Royal Mafia Box Set: Books 1-4

by Bella J.

  I’d swear to God, I was on the verge of getting a hard-on. This man had instantly become my fucking idol.

  I nodded in acknowledgement, and when Castello walked out the door, I turned to my dad. “Thank you.”

  “I’ve never doubted you, Dante. But you must remember, my first priority is the safety of this family.”

  “I know that.”

  He placed his hand on my shoulder. “But one thing I’ve learned from Karina’s debacle with Enzio is that my family’s happiness is just as important as their safety. If Layla is what you want, then I will do everything in my power to help you.”

  “Thank you, Father.” I wrapped an arm around his shoulder and hugged him. Times I saw eye-to-eye with my father happened few and far in between. But when it happened, it felt good.

  “Does Antonio know about this? About Castello helping us?”

  “I invited him to join our meeting, but he said he had something to take care of first.”

  I poured myself another drink. “I’m pretty sure Antonio is going to have a mouthful of opinions over everything we just discussed without him.”

  The door was flung open, and Lucio stormed in with a big “shit is about to go down” look on his face. “Antonio is taking Layla.”

  I put my glass down. “What?”

  “Move your ass, cousin.”

  I rushed after Lucio, out of the study, straight to the front door. When I got outside, I was just in time to see Layla get into Antonio’s car.

  “Layla, where are you going?”

  The way she stared at me with a sullen look, I knew. I just fucking knew.

  “Layla, no!” I moved down the stairs as fast as my feet could carry me. “Antonio, don’t do this!”

  “I’m sorry, brother.” Antonio got into his car, started the engine, and my heart felt like it was about to leap out of my throat.

  “Antonio, stop!”

  The engine roared, and tires screeched across the asphalt.

  “Motherfucker!” I ran so damn fast. But there was no way I could have caught up with them. When I stopped, watching Antonio’s Audi speed down the driveway, I knew. I didn’t need it spelled out for me. I knew what he was doing. What they were doing. Layla was running again, and because Antonio never approved of my relationship with Layla, he was helping her.

  Antonio was helping her by taking her back…taking her back to them.

  Chapter 16

  Layla

  I couldn’t stop staring at him in the side mirror. Dante.

  My heart broke over and over and over again the longer I stared at him. He looked defeated as he fell down on his knees, screaming after us.

  “Layla!”

  A tear slipped down my cheek as I closed my eyes. The sound of my name mixed with heart-wrenching desperation in his voice killed me little by little. But he left me no choice. He didn’t know the risk, what really was at stake. And I couldn’t tell him. If I did, it would have only placed him in more danger than he already was.

  “He’ll understand.” Antonio’s voice was strong, but the low note of uncertainty echoed through.

  I fixed my gaze on the road ahead, the large black gates already open, allowing Antonio to race out of the estate. “I’m not so sure about that.”

  Antonio shifted gears. “I am. Once he knows the truth, he will be able to put the pieces together.”

  I sighed, the heaviness in my chest making it increasingly difficult to breathe.

  “Why me, though? Why ask for my help?”

  I gave him a sideways glance. “I’m aware of your dislike for me, Antonio. But even though we never got along, you were always the voice of reason.”

  “Things change.”

  “What things? Are you going to tell me you’re no longer the one who thinks with his head and not his heart?”

  His gaze cut my way before returning to the road. “I was talking about me disliking you.”

  Surprised, I kept looking at him for a few seconds. I never thought I’d see the day when Antonio Valenti would actually start liking me.

  He cleared his throat. “I disliked you because I thought you were making my brother choose between you and his family. And then I disliked you even more when you broke his heart.” He snorted. “You have no idea what that did to him. It turned him into…” His voice trailed off. “Never mind. The point is, I understand now.”

  I smiled through my heartache. “I knew you would. Dante can’t help but think with his heart when it comes to me—to us. Unfortunately, that is his blessing and his curse. I couldn’t chance it by telling him the truth. Not before I know everyone is safe.”

  As Antonio sped through the streets of Boston, I didn’t even bother to look out the window. I had no interest in anything other than making sure my family was safe. The people on the streets were going on with their lives, completely unaware that I was about to sacrifice mine. I envied them the simplicity. My life was anything but simple. But it was the price I paid for falling for a man like Dante. Yet I was convinced that no matter the outcome if I had to do it all over again, I would still give him my heart. Only I wouldn’t have run. It was a foolish mistake…a mistake I would pay for in full.

  “Are you sure it will work?” Antonio’s voice was no longer hard, but rather soft and compassionate.

  I bit my bottom lip, doubt poking out its ugly head. “I’m not sure about anything anymore. But I have no choice but to believe it will.”

  He turned to me, his gaze settling on the hollow at my inner arm. “And what about that?”

  “That’s not my biggest problem right now.”

  “When was your last hit?”

  “I said I can handle it,” I snapped at him. Truth was I had been handling it since last night. Dante thought I was just restless in my sleep, but I was restless because my veins felt like they were pumping lava instead of blood. Sweat trickled down the side of my face, and I wiped it away.

