“You going to a funeral?” I joked.
She shook her head. “You really do have a mouth on you. Is that how you killed Jenner?”
I flinched. “Jenner?”
“FBI. My team member. Jenner.”
Shit, shit, shit.
“I don’t remember, there’ve been so many guys that…” I shrugged. “Is there a reason you’re in my room? I mean, I get it, you’re FBI, but have I done something wrong, agent…?” I waited.
“Giana,” she said. “My name’s Giana.”
“Pretty name. Italian?”
“You killed them. You killed all of them! You killed my brother. My father.” Her face went bright red. “And you killed Jenner, I know you did. And now, I’m going to kill you. That’s why I’m here. Funny how the downfall of the De Lange line didn’t break the Five Families but made them stronger. It’s complete bullshit.” She was almost talking to herself. “Do you hear me? Bullshit!”
I held up my hands. “I hear you. I do. I’m sorry about your brother and dad.”
“No, you’re not!” She jumped to her feet. “The mafia’s never sorry. Chase Abandonato is a motherfucking senator! You think he’s ever going to be tried for his sins? For assassinating an entire family line!”
I sighed. “I’m not justifying what he did, but you do realize what the De Lange Family is guilty of, right? Why they were pushed out of the fold? And even now, we still welcome them back in. But everything comes at a price.”
“Death is death.” She sneered. “And it doesn’t bring them back. But I can get vengeance. Why else work for the law? Why not take it into my own hands?”
“Except…” came Tank’s voice. When the hell had he snuck in? “You don’t work for the FBI anymore, do you Giana?”
“Shut up!” She pointed the gun at him, then back at me. “You’re dead to me. You chose THEM!”
“Yes.” Tank nodded slowly. “Thompsons said you could have your old job back, Giana. You just need to put the gun down.”
She faltered. “He wouldn’t… He found out too much.”
“Call him yourself.” He jerked his head toward the table. “He just told me. Said I should turn my badge in to you.”
He reached into his pocket and threw the badge at her, giving me enough time to kick the gun out of her hand while he tackled her to the floor.
I scrambled for the Glock, grabbed it, and turned it on her while Tank punched her in the face, knocking her out cold.
Shaking, I held the weapon out to him. “Well, that was a dramatic post-sex experience.”
“Come here.” He pulled me against his chest at about the same time my door burst open with my dad charging in, a gun in each hand. The rest of the bosses followed, and then they peered around us and laughed.
“She’s out, all right.” Dad picked up her arm and dropped it. “I’m assuming Tank’s work?”
Tank held me tightly. “Actually, your daughter kicked the gun away. I got to take the punch.”
“Next time, I get to punch,” I grumbled. “Punching’s more fun.”
“Bloodthirsty little girl,” Tank said under his breath.
“I’m not small,” I argued.
All the men stared at me as if I had two heads.
“I’m delicate.” I sniffed.
That got a laugh out of Tank.
“What happened? All I know is Tank was running toward your bungalow, so I assumed the worst…” Dad asked.
I filled them in on what happened, shocking the hell out of my dad and the rest of the bosses as they discussed a point of action for Giana. Tank said he’d talk to the local authorities and put her under arrest, and an agent would fly her back to the States for disciplinary action.
Which didn’t sound fun.
By the time they were all done talking, and the proper authorities had taken Giana away—kicking and screaming, mind you —I was exhausted, starving, and really wanted a margarita.
Dad came over and kissed me on the forehead. “I’m leaving you in good hands, but let’s try for no more attempted killing these next few months, all right?”
I nodded. “I’ll try.”
His expression was grim. “Maybe try a little harder. Your mother already threatened me last night after I told her what happened to you last year.”
I laughed. “She use her favorite knife?”
“Carries that thing everywhere, you know that.”
I laughed.
He paused for a second, his eyes searching mine. “I love you, Tiny. I will always love you more than my life, more than my next breath—blood staining your hands or not. You’re mine.”
A tear slid down my cheek before I could stop it as I rushed into his arms, slamming my face against his chest. Dad always smelled so good, he was so strong, so perfect.
My hero.
“I’m s-sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he whispered. “Just promise you won’t make it easy for Tank, all right?”
“I’ll give him hell.” I sniffled.
Dad barked out a laugh. “I believe it. Now, go relax…”
His face went a bit red.
“Dad, is relax a code word for sex?”
“Oh, God.” Dad backed up slowly.
“Daddy, where do babies come from?” I teased as he started walking away from me. “But, Daddy, I need to know!”
“She’s your problem now, Tank,” Dad called after him. “Good luck!”
“You’re abandoning me?” Tank yelled.
The door shut.
“You’re impossible.” Tank rested his chin on my head. “You should go easy on him, he’s getting old…”
“No, you’re old.”
“This again?”
“The truth? Yes, Tank.”
