Royal Mafia Box Set: Books 1-4

by Bella J.

  “I know you will.”

  I shared Antonio’s lust for revenge against Stefano. My dad saved my life by taking a bullet for me. Stefano and his dead sons had caused our family enough pain. It was time he paid for his sins against us. But for now, Rafe needed all of my attention, which was why I left the hunt for Stefano Mancuso to my brother, at least until I’d decided what our future held. Whether it was here with the rest of my family, or somewhere else, I didn’t know yet.

  I glanced at my brother. “Revenge is a big burden to carry, Antonio.”

  He nodded. “It is. But it’s a burden I carry willingly. I won’t rest until I’ve avenged his death. I owe him that much.”

  “Just…don’t let it consume you. A blackened heart doesn’t cure easily.” Ask me, I know.

  “Too late for that, brother.” He slapped me on my shoulder before standing. “My heart isn’t just black. It’s buried…along with our father.”

  I didn’t respond. What could I say? Truth was, if it wasn’t for Rafe, a dead and buried heart would probably have been my fate as well. But it was no longer hate or rage that fed my soul. It was love, and hope, and faith. Everything a little boy had given me. Amazing how something so small could change a grown man’s entire outlook on life.

  “You going to be okay?” I looked up at Antonio.

  He shrugged. “Who knows what the future holds.”

  Rafe fell on the grass, birds scattering everywhere. I let out a laugh.

  “Dante?”

  “Yeah?”

  Antonio smiled. “I’m happy you have him. Rafe. The two of you will be okay.”

  I breathed out. “Yeah. Me too. I just wish it could have been the three of us, instead of just the two of us. But who knows what the future holds, right?” I grinned, and Antonio smiled back.

  “I have the feeling your future is going to turn out exactly the way you want it.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “I love you, brother.”

  I placed my hand on his. “I love you too.”

  Antonio walked back to the house while I continued to watch my son play as if he hadn’t a care in the world. I remembered how Antonio and I used to play outside, a time when we didn’t know what it meant to worry or have responsibilities. All we worried about was having fun, playing, and simply being carefree. And now look at us. Killer turned father. Apprentice turned boss.

  I worried about Antonio. Even though he had been preparing for this his entire life, groomed and taught to lead, it wasn’t going to be easy. There was a long, troublesome road ahead of him—the new boss. I didn’t envy him at all. As the saying went, “heavy is the head that wears the crown.” I just hoped the crown wouldn’t wear him down someday.

  “Daddy, will you push me on the swing?”

  I smiled. “A push for a hug?”

  His little lips curved into a tiny smile—a smile which had the power to make everything wrong in the world become right.

  He ran toward me, arms held wide, then jumped onto my lap. These were the moments that now defined my life. The moments I had these small arms wrapped around my neck, the purest form of unconditional love.

  I thought I was a man who had known love. But I was wrong. There was nothing like a parent’s love for a child. Nothing. Your life, your heart, your soul were no longer your own.

  I pulled him up in my arms and walked toward the swing.

  “Mommy!”

  I stilled.

  “Look, Daddy, it’s Mommy!”

  I closed my eyes and let out a breath. Was this it? Was this the moment I had been waiting for?

  “Mommy!” Rafe wiggled himself down, and I had no choice but to let go. “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!”

  My heart wanted to leap out of my chest, my skin cold and warm at the same time. I was too afraid to turn around in case this wasn’t real.

  “Mommy, you’re here!”

  Slowly, I turned, my heart pounding with anticipation. When I saw her, I sucked in a breath.

  “Layla,” I whispered as I stared at the beautiful woman who had her arms around my son. It was true what they said. Life wasn’t measured by how many breaths we took, but by how many moments took our breath away. This was one of those moments. Moments which left me breathless.

  She hugged Rafe tight, kissing him all over his face while he giggled and laughed. It was like a scene out of a fucking Hallmark movie.

