EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2018 Winter Sloane
ISBN: 978-1-77339-743-6
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Editor: Karyn White
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
To my readers, I hope you enjoy reading Carver and Yas’ story as much as I loved writing it.
TAKEN BY THE KINGPIN
Winter Sloane
Copyright © 2018
Prologue
Ten Years Ago
Every breath Carver drew from his lungs felt like agony. His chest heaved. He clenched and unclenched his fists, urging himself to rise again, but all the fight had been drained out of his body. Carver settled for slumping against the dumpster behind him. No one would come looking for a nobody like him in a dirty alleyway like this. Orphaned young men like him, born and raised in this side of the city, had no future if they didn’t prove they were assets to assholes like Gunn.
He’d thought Gunn and the rest of the Family would be his new family. It didn’t take Carver long to see the reality of his situation. One screw-up landed him here, a broken mess, and it wasn’t even his fault. Gunn needed someone else to blame, and Carver had the bad luck to be the nearest flunky to blame.
Wearing the suit and being given a gun had seemed to mean much more when he first started, made him feel special. Different. If he died tonight and didn’t return to the Family’s doorstep, no one would give a damn. Carver was easily replaceable. There were always hungry cutthroat youths in the city looking for a quick way out, a warm roof, bed. Food. Basic essentials. Like him, they’d do anything to survive.
Thunder sounded in the distance. Just his luck. Rain fell in a drizzle at first, drenching his torn clothes, washing all the grime and dirt away. Was it his imagination or could he make out a phone ringing nearby? Who would be foolish enough to walk on this side of the neighborhood? Didn’t matter.
Two words flashed in his mind. Prey. Opportunity.
He’d been stripped of his gun, along with his wallet and phone. He reached for the knife that Gunn had forgotten to take away when he dropped Carver here to die. Carver’s fingers ached, but he managed hold the knife without shaking. He forced himself to stand. Carver stumbled once, twice, but managed to stand unsteadily on his two feet.
He gripped the knife tightly in his fist and waited.
“Hold on, I think I see someone. I’ll ask for directions,” said a young female voice.
Carver froze in his footsteps as a young woman with a pink umbrella came within his sights. An innocent face with the brightest blue eyes he’d ever seen locked gazes with him. She was a few years younger than he was, and despite the umbrella, water managed to clump her rich, dark brown curls. She had a battered black backpack over one shoulder, wore dark skinny jeans that highlighted the shape of her thighs and calves, pink sneakers and a pale pink sweater that failed to hide her luscious curves.
When she bit her lower lip, Carver couldn’t help but wonder how kissing an angel would taste.
“Um, hi,” she began, then turned her phone off to narrow her eyes at him. “Oh my God. What happened to you? I’ll get help right away. I’ll call the police.”
Carver moved without thinking, flinging her phone away before she managed to dial 911. The police had a fifteen-minute response time in this area, but getting the local coppers involved would only get him in further trouble. She must have seen his knife, because she widened her eyes. She closed her umbrella, letting more droplets of rain drench her pretty hair, her clothes, and tightened her hold on the umbrella handle.
Did she plan on using that pink frilly thing as a weapon? All thoughts of robbing her had vanished when he caught sight of her pink umbrella. This woman looked like a college student and didn’t look she had much on her either.
Carver managed to find his tongue. “No cops.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “Please don’t hurt me.”
The knife must have scared her, so he tucked it back inside the sheath in his torn jacket. To prove he no longer meant her harm, he bent down, pain shooting through his entire body as he picked up her phone and handed it back to here. “Here.”
She hesitated for a moment, before plucking it from his fingers.
“Where are you heading to?” he asked. She kept staring at him, as if he’d sprouted a second head.
“You said you were lost,” he reminded her, patience at an end.
“To 323 Street,” she murmured. “I was looking for the subway.”
“You missed a turn,” he said, trying to organize his mind.
“I don’t understand,” she said after he gave her directions. “I thought you were about to rob me.”
“I almost did. I don’t have anything on me, but then I saw your face.” Carver couldn’t help it. The rain made the fabric of her sweater cling to her creamy skin. He could make out the straps of her bra, the cups that barely contained her generously-sized breasts and her tits poking out. He cleared his throat. “You should get going.”
“I can’t leave you like this. If you don’t want the cops involved, then—” She trailed off, swung her backpack, and unzipped the front to take out a wallet.
“Pink’s your favorite color, huh?” He didn’t know why he made that remark, why he wanted her to linger, chat a little longer when he needed medical attention.
Her cheeks and neck turned red, an endearing color on her. She fished out the bills from her wallet and offered them to him.
“I can’t accept this. This looks like everything you had,” he said.
He began to shove the bills back, but she stubbornly spread out his fingers and placed the bills in his palm. She closed his hand, and he stared at her in disbelief. Was this a dream? Maybe Carver had died in that alleyway and this was his version of heaven, because in the real world, at least the one he grew up in, he’d learned nothing came free and kindness was nonexistent.
