Luca
Sinful Shadows Mafia #1
Savannah Rylan
Kasey Krane
Copyright © 2019 by Savannah Rylan & Kasey Krane
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
1. Alianna
2. Luca
3. Alianna
4. Luca
5. Luca
6. Alianna
7. Luca
8. Alianna
9. Luca
10. Alianna
11. Luca
12. Alianna
13. Luca
14. Alianna
15. Luca
16. Luca
17. Alianna
18. Alianna
19. Luca
20. Alianna
21. Luca
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About Savannah Rylan
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1
Alianna
“Oh, my God. Alianna. Look at how cute this thing is!”
I heard Giana’s squeal from across the boutique and shook my head. My best friend was relentless when it came to shopping. I shot a sorrowful look to the woman behind the cash register, who was obviously annoyed with Giana’s antics.
“Come here. Come here. Come here. You have to try this one,” she said.
“Giana, what in the world are y--oh. My. God,” I said.
“Right?”
“This is so cute, where did you get it?”
“I’m telling you, the clearance racks are where it’s at. You snub your nose at them, but me? I have to live off them on a nurse’s salary.”
“Which is still insane to me, by the way,” I said.
She shrugged. “That’s the way the cookie crumbles, and I’m okay with it. I love what I do, and that means I get to find numbers like this that slowly turn you to the dark side.”
I scoffed. “There’s no dark side. I just don’t like shopping clearance racks. Not because I’m a price snob, but because I have a tendency to get something home and want to return it. Sometimes, clearance items can’t be returned. That’s all.”
“Or maybe, you just need to come shopping with me more. Because let me tell you, you’ve never returned anything you’ve found while shopping with me.”
I paused. “Actually, that’s true. Huh.”
“See? Now, haven’t you missed me all these years?”
“Giana…”
“No, no. That wasn’t a guilt trip. This time, at least.”
“I moved to California. I didn’t just forget you. We just… grew apart. But, I’m back. And I’m not leaving again,” I said.
“You let me have a word with your father about that. I want to make sure I get it in writing,” she said, smiling.
I hugged my best friend, holding her close as I sighed.
“I really did miss you while I was away. Even if we didn’t call or talk much,” I murmured.
“I know, Alianna. I missed you, too,” she said.
“So, show me these clearance pieces you want me to try on.”
“Great. You go pick out a dressing room, and I’ll start tossing things over. Oh, the fashion show is my favorite part of this whole venture!”
She let out another squeal that I really did think would get us thrown out by management. But, all that happened was people in the shop started giggling with us. The girls behind the register clapped to cheer on her happiness.
It felt wonderful to be home again.
I’d missed a lot of Giana’s life after my father uprooted the family to San Diego. I knew it was work related, and that we couldn't do much about it. But, moving across the country after solidifying friends in elementary school and middle school had been hard. Especially since I attended private schools. It took me a long time to find a way to fit in with the high schoolers on the West Coast. They were different. They looked different. Talked different. Held different things in high regard.
And sometimes, one mention of my last name sent people running in the other direction from me.
Still, I found my place among the crowd. A few girls I latched onto, and soon became busy with. They came over all the time and we’d walk straight from my father’s porch onto the private beach we secured for ourselves there. And for a while, I thought that San Diego was where I’d want to stay. Where I’d want to live. And date. And raise a family.
Until my father announced we were headed back to New York City.
Despite the friends I’d made, I couldn't pack myself up quickly enough. It showed me just how much I hadn’t bonded with those girls. Or rather, how disposable their friendship was to me in the end. In some respects, it made me feel like shit. And in other respects, it didn’t. New York City had always been my home, and after my father was done with his work on the West Coast, we moved back.
And hanging out with Giana showed me just how much time had passed between us.
“Here! I’ve got these three pieces so far. Don’t judge them by their cover, either. They look terrible on the rack, but once you get your legs in them--.”
“I get it. I get it. I’ll try them on,” I said, giggling.
“Good,” Giana said.
I held up the barely-there dress and thought about how much my father would want to kill me if he saw me in this thing. Still, that made me want to try it on. I slipped out of my clothes and into the bodycon dress, rolling it over my petite features and down the long expanse of my legs. Dresses like this should have stopped just below my knees. But, with my legs being so long, it stopped just beyond the halfway point of my thighs.
My father would burn this dress in front of me if I purchased it.
“Well? Come on out!” Giana exclaimed.
I whipped the door open and did a little strut. Giana let out a low whistle as I stepped up onto the platform, taking in my angles from all sides. I did the little poses I knew she enjoyed and whipped my hair around, mocking the walks of models I’d witnessed over the years at fashion shows my father was always invited to.
