He gave me an environment when I truly felt the sky was the limit and I should reach for the stars.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sex/engagement
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Wedding planning/meeting his family
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Shawn murder
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Grieving again - funeral
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Funny how things changed. The internship paperwork sat in front of me, and once again, the first line caused me to pause.
Name.
It took time. More than that, it took not giving up, but continuing to exist. Alanzo helped me set up a new start on the West Coast. The small Oregon town was a short commute to the college and gave me the sense of security I once again found in solitude. With Giano dead and having had a public service, Alanzo felt that my move to the West would mean I would stay relatively safe. Giano’s enemies no longer needed me for leverage with him gone, and my desire to relocate only pushed me further off their radars.
With the aid of a long-time resident who happened to be a realtor, I had found a small, two bedroom cabin to purchase and begun my life once again. True to his word, Giano had made sure I was taken care of. Life insurance, stocks, bonds, and assets were all left to me. Once cashed in, I could afford to pay for my home, my education, my travel, and still allow myself a solid nest egg for the future.
No, I didn’t have to feel the financial struggle. I just had struggles of a whole different variety. How did one cope with having no one to hold on to?
After Giano had taken his life in front of me, my world had crumbled around me. The days passed by, and I wondered why I was still there.
Angelina Nylene Diamante.
The picture I loved so much of her behind the bubble called to me. The blurred face still seemed to speak to me. Her eyes were hidden behind the innocence of childhood behaviors. Everything she lost, I gained. How could I throw her gift away?
My eyes reminded him of Nylene. My face reminded him of Angelina. His angel. I was his angel, his gift from the ones he loved most. How could I toss that away when I should have had no existence beyond being my father’s play thing for his sick needs?
The road before me was still long, the end nowhere in sight. Studying psychology, I was hoping to understand myself and those who were once around me so that maybe, in the future, the past wouldn’t repeat itself. A girl could only hope.
In my studies, we had been told, for some people, love was a choice. We somehow choose whether to love someone or not. I didn’t know whether I agreed with that statement or not.
Scientists and doctors found great success in breaking down the chemical makeup of a human being. They wanted to fix our depression with a pill. Physicians all agreed exercise had an impact on one’s mental health. Getting the blood pumping and increased endorphins all aided in overall well-being. I didn’t know that I agreed with that analysis, either.
It had been my experience that, if you were drawn to someone, had a bond, those things weren’t done by choice, but rather by something bigger than all of us. I didn’t believe in faith, karma, destiny, or a connection of souls. What I had a firm foundation in was the touch of an angel. It was the angel of Nylene and Angelina Diamante that saved me all those years ago. I could believe in that. They didn’t fail me whenever everyone and everything else did.
Opening my desk drawer, I took out the picture from my old wall that Alanzo had cleaned of Giano’s blood. Angelina’s dark hair flowed in the sunlight. Her back was to me, as always. My faceless angel always carried me through. When no one else would stay, she was always there.
Classes had taught me that children outgrew imaginary friends. Angelina wasn’t a figment of my imagination, though; she was as real as I was. No longer was I torn between my existence and her loss, but rather, we were one in the same—two little girls with innocence gone. Hers was ripped away in an act of violence, and mine had never existed.
Giano had said he touched innocence, that I was his redemption for seeking retribution. He was wrong, and it cost him everything.
How could he touch innocence when I set him up? In my sick and twisted desires, I had killed the only person who had ever cared to save me. His blood was on my hands, just like my father’s.
No doubt, Giano would have killed him that night regardless, but it was my face he saw last, my body he touched last. I could have cried out. I could have warned him. I didn’t. He got what he deserved.
Giano hadn’t deserved what I did. He hadn’t deserved the lust and want of a young woman to rage so out of control that she got him drunk to let down his inhibitions in order to feed her greediness.
“My baby girl, always so greedy.” My father’s words came back to haunt me. He was right, and he was wrong. I was greedy, but I was not his baby girl. The day he touched me, he tainted me; he darkened my soul. The day he touched me, I was no longer a baby.
Giano saw his wife and daughter in my eyes. He longed to have his family again and clung to hope through me. He saw an innocence he only wished was there, and in the end, my blackened soul consumed him, too.
While I didn’t agree with love being simply a choice, and I didn’t agree that we as humans all had chemical imbalances, I did hold firm that we all had a choice, and we all were imbalanced.
I had a choice with Giano—to accept our relationship for what it was. I chose to push the boundaries. I chose wrong. I looked too far into things and saw only what I wanted to see, not what was really there. He had paid the price.