  “I might be a junkie, Antonio, but when it comes to him, my instinct to protect is much stronger than my craving for a hit.” And that was the God’s honest truth. He was the only reason I was doing this. He was the only reason I was still staying strong, determined to see this through. Matteo underestimated me by thinking the heroin would control me and persuade me to do his bidding. But I was stronger than that. He made me stronger than that.

  I rubbed my elbow, my skin starting to itch. “You have the address Kate gave you?”

  “Yes.”

  I breathed out. “Good. You’ll go straight there after?”

  Antonio rubbed his temple. “Yes, just like we discussed.”

  It was written all over his worried face. He hated lying to his little brother. “I know I’m asking a lot of you, Antonio. If there was any other way, I never would have asked you to do this. But there is just no other way.”

  If I had a nickel for every time I had tried to think of a plan to get us out of this mess with all of us alive and well, I’d be fucking rich by now. There was simply no way. No matter how hard I tried, there was no solving this puzzle without someone dying. But this was the only way for me to ensure I was that someone, rather than someone I loved. I’d already started my eternity in hell the second Matteo placed that very first needle in my arm. After that, I never saw the light again.

  “I know I said he’ll understand,” Antonio started, “but there’s no way in hell he’ll ever forgive me for this—even after he finds out the truth.”

  Sorrow filled me to the bone while my chest cracked wide open. “I’m sorry. I know now that leaving was the worst mistake I ever made. I wish I could go back and change the past, but I can’t.” I choked back more tears.

  “I just don’t get it,” Antonio said. “Dante was ready to give everything up for you, his family. So why still leave when you knew he was giving up the life he had held a secret from you?”

  I closed my eyes. I could still remember how confused I was, how unsure I felt about anything back then.

  “You can
’t leave, Layla.”

  Kate stood by my bedroom while I sat on my bed, tears running freely down my cheeks.

  “You need to stay here so we can deal with this together.”

  My heart thudded painfully inside my chest. “He can’t know.”

  “Why not? He has a right to know.”

  I shook my head, my mind a maze of thoughts. Thoughts which only led to one conclusion—I had no choice but to run. The day I fell for Dante Valenti, I didn’t realize what I was signing up for. He kept a huge part of his life a secret from me, and now I was stuck in the middle of this huge mess, and the only way out was to run.

  “I can’t stay, Kate. I can’t.”

  She crouched in front of me, her hands on my knees while staring at me with pleading eyes. “Talk to him. Find out if what Dad said is true.”

  I wiped away a tear. “Dad has no reason to lie. He’s stuck in prison, and whether or not I stay makes no difference to him.”

  “He’s a liar, Layla. Dad never does anything unless he gets something out of it.”

  I picked up the photos and shoved them in front of her. “How is he getting something out of this? Someone sent him these pictures of Dante and me, proving that we—that I am being watched. I can’t see that Dad would have any reason to send me these other than to warn me.”

  Kate straightened, pulling her hands through her wavy blonde hair. “I don’t trust him, Layla. Everything he’s ever done was motivated by greed, and nothing else. He never gave a shit about us. Why now?”

  I tossed the pictures on the floor and stared at the evidence of how my privacy had been invaded—of how my life had been invaded because the man I fell in love with wasn’t who he pretended to be. Dante was a mobster. His father a criminal mafia boss. Pity I hadn’t been in town long enough to know who the Valentis really were.

  Kate started pacing, her shoulders slumped, and her cheeks pale with worry.

  As if I didn’t feel bad enough about her being saddled with me ever since Mom died. Kate lived her life around me, planned her life around me. And now I just managed to dump a whole new can of shit on her all because I lived my life as if fairy tales actually existed.

  No more.

  I couldn’t do this to her anymore.

  I got up, stepped on the pictures of Dante and me walking around town hand in hand and snuggling up, just being nauseatingly happy, then grabbed my suitcase.

  “Layla, stop.” Kate grabbed the case, but I jerked it back.

  “No! I’m leaving. I won’t be the cause of putting your life on hold any longer.”

  She shook her head. “That’s not true.”

  “I can’t do it anymore, Kate. You gave up everything for me, and look how I repaid you. By falling for a man who kills people for a living. By having sex with a man whose family leeches off other people.” I placed my hand on my belly. “And now that I’m in too deep, I won’t drag you down with me.”

  Kate stared at me in silence. She couldn’t hide her emotions from me. It was there, in her eyes, causing her so much pain, so much worry.

  Gently, she reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Don’t blame yourself because you fell in love, Layla.”

  I bit my bottom lip, and my heart cracked in two. For months, Dante had been my world. He was the sun in my life, our love the air I breathed. He was everything…until I opened my father’s letter, discovering the truth about the man I had given my heart.

  “Talk to him first, Layla. Maybe there’s a reasonable explanation for all this.”

  “And so what if there is? So what if he has a hundred different reasons for keeping this part of his life a secret from me? It doesn’t change anything. His family is selling drugs on the streets, living off dirty money. And if half of what Dad is saying in his letter is true, then I—we are no longer safe here. It’s not just about me and him anymore, Kate.” I glanced at the bedside table. “It’s about so much more than just us now.”

  Silence surrounded us, and I knew just by looking at her that Kate understood. There was no need for her to say anything. The decision had been made for us.

