Giovanni

by Coco Miller

  GIOVANNI

  A Mafia Romance

  Coco Miller

  COCO MILLER ROMANCE

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  Copyright © 2019 Coco Miller

  All rights reserved.

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  License Note

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real events, people, or places is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without the permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations used for review.

  This book contains mature content, including graphic sex. Please do not continue reading if you are under the age of 18 or if this type of content is disturbing to you.

  Contents

  Books By Coco

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Also By Coco Miller

  Books By Coco

  Big City Billionaires

  Faking For Mr. Pope

  Virgin Escort For Mr. Vaughn

  Pretending for Mr. Parker

  Red Bratva Billionaires

  MAXIM

  SERGEI

  VIKTOR

  The Overwatch Division

  WYATT

  ASA

  CESAR

  Andolini Crime Family

  CARMINE

  GIOVANNI

  UMBERTO

  Chapter One

  Giovanni

  I wasn’t born a bad man.

  I wasn’t brought up in the mafia.

  I found my way into it.

  I grew up dirt poor, even poorer than that. I didn’t have a leg to stand on and school was never really my thing. Instead, I was born with great looks and charm a thief would kill for. In fact, it was that killer combination that led me into the life of crime. As I said, I wasn’t always bad.

  If I had to think about the moment I became a monster it was probably the moment I met Henry Montanari. He was notorious, brutal, and the closest thing to a father I have ever known. Working for him was exhilarating.

  When I left my small home in Chicago, I worked take-out at a small dive restaurant in Detroit, Michigan. Little did I know at the time that all of my dreams would soon be coming true. My best friend Leo (who left Chicago with me) and I worked long hours at that dive. We were tired, trying to stand on our own two feet. It was brutal. Working night shifts, no money for food, and living in squalor as we strove to work harder and harder. And we weren’t alone. There were other men there twice our age, doing the same grunt work for pennies, trying to feed their families.

  It was in these dark moments that I realized, you can work a hard life forever just like those men and never get anywhere. That maybe good guys do finish last. That maybe this world is made for the cheaters and the thieves.

  So that’s what Leo and I became...cheaters and thieves.

  We sort of fell into it. We started small by pickpocketing, small scores. Nothing too big. Until the night we met Henry. Then that’s when everything changed.

  He was intimidating and scary with his unkept bushy brows and dark sinister eyes. He didn’t give Leo and I a chance in hell to offer our apology for operating on his ‘turf’. Instead he simply came at us with a choice. Accept his deal or handle the consequences. It wasn’t really a choice and we were too young and frightened to not accept.

  So we quickly became the property of Henry. Which meant we were property of the Italian mob. And we had no clue what we walked into.

  Henry took us from our tattered studio apartment in the roughest part of town and brought us to his place. A giant home filled with several other rough boys, some younger than Leo and I. At first Leo and I kept to ourselves, unsure of our impending future. We kept our heads down and did what we were told. Mainly grunt work such as cleaning and doing constructional work for a small development of warehouses Henry had purchased in the heart of downtown Detroit.

  We didn’t mind the work. Henry kept us fed and well-clothed. He was grooming us, growing his own little army unbeknownst to us. We were blindly following his lead. We had nothing better to do. To us, this was as good as it was going to get.

  The guys we worked side by side with day in and day out became a brotherhood. We formed a bond. We laughed over silly jokes and hung out drinking beers on the weekend. Little did I know we were being taken care of by the very type of men I always swore I’d never become. The type of men I’d only heard about in Hollywood movies.

  Men who were bad to the bone.

  Devoid of empathy or sympathy for anyone or anything.

  Once I finally figured out that we were working for the actual mafia, I was in too deep and so was my best friend. It changed us.

  Leo transformed. Gone was the boy with his sandy-blond hair and bright smile. He grew large, packed with muscles, and gained a new tattoo every time I saw him. Surprisingly, I did the same thing. I grew. I changed. But, our bond never wavered. He’d always have my back, and me his.

  One day, Henry pulled me aside. “Giovanni, I want to show you something,” he had said.

  I remember following him into the large space of his office as he perched himself on the edge of his cherry-wood desk.

  “This is a family,” he started, his strong eyes daring me to not interrupt and let him finish. “We are a family. We take care of our own. We work together and it’s because of this loyalty we remain unscathed to the ways of the outside world.”

  I stood there, rigid, back straight and both hands clasped tightly behind my back. I nodded.

  “You see, Giovanni,” he grabbed a letter opener resembling a knife and played with it between his fingers, “there’s a way to how this all works, and I’d like to see you become a made man soon.”

