by April Zyon
EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2016 April Zyon
ISBN: 978-1-77233-976-5
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Editor: Melissa Hosack
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
To my editor, thank you for all of the hours you spent helping me bring my baby to life.
To my best friend, Moira, thank you for being you and talking me out of the corners when I kept writing into them.
To all of my readers that contact me and read my books, I love you all tons. Thank you for choosing to read my books.
HIS MAFIA PRINCESS
Family First, 1
April Zyon
Copyright © 2016
Chapter One
She first met him when she was eight and he was twenty, but it was more than twelve years later when she saw him again. Gregorio. This time, his eyes clashed with hers, and she saw the spark of attraction in them. She knew how she looked. She had more than one person look at her like Gregorio did now. However, none of them affected her the way his singular look did.
When he turned to walk past her, once more his gaze straight ahead, she turned and looked at him. The man walked with confidence, a swagger that couldn’t be feigned. She still couldn’t understand why someone so dangerous worked for her sweet father, who was in imports and exports.
She shrugged and went on to the car, because she had less than half an hour to get to the country club and still had to stop for her Starbucks fix. She was starving for coffee, something her father recently banned from the house because he could no longer drink it due to his heart.
An hour later, Alessandra was standing on the golf course with her friends and laughing at a shot Francesca had just taken. She loved being on the links. A smile turned up her lips as she looked up at the bright blue skies and inhaled the scents of the freshly cut grass of the course. She longed to take off her shoes and sink her feet into the too soft grass, but that was frowned upon as she learned two years earlier. Shaking her head at her too wistful thoughts, she walked up to the tee green and put her ball down. “Now, Frankie, I know your father is paying Carl Durand to give you lessons, so why was that drive so lousy?”
Les loved her friends and enjoyed this time with them. It made her happy to get away from the house at least for a few hours a day. To get away from the heavy testosterone and ass-kissing that some of the lower level men in her father’s organization did on a daily basis.
“Well, Les, since you’re asking,” Frankie said dramatically, “Carl is giving me lessons, but they certainly aren’t golf lessons.”
Alessandra laughed and then took her shot. Her ball landed in the forest, but she didn’t mind. It was good for her to get out and stretch her legs. Walking in the woods was something she often did because she really did suck at golf. She looked toward where her guards were, guards her father insisted upon after someone mugged her a week earlier … and of course the incident when she was a child. She noticed the security around the house had been increased as well, but that was part of her being who she was. She had a feeling her father was about to make a huge announcement; she would find out when his employees did.
Finding her ball, she moved so that she could hopefully get it out of the rough and onto the fairway once more. Once it was back on the fairway, she stepped out of the way to let the others shoot their balls as well.
The laughing friends played their way through the front nine and then went inside so they could grab lunch. As she walked past her guards, she stopped. “Go in and have lunch. I’m sure nothing will happen in the clubhouse. Really, we will be all right.”
“Are you certain?” Both men looked at each other, each of them showing a trace of fear, which had Les frowning.
“Yes, I’m sure. There’ll be close to fifty people inside at this time of day. I’ll be okay. If it makes you feel better, you can have lunch in the clubhouse as well.”
“Yes, ma’am, that would make us feel better.” She saw the instant relief from both men.
“Come on, I’ll talk to the maître de so you can have lunch. I know you both likely have memberships thanks to daddy, but I would feel better knowing you were both having lunch too.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Arturo Cavazos, one of her guards, said with a bow to her.
****
An hour later, Les was practically dancing in her seat. She had drunk two glasses of wine and far more glasses of water than she should have. “Excuse me, ladies,” she said and rose. She looked to her guards and smiled. They wouldn’t even notice her gone. She would only be three minutes in the bathroom.
She stepped out of the dining room and into the lady’s room. Once she was done with her business, she walked out. She was stopped by a waiter and frowned when he put his hand on her. She felt it then, a small prick to her arm where his fingers touched her.
“What?” she whispered just before the room went dark.
Chapter Two
Gregorio was pissed off that he had been called to the mansion, again. He had to get a hold of his men, or the Boss wouldn’t let him take over in the timeframe given to them. It wasn’t because of his fuck up, but one of his underlings. The little bastard was dead now. Greg had personally seen to it. No one got away with stealing from the family, not under his watch. Period. Now if only he could get the Boss to agree that times needed to change and the stakes had to be higher so that their family ran even tighter, because the Russians were trying to move in on their turf and usurp their power. It was up to Gregorio as the Boss’s right hand—and eventual heir—to ensure that they died trying instead of taking over the area that they had carved out for themselves.
When he was let into the Boss’s study, he stood loose in front of the man. Gregorio was armed and ready for anything. “You called?”