Shame burned through his entire body. Carver even thought of taking her money and her phone, and instead, she offered it up to him so freely.
“Promise me you’ll get help?”
“You don’t even know me and you’re giving me all your money?”
“You look like you need it more than I do. Return it to me when you can if accepting my money makes you feel guilty.”
“I’ll never forget this, angel. I’m Carver. What’s your name?” he asked, finally accepting her cash.
Carver would never forget this moment. He’d brand it forever in his mind along with his memory of her. He was a nobody, a disposable flunky, but he’d learn from his mistakes.
“I’m Yasmin McDowell,” she said.
Pretty name for a pretty girl. Had nobody ever told her not to entrust her name to strangers she just met? Meeting Yasmin though, felt like some kind of destiny, although Carver couldn’t exactly explain why.
“Then I give you my promise, Yasmin. One day, I’ll repay this debt to you.”
Chapter One
Present
“This meeting will be quick, I promise you, sweetheart,” her father commented.
Yasmin glanced at his trembling hands on the steering wheel and let out a sigh. He deserved another tongue-lashing, but starting an argument now wouldn’t help either of them
. She bit her lip and stared out the windows, her stomach knotting. She wiped her sweaty palms over her dress.
When she moved in back with him a month ago, what did she expect? That he’d change after all this time? Once an addict, always an addict. Yasmin had been helping him pay off his gambling debts since high school. No surprise he’d managed to dig himself another hole so soon.
“Don’t you have work today?” he asked.
Larry was extra chatty today. For conversation’s sake maybe, but it was a laughable attempt. He’d never been around when she needed him.
“I got laid off my job, remember?” Yasmin didn’t add she’d lost her job at the diner thanks to him.
Larry knew she had a hard-ass boss who didn’t tolerate any of his staff being late, but he’d use his one phone call from the local jail, begging her to bail him out. Again. When she moved out to a different city with her then-boyfriend, she’d thought the days of getting Larry out of jail were over. In the end, she returned full circle, back to the crappy apartment she grew up with, jobless and still nursing a broken heart. I can do better than a fat bitch like you, were the hurtful words her ex hurled at her. Even now, they still stung. She’d spent her entire life feeling uncomfortable with her body shape. Brad had told her he didn't care, but that just proved what a slick liar he was.
“Ah. Right. I could use a drink right now. Hand me that bottle inside the compartment in front of you.”
Yasmin stared at him in disbelief, then pursed her lips. “No. We both need to be sober, alert. Jesus. Do you have any idea how much trouble we’re in? We can’t call the police because we’re meeting the friggin’ kingpin who has them in his pockets.”
She practically yelled out the last words. Her heart beat so fast, it threatened to burst out of her chest. Whoever said keeping emotions inside was helpful? Yasmin thought if she could go in with a cool head, a plan, then they might just sort out this mess in a logical manner. She was wrong. It took all of her self-control not to puke in the car.
She dug her nails into her palms. The pain helped her think. Yasmin breathed in and out.
“You’re putting me on edge,” he grumbled. “No one asked you to go with me.”
“You did, last night,” she told him dryly. “You were probably too drunk to remember.”
She reached out for the faded photograph on the car dashboard, lost in a sea of old burger wrappers and empty cigarette boxers. Yasmin fingered the edge. Stains covered the picture, but she could still make out three smiling strangers. A happy family looked back at her, before things turned for the worse.
I’m sorry, Mom, I can’t keep my promise. It’s too hard watching over Dad when he’s hellbent on a path to self-destruction. When you passed away, he died, too, and a stranger took his place.
Yasmin tucked the photo inside her handbag. Larry didn’t seem to notice. When, she wondered, had she started calling him by his first name? When he stopped giving a fuck about her life and decided he was done being a dad?
“Fine. Stop the car. I’ll get off and you can deal with Anatoli and his guys,” she said in a hard voice she hardly recognized.
Silence. Yasmin waited for it, for his tune to change. Larry didn’t slow down the car.
“Please, sweetheart. Don’t be like that. You know sometimes I say shit I don’t mean. I could really use the emotional support, you know?”
She crossed her arms across her chest. Outside the car window, she spotted boarded windows, graffiti sprayed over old and abandoned apartment buildings. If Yasmin looked closer, she might even see sharp little eyes, hungry opportunists with quick hands and sharp knives. And she’d thought their old neighborhood was rough.
“Are you sure this is the right address?” she asked instead.
Larry didn’t need to act in front of her. She knew his moods. He could turn nasty and vindictive one moment and a pathetic and pleading mess the next.
“Yup, Anatoli gave clear instructions. You know what to say, right?”
“Let’s go over this again. We only have a fourth of what they’re asking. We’ll negotiate for more time. We’ll both find a way out of this mess.”
Yasmin thought saying those words repeatedly would give her strength, some reassurance, but she felt all hollowed out. Despair festered inside of her like a poison, working its way from her innards to the rest of her. Yasmin knew even if Anatoli and the damn crime boss he worked for gave them a chance, Larry wouldn’t do a thing.