  “A made man?”

  He chuckled. “A full-fledged member of my family in the Andolini organization.” He stood, stepping closer to the window overlooking the city. “Right now you boys aren’t even soldiers in my army.” He spun around, locking his harsh stare with mine. “Not all of them have what it takes to be a real soldier. But, with you I see great potential.”

  I cleared my throat. “Thank you, sir.”

  “There’s a small issue though.”

  “What is it?” I remember asking wanting desperately to assure him that I was the man for the job.

  “You’re not a blood relative of mine and I don’t know your people. I can’t trace your bloodline to the old country. Hell, I can’t even trace your bloodline back to Chicago. So I will need some other assurances that you are a good fit. Before being inducted I’ll need you to carry out a few tasks to test your loyalty.”

  I stiffened. His words hit me like a slap in the face. They felt like an accusation. “I’m very loyal to you, sir.”

  How could I not be? This man had saved Leo and I. The life we were leading was heading in one of three directions--drugs, jail or the grave.

  He laughed a little, his brow deepening. “Yes, I’m sure you are, but this is all rules and initiation procedures. We all have to answer to someone, and the men I answer to will not allow you in without this.”

  “I see.” I wasn’t sure what he was asking of me, but I would do whatever
it took to prove my worth to this man.

  He had a way about himself. Demanding. When he entered a room he sucked all the air out, and commanded attention. And everyone gave it to him, willingly. Even me.

  He could also be nice and kind when he wanted. Many times he would help the men who worked for him with whatever he could. If someone needed money for something, he was always there to give, and give and give. Never asking for it back. But he was also a smart man. One who, it wouldn’t be until many years later, was always planning. A grand master schemer. One who I didn’t realize at the time never gave anything willingly without a reason behind it.

  He waved his hand. “Don’t worry about any of this tonight. I just wanted to make sure this is what you want. There’s no turning back once you agree.”

  Those words echoed through my head.

  No turning back.

  Yep, I was good with that. I wanted this.

  Henry smiled when I nodded. He poured us both a glass of his most expensive Scotch from the glass bottle he kept in the highest shelf of his liquor cabinet. He even busted out a few cigars, and we smoked and chatted about my life and growing up. He said he wanted to know everything about my past and I was happy to oblige. No one had ever asked me about my childhood. No one ever cared.

  From that moment things changed drastically for me and Leo. We began our initiation into the Andolini mafia, and I have never regretted any of it. Life was great for a while. Money, alcohol, women, and respect wherever we went.

  Henry loved how much Leo and I enjoyed integrating into his mob family. We were trained to be fearless, treated as Gods, until it became something I craved day in and day out.

  Henry taught us many things, and after a while I noticed he would call on me more than any other. We would spend many hours talking in his office. He also started to confide personal shit to me. Information he wasn’t even telling his underboss.

  It became easy to move up the ranks with him supporting my advancement every step of the way. And so I was on my way to becoming a made man. I just had one more task to do, and it would be the hardest task of my life. But at that time, I was too naive to even understand it fully.

  “I want you to kidnap my daughter.”

  “Excuse me, sir?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Sir–”

  “I need you to take her somewhere remote and keep her protected, Giovanni.”

  Once he said the word protected I agreed like it was as easy as breathing.

  “Done.”

  Henry leaned closer. “You need to understand how important this is. How important she is. Shit is going down in the family and I have some bad men who will be gunning for me, and to get to me they always go after her. I need someone I can trust.”

  “You can trust me, sir.”

  “Also, I don’t need to remind you that you treat her better than the fucking queen of England. No one lays a finger on her.”

  He didn’t need to say it to make his point clear. I was not to touch his baby girl.

  And I wouldn’t.

  I’d keep my hands to myself.

  “Sir,” I said, unsure of one crucial thing. “Why a kidnapping though?”

  He chuckles over his drink.

  “My beautiful daughter doesn’t know I exist. She lives near her mother in New York.”

  “Ah, ok. So complete discretion?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “When do I start?”

  “I have a plane waiting for you and I have her schedule here.” He handed me a file. “Her name is Kelly.”

  Chapter Two

  Giovanni

  I’ve been watching her apartment overnight, and there seems to be no sign of life in her place. Is she even in there at all? I don’t know. I don’t think I will ever know. This whole assignment is ridiculous.

  When Henry first offered it to me, I rushed to say yes. I was so excited to prove myself to my new found family but now, sitting here in a black Buick I grabbed (and by grabbed I mean stole) from the airport lot, I feel wrong. The whole thing feels wrong.

