Mafia Princess (The Manning Sisters #2)
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Mafia Princess
The Manning Sisters
Book Two
Christina Escue
Table of Contents
Copyright
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Epilogue
About the Author
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Christina Escue
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means without prior written permission of the copyright owner. This is a work of fiction.
Acknowledgements
First, I want to start by giving a huge thank you to each and every one of you reading this. Without you, authors would have no one to share their stories with.
To all the staff at FH, thank you for the endless support and friendship. I love you all to the moon and back.
Thank you to my wonderful beta readers/editors, my books would be nothing without you. You ladies are the best friends a girl could ask for and I love you all from the bottom of my heart.
Gina Moody, thank you for not letting me give up when the going got hard. I know I can always count on you to give me the kick in the butt that I need. I love you, bestie.
A huge thanks, and lots of love, to several people I have met over this past year. Your friendship and encouragement will never be forgotten.
Chapter One
“I can’t do this,” Rachel said out loud to herself as she stood under the stinging spray of the shower. A week had passed since the night her family had been taken from her and she was barely hanging on.
“I have to do this,” she reminded herself as tears streamed down her face. Letting them flow and disappear down the drain, she washed her hair and thought about James. James, if he was alive, would never forgive her for what she had to do.
With a long sigh, she turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. She’d been living in Morrison Manor for four days and hated every second of it. “I'm sorry, James,” she added as tears filled her eyes again.
Without another word, Rachel dressed in simple black slacks and deep blue sweater before heading downstairs. Stopping at the base of the stairs, she took a deep breath before she walked into the kitchen, hoping Michael wasn’t there. No such luck.
“Good morning, Rachel,” Mike greeted with a grin that Rachel could tell meant nothing good was about to be said.
“Morning, Michael. Any word from the detectives on whether Lis’ body has been found yet?” She asked, knowing he was growing tired of the same question day in and day out.
“No, and I am sick of answering that same question daily. I’ll let you know when it’s found,” Mike responded through clenched teeth. “Now, let’s have some breakfast and discuss what happens next.”
Rachel sat at the table and a plate containing an omelet, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee were placed in front of her. “Thank you, Danielle,” Rachel politely thanked the housekeeper, knowing that addressing the staff irritated Michael, which is why she made a point to do it whenever she could. “It looks delicious.”
“You’re welcome, Miss,” Danielle answered with a slight bow before exiting the room.
“Dammit, Rachel, you know how I feel about you interacting with the staff. Why must you constantly disobey my wishes?” Michael asked through clenched teeth.
“Perhaps because I’m human and not a heartless son of a bitch like you,” Rachel spat back and stood from the table. “I’ve lost my appetite. Have a good day, Michael, I have a memorial to plan.”
“You will sit down and listen for a minute or you will suffer the consequences,” he told her and she could see the fire in his eyes.
“I’m not scared of you, you cold-hearted bastard. You can’t do worse to me than you already have,” she told him quietly.
“Unless you want to find out exactly what I’m capable of, you will sit down and listen,” he responded coldly.
Rachel rolled her eyes and sat back down. “I’m not sitting because I’m scared of you. I’m sitting because I know if I leave you will just follow me and the thought of you in my bedroom nauseates me.”
He growled a little, but didn’t comment on what she’d said. “Starting tomorrow we will be making arrangements to get married. I want it to happen within the month and I want all the family heads to be there. I want no questions as to who is in charge of the Manning family.”
“Fine, whatever. May I go now?”
“One more thing. After the wedding, you will move into my bedroom and we will consummate this marriage. I want no questions about the legality of it.”
Rachel visibly shuddered and Michael smiled at her reaction. He knew the thought of sex with him disgusted her and her reaction aroused him.
“Fine,” she told him quietly and rose from the table again. “But that doesn’t make it anything less than rape,” she added before walking out of the room.
Once Rachel was out of the room, Michael rose from the table and walked to the window. As he looked out at the small pond behind his manor, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed his second in command.
“Morgan,” the voice on the other end answered after the first ring.
“Any news?” Michael asked without hesitation.
“No, sir,” Morgan answered quietly. “The police and rescue crews have been over the entire property and haven’t found anything. Boss, I have a feeling they may have survived, or at least one of them did.”
A low growl escaped before Mike could stop it. “If any of them are alive, I’m ruined.”
“I’ll keep you posted, boss, but you may want to start looking at other options,” Morgan told him before ending the call.
“Fuck!” Mike yelled before hurling his phone through the plate-glass window in front of him and walking out of the room. Once in his office he sighed deeply and grabbed his disposable phone from the drawer.