Yasmin knew what would happen again. She’d still be the one working her fingers to the bone. Larry would promise to keep away from the gambling dens and casinos, for a few days anyway, before giving in. An endless cycle.
“We’re here.”
She jerked in her seat, staring at the empty parking lot of the strip club. The afternoon sun felt hot on her face. It would still be a few hours before the strippers and customers would arrive. For a second, her chest tightened, and it hurt to breathe. Yasmin grabbed the handle and got out on unsteady legs. Her entire life it felt like she’d been drowning, running a rat race with no finish line.
Why couldn’t she just walk away from her father?
****
“These figures are next month’s financial projections for the Aurora,” Benny said, sliding a tablet across the table.
Carver finished his beer and nodded, listening with half an ear as Benny droned on about numbers. Fuck, but he was bored out of his mind. Benny had been working for him for five years, and he didn’t hire just anyone to handle the Family’s finances. Besides, anyone in his employ knew what would happen to those who betrayed him. Mercy and forgiveness weren’t in Carver Edward’s dictionary.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Anatoli walking in the club, hands shoved in the pockets of his trousers, lazy smile on his face. Carver recognized that look. Anatoli had that smug look when he smelled blood in the water.
Two other suits strolled in, followed by two figures with slumped shoulders and defeated expressions on their faces.
Under the club’s dim lights, Carver couldn’t make out their features and didn’t give a damn. Benny mentioned Anatoli would be bringing over some poor sucker whose debt to the Family was due. Most of the time, Carver let Anatoli run their money-lending business. Ruthless and efficient, Anatoli also possessed a surprising head for numbers. Anatoli knew his shit.
When Carver had washed the streets with blood and crowned himself as the new kingpin of the city, he’d carefully picked the men he wanted by his side. Usually, he trusted Anatoli’s judgment—until he saw her.
Carver gripped the beer bottle in his hand so hard that cracks appeared across the amber-colored glass. Benny paused, looked up from the tablet, and followed his gaze. Carter first turned his attention to the sloppy old bastard with the unkempt hair and nervous hands. He looked ready to bolt, gaze repeatedly shifting between the two suits who blocked the way to the entrance. The old man only seemed concerned about saving his ass.
Yasmin though, she stood with her chin raised, her back straight. Her heels made a clicking noise on the slick floors.
Ten years ago, Carver had been a nobody, a speck of dirt easily crushed under the expensive Italian shoes of a second-rate mobster like Gunn and Sal. A decade could turn an opportunist to the most powerful man in the city, with the right motivation. To reach the top, he’d climbed over a hundred corpses, but Carver never forgot the girl who saved an up-and-coming monster and offered him kindness. All the money she’d given him added up to twenty bucks, enough for his ride to the hospital, but if she hadn’t offered him everything she had, he probably wouldn't be where he was today.
A decade. Most people said it was an impossible task, but he proved them all wrong.
She didn’t know she’d damned herself in the process. Yasmin might have forgotten all about him, but the memory of her remained seared in his mind.
Like him, Yasmin McDowell had changed over the years, turning into a woman with steel in her blue eyes. Fuck, but the matching blue
sundress she wore highlighted her tempting curves. Possessiveness surged through him. Red haze covered his vision. Seeing the way Anatoli and the two other suits eyed her like a piece of meat, he cracked his inked knuckles.
Anatoli was useful, an essential cog in the well-oiled machine of the Family’s many operations, but if Anatoli made the mistake of going near, let alone touching his angel, Carver would lose it. A beast lived inside his skin, one that howled out one word ever since he spotted Yasmin. Mine.
Carver reeled in his control. His vision cleared. He unclenched his fists, but a tic still rode his cheek. Anatoli and the others didn’t know Yasmin was his and therefore untouchable, but soon they would.
Carver had been keeping track of her movements without her knowledge. With his connections, it was easy. Carver knew she’d moved out of her old house after graduating from college, that she’d tried to put new roots in another city.
He told himself an angel like her didn’t deserve to be tied down by a monster like him. When he heard she was back, Carver knew deep in his bones she was meant to become his woman. He intended to wait, to come up with a strategy to win her over, to convince her that since that day he’d never looked at another woman again. When she’d lived a thousand miles away, it was easy to keep his distance.
Too late for that now.
Seeing her in the flesh was so much different than looking at the photographs taken of her by the PI he hired. So much better.
Carver bet she would taste so fucking sweet, better than honey. She would feel so soft under his rough and callused hands. Pliant. His dick thickened in his trousers. How many times had he lain in his big ass bed, imagining it was her soft curves underneath him? Those big blue innocent eyes looking up at him, her lips parted with need.
Carver didn’t believe in a higher power. Men and women carved out their own paths, but for some reason, fate landed Yasmin here. That couldn’t be sheer coincidence.
Taken by the Kingpin Page 1