But, after I showed off the dress, I couldn't wait to get it off.
“All right, next piece,” Giana said.
“Are you going to be trying anything on?” I asked.
“Girl, I’ve got curves that don’t belong in a store like this. After we’re done here, we’re going across the street. That’s my kinda store.”
“You know I’d kill for your curves, right?” I asked.
“And I’d kill for your legs. Now, come on! Put on that bikini and get out here.”
“Is that what this thing is? I thought it was floss for my teeth.”
Giana giggled. “Just put it on and get out here.”
I tried on the other two clearance rack pieces before discarding them all in the ‘nope’ pile. I mean, they looked good. But, my father would kill me--literally--if I brought home any of those pieces of clothing. I picked out a couple pieces of jewelry, settled on a pair of heels I’d been stalking for well over a week, then gathered my bags so we could walk across the road. Arm in arm, like when the two of us were walking around the halls of our private middle school.
Until a bang sounded in the alleyway.
“Get down!” Giana screamed.
Gunshots popped off as the two of us hit the ground just outside the store. People screamed and ran around. They tripped over us as I threw myself over my b
est friend. I covered her head as she peeked out from beyond my arms, trying to figure out where the hell the gunshots were coming from.
Pop pop! Pop! Pop!
…. Pop!
“Yes, is this emergency, I want to report gunshots!”
“There’s someone down in the alleyway!”
“Help! I need someone to help me!”
I felt Giana scrambling to get out from underneath me, but I held her down.
“I have to go help. I’m a nurse, Alianna. I can--get off me!” she exclaimed.
I shook my head. “No. I can’t. I’m sorry, but I can’t let you go help.”
“At least let me get my phone out then. I need to call 911.”
“People are already doing that. Besides we have a way out.” I said confidently.
“Who? What the fuck are you talking--?”
She didn’t get her sentence out before a blacked-out SUV squealed to a stop at the curb. My father’s security men jumped out, rushing toward the pavement as they pried me and Giana up from the ground. We were practically tossed into the van with our bags in tow, then the door slammed closed and they hopped back in. We sped off, leaving the stores behind, as Giana furiously pulled out her phone and began dialing.
“Yes, emergency. Hello. I’m Giana Lotti, from Lennox Hill Hospital. There are gunshots near Times Square, and from the sounds of it there’s someone down in the alleyway. Five gunshots, though three rang out pretty clearly. So, my guess is two might have landed. I don’t have eyes on the injured, but they need help. The alleyway between Riley’s and Fashion Cents. Yes, that’s the one.”
I puffed out my cheeks with a sigh as the security men wound us through the city. They didn’t stop for yellow lights. They took alleyways to get around the red lights. And we didn’t stop moving until we got back to my father’s estate on the outskirts of the city. A massive plot of land with acres to its name. Rolling hills. Glorious patches of trees with winding trails. A private lake with a meadow, if you walked back far enough into the woods.
And a concrete fortress of a wall that surrounded all of it.
Complete with electrical barbed wire cascading around the top of it.
We pulled into the driveway and my father rushed out onto the porch. He came over and threw open the SUV door, helping me out. But, Giana? He held up his hand the second she tried getting out.
“My men will make sure you get home safely, all right?” he asked.
“Daddy, let her come in. She’s really--.”
“You message Alianna when you’re home, okay? I’ll have my men call me once they know you’re in your apartment safely,” he said.
“Thank you, Mr. Russo. I appreciate it,” Giana said.
I scoffed at my father as he closed the SUV door. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to her! He took my arm and dragged me toward the porch, not stopping his footsteps until we were inside. He closed the front door. Locked it, for good measure. I peeked out the window, watching the SUV lug my best friend down the driveway and out of sight.
Then, I turned to my father with wide eyes.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“You know I only do something like that when I’m confident of the target,” my father said.
“Gunshots go off in New York City all the time. It’s one of your contested reasons as to why you moved us from here in the first place.”
“That was too close to home, and I won’t have you arguing with me about it. Are we clear, Alianna?”
I licked my lips. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now, I’ve been toying around with an executive decision. But, this afternoon helped me to make it.”
“Daddy, no. Please, don’t do this.”
“I have to, sweetheart. It’s the only way I’m going to know you’re safe.”
“I am safe, Daddy! No one was coming after me today. No one comes after me, period. That’s just how it is. If people aren’t frightened of you, they’re frightened of the man they think you are. No one in their right mind would come after me!”
“What you fail to understand however, daughter of mine, is that I constantly deal with people that aren’t in their right mind.”