“How about”—he spun me around in his arms—“we go hang out with everyone at the pool? They have nachos, margaritas…”
“Mmmmmm.” I wrapped my arms around him. “Sounds great. But first…” I took his shorts down with me as I went to my knees. “I think it’s only right that I thank my hero for coming after me.”
“Gonna be coming before you if you keep looking at me like that,” he teased.
I gripped him in my hand. “Yeah, you will.”
“Damn, your mouth…” He dug his hands into my hair. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Nope.” I licked his tip.
He shuddered. “God, you’re annoying.”
“I bite.”
“But I love you anyway…” His body shuddered.
I looked up. “You love me?”
Tank frowned. “I loved you the minute you finally started talking to me last year and tripped me then said, ‘Oh, hey.’”
I laughed. “That was a good day.”
“I loved you when you told me to go die too, but it was more of an I love her, but I hate her when she says that with her mouth—while her eyes drink me in.”
“I was afraid.”
“Let your fear go….” His eyes were heavy. “You’re mine now.”
“Yes.” I returned my attention to his very perfect body. “You are.”
Chapter Fourteen
Tank
“Some vacation.” I grinned while Junior and Serena exchanged vows out in front of the ocean. It was perfect.
Scary, but perfect.
And only scary because somehow Serena had convinced every single boss/uncle sitting up front to wear matching white linen shirts.
Meaning, all I saw were angry tattoos swirling around their crossed arms, and the guns strapped to their chests below the clothing.
They were their own army.
And the pictures? Well, they would definitely show the weapons. Poor caterers kept tripping in the sand as they set up the reception out closer to the water.
It would be hilarious to watch if I didn’t understand that fear very well. My first time meeting them, I’d nearly shit myself.
Now, it was a bit easier.
Because one of their princesses was e
ntrusted to me.
“Yeah.” Kartini clung to my arm as we watched them make their promises. “It started at a wedding, and the drama ends at the wedding.’
“The drama.” I beamed down at her in her gorgeous, tan peasant dress and blue heels that matched her eyes. “But not us.”
“Never us.” She licked her lips and then frowned behind me. “Plus, I have a birthday to celebrate later this week.”
“Birthday sex,” Maksim slurred to himself as he slumped in his chair. King kept kicking him. I’d seen that look on Maksim’s face before.
He was pissed.
Which meant, he must have fought with Izzy again.
“You okay?” I elbowed him. “Maksim?”
“No.” His eyes were hollow, lost. “No, I’m not.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Ha…” He kicked some sand with his shoe. “No, Tank. I don’t want to talk. I want to drink. And I want to fuck. And then I want to do some math.”
“Ummm, okay.”
“Likes his math, turns him on,” King said from the other side of him. “Just…relax a bit, bro, then we’ll get you some coffee.”
King shot me a worried glance.
I turned back to Tiny. “What’s going on with him?”
Her expression shuddered. “Not my story to tell.”
“Ah, one of those.”
“Yeah.” She gulped. “But I don’t see a happy ending with his. I don’t see an ending at all if he keeps at it.”
“We’re family.” I reached for her hand. “We’ll be there for him, the way he was there for you.”
She smiled up at me. “How did I get so lucky to find such a mature old man with such a large dick to be my boyfriend?”
Annie choked and started coughing behind us while Ash leaned forward and patted me on the back. “Well done, sir.”
“Thank you.” I winked at him while Annie covered her red face with her hands, and Kartini just shrugged as if to say, “Well, it is.”
I loved that woman.
The ceremony was short.
The vows were beautiful.
And the next thing I knew, I was eating lobster next to Sergio and wondering if he prayed for me to choke on my next bite as he seemed to purposefully crack the shell open with too much vigor.
“So…” I started.
“No small talk.” He pointed a claw at me. “You’re moving your shit into the pool house.” He waved the claw around. “I’m not stupid. I know she’ll sneak in, but I figure the more distance I put between you two, the better.”
“Wait. I can still live with you?” I was stunned.
He frowned. “Why would I kick you out?”
“Well, that’s really nice of—”
“It’s so much easier to spy on you under my roof.”
I gulped. “Awesome.”
“Come on!” Kartini grabbed my hand. “It’s time to dance!”
She pulled me to my feet before I could say anything else to Sergio, and then I forgot all about his grumpy look when Tiny danced around me.
When I joined my friends on the dance floor.
Beneath the stars.
My Family.
Finally, I’d come home.
Epilogue
Kartini
Six months later
Tank: Gonna be home in a few, had one more errand to run.
Me: Sounds good!
I threw my phone onto my bed and watched my best friend pace a hole in the floor. “I should just call him, right?”
I groaned into my hands. “Look, Izzy, you just need to fix all of this. It’s causing stress between everyone.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “But Dad—”
“He let Serena and Junior be together,” I pointed out.
She nearly snarled. “You don’t even know. They nearly died. This is different, trust me. If you had seen his face...”