  I bit my bottom lip while I took her in, listening to my heart as it beat with vigor and the most indescribable joy.

  She looked up, and when her eyes met mine, everything shifted into place. Everything aligned perfectly. Our past. Our present. Our future. I saw it all in that exact moment in time.

  “Layla.” I wanted to repeat her name a thousand times. I wanted to hear it on my lips, taste it on my tongue.

  I walked closer, never taking my eyes off her. She looked more beautiful than ever. Long, golden hair blowing in the soft breeze. The floral-design knee length dress hugged her body perfectly, her cheeks once again painted with a healthy pink glow.

  “Hello, Dante.” She smiled, and it made my heart swell inside my chest. “I’m sorry—”

  I pulled her closer and smothered her words with my lips. I had waited too damn long for her to come back to me only to have it pass with words which could not describe how powerful this moment was to me.

  With her still holding Rafe, I wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her against me, kissing her, tasting her, and pouring every ounce of longing I had felt over the last eight weeks into this one simple act of affection. Never was a fucking long time, but never would I go without her again. Never would I experience a single sunrise without her sitting next to me.

  Reluctantly, I pulled away, leaning my head against hers. “I missed you.”

  “I missed you too.”

  I pinched my eyes closed, pushing back the tears which threatened to show my weakness. Her. She was my weakness.

  I kissed her again, her lips wet and warm against mine. She moaned, and Rafe giggled.

  “Mommy and Daddy sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

  Layla snickered. “Where did he learn that?”

  “One word. Lorik.”

  She laughed, and I finally moved back to look at her. “How are you doing?”

  “I won’t lie to you. It’s a battle every day. But I’m good.” She looked at Rafe and kissed his cheek. “As long as I have you, I’m good.”

  I pulled them both close, placing a hand on Rafe’s back and a kiss on Layla’s temple. Her sweet scent wrapped around me, and finally, my soul could find rest. With her. With Rafe. Our family.

  “I love you, Dante.” Her words had a direct line to my rapidly beating heart.

  “Say that again.”

  “I love you.”

  “I need to hear you say that every day for the rest of my life.” It was a plea of a desperate man who realized he was nothing without the love of his life.

  “I love you with all my heart, Dante. That has never changed.”

  I closed my eyes, silently thanking God for the angel he had sent me. If it wasn’t for her, for her love, I would have been swallowed whole by a cruel and empty world.

  “I love you too, Layla.” I placed another kiss on her head. God, I would kiss this woman a hundred times a day for the rest of my fucking life. “Tell me what you want to do. Where you want to go. I don’t care where, Layla. I’ll follow. I’ll follow you and Rafe to the ends of the Earth.”

  She looked up at me. “I don’t want to go anywhere, Dante. I want to stay right here.”

  I narrowed my eyes and studied her beautiful face. “Are you sure? You left once because you felt our world was unsafe for our child. After what happened, I will understand if you still feel the same way. But this time I’m coming with you.”

  She placed her finger in front of my lips. “I made a mistake. I never should have run from you. But now I know Rafe and I are safest with you…here, with the rest of your family.”

  If m
y heart swelled any further it would fucking explode.

  Layla put Rafe down, and he ran off to the swing. She placed her palm on my cheek, and my skin erupted with chills from her touch. “I love you, Dante. You. The real you. And if I had to take you away from here, away from your family, I won’t have all of you.”

  I shook my head. “Layla, you have all of me.”

  “If you leave your family behind, you will leave behind a part of yourself.”

  I pulled her up against me. “You and Rafe are my family now. You are my life.”

  “And you are mine.” Big, beautiful, amber eyes stared up at me. “Our son is a part of this family. He’s a Valenti. A wolf. And what kind of mother would I be if I took him away from the people who would care most for him?”

  “Woman, if there wasn’t an almost five-year-old boy running around, I would make love to you right here, right now.”