Nothing in my life had ever been balanced, fair, or just. I was a black widow of my own making, poisoning everything and everyone around me.
What I had learned in my losses was that solitude was my savior. I had escaped hell with my family and never allowed myself to be the version of Angelina I wanted to be. I had lived in a bubble of my own creation, and it was as twisted as anyone could imagine.
To the outsider, I seduced my father when, in reality, my father had tainted me, and my savior had become my victim. The killer became the killed. Only, it wasn’t by my hands in the literal sense, but in my actions.
I owned that. I lived it, breathed it, and tried to lock it away in my blackened soul. I failed. Therefore, now here I was, studying psychology in the hopes of one day saving myself.
Giano had always told me I needed a man to treasure me. He had wanted me to wait for a man and not a boy. He was right, but he left a part out. See, in order for a man to treasure me, I first had to treasure myself.
I was broken, cursed, jaded, and defeated, yet I also was finding my way back to the new me. I would somehow give Giano the redemption he sought by finding a way to love myself, and then maybe one day I could believe someone else could love me.
When it was all said and done, hope had gotten me through every minute of every day this far, and no matter what the future would bring me, I couldn’t lose hope to break the cycle of pain.
Dare I hope, dare I dream, maybe one day I could believe someone would stay.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Fallyn returns
Reclaiming Me: Fallyn’s Revenge
My name was tainted in death.
Giano was my way out, my escape.
A debt paid in full with his blood.
Freedom from my destiny had a special allure … except revenge was a temptation I couldn’t resist.
My father’s dark underworld was mine to claim. I would do anything to be the real me again. Love and life be damned!
Preorder today!
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Chelsea Camaron is a small town Carolina girl with a big imagination. She’s a wife and mom, chasing her dreams. She writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and romantic thrillers. She loves to write about blue-collar men who have real problems with a fictional twist. From mechanics, bikers, oil riggers, smokejumpers, bar owners, and beyond
she loves a strong hero who works hard and plays harder.
Chelsea can be found on social media at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorchelseacamaron
Twitter: @chelseacamaron
Instagram: @chelseacamaron
Website: www.authorchelseacamaron.com
Email [email protected]
Subscribe to Chelsea’s newsletter here: http://bit.ly/2khmTzR
Join Chelsea’s reader group here: http://bit.ly/2BzvTa4
Other works by Chelsea Camaron
Love and Repair Series:
Crash and Burn
Restore My Heart
Salvaged
Full Throttle
Beyond Repair
Stalled
Hellions Ride Series:
One Ride
Forever Ride
Merciless Ride
Eternal Ride
Innocent Ride
Simple Ride
Heated Ride
Ride with Me (Hellions MC and Ravage MC Duel with Ryan Michele)
Originals Ride
Final Ride
Take a ride with the Hellions MC FREE here!
Hellions Ride On Series
Born to It
Bastard in It
Bleed for It
Bold from It
Broken by It
Brazen being It
Roughneck Series:
Maverick
Heath
Lance
Wendol
Reese
Devil’s Due MC Series:
Serving My Soldier
Crossover
In The Red
Below The Line
Close The Tab
Day Of Reckoning
Paid In Full
Bottom Line
Almanza Crime Family Duet
Cartel Bitch
Cartel Queen
Thriller Series:
Stay
Seeking Solace: Angelina’s Restoration
Claiming Retribution: Fallyn’s Revenge
Stand Alone Reads:
Romance – Moments in Time Anthology
Mother Trucker
Panty Snatcher
Beer Goggles Anthology
Santa, Bring Me a Biker!
The following series are co-written
The Fire Inside Series:
(co-written by Theresa Marguerite Hewitt)
Kale
Regulators MC Series:
(co-written by Jessie Lane)
Ice
Hammer
Coal
Summer of Sin Series:
(co-written with Ripp Baker, Daryl Banner, Angelica Chase, MJ Fields, MX King)
Original Sin
Caldwell Brothers Series:
(co-written by USA Today Bestselling Author MJ Fields)
Hendrix
Morrison
Jagger
Stand Alone Romance:
(co-written with USA Today Bestselling Author MJ Fields)
Visibly Broken
Use Me
Ruthless Rebels MC Series:
(co-written with Ryan Michele)
Shamed
Scorned
Scarred
Schooled
Box Set Available
Power Chain Series:
(co-written with Ryan Michele)
Power Chain FREE ebook
PowerHouse
Power Player
Powerless
OverPowered
Reclaiming Me: Fallyn’s Revenge
My name was tainted in death.
