Liar's Lullaby: A Dark Mafia Romance (Mazzeo Mafia Book 1)

by Nicole Fox

Of course, that also means the house has been infiltrated.

  Which means Evie might be in danger.

  My heart hammers painfully against my chest as I duck past the security point that directly precedes the gate.

  The first thing I notice is the shrapnel pockmarking the concrete driveway.

  Then I see the bodies.

  “Oh, God,” I breathe.

  I lurch forward like I’m sleepwalking and find myself standing in front of two bodies. One is lying face down, so I don’t see who it is.

  But the second body is angled towards me.

  His legs are twisted unnaturally, his neck craned to the side. His brown eyes stare unseeingly at the sky.

  A dour-faced man with a mole on his chin.

  He was the last one to see me before I left the compound. The one who offered me a ride if I wanted it.

  I don’t even know his name.

  But I feel incredible sadness as I look down at him.

  “Friend of yours?”

  I gasp and whirl around, just as two armed men converge around me.

  They look like hungry wolves ready to make a kill.

  And I’ve just offered myself up on a platter.

  “You’re the infamous Charlotte Dunn,” the taller one of the two sneers. “A bit late to the party, are we?”

  “Kazimierz sent you?” I ask guardedly.

  “He sends his greetings,” the shorter one tells me. His eyes run over my body like he’s already undressing me.

  I feel my heart constrict, but I try to breathe through the panic.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask.

  The tall one raises his eyebrows. “Why do you think, kurwa?” Then he looks towards his comrade. “We can use her as leverage. To get the girl.”

  To get the girl.

  No.

  No.

  No, no, no!

  “She’s not here,” I say immediately.

  Both their heads snap to me.

  “What?”

  “The girl is not here,” I reply confidently. “She’s been moved to a safe location. You won’t find her on the compound.”

  “She’s lying,” the short one snarls. He’s got small, beady eyes and a sharp nose that makes him look like a hawk.

  “We’ll just have to fuck her ‘til she tells the truth,” the taller one suggests with a sick cackle.

  He moves forward and grabs my arm. Too fast for me to dodge.

  His fingers close around my flesh as he drags me up to the house. More shattered glass. More bodies.

  But not as many as I expected.

  The whole time I’ve lived on these grounds, they’ve been crawling with Mazzeo men.

  Where are they all now?

  And where is Lucio?

  The moment we step into the house’s main foyer, I hear a round of gunshots. They reach us from a distance, and I surmise that the fight is happening a few floors above us.

  “Where’s that coming from?” the tall one asks. “Aleksy!”

  “Cibor!” A heavily muscled man in a bulletproof vest comes in from another room around the corner. “There are more men upstairs.”

  “I heard,” Cibor replies, glancing towards me. “But I found us a bargaining chip.”

  The muscled man called Aleksy looks me up and down. “This is the rat?”

  “I’m not a fucking rat,” I hiss, the words tearing from my lips.

  All three men chuckle darkly.

  “Let’s go,” Cibor says.

  Still gripping my arm, he pushes me in front and forces me up the stairs.

  The short soldier stays behind as a lookout on the first floor. I’m forced to lead the other two up to the second level.

  More dead bodies litter the ground here. Again, they’re mostly Polish.

  I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or not.

  I hear more gunshots and I freeze. As do the two men behind me.

  “It’s coming from this fucking floor,” Cibor growls.

  “Down the corridor,” Aleksy confirms.

  Cibor lets go of my arm and I massage it with relief. Then a second later, I feel the barrel of his gun at my back.

  “Move, bitch,” he grunts at me.

  I go where he wants me to, but there’s silence now. At least on this floor.

  I can still hear the sounds of commotion and struggle, but it’s muffled and far away. It might even be taking place outside of the house.

  “There’s someone hiding on this floor,” Aleksy says.

  Cibor frowns. “We sent six men up here.”

  I feel hope burgeon inside me.

  There’s only one man I know who can take on a small army and still come out on top.

  And he won’t be happy to see these pigs touching me.

  “There! The room in the corner,” Cibor says.

  He prods the gun into my back, making me wince in pain.

  I start moving faster, down the airy corridor. The massive window at the end is broken. Shards of glass are scattered across the wooden floors.

  I don’t know how I know—maybe it’s just instinct—but I can feel that Lucio is close.

  He’s in the room at the end of the hall. He’s the one who’s managed to take down all these men.

  He’s lying in wait.

  And I need to tip him off somehow.

  As we approach the doorway, I deliberately place my combat boots right onto a smattering of glass.

  The crunch is subtle, but pronounced enough to be heard in the relative silence.

  Cibor’s hand shoots out instantly and snakes around my neck as he tugs me back. My back collides with his chest and I feel his hot, sticky breath on my neck.

  “Silence, kurwa,” he curses. It doesn’t take a genius to deduce that “kurwa” is not a term of endearment.

  He keeps his hand around my throat as he pushes me into the room.