  I’m supposed to grab Henry’s daughter, drive her upstate in the stolen car, and ditch and switch the vehicle several times. Then, end up in a cabin high in the mountains where no one will know we’re there. I’m to keep Kelly safe for two weeks while Henry handles his business (which is code for he’s going to put a hit on a few assholes). I asked Leo to come along with me, and thankfully he agreed so at least I won’t die of boredom.

  “Maybe she’s out?” Leo asks, looking over at me. “And where are the snacks, I’m hungry.”

  “Her schedule says she should be here. Chips are under the seat.”

  He shrugs. “Shit changes.”

  Leo doesn’t offer up any more dialogue because both of us stare off in the direction of Kelly’s apartment.

  “She’s home,” I whisper, like she can actually hear us.

  We get in position, waiting for Kelly to leave her apartment for according to schedule is her morning run. This is when we plan to take her. Wait for her to wake up. Right in the early morning when not too many people are around yet. The city barely sleeps as is, but this will be our best bet to be able to snatch Kelly and get away freely with her without anyone noticing.

  She stands in front of her upstairs window, and I stop and stare. What I see isn’t what I expected. Henry is an all right looking man, but if this is his daughter...damn. I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful in all my life. Granted, I can’t really see her well enough to make a concrete analysis of her but from what I see, she’s smokin’.

  Large, dark, curls that frame her head like a crown. Wide hips, a small waist, round ass and what seems like a sad face. From here I can see her wide set eyes deep in thought over the Hudson River. I wonder what she’s thinking about.

  “You comin’?” Leo asks me.

  I snap back into it. “Yeah.”

  We wait beside her building’s front door, watching her turn the lights off in her apartment and make her way down the stairwell. The plan is that I’ll ask her for directions, and Leo will grab her from behind and we’ll get her to the car. Easy.

  The minute she walks outside I can see clearly that she is as beautiful as I had first thought but older than I originally thought. Keeping her in a remote cabin for two weeks may prove harder than I originally fucking thought. She’s no kid and she’s hot as fuck.

  “Excuse me, Miss,” I say to her in an easy kind of way not to alarm her. “Do you know where the subway is around here?”

  She glances at me, and clearly can tell I’m not from around here. She must think I look safe enough so she opens her mouth to answer, but before she can get a single word out, Leo makes his move.

  He carefully covers her nose and mouth with a small cloth, and within minutes we have her safely in the back seat of the Buick driving further out of the city.

  Whatever Leo used to knock her out keeps her totally asleep through two car switches, and we’re completely out of the city before she even wakes up.

  It was easy.

  A simple job.

  But it still feels very wrong.

  Chapter Three

  Kelly

  My mouth feels as dry as the sahara. My body feels heavy. I try to open my eyes, but I can’t. I hear voices but they sound like they’re far away from me. Where am I?

  I try to remember the last thing I was doing before now. I remember waking up this morning, checking my cell and getting ready for my morning walk.

  My head weighs a million pounds and my body aches all over. I feel sick from the motion all around me. Am I in a car?

  I try again to pry my eyes open as the sounds of the men around me get louder. One eye opens and is assaulted with sunshine pouring in through the sunroof of the car I’m in. I lie in the backseat, my head throbbing, and my body aching from every limb.

  Long, twiggy branches pass by in a blur outside my window. Two men I don’t recognize sit in the front seats of a car I’ve nev
er been in before.

  “Where am I?” I manage to ask with a scratchy voice.

  They both turn around and the driver’s eyes look familiar. Where have I seen him before?

  “We’re taking you somewhere safe,” the man says from the passenger seat.

  “Safe?” I rub my head, noticing a small knot on the top. Did they hit me? Drug me? “My apartment was safe enough until you came. Who are you?” I sit up and squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for the world to realign before I open them fully. “What the fuck is this?”

  “Sit still and be quiet. Don’t make this hard for yourself.” The man driving stares at me through the rearview, his eyes piercing straight through to my soul.

  The car drives fast on the open road. We’re far out of the city now, but I don’t care. I have to plan my escape. I don’t have my purse, phone, anything. I feel my pockets, even my keys are gone.

  I try the handle of the car. Locked. But, I can’t very well jump from a moving car driving eighty plus miles per hour.

  Tears well in my eyes although I will them not to fall. I will not to shed a single tear. I don’t want them to see me cry. I won’t be this complacent weak woman. That’s not who I am. Little do they know that they’ve got the wrong girl if they think I’m going to go quietly into the night. Nope, not me.

  “I have to go to the bathroom,” I say.