by Bella King
“He’s dead, actually,” Dylan said, cocking his head to the side and glaring at me. “He committed suicide, and I’ve been struggling every fucking day to get through it. Life used to be easy, like yours. Now, it’s hell, and I have to do what I have to do to put food on the table.”
I was taken aback by his words, but I could tell that he wasn’t lying. He was hurt, and badly. I knew my father to be cruel when it came to business. He never considered the consequences of what he did, and this was one of them. He had gone too far, cut too deep, and now, a man was dead, and his son was here trying to steal from us.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper.
“I didn’t think you would care. Your father certainly didn’t,” Dylan said, shrugged. “I’m not going to steal from you. I made a mistake, but I suppose it’s too late to say sorry now.”
“You could start with that,” I said, wiping a tear from my eye.
Dylan looked at me, his eyes intense and unwavering. “Scarlet, I’m sorry. I’ve been rude to you, mean, uncaring, and deceitful. I understand if you don’t forgive me, but I want you to know that even though I made this mess, the feelings that I have for you are real.”
I held back. I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He was so fucking stupid sometimes. We could have worked all this out in the beginning if he had just talked to me normally, but now I had to be the one to cast the final stone. The judgment was on me. I had to make a choice whether to take him back or to throw him to the cops.
In retrospect, the choice was obvious, but I really struggled with it then. Standing there, eyes locked with the man of my dreams, and I was reluctant to forgive a mistake. Of all the crazy shit we have to go through in life, this one really took the cake.
I dropped my tense shoulders and held out my arms. “Come here, you great big asshole.”
Dylan swopped into my arms, squeezing me so tightly that I thought my ribcage would shatter. He sobbed on my shoulder, crying ugly tears as I petted his head. He wasn’t so scary after all. There was no need to be scared of the dark.
Chapter 21
Scarlet
I had Dylan sleep in my room, but I kept a close eye on him, waking up throughout the night to make sure he hadn’t crept off into the night, taking everything expensive in the house with him. He slept like an angel, barely moving. He was probably exhausted from everything that had happened, and so was I. It had been one hell of a night.
I woke up bleary-eyed but happy that Dylan had stayed the night. There was so much more for me to understand about him, but we had broken through a significant wall, and what had been holding us back previously now seemed to be out of the way.
“I’m going to talk to my father about this,” I said as I got dressed that morning.
Dylan was pulling up his pants when I spoke. He stopped mid-thigh and his head snapped toward me. “About me?” He asked, looking worried.
“You’re not in trouble,” I said, shaking my head. “I just want him to be aware of what he did, and I want to make this right. Maybe he can give you a job or something.”
“Or, like, a million dollars,” Dylan suggested, pulling up his pants all the way.
I chuckled. “Don’t be dramatic. I’m going to help you, is my point.”
“I really appreciate that,” he replied. “I don’t know what I’m going otherwise. My uncle retired and I had been working for him. I was out of money.”
I was starting to see more of his story. It was tragic and way more difficult than I had imagined it to be. I admired him even more now than I did before. I wasn’t just a hard-working man, but a tough and damn resilient one as well. I liked him far more than anyone else I had met before, not to mention he was great in bed.
I came up to him, planting a kiss on his cheek and leaned back, looking into his eyes. “You’re my hero.”
“Even after all this?” He asked.
“Yes, even after all this,” I answered.
I turned my head to the window, hearing the sound of a car rolling into the driveway. Fuck, my parents were coming home already. I wasn’t expecting them home this early.
“You have to leave,” I said, shooing Dylan toward the window. “Go out the window.”
“What?” He asked, stumbling back.
“My parents are home. You need to sneak out.”
“I’ll break my neck jumping out the window,” he claimed, looking through the glass.
I laughed. “Well, then I guess you’re not going to be sleeping over again any time soon.” I pulled open the window, fresh morning air spilling into my room.
Dylan leaned out the window, looking down. He shrugged. “I guess it’s not that bad but give me a kiss in case I become a cripple from this,” he said, puckering his lips at me.
I kissed him, then threw his book bag out of the window into the grass below. “Go,” I demanded as I heard the front door open downstairs.
Dylan winked at me, then leaped out of the window, landing with a heavy thud on the dewy grass. He smiled up at me, holding his thumb up, then took off sprinting away from the house.
It occurred to me that he didn’t have a car to get himself back, but he didn’t seem terribly bothered. I would go pick him up after I talked with my parents. A man his size would be hard to find walking along the side of the road toward the trailer park.
I blew him a kiss, then left the window, dashing out of the room to greet my parents downstairs.
“I thought you might still be sleeping,” my father said as I came down the hall.
“I just woke up, actually,” I said, rubbing the crust from my eyes.
“Well, this might wake you up,” he said, putting his arm around my mother. “We have some news.”
“What news?” I asked, looking at them both smiling at me. If I was being honest, it was a bit creepy.
My father looked around the hall, seeming the examine the place. “It’s about time we find something nicer than this old house, don’t you think?”