Giano was my way out, my escape.
A debt paid in full with his blood.
Freedom from my destiny had a special allure … except revenge was a temptation I couldn’t resist.
My father’s dark underworld was mine to claim. I would do anything to be the real me again. Love and life be damned!
Preorder today!
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Chelsea Camaron is a small town Carolina girl with a big imagination. She’s a wife and mom, chasing her dreams. She writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and romantic thrillers. She loves to write about blue-collar men who have real problems with a fictional twist. From mechanics, bikers, oil riggers, smokejumpers, bar owners, and beyond she loves a strong hero who works hard and plays harder.
Chelsea can be found on social media at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorchelseacamaron
Twitter: @chelseacamaron
Instagram: @chelseacamaron
Website: www.authorchelseacamaron.com
Email [email protected]
Subscribe to Chelsea’s newsletter here: http://bit.ly/2khmTzR
Join Chelsea’s reader group here: http://bit.ly/2BzvTa4
Other works by Chelsea Camaron
Love and Repair Series:
Crash and Burn
Restore My Heart
Salvaged
Full Throttle
Beyond Repair
Stalled
Hellions Ride Series:
One Ride
Forever Ride
Merciless Ride
Eternal Ride
Innocent Ride
Simple Ride
Heated Ride
Ride with Me (Hellions MC and Ravage MC Duel with Ryan Michele)
Originals Ride
Final Ride
Take a ride with the Hellions MC FREE here!
Hellions Ride On Series
Born to It
Bastard in It
Bleed for It
Bold from It
Broken by It
Brazen being It
Roughneck Series:
Maverick
Heath
Lance
Wendol
Reese
Devil’s Due MC Series:
Serving My Soldier
Crossover
In The Red
Below The Line
Close The Tab
Day Of Reckoning
Paid In Full
Bottom Line
Almanza Crime Family Duet
Cartel Bitch
Cartel Queen
Thriller Series:
Stay
Seeking Solace: Angelina’s Restoration
Claiming Retribution: Fallyn’s Revenge
Stand Alone Reads:
Romance – Moments in Time Anthology
Mother Trucker
Panty Snatcher
Beer Goggles Anthology
Santa, Bring Me a Biker!
The following series are co-written
The Fire Inside Series:
(co-written by Theresa Marguerite Hewitt)
Kale
Regulators MC Series:
(co-written by Jessie Lane)
Ice
Hammer
Coal
Summer of Sin Series:
(co-written with Ripp Baker, Daryl Banner, Angelica Chase, MJ Fields, MX King)
Original Sin
Caldwell Brothers Series:
(co-written by USA Today Bestselling Author MJ Fields)
Hendrix
Morrison
Jagger
Stand Alone Romance:
(co-written with USA Today Bestselling Author MJ Fields)
Visibly Broken
Use Me
Ruthless Rebels MC Series:
(co-written with Ryan Michele)
Shamed
Scorned
Scarred
Schooled
Box Set Available
Power Chain Series:
(co-written with Ryan Michele)
Power Chain FREE ebook
PowerHouse
Power Player
Powerless
OverPo
wered
Cartel Bitch
Almanza Crime Family Duet
Written By
USA Today Bestselling Author
Chelsea Camaron
Copyright © Chelsea Camaron 2018
About this Duet
Cartel Bitch (Almanza Crime Family Duet Part 1)
There was a fine line between love and hate, we walked it together.
Unforgiving.
Relentless.
I'm to be feared.
When your family is as much a friend as an enemy, there is no one to trust.
I am Javier Almanza.
Cartel kingpin.
No one can touch me.
No one can hurt me...
Except her.
Mari Belle Dominguez.
He was raised as family. My brother’s best friend, my first kiss, and my first betrayal. He planned to make me his Cartel Bitch. The joke was on him; I’d never break nor would I bend. I would fight until the end for myself.
My will was stronger than his want.
He would soon see.
This is book one in the Almanza Crime Family Duet and a full-length romance. This is a dark, edge of your seat romantic suspense novel featuring an antihero, so there is a level of violence inside that may not be suitable for some readers. This is not meant to be an actual depiction of life inside a Cartel, but rather a work of fiction meant to entertain.
Cartel Queen (Almanza Crime Family Duet Part 2)
Hardened.
Persistent.
I refuse to break at the hands of a man.
I am Mari Belle Dominguez.
Strong woman.
Reclaiming Me Page 7