this?” Still nothing.
Seriously?
I hung up and tossed the phone on the mattress as I lay back. Both of the twins moaned and reached across my chest, soft hands roaming over my body. There was a reason they called them the insatiable two, but right
now, I was all fucked out.
I stilled their hands with my palms. “It’s been fun, ladies, but I need to get an early start.”
More moans followed as I got off the bed, grabbed a pair of pants, and sauntered to the bathroom.
I closed the door, the odd phone call crossing my mind for another second. It could have been a prank, but I’d learned in our world one should never assume, so I made a mental note to get the call checked out.
My eye caught the laundry basket standing in the corner. The sleeve of my dress shirt wasn’t properly tucked in, the bloodstain clearly visible on the white fabric. It was a reminder of what I had done before I invited the twins over. My job. That was what I had done—what I’d been doing for the last three years.
We weren’t saints. We were the Valentis. This town belonged to us. Nothing happened on these streets without us knowing about it. Those who knew us either feared us or were loyal to us. And those who crossed us—well, let’s just say the blood on my shirt was an example of what happened to those who did.
Antonio and I were the ones who took care of the delicate matters of our business. Our father didn’t trust anyone else to do it, which was why my path to hell was probably paved with the bones of those whose blood I had on my hands. But some, more than others, deserved their fate—those who thought they could steal from us. Those who thought they could get away with fucking with the people who were loyal to our family, people who lived in peace on our streets. No one came into this town, fucked with our people, and got away with it. We rewarded loyalty, whether it be with money, support, or blood.
I took a long shower. A really long shower. Even though I had washed away the blood earlier, it felt like it still clung to my skin. There was no amount of water or soap able to wash away the blood I had on my hands. But this life was all I had—all I knew. There was a time, a long time ago, when I thought there would be more to my life than loyalty, blood, death, and power. But that was the dream of a man who sought something he could never have. Unconditional love and loyalty.