  The familiar sound of the engine of his Audi as he parked in front of the house made me aware of the time.

  “Shit. It’s him. He’s here.” I took Kate’s hands in mine. “He can’t know, Kate. Promise me you will never tell him. Promise me!”

  Eyes that mirrored my own blinked with unshed tears. It fucking broke my heart to know I had caused my sister so much trouble.

  “I promise,” she whispered, and I pulled her in for a hug.

  “Thank you.”

  She pulled back, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. “What do I tell him?”

  I grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and started writing. Short and sweet, just like our time together had been.

  “Here.” I handed her the envelope. “Give him this. You don’t have to say anything. Everything that needs to be said is in here.”

  Her hand shook as she took the envelope from me. “When I come back, you won’t be here anymore…will you?”

  Dear God, it killed me. It killed me that I had to do this to her. But I thanked the heavens that my father’s letter got to me in time, before I had a chance to tell Dante my secret.

  I shook my head, and Kate whimpered softly before pulling me in for a hug.

  “Where will you go?”

  I wrapped my arms around her. “Dad gave me a name of someone who can help me.”

  She leaned back to look at me. “Who?”

  “Don’t, Kate. The less you know, the better.”

  She sucked in her bottom lip and closed her eyes for a second. “I don’t like this, Layla. I don’t trust any of this.”

  “I know. But I have no other option. If Dante’s family is half as bad as they seem, I have to make sure we’re not a part of it.”

  Footsteps came from the front porch, my heart and stomach both fighting for a way up my throat. “He’s here. Please, Kate.”

  “Dear God, why is this happening? How will I know you’re safe?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll try to figure something out. Right now, I just need to get out of there before he finds me. Kate, if I see him, if I look into his eyes, I won’t be strong enough to leave. I love him too much.”

  “Then stay,” she pleaded. “Stay. Talk to him.”

  “No.” I stepped back. “I can’t. I can’t risk it. Loving Dante is no longer an option for me.”

  More footsteps.

  “Kate, please!”

  “Okay.” She stepped up to me and placed a kiss on my forehead. “I love you, Layla.”

  “I love you too.”

  Her lips remained for a few more seconds…and then she left, walking out my bedroom door.

  I sucked in a breath, and my insides knotted and twisted with pain as if wrapped in barbed wire. I leaned against the wall and listened as Kate opened the front door.

  “Layla?” His voice was like a dagger through my heart, and I had to place my hand in front of my mouth as sobs threatened to escape.

  “I’m sorry, Dante,” Kate said.

  “Where is she?”

  “Dante—”

  “Where the fuck is Layla, Kate?” I heard the desperation in his voice, and it sliced through every bone, piercing the marrow of my soul. I loved him. No matter the secrets he kept from me. I loved him with every breath I took. But loving him hurt too goddamn much, especially now.

  I glanced at my bedside table and slowly moved forward while staring at the one thing that changed everything within the span of only a few seconds. Just like Kate when she adopted me after Mom died, my life was no longer my own. So no matter how much it pained me to leave, how hard I wished it was only his secrets that threatened our love…it wasn’t. His secrets, I could forgive…but chancing a future which was now my responsibility wasn’t something I could do.

  “I’m sorry, Dante, but Layla isn’t here. She asked me to give you this.”

  With m
y eyes closed, I imagined Dante holding the envelope in his hands. The piece of paper which would rip our lives apart…forever.

  “Where is she?” Dante’s voice was hard, desperate…unforgiving.

  “I can’t tell you that, Dante.”

  “When did she leave?”

  “I can’t tell you that, either.”

  “Why the fuck not?”

  Quietly, I grabbed my suitcase and stepped up to my bedroom door, listening.

  “Kate, will you fucking look at me and tell me what the fuck is going on?”

  “I don’t know, okay?” I could hear in her voice that she was fighting back the tears, and I prayed she would manage to keep it together just a little while longer. “All I know is she left, and she asked me to give you the goddamn envelope.”

  “What else did she say? Jesus Christ, Kate!”

  “She’s not coming back!”

  I held my breath when Kate shouted at Dante, directing all the pain and anger at him. But he didn’t have a clue. He had no idea. And I hoped it would stay that way…forever.

  Slowly, quietly, I stalked down the hall, careful not to make a sound while Kate continued to speak with Dante at the front door.

  “My little sister is not coming back. Not to me. Not to you. Never. I don’t know what you did, Dante. All I know is because of you, I will never see my fucking sister again.”

  The front door slammed just as I reached the back door by the kitchen. I stilled for a moment. Only a second. One heartbeat.

  This was it. The last chance if I wanted to change my mind. It was now or never.

  With my palm flat on my belly, I closed my eyes.

  A deep breath. A final tear.

  A final goodbye…and I prayed I would not regret it.

  The memory squeezed the final life out of my already shattered heart. Turned out, I did regret it. I regretted it with every ounce of my being.

  I should have opened that door.

  I should have said the words.

  I should have stayed.

  Blinking back tears, I stared out the window, watching the scenery fly by in one big blur. “I was young. Naïve. Stupid. I thought I was doing the right thing.”