  She snickered, and then our lips collided once more. Like fire and ice coming together, our bodies melted into each other. I kissed her as if I needed her taste to breathe. My tongue pushed past the barrier of her lips, and she moaned softly when our kiss deepened. There was not a chance in hell I would ever be able to survive without her. Like a hurricane, she came storming back into my life, and she left no part of me untouched. She was mine, and from this day onward I would be whatever she needed me to be.

  A man. A friend. A lover.

  A killer. Because as God was my witness, no one would ever hurt this woman ever again. Even though she had cured my blackened heart, a part of me would always be the ruthless, callous bastard. Only this time I had something worth fighting for. Something worth killing for.

  In this city, I was a fucking prince, and I would ruin and rule in order to protect what was mine…from this day forward.

  Epilogue

  Antonio

  I drove past the booms and into the harbor. When Lucio called earlier asking me to come down here, I knew something was up.

  There was a great turmoil inside me ever since the night my father died right here in this harbor. The blood flowed through my veins with unrest, anxious about what was to come. At night, when it was just my thoughts keeping me company, I would only think of death. Pain. Revenge. It was the fuel which kept me going, the determination that kept me sharp and alert. The wellbeing of our family was now my responsibility. It rested solely on my head, and I would not fail.

  While Dante had adjusted to family life with Layla and Rafe, I had given Lucio the task of investigating every lead, every whisper which contained the word Mancuso. It was a full-on hunt for the devil himself. All our associates, all our men on the streets were put on alert, aiding us in finding him. Lorik had been following up with his contacts in the police force, gathering as much information as possible. But it had been weeks since anyone saw him. Every lead Lucio and I followed took us to a dead end. My patience was growing thin while I remained restless in our pursuit. Yet I refused to give up. Even if it took me the rest of my life, I would find him, and when I did, it would be my own hands which led him down the path to his death. I would not rest until this world had been rid of the disease which was Stefano Mancuso.

  I parked the car in front of the familiar warehouse, and as I got out, I was bombarded by memories—flashbacks of that fateful night when I watched my father bleed to death. Dante almost lost himself to the rage, to the bloodlust which fueled him to slice Matteo’s throat from ear to ear. If it hadn’t been for Rafe, I was sure Dante would never have been able to surface from the black hole he had been plunged into.

  I breathed in. Winter was almost over, and I could smell a hint of the fresh scent of spring in the air…if it wasn’t for the pungent smell of dead fish and saltwater which assaulted my nostrils. Where was a fucking breeze when you needed it?

  Lucio came walking out, a sense of purpose about him. “You’ll never believe what we found.”

  “What did you find?”

  His dark eyebrows almost touched his hairline. “You need to see it for yourself.”

  I narrowed my eyes, my curiosity piqued. Boston Harbor had been the center of our hunt for Stefano ever since the last time we saw his ugly motherfucking face. This was where all his cargo met land. Where he conducted all his business. But we had searched through the entire goddamn place and found no sign of him or his precious fucking drugs. It was like he disappeared into thin air—as if he never even existed.

  I followed Lucio into the warehouse. The air was thick with dust, the humidity clinging to my skin. Clearly, this place hadn’t been used much lately.

  “Lucio, what is going on?”

  “Last night we got tipped off about a ship that came in carrying a suspicious container which wasn’t on the vessel manifest.”

  “Okay.”

  “So,” Lucio continued, “when they opened the container, they found fruit.” He glanced my way. “Pineapples.”

  I paused. “Pineapples?”

  “I know. I was thinking the same thing, which was why I rushed over here as fast as I could.”

  “Mancuso?”

  “We’re still trying to figure that out. Somehow, whoever managed to get this shipment here did so without any name tied to it.”

  I raised a brow. “The bill of lading?”

  “Doesn’t have one.”

  “How the fuck is that even possible?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t fucking know. We’ve been questioning the captain for the last few hours, and by questioning, I mean the violent kind.”

  I crouched, trying to wrap my head around the mystery of how the hell a container landed here in the harbor without any kind of shipping document. “Do we know the port of discharge?”