“Who am I eliminating?” The voice on the other end asked as soon as it answered, causing Mike to chuckle before relaying the information he was just given and what he needed done.
****
“It’s been a week already and no sign of her. Where could she be?” Schaffler asked one of the men in the safehouse he’d moved his family to. With all members of the Manning family gone he had taken charge of the family until Rachel could be found.
“Sir, we think she’s been moved to Morrison Manor and is being held there,” one of the men around him answered. “Our inside man told me that Morrison is keeping someone fitting her description in the East wing of the Manor. His security is tight, but I think we can get past it with our man inside.”
“I don’t need thin
ks and maybes. I need cans and wills,” Schaffler told them all and they nodded their agreement.
“We can get her out, sir,” Tiffany spoke up and looked around the room. “I can get her. Morrison and his men don’t know me, they’ve never seen my face, so I could go in as one of the whores he hires.”
“Absolutely not,” Schaffler said with a shake of his head. “I’m not giving him another pawn in this psychotic chess game he’s playing.”
“We may not have a choice,” Tiffany told him and walked out of the room.
“Think she can do it?” Someone asked and Schaffler nodded.
“If anyone can it’s her. We will have to work quickly though because Morrison won’t be fooled for long and I have a feeling time is running out.”
“But, sir, what if she gets hurt?” One of the other men spoke up and Schaffler turned to look at him.
“What’s your name? I don’t believe we’ve met.”
“My name is Kevin, sir. I was brought in by Dakota a couple of weeks ago. I was in the military with his cousin.”
“Okay,” Schaffler nods. “Welcome aboard. Now, as for Tiffany, I wouldn’t worry too much. She can kick my ass so I’m sure she can handle anyone Morrison throws at her.”
When Kevin nods, Schaffler looks around the room and makes eye contact with David. David nods his understanding and slips silently out of the room. Once he’s gone Schaffler looks at the men and women around him and nods. “Okay, everyone, time to get to work.”
Chapter Two
“Lis, I know you’re not dead. I can feel it in my heart that you’re still alive. I just don’t know where you are,” Rachel whispered as she looked out the window of the manor at the fading sun a couple days later. “I planned your memorial today because Michael expected me to, but I will not believe you’re gone until they show me proof. Lis, Mike expects me to marry him next month, but I can’t do that. I cannot give him what he wants, what he’s always wanted.”
As a knock sounded on her door, Rachel sighed and turned away from the window. “Come in.”
“Miss, Mr. Morrison has requested your presence in the library as soon as possible,” Danielle told her and Rachel nodded.
“Thank you, Danielle. I’ll be down in just a moment,” she replied and the housekeeper backed out of the room after a brief nod. Rachel looked out the window once more and sighed deeply. “I love you, Elisabeth. Please come back to me soon.”
Turning from the window, Rachel walked across the room and out the door with a confidence she didn’t really feel, but there was no way in hell she would ever let Mike know how broken she really was.
Pausing at the library door, she took a deep breath before knocking.
“Enter,” Mike answered immediately.
“You wanted to see me?” She asked as soon as she walked in.
“Yes,” he answered and rose from the leather sofa he’d been sitting on. “I have taken the liberty to hire a wedding planner to plan our coming nuptials.”
“Why the hell would you do that?”
“Because I felt it necessary,” he answered and pulled his phone from his pocket. “Send her in please,” he said to whomever answered and immediately hung up.
Rachel rolled her eyes and turned to face the door just as it opened. When she saw the petite woman with bright pink hair walk in, she was thankful her back was to Mike because there was absolutely no possible way to hide the shock that came across her face.
“Hello, my name is Tiffany Page,” the woman Rachel had known for the past few years as Tiffany Wallace, introduced herself.
“Miss Page, thank you for coming on such short notice,” Mike greeted her with a charming smile as he walked to where she stood and shook her hand. “Rachel, darling, please come say hello to our guest.”
Shaking off her shock and delight, Rachel walked over to where one of her beloved bodyguards stood and stretched her hand out. “Nice to meet you, Miss Page.”
“Please call me Tiffany,” she responded with a bright smile. “Nice to meet you both.”
“Tiffany, we are wanting our wedding ceremony to be four weeks from tomorrow. Is that doable on your schedule?” Mike asked in a flirtatious tone.
“Won’t be a problem,” she answered and smiled. “I will have to spend a lot of time with your girl though.”
“That’s fine, but all samples and things will have to be brought here. Rachel cannot leave the manor for her own safety.”
“As long as money isn’t a factor, I can have the best of everything brought here.”
“Money isn’t a factor. Whatever Rachel wants is fine with me,” he responded and smiled at Tiffany. “If it would be easier I can have a room set up for you here so you two can have all the time you need to plan.”