I sighed. “Please, don’t do this. Don’t make my life anymore of a--.”
“Silence,” he said curtly.
I bit down onto my lower lip, trying to keep myself from protesting any more. Because I knew he’d already made up his mind, my arguments would be futile.
“I’m officially appointing a permanent bodyguard for you. To be around at all times.”
“Daddy, I--.”
“Don’t make me hold you here. Don’t make me do that to keep you safe,” he said.
There’s nothing you could do that would hold me prisoner here. I’d make sure of it.
“Okay, Daddy,” I said softly.
“Thank you. I don’t want to take away your autonomy. But, you are also my daughter. Which makes you a prime target. I won’t even try to tiptoe around this, because you're a smart woman. College-educated. You understand the threat our family comes under from time to time. So, you know I can’t take any chances with my only child. My daughter, at that,” he said.
I nodded slowly. “I understand.”
“Good. Then no more protesting, it’s not an attractive quality.”
Internally I rolled my eyes.
He continued, “I’ll be speaking with your new bodyguard tonight, and if everything goes according to plan, he’ll report here well before you wake up in the morning. Wherever you go, he goes. That way, you can still vacation. You can still go out with Giana. You can still have your outings, so long as he’s around.”
“Okay. I can deal with that,” I said.
“Now, you know the rules of this house. Don’t break them again.”
I rolled my eyes. “It was one date, Daddy.”
“A date that ended disastrously. I had to get rid of one of my best marksmen because that date didn’t go well.”
“Not my fault he can’t handle a woman like myself,” I said, grinning.
My father scowled. “No dating the hired help. I will lock you down in a heartbeat if you don’t continue to obey that rule.”
I scoffed. “No fun. One disastrous first date and I don’t get to have fun anymore.”
My father paused. “Your first date with him was a gun range and you outshot him with every style of gun at every turn.”
“I mean, I am your daughter.”
He chuckled, then his face got stern.
“No dating the hired help.”
“Yes, sir. No having fun with the hired help.”
“You’re going to put me in an early grave, you know that?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I’ll give you a nice funeral.”
And when he smiled at me, I smiled in return.
I guess it wouldn't be so bad, if he wasn’t going to limit my movements.
2
Luca
I stood there, my hands clasped in front of me as I gazed out over the front entryway to the restaurant. It was a small, hole in the wall Italian place that served some of the best homemade food I’d ever put in my mouth. Second only to my mother’s, of course. The Russo Family was single-handedly the most notorious crime family on the East Coast. Well, now? Both of the Coasts. But, definitely on this side of the country. They got their start in New York City before branching their operations out toward the panhandle. And after the Russo patriarch hopped across the way to San Diego, he controlled the bulk of the West Coast now, too. The entire country was on its knees for this man, and he paid me well for what I did.
Which was protecting the family.
And killing on notice, if I had to.
It wasn’t the most glamorous of positions, but it kept a roof over my mother’s head. And mine. I’d grown up with a single mother who worked two dead-end jobs and broke her back just to make ends meet. Mr. Russo found me stealing from a store once. Hauling out some tomatoes my mother wanted d
esperately for her marinara, even though we didn’t have the money to pay for them. At nineteen years old and a high school drop-out, I didn’t have much to offer the world. I didn’t have much to offer my mother in the way of being ‘the man of the house’.
Mr. Russo caught me on the pavement that day, though. Looked down his nose at me with those stern brown eyes of his. He held out his hand, beckoning for those tomatoes. And after I placed them in his hand, he walked me right back into that store and stood there while I confessed what I’d done.
In that moment, he had been more of a father to me than mine had ever been.
And it was that day, after buying groceries for us for the entire month, that he offered me a job with him.
At the time, the pay was only thirty thousand dollars. But, with health insurance for both myself and my mother, we thought we were rolling in the dough. I worked odd jobs then for the old man. Cleaning up construction sites. Not opening my mouth whenever I cleaned down way too much blood for someone who ran ‘a legitimate business’. He taught me how to dress. How to hold myself. He set me up with men who taught me how to shoot every gun on the face of this planet before bestowing upon me three of my very own. He stepped in and gave me everything a father should have. Purpose. Direction. Encouragement. Scolding, when necessary. And now, I was one of the most efficient hired gun for the Russo Crime Family.
Which came with some of the highest pay, clocking in at well over six figures.
“Luca,” Mr. Russo said.
My eyes panned down to his as I kept my body trained toward the door.
“Yes, sir?” I asked.
“How’s your mother doing? Getting any better?” he asked.
“The treatments aren’t doing what they should, no.”
Luca: Sinful Shadows Mafia #1 Page 1