“Gregorio, take a seat.” The man didn’t pose it as a question, and Gregorio knew it. It was an order. Once he was sitting, the Boss nodded. “I hear you took care of the mistake.” The Boss sneered as he said the last word, as if it were dirty. “And you made an example?”
“Yes, sir. I did. He’s currently hanging with his hands cut off and his gullet filled with molten silver. His silver-filled body was left on the lawn of the Russian Boss’s home, as per your request. We will need to be more careful with our recruits. How this one passed as Italian, I will never know. It was the theft from the small general store that got him. The girl recalled him speaking Russian as he stole from her. She was injured and in the robbery, she remembered our underling because he had come to collect the protection fee two days earlier.”
Gregorio smiled. It was a smile of pure darkness as he thought of the pain the man suffered. He then tilted his head slightly as he asked the next question. “You let your daughter leave without a guard?” Gregorio changed the subject to one he really wanted to know. That woman had gotten under his skin and had been there since she was sixteen when he saw her naked in the pool house. That was when he was third in the organization. Gregorio killed the second because he was jacking off to Alessandra. Only he was allowed to even think of her in that capacity, and he ensured that every-fucking-one knew it. Even the Boss knew now that Gregorio had declared himself to the m
an.
“She plays golf with her friends every Thursday. Her guards are with her. Have you learned more of her mugging?”
“I have.” Another reason Gregorio was angry; he was here when he should be tracking the bastards that hurt her. No one hurt her and lived.
“And?” the Boss asked impatiently.
“One of them is sitting in my basement tied to a chair. I was in the middle of discussing respect with the man when you called.”
“It’s more than respect,” the Boss said angrily. “You would do well to remember respect yourself.”
Gregorio had to bite the inside of his cheek. “Yes, Boss. I’m sorry.” He hated those words because it was a reminder of just how much more Gregorio had to learn. Just saying them had him wanting to kill someone.
“That’s better. You have to remember who you are speaking with at all times. Yes, I have been grooming you to take over, but that’s in the near future. In the meantime, you’ve much to learn, things I had to learn the hard way through trial and error and a lot of blood lost.”
“Thank you, sir.” Those words came from his mouth in a near growl. It wasn’t that Gregorio didn’t appreciate what the Boss was doing for him, but the simple fact was that he was impossibly impatient at times.
“Now, what was offered to Tomas to make him turn from his Family?”
“Half million and the promise of a new life. Beyond that, it was the tie to his long lost relative who was a Russian that we didn’t know about.” He shook his head decisively at that statement.
“The Russians are growing bolder. They are searching out long lost Russians in our family’s men and enforcers. Seems as if we need to work on our own genealogy so we can head these off at the pass when possible.”
“They want what we have. They want the docks. They want the refinery and everything else we have. Everything we’ve worked so hard to get.”
“That I worked so hard to get. That my Father worked so hard to get. Don’t forget, Gregorio, you are only being groomed because I didn’t have a son but a daughter. One that I would kill for and one that will never know the reality of her life.”
Greg knew the truth though. The old man had twin sons that were older than Alessandra, but they were born from his whore so they would never hold any sort of position of power inside of the organization.
“I agree. She’ll never know the truth of this life. Not as long as I live. That’s my blood vow to you, Boss.” He would give it too, his blood to keep Alessandra safe, to keep her pure and to keep her out of this life.
He was going to say something else when the doors opened. Gregorio was on his feet with his weapon drawn on reflex.
The man who stood in the doors literally pissed his pants. “I’m sorry, Boss, but we got a note you have to read.”
“Bring it.”
Gregorio holstered his weapon and watched. He was curious about what would have anyone daring to open the door when he and the Boss were in a conference. No one but Alessandra dared do such a thing. She would breeze in when they were planning war and not realize what she walked in on.
When the Boss stood fast enough to send his chair flying behind him, Gregorio knew it had to involve Alessandra. She was the only one that would garner that sort of reaction in the man. “Those fucking bastards!” The Boss yelled out his frustration. “Get everyone here.” He looked at Gregorio. “Someone took Alessandra. Took her in the middle of a crowded lunch at the Country Club.”
Gregorio saw red. He shook in his fury. “Who?” He spoke to the man that brought the note. “Where are her guards?”
“They were found in their cars, both with holes in their foreheads. Whoever did this made it personal. They wanted these men to see who killed them.”
“Boss?” Gregorio waited for his orders to find the woman that held both of their hearts.
“Go. Find her. Take her to safety. I’m done with these Russian bastards on our turf.”
“You calling a war?”
“They did when they took her,” the Boss said as he pulled his weapons from his desk.