I shrugged. “It seems alright to me.”
He chuckled. “How does a little snowy weather sound to you?”
“You mean like a vacation? I could use a break from this heat,” I replied.
“Not quite. You see, I made a deal on an oil pipeline, but the investors want me down there to run the business. It would be in our best interest to move,” he said, squeezing my mother’s shoulder.
“Move?” I asked, dumbfounded. I was just starting to fall in love with a guy and they wanted to uproot us from our home and take me to some frigid oil pipeline? No way.
“Yes, move. We’re planning on heading out there next month. There is a school there that we would like to send you to so that you can finish,” he explained.
I shook my head. “I don’t want to go.”
They both look surprised. “You have to go,” my mother said.
“I’m an adult, so technically I don’t,” I replied, crossing my arms.
My father frowned. “Why don’t you want to go?”
I sighed. “Dad, can I talk to you in private for a minute?”
My father looked at my mother and shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Let’s go to my office. We can have a chat there.”
I followed my father to the office, leaving my mother in the hallway. I was going to explain Dylan’s situation to him and pray that he was feeling generous enough to help him out. It was important to me to do this, even if I did end up having to leave without him.
Chapter 22
Dylan
The sun was growing hotter against my back as sweat trickled down the side of my face. I should have drunk some water before I left. It was going to take several hours to get back home, and I wasn’t certain that I would even make it without dying in the boiling sun.
God, what I wouldn’t do to be in some snowy climate right about now.
The familiar roar of Scarlet’s car interrupted my thoughts as she pulled up beside me. I knew cars qu
ite well from having worked with them so long, so it was easy to recognize hers even before she nearly squashed me with it.
A window came down in the car, and Scarlet shouted something at me. I shook my head, unable to hear her, but opened the passenger’s side door and slid into the seat beside her. I slammed the door, and we were back on the road in a second, barreling down the tight streets like there was no tomorrow.
“I have something to tell you,” Scarlet said, her eyes wide and urgent.
“Yes?” I asked, growing nervous that she had somehow changed her mind about me in the thirty minutes that I had been away. I had fucked up pretty bad last night, but I didn’t intend to do it again. Scarlet had been far more forgiving than I deserved.
“I know it’s going to be a lot for you to take in, but bear with me,” she said. “This is going to be good for everyone, I hope.”
I nodded, glancing from her to the road that she was flying down, then back at her.
“My father is trying to move us out to some frozen wasteland because he signed a deal with an oil company, and they want him down there. Here’s the catch though. I told him I wasn’t going to go unless he gave you and your mother a job there and paid for your school.”
“What?” I asked, not believing this. It seemed incredible, and probably too good to be true.
“Hear me out,” she said. “My father wants to keep up an image, and if I’m not happy, it makes the family look bad. Plus, he does feel bad about your father. He wants to make it up to you. Now, you don’t have to forgive him, but I want you to come with us.”
She was right that this was a lot to take in. My head was spinning from all this, but at the end of the day, I would agree to anything if it meant that I could stay with Scarlet. I had never met another woman like her, and if I was being honest, I didn’t think I ever would. I couldn’t lose her.
I nodded my head, looking at her intently. “I’ll go to the end of the earth with you, Scarlet.”
She laughed. “That’s basically where we’re going.”
I placed a hand on her thigh as she drove me to the school where my car was. “I’m here for it, but you should probably meet my mom before we ship her off with us. She has no clue that you exist.”
Scarlet laughed and shook her head up and down. “That would be a good idea.”
Chapter 23
Scarlet & Dylan
Scarlet stood at the bottom of the slope, waiting for Dylan to arrive at the bottom. They had both spent the entire evening after school skiing, an activity that they had both found great enjoyment since moving to a much colder location than their previous city.
Dylan raced down the hill but was still slower than the daredevil Scarlet. He nearly fell as he hit the bottom of the slope and leveled out, coming to a stop just a foot in front of Scarlet. He took off his goggles and smiled at her, his teeth shining nearly as white as the snow itself. “You’re always faster than me,” he said, amazed that she had still managed to make it down faster than him, despite how faster he had been going.
“You’re just a slowpoke,” she teased, flipping her long black hair in the cold air as she gazed at the man she loved with icy blue eyes.
“I bet I could beat you back to the cabin,” he said, removing his skis.
“Try me,” she replied, taking off before he had the chance to get ready.
“That’s cheating,” he called out after her, but she didn’t stop. She knew that if she let him catch up, he would be able to outrun her. The only way she would beat him is if she got a head start.
It had been three months since the couple had moved to the snowcapped mountains to start a new life together. Scarlet’s father had given Dylan a part-time job with a generous income and had paid for his school in full.
Dylan had felt more than a little foolish about holding onto his pain for so long without talking about it, but he was quickly moving on now that he was falling in love with Scarlet. She seemed to be the perfect woman for him, and she thought the same about him. They were inseparable, and they wanted it no other way.