  “Santos.”

  I looked up at him in surprise, a giant question mark probably flashing on my forehead. “Are you telling me this container made its way from one of the biggest seaports in Brazil without being placed on a manifest, and without a goddamn bill of lading?”

  Lucio pulled his palm down his face. “Yup.”

  “Well, that certainly rings a lot of alarm bells.” I sighed and got up, straightening. “Did you find drugs?”

  “No.” His eyebrows slanted inward. “But we found something else.”

  “What did you find?”

  Lucio looked to the right and straight at what I assumed was the container in question. “You need to see it for yourself.”

  Warning prickled at the back of my skull. Whatever it was, it seemed like it had even Lucio on edge. That was saying a lot.

  “Come on.” He gestured toward the container, and I followed with hesitant steps. My mind reeled in every possible direction, trying to figure out what I was walking toward. Every instinct was on high alert, even though there was no direct threat. But the mystery surrounding this container so far was just too damn…well, mysterious.

  Lucio pulled and twisted the handlebar, the steel hinges screeching as he opened the door.

  Brown cartons stood stacked on top of each other with only a few pushed to the side in order for us to reach the back.

  I looked at Lucio, and he gestured for me to go in first. As I was about to step in, he placed his hand on my chest. “Don’t make any sudden noises.”

  “Jesus Christ, Lucio. Is there a fucking anaconda back there?”

  He lifted a brow. “Something like that.”

  I took a deep breath then walked inside. The sleeves of my two-thousand-dollar suit brushed against the dusty boxes, and the sweet scent of ripe pineapples was overpowering my senses the deeper I went.

  My heart thudded along with every step, my palms sweaty with the urge to hold a gun…just in case.

  I heard Lucio behind me, and as I walked up to boxes which blocked the final space, I turned to look at him.

  He motioned for me to go ahead.

  I licked my lips, squared my shoulders, and placed my hands on a box. With a deep breath, I steeled myself. How bad could it really be?

  I exhaled, moved the box, and L
ucio lifted a flashlight over my shoulder.

  And then my heart stopped as my breath left me in a huff. I couldn’t believe what was right in front of me, on the floor in the corner.

  I looked at Lucio. “Jesus Christ.”

  He gave me a knowing look, and I turned back to study what was in front of me. “It’s a woman.” The words sounded surreal as I said it out loud.

  “Yup. Told you it was something you needed to see for yourself.”

  I cocked my head, studying the woman who sat in the corner, naked and dirty. The way her wild eyes stared back at me, it was painfully clear how petrified she was. I could hear her rapid breaths escape her timid body, the terrified look on her face causing me to hold my breath.

  “What the fuck is this?” I whispered.

  “I don’t know, cousin.”

  I looked at him in shock. “This shit just got a whole lot more complicated.”

  Prologue

  I hated this part of my life, the part I kept secret from everyone. My family thought they knew me, but they didn’t. No one knew me. There were days I didn’t even know myself. But it was here, during my time spent watching, fantasizing, and reliving the past that I truly felt connected to the man I really was.

  An immoral sinner.

  A depraved mortal.

  A cruel monster.

  The list could go on and on. There was no end to the darkness which lurked deep within me, poisoning my psyche little by little, threatening to one day destroy me completely. The lust, the desire, the need for ultimate control had slowly started to eat away at my soul without me realizing. Until the day it almost ruined me.

  I had gone too far. Fallen too deep. And when my own destruction stared me in the face, I had no choice but to bury that part of me, never to succumb to the monster which now lay dormant beneath the surface. But its claws still scratched against bone, its hunger still gnawing at the marrow of my existence. The threat was still there, the fear of my depravity one day taking possession of me once again. Then I might not be able to escape it as I once had.

  Losing control was not an option for a man like me, which was why I only fed my wickedness what it needed to remain tame. I did what was necessary to silence my demons, lest they take possession of me once again.