Chapter Three
Alessandra was shocked awake by cold water being thrown on her. She jerked but didn’t move too much. She was tied tightly to a chair by her wrists, waist, thighs, legs, calves, and feet. They didn’t mess around with leaving any part of her body not tied. “What do you want?” She asked the question after coughing madly.
“Such a lovely thing.” A heavily accented man spoke from the shadows. “You look just like your mother.” He added, “I knew her, you know.” His accent, she was trying hard to place it. Russian maybe? “She was a beautiful woman. Graceful, elegant. She was the perfect bride, but your father got there before I did. Bastard.”
She looked down and one of her brows went up. She was sitting in a small room filled with light. Why? “So glad you are awake. You see, Alessandra, we need to have a … what is it called?” The man asked one of the men that stood in the light.
“Come to Jesus moment, sir,” the man said in a voice that screamed Russian. His accent wasn’t as cultured as the man in the dark’s was. Instead, it seemed to come straight from the streets of Russia, a place she’d gone to with her mother the year before she died.
“Yes, that’s it. You see, Alessandra, it’s time you realize your father isn’t the man you think he is. I tell you this so you understand the pain you’re very soon going to suffer. I’m sorry, dear, but he has what I want. He took Anna from me. Now I’ll take his world from him.” He paused and then added, “You, dear. You’re his entire world. For you, he would even walk away from his position as Boss.”
Anna, her mother? She didn’t understand. “My father’s an industrialist. He deals in imports and exports, and what does my mom have to do with any of this?”
“Your father and I go way back. Before he was Boss. That bastard took Anna because he knew I wanted her. He stole her not because he loved her, but so he could solidify his position and take from me the one thing I would have given my life for.”
“You loved my mother?” She was so confused.
“I did. That’s why this is going to hurt me, dear Alessandra.” She saw the shadowed man nod and one of his men moved to her side. “Now.”
The next moment there was blinding pain that raced up her legs and to her fingers and head. She heard a scream and realized it was her.
“That was just a start. You see, Alessandra, I needed just a snippet to ensure that your father knew I wasn’t playing. Have you sent that to him?” The shadow man directed his question to the man who held what looked like a cattle prod. Her side hurt as if she had been stabbed from where the huge man had touched her with the item he held.
“Yes, sir. It has been sent to him.”
“Good. War is always a good thing.”
“Why?” Alessandra’s voice was pitchy now, fear evident in her voice.
“Alessandra, are you truly that blind?” the shadow man asked. “Oh dear, you still do not understand, do you?” The man stepped forward and Alessandra gasped. She had seen photos of him hidden in her mother’s jewelry box. “Alessandra, my dear, you are the daughter of the Boss of the Italian Mafia. I am Vasily Bulova, and even now your father is preparing his men for war.”
No! It wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t. Her father was a kind and gentle man that gave to charity. He had never so much as raised his voice to her.
“I see you are fighting the truth. That is what it is, little Alessandra. The truth. You will see when he comes for you.” There was a pause, and he smiled. “His right hand, Gregorio, left a gift on my lawn. It was quite distracting; I did enjoy that statue he left my man on.”
Gregorio? Yes, she was confident Gregorio could be dangerous, but she also knew he wasn’t a killer. She wasn’t that out of touch with what was going on around her, was she?
“He’s keen on taking you to wife and your father is going to allow it. You are far too much like your mother to be given to a piece of shit like that.”
>
“You are crazy.” Good lord her teeth even hurt. Spitting out her words so venomously was proof of her complete frustration. Every inch of her skin seemed super sensitized from the shock she’d received.
“No, I’m honest.”
There was a loud sound and what appeared to be a siren. “They are here.” The man withdrew and nodded again to his man.
She felt that shock again and screamed once more until the blackness swallowed her.
Chapter Four
When he heard Alessandra scream, Gregorio turned on his heel. He heard the men at his back, fighting and guns blasting. There was only one problem. There weren’t enough of the Russian’s there. Something was wrong. Without doubt.
He jumped over a banister and blocked a knife by just a hairsbreadth. He grabbed the knife and the man’s hand and jerked it, hard. Using the man’s hand, he cut his throat and then tossed him away. Nothing mattered right now besides getting to Alessandra.
Another guard came from a corner, and Gregorio wheeled and kicked him in the chest, making the man fall to the ground. He kicked him in the face, crushing his nose into his brain and killing him instantly.
He heard one of his enforcers come up behind him, knew that it was one of his because the man called Gregorio’s name. Just in time too or he would have had his head chopped off by an asshole with an ax. He came up and under the Russian and grabbed the ax, turning in one fluid movement and slicing through the man from crotch to stomach. “Nice ax. I think I will keep it,” he said to the man on the ground screaming his last dying breaths.
He went toward the door the man had been guarding and kicked it open. He could smell blood, but he had to find her.