  It’s obvious what he’s doing—using me as a human shield.

  But the upside of that is that I get the first glance around.

  I’ve been in this library before, when Evie and I were playing hide-and-seek weeks ago now.

  I spy movement behind the bookshelf. A blonde flash. I bite down on my tongue to keep from calling out her name.

  Why had I thought that Evie would be away from the house?

  Why had I thought she would be safe from all this chaos, this violence?

  The truth is, I hadn’t actually thought it through. I’d be living on nothing but hope.

  And now, I’m about to watch a little girl lose her life.

  “There’s someone behind the bookshelf,” Aleksy growls urgently.

  “No!” I scream.

  Then I hear the gunshot.

  My body goes cold as I drop to the floor, pain scorching through my body like fire.

  He shot me.

  He shot me.

  Wait. Did he shoot me?

  I realize that don’t feel pain. I feel… numbness.

  But I can move.

  I’m vaguely aware of another gunshot. And a struggle erupting just behind me.

  I flip around onto my back and I see two men locked together in a brawl to the death. Then I see Aleksey’s face.

  And an arm around his neck, choking the life out of him. Turning him purple.

  It registers a second later that I’m all too familiar with the offending hand.

  I know those fingers. I know those tattoos.

  It’s Lucio.

  “Lucio,” I whisper.

  He had been lying in wait behind the door. He waited until we stepped fully inside, until he could attack the Polish thugs from behind.

  I glance to my side.

  Cibor is lying face down on the floor, blood pooling around his head. Aleksy and Lucio are still grappling for control.

  Then I see a gun, lying only a few feet away from him.

  I don’t think.

  I just move.

  I dive. My hand closes around the sweat-slicked metal.

&nb
sp; I raise the gun. Aim as best as I can. Pull the trigger.

  I’m not prepared for the recoil. The force of it pushes me back against the floor and I knock the back of my head on the corner of the coffee table.

  Stars scorch across my vision. My breath is coming in hot, desperate spurts.

  But I don’t have time to be hurt. I need to get up. I need to fire again.

  I shake off the shock and struggle to my knees.

  When my vision clears, I see the aftermath.

  Lucio is alive.

  He’s standing there, breathing heavily. Aleksy lies dead at his feet.

  I got him.

  The gun slips from my shaking hands as Lucio approaches me. He drops to his knees in front of me and grabs my face in both of his hands.

  “Charlotte,” he whispers, blood marring his beautiful features. It makes him look like a fallen angel.

  “Evie?” I gasp. It’s all I can manage.

  “She’s here,” he tells me. “She’s safe.”

  He grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet. I stumble after him, towards the bookshelf. The moment Evie sees me, she explodes from her hiding place and grabs me around the waist.

  “Oh, princess,” I murmur, clinging to her.

  Huge sobs roll through her little body. I just hold her tight and ride the waves with her. There’s nothing else to do but be here. Be present.

  I glance over her at Lucio.

  He looks haunted.

  “Evie,” he says gently. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”

  I frown. “What? What did she find out?”

  “Charlotte,” Evie wails, looking up at me with tear-filled eyes. “Mommy’s dead. Lucio told me Mommy’s dead.”

  Fuck.

  I look at Lucio in shock.

  He chose now to tell her the truth about her mother?

  He shakes his head at me, as though he knows exactly what I’m thinking.

  “It just came out,” he whispers distantly. “Everything happened so fast. Evie, tesoro, I’m sorry, but we’ve got to get out of here.”

  Evie just shakes her head and clings to me.

  “Shit,” Lucio growls, as his phone starts ringing.

  He answers it immediately.

  “Adriano, it was a fucking ambush,” he snaps. “They’re still on the compound…. Okay… how long?... Good.”

  With the barrel of his gun, he pushes aside the curtain that blocks his view of the garden.

  “Hurry,” he replies, just before hanging up.

  “Is help on the way?” I ask, stroking Evie’s hair.

  “Yes,” Lucio replies. “They’ll be here in five minutes.”

  “Okay—”

  He puts his finger up to his lips, silencing me immediately. Someone’s coming, Lucio mouths to me.

  I squat to the ground, keeping a tight grip on Evie.

  “Hey,” I whisper to her. “Evie, I need you to go back behind the bookshelf now.”

  She shakes her head fiercely. One look at the shelf tells me that there’s not enough room for both of us back there.

  “Please, Evie?” I beg her.

  She just shakes her head as the tears keep coming.

  I look towards Lucio desperately, but he’s reloading his guns. Then he passes one to me.

  “Don’t be afraid to use it,” he tells me.

  Once upon a time, maybe I would’ve been.

  But now, I’m not.

  Not if it means protecting Evie.

  Not if it means helping Lucio.

  I’ve done it before.

  And I’ll do it again now.

  Lucio glances at me and holds up two fingers.

  Two men.

  We can handle that.