They spent their days at school, and their evenings on the slopes until it got too dark out to ski. Then, they would head back to the cabin to make love and get ready to go home. It was a wonderful life to live, and now that neither of them had to worry about money, they lived to their fullest.
When they arrived back at the cabin, Scarlet could tell that Dylan was nervous about something, and it wasn’t just because he had lost the race to get there. That only meant that she got to be on top when they got to the bedroom. There was clearly something else on his mind.
“Scarlet,” he said as they entered the cabin and shook the snow off their coats.
“Yes?” She asked.
“I want to tell you something,” Dylan said, biting his lower lips.
Scarlet looked him up and down. He looked as sexy as ever, and that lip bite made her want to jump on him and shag him right there in the hallway. “Tell me,” she urged.
He took a deep breath. “I love you.”
She was surprised that he was saying this now, but she had felt it coming since their fateful night in the old house. She had been falling in love with him since the moment she crashed her car into his, and yet, it had taken this long to get to the point where she would admit it to him.
A thousand nights in his bed wouldn’t mean a thing if it wasn’t for love. She knew that and was happy that he had finally spoken the words that she longed to hear. She looked into his eyes, lost in the splendor of his words.
“Dylan,” she said, stepping closer to him. “I love you too.”
The End.
Raw Deal
An Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance
Introduction
Caleb
There are a few things that she needs to learn.
Number one: Obedience. That’s the only way to serve a billionaire mafia boss.
Number two: Marriage is the name of the game. I need her more than she knows.
Number three: Escape may seem easy, but it’s impossible. Don’t try.
I can be nice, but it’s easier to be cruel. Don’t test me.
Kalila
I had a target, but the department said he was too dangerous for me to take on. Stay back, don’t get involved, and focus on the small-time thugs. Sorry, but I don’t play for second place.
Taking out the biggest mafia boss in the country wasn’t going to be easy, but I always played the hero. When I saw my chance, I took it, and that’s when I fell into his trap.
I was faced with a choice – Escape or surrender to his seduction.
Raw Deal is a dark standalone arranged marriage mafia romance. It contains mature themes and adult language.
Chapter 1
Kings don’t fear pawns.
“If you weren’t so pretty, you’d be dead by now,” a rough voice grumbled from behind me.
I pulled at the ropes that bound my hands together behind my back, but the knots were so tight that they dug deep in my flesh, causing my fingers to tingle as they struggled to keep sensation. I couldn’t even turn my head to look at the owner of the voice, but I didn’t have to. I already knew who it was.
I was surprised that I wasn’t blindfolded, but that also worried me. If I could see my surroundings, then my captors didn’t fear me snitching on their hideout. That probably meant that I would be floating in the ocean by the end of the night.
“What do you have to say for yourself, Kalila?” The voice asked. It belonged to a man named Caleb, who was known for his smuggling operations on the west coast. I had stepped too close to his game, and now I was part of it.
I couldn’t find my voice. My throat was dry from whatever I had been given to knock me out, and my body was cold and trembling in the stiff wooden chair that I was tied to. A neon light hung fifty feet away against the wall, the only light source in the room.
“Thirsty?” Caleb asked, his voice still floating behind me.
If only I could
nod. My head was tied tight to the back of the chair, strapped in like some kind of sick operating table from the 18th century. I couldn’t move anything. I was frozen.
I managed a squeak from my throat, just enough to signal my need for water. Caleb chuckled from behind me, but the sound of pouring liquid told me that he wasn’t just taunting me. I waited for him to bring it around to me.
His heavy footsteps were calm and calculated, as though each one was valuable to him and couldn’t be wasted. A man with such power didn’t get there without an unusual mind, and I knew Caleb to have a very warped way of thinking. It worked wonders for him but mystified everyone else.
Caleb appeared in front of me, too close for me to see anything but perfectly creased black slacks. He always dressed like he was attending a billionaire’s wedding, so unlike the street thugs that he employed. He was cut from a different cloth, a fine fabric that would cost an arm and a leg, literally, to buy a single square inch of.
“Drink,” Caleb’s voice thundered from above, forcing a glass to my lips.
The pungent liquid inside of it sloshed onto my parched tongue, stinging my cracked lips and immediately causing a fit of coughs and wheezing to erupt from my mouth. I spat it back out onto my lap, shocked by the strong alcohol taste.
“This is expensive whiskey, darling,” Caleb said, feigning offense.
“Water,” I managed to croak.
“Fine, then. You’re too young for such a beverage anyway,” he replied, spinning around silently and walking away.
I coughed, trying to clear my throat of the harsh liquid that worked its way into the sensitive flesh of my esophagus. As bad as it was, it did make talking easier, but I needed water badly.
“So,” I heard Caleb say from beside me. “They’re sending teenagers to do a man’s job. How amusing.”
Like it or not, he was right. I was only 19 when I got assigned to the case, a policewoman in training for the local academy. Caleb was the most dangerous mafia boss since his father, and nobody dared challenge him. Over six men and women on the force had gone missing this year, and they didn’t let us get close to him anymore. It was too dangerous.