“He’s understanding.”
“Ha. My dad? Mine? Chase Abandonato?”
I winced. “He loves you.”
“Too much. It’s possible to love someone so much that you smother them to death. He’s killing me!”
Someone knocked on my bedroom door.
“It’s open,” I called.
Mom poked her head in. “Iz, your dad’s downstairs, he’s ready to take you home for dinner.”
She clenched her teeth. “Fine.”
“We’re in a good mood.” She grinned.
Izzy looked ready to scream as she stomped by her and out the door.
“Oh, and Tiny? Tank wanted me to give you this.” She tossed a burner phone to me.
“Huh?”
She just smiled.
It rang seconds later, when my mom was gone.
I answered it on the third ring. “Hello?”
“This is your mission if you choose to accept it.” Tank’s voice came on the line. “Look out the window and tell me yes or no.”
“What?” I laughed. “Are you drunk?”
“Just do it...” His voice was rough, dark. Mine.
“Fine…” I crawled off my bed and went over to the window, and gasped as I saw all of my friends and cousins standing outside.
They’d recreated Mexico in my backyard.
And in the very front was Tank, in a tux.
I would truly never recover from seeing that large man fit into a tux, his eyes bright.
He held the phone against his ear. “So, yes or no?”
“What are you asking?”
I nearly dropped the cell when he went down on one knee. “I was going to do this so many different ways, but I realized if I did it right in front of you, I’d sob like a baby, you’d call me out on it, and then I wouldn’t get through it.”
My eyes filled with tears. “Kartini Abandonato, I love you with my entire heart and soul. With my life. Will you please do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
I threw the phone onto my bed and sprinted.
I sprinted down the stairs and out the door, and in typical me fashion, I tackled that wonderful man onto the grass and kissed him.
When he came up for air, he asked, “Was that a yes?”
“Shut up!” I shoved him a bit then kissed him again. “And, yes, that’s a hell yes.”
“Ah, little girl always has to make a scene.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.” His eyes filled with tears then.
He was on the Abandonato payroll and had been working a lot lately. I didn’t ask him about the blood on his hands or how he seemed to mature even more as the bosses asked him to move into the captain position under Nixon’s leadership.
I assumed he’d been stressed.
Not that he was planning this and nervous.
“Our lives won’t be normal,” I said once I stood and took his hand.
“Good.” He towered over me and pulled me into his arms. “I don’t want normal. I want this crazy girl with blue in her hair, who likes to defy authority.”
I lifted my chin. “A princess bows to no one.”
“True.”
“Except her king.” She winked and then did a little curtsy. “Your Majesty.”
With a growl, he pulled me into his arms again. “I’m so glad you’re mine.”
“Yours. Forever.”
Everyone cheered around us.
And when the music started, and I danced on Tank’s feet like I used to with my dad, I knew. I’d been forced to grow up, but I’d needed it.
From one true love to another.
From one mafia king to the next.
And when Dad looked away and swiped at his cheek just briefly…
I smiled.
Because I would always be his, too.
And he knew it.
* * * *
Also from 1001 Dark Nights and Rachel Van Dyken, discover Provoke, Abandon, All Stars Fall, and Envy.
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DRAGON REVEALED by Donna Grant
A Dragon Kings Novella
CAPTURED IN INK by Carrie Ann Ryan
A Montgomery Ink: Boulder Novella
SECURING JANE by Susan Stoker
A SEAL of Protection: Legacy Series Novella
WILD WIND by Kristen Ashley
A Chaos Novella
DARE TO TEASE by Carly Phillips
A Dare Nation Novella
VAMPIRE by Rebecca Zanetti
A Dark Protectors/Rebels Novella
MAFIA KING by Rachel Van Dyken
A Mafia Royals Novella
THE GRAVEDIGGER’S SON by Darynda Jones
A Charley Davidson Novella
FINALE by Skye Warren
A North Security Novella
MEMORIES OF YOU by J. Kenner
A Stark Securities Novella
SLAYED BY DARKNESS by Alexandra Ivy
A Guardians of Eternity Novella
TREASURED by Lexi Blake
A Masters and Mercenaries Novella
THE DAREDEVIL by Dylan Allen
A Rivers Wilde Novella
BOND OF DESTINY by Larissa Ione
A Demonica Novella
THE CLOSE-UP by Kennedy Ryan
A Hollywood Renaissance Novella
MORE THAN POSSESS YOU by Shayla Black
A More Than Words Novella
HAUNTED HOUSE by Heather Graham
A Krewe of Hunters Novella
MAN FOR ME by Laurelin Paige
A Man In Charge Novella
THE RHYTHM METHOD by Kylie Scott
A Stage Dive Novella
JONAH BENNETT by Tijan
A Bennett Mafia Novella
Mafia King: A Mafia Royals Novella Page 11