  He gestures for me to get behind the sofa with Evie. Then he moves across the room to stand behind the door. The same place he’d been hiding when I had walked in with Aleksy and Cibor.

  A voice sounds from the corridor. “They came up here with the girl.”

  I recognize that voice immediately. The short, scary-looking soldier who’d been with Cibor.

  “Doesn’t look like anyone’s here.”

  “Someone’s fucking here.”

  They’re only a few feet away.

  I can’t risk looking over or around the sofa in case they notice me through the open door. Evie’s gripping me tightly, her hands clutching my leg the moment I let go of her hand.

  Then I hear them step into the room.

  I get on my belly and crawl forward. There’s a little table next to the sofa that gives me a small amount of coverage. I can see their feet.

  I can see one of Lucio’s feet, too.

  He’s about to move.

  So I do, too.

  The second I hear Lucio’s gun go off, I pull my own trigger.

  I hit my target in the thigh. He screams as his knees hit the ground with a painful thump. Blood splatters.

  “Stay here, Evie!” I tell her urgently.

  Then I scramble to my feet just in time to see Lucio shoot the second man in the face. Which leaves only the man I’ve shot. The short, scary one.

  I move forward to stand in front of him.

  I want him to see my face before I kill him.

  I point my gun at his head.

  His eyes go wide with shock. Anger. Fear.

  And then—

  “Wait!”

  I look up at Lucio. He’s the one who spoke.

  “I want answers first,” he says grimly.

  My body goes numb again.

  Lucio steps forward and places his foot right on the gunshot wound I’ve inflicted on the soldier.

  The man roars like a wounded animal before he dissolves into blubbering like a baby from the pain.

  “I have only one question,” Lucio tells him over his cries, his expression black with vengeful promise. “And if you answer me, the pain will stop.”

  I glance behind, worried about Evie.

  Worried about what she’s hearing. What she’s seeing.

  “How the fuck did you know about my daughter?” Lucio asks.

  My heart stalls.

  The soldier glares at Lucio for a long moment.

  Is it possible he’s not going to answer?

  My heart sinks as his eyes flicker to me.

  “We have a rat on the inside,” he sputters, through the pain.

  Lucio shakes his head. “What the fuck are you talking about? Rocco is dead.”

  Then the soldier’s mouth curls into a sneer. “Not him.”

  Then he raises one hand. Slowly. So fucking slowly.

  It feels like years pass between the time Lucio’s question leaves his lips and when the Polish soldier finally answers.

  He points that shaking, bloodstained hand at me.

  As he does, he says in a horrible rasp, “You’ve got a rat in your bed, Lucio Mazzeo. And the only one to blame is yourself.”

  And I don’t even have to look Lucio in the eye to know—he understands everything.

  All my lies have been dragged into the light.

  TO BE CONTINUED

  Lucio and Charlotte’s story will be continued in Book 2 of the Mazzeo Mafia duet, SINNER’S LULLABY.

  CLICK HERE TO GET IT NOW!

  Mailing List

  Sign up to my mailing list!

  New subscribers receive a FREE steamy bad boy romance novel.

  Click the link below to join.

  https://sendfox.com/nicolefox

  Also by Nicole Fox

  Kovalyov Bratva Duet

  Gilded Cage (Book 1)

  Gilded Tears (Book 2)

  Princes of Ravenlake Academy (Bully Romance)

  *Can be read as standalones!

  Cruel Prep

  Cruel Academy

  Cruel Elite

  Bratva Crime Syndicate

  *Can be read in any order!

  Lies He Told Me

  Scars He Gave Me

  Sins He Taught Me

  Belluci Mafi
a Trilogy

  Corrupted Angel (Book 1)

  Corrupted Queen (Book 2)

  Corrupted Empire (Book 3)

  De Maggio Mafia Duet

  Devil in a Suit (Book 1)

  Devil at the Altar (Book 2)

  Kornilov Bratva Duet

  Married to the Don (Book 1)

  Til Death Do Us Part (Book 2)

  Heirs to the Bratva Empire

  *Can be read in any order!

  Kostya

  Maksim

  Andrei

  Tsezar Bratva

  Nightfall (Book 1)

  Daybreak (Book 2)

  Russian Crime Brotherhood

  *Can be read in any order!

  Owned by the Mob Boss

  Unprotected with the Mob Boss

  Knocked Up by the Mob Boss

  Sold to the Mob Boss

  Stolen by the Mob Boss

  Trapped with the Mob Boss

  Volkov Bratva

  Broken Vows (Book 1)

  Broken Hope (Book 2)

  Broken Sins (standalone)

  Other Standalones

  Vin: A Mafia Romance

  Box Sets

  Bratva Mob Bosses (Russian Crime Brotherhood Books 1-6)

  Tsezar Bratva (Tsezar Bratva Duet Books 1-2)

  Heirs to the Bratva Empire

  The Mafia Dons Collection

  The Don’s Corruption