“Sounds great,” she answered cheerfully. “I need to go home and pack, but I will be back in the morning and we can dive in, if that’s okay with you.”
“Sounds perfect,” Mike told her and smiled. “I’ll have your room ready when you get back tomorrow.”
Tiffany smiled at him one more time before she turned to Rachel. “It was nice meeting you. We will start making plans tomorrow.”
“See you then,” Rachel responded and smiled, taking note that Tiffany did not mention what kind of plans they would be making.
After Tiffany was gone, Rachel turned to Mike. “Why the fuck are you such a pretentious prick?”
“I have no idea what you’re taking about, but I’d watch my tone if I were you,” he responded coldly.
“When are you going to realize I’m not fucking scared of you?”
“When are you going to realize that I only need to keep you alive until after the wedding?”
“Oh, so you’re going to kill me now? Go to hell, Michael,” Rachel spat and turned toward the door.
“Sweetheart, I already have a throne there,” he replied as he grabbed her arm and pulled her against his chest. Holding her tightly, he lowered his head and kissed her violently.
When she bit his bottom lip hard, he pushed her away with enough force to knock her to the floor.
“Stupid bitch,” he yelled, before jerking her up by the arms. “You will regret that.”
“Fuck you, Michael.”
“Oh, sweetheart, you will and it will be something you never forget,” he told her and grabbed her breast roughly.
She raised her foot and stomped his hard. He released her and she turned toward the door. “Until we say I do you will not touch me again.”
“We will see,” he told her as the door slammed behind her. “We will surely see.”
****
Rachel walked to her room in silence as the anger and disgust rolled through her body. She would kill Mike before she would let him touch her like that again. “Who the fuck does he think he is?” She asked out loud to the empty hall.
“He thinks he owns the world,” Danielle said as she stepped into the hall from one of the bathrooms. “Miss, be mindful of that one. I have worked here for the past eight years and I have seen and heard things that would curl your hair. I keep my mouth shut because I have a daughter to support and I know he would kill her, or sell her to one of his pimps, if I said anything.”
“Shhh,” Rachel told her and looked up and down the hall before motioning for Danielle to follow her. Once inside her bedroom, Rachel looked at Danielle and smiled warmly. “You know I’m not here because I want to be, right? Morrison was engaged to my older sister until a few weeks ago and about ten days ago he had her, her fiancé, and my boyfriend murdered. I know exactly what he’s capable of and I am going to make it my mission to stop him. No matter what it takes.”
“Miss, he will kill you if you cross him,” Danielle reminded her.
“He can try,” Rachel murmured almost silently before sighing heavily. “I don’t think my sister and the others are dead. They haven’t found their bodies and no one can tell me anything.”
“Just be mindful, Miss. I must get downstairs to my daughter now.
Have a good evening, Miss,” the housekeeper nodded and shuffled out of the room before Rachel could say anything else.
“Well that was informative,” Rachel said out loud before walking to her bathroom and turning the water on.
Once she had stripped and was standing under the hot spray of the shower she let her mind wander to her one and only time with James. His touch, his taste, the way he held her; it all came flooding back and washed over her like the water streaming from the shower head.
A knock on her bathroom door pulled her from her memories. “Who is it?”
“Unlock the door,” a voice she recognized well called out quietly.
Rachel jumped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself before opening the door to the one person she never thought she’d see again.
Chapter Three
“Lis, you’re alive,” Rachel breathed out almost silently as she looked at her sister.
“Very much so,” Lis responded and looked behind her. “I need to tell you something though. Me being alive cannot be made public knowledge yet. Michael must continue to believe I’m dead for a couple more days. Only you and Schaffler know I’m alive, but I had to tell you. You needed to know and had to hear it from me directly.”
“James?” Rachel whispered softly and Lis smiled a little.
“James and Dakota are alive. James is in the hospital under a pseudo name and Dakota is in a safehouse, where I’ve been as well. We will get you out of here, but it’s going to take a couple more days. Just hang tight and play along for now. Michael is in for a surprise very soon.”
“Lis, why can’t I go with you now?”
“Ballard is trying to get what he needs to arrest Michael for murder and attempted murder. Just hang in there, sis. I promise we will get you out very soon,” Lis smiled at her and kissed her cheek quickly. “I have to go before I’m seen. I promise I will see you in a couple of days.”
Tears filled Rachel’s eyes as she watched her sister walk over to the window and disappear out it. Running over, Rachel saw Lis silently scurry to the edge of the roof and drop off the side. She continued to watch as Lis sprinted across the yard, narrowly avoiding the security lights. When Lis disappeared into the woods on the far side of the grounds, Rachel released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.