by Faye Parker
Redemption: A Dark Mafia Romance
Redemption: A Dark Mafia Romance
Blood & Loyalty Book 1
Faye Parker
Copyright © 2019 Faye Parker
All rights reserved.
Thank you for purchasing this book by legal means. The small royalties that are received help me to pursue my dream of writing full time. Without your support, I would be unable to continue writing.
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Please note: This story has been adapted from a short story, Vengeance, that was previously published and unpublished many years ago.
For my husband.
I love you.
You weirdo.
Contents
Prologue
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
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue
About the Author
Prologue
Kate (Ellie)
“Thank you once again. I’m really excited to be starting. Yes, I’ll see you on Monday morning.” As I said my goodbyes to my new boss over the phone I made my way through the maze of cardboard boxes in the house we had shared and flicked the switch on the new kettle Toni had bought. Time for a cuppa.
Toni smiled at me as she reached into the cupboard and pulled out two mugs. We had become close in the six months we’d spent together since she had moved in. I only hoped she understood why I needed to leave her in my past when I moved.
I may have been going back to my hometown, but I fully intended to leave the pain of the last decade here. Firmly behind me.
“So, tell me exactly how you will get all this into my car?” she laughed.
She had a point; even after clearing out everything I could, I’d gathered more things together in the last ten years I’d lived here than I thought. “It’ll be fine… I hink.”
“Yeah, yeah. But where are we going to fit? Are you sure you don’t want me to make two trips – it would be a lot easier? If we only put half in for the journey tomorrow morning, then I can bring the rest down again next weekend? Y’know, just take the essentials this time.” She was trying to be helpful, and I honestly appreciated it. But it was bad enough allowing her to make the 200-mile round trip once, never mind twice. Especially as I barely had enough to cover the gas money once and I still owed her my part of last month’s rent.
I looked around the place I’d called home and felt a pang of sadness to be leaving it behind. I moved here to follow the man I’d loved, and now I was moving back home to lick the wounds that same man had given me as he left.
“Hey, Earth to Kate!” Toni’s manicured hand swept past my face, her pristine, bright red nails catching my eyes and attention. She must have read my thoughts as her face turned serious.
“This place was a stepping stone to bigger and better things. Don’t you go for one second thinking about that idiot. He’s not worth one more second of your time, honey.”
She knew that this house held more memories for me than I’d like to admit. Some good, but the more recent ones were certainly less so. My hand instinctively reached across my tummy, as if touching it could take away the memories of the bruises he’d put there so many times.
I blinked away tears. The sharp "click" of the kettle couldn't come quickly enough. I plastered my best smile on my face, a single tear betrayed me as it slipped down my cheek. I wasn't sure whether I had been quick enough to wipe it away before Toni noticed but as I glanced at her to check she was staring out of our kitchen window, intently interested in something in our bland, concrete back yard.
A little while later I made my excuses and went to bed. This room felt so much bigger with everything out. Empty. Barren. Now that was ironic, I laughed wryly to myself. Seems like this room actually had suited me.
I shook myself from my morbid mood and checked the time. It wasn't too late, she would still be awake. I dialed the number from memory out of habit. I had deleted it when I realized he had checked my phone and I never really got around to saving it into the phone again.
“Hello?” The old voice wrapped around me, soothing me, the aural equivalent of being wrapped up in a warm blanket after a day spent in the cold and blustery winds.
“Hi, Grandma.” I smiled.
“Oh, Kate. Are you ready for the big move? Do you need anything?” My Grandma was ever the practical woman. I guess it had skipped a generation.
“No, no. Everything’s ready. I wanted to phone and say hi.”
“Now it’s not too late. Are you sure you want to move back? You can always get a job wherever you go. You’re a smart girl, any place would be lucky to have you.”
“I’m sure they would.” I rolled my eyes at her faith in me. “I’m ready to come back. I’m coming back home.”
“Really?” she probed. She was sharper than any seventy-five year old should be. There was no denying the tickle of excitement in her voice. She’d missed me as much as I’d missed her.
I shook my head to myself. “Really, Grandma.” I took a deep, steadying breath. “Look, I’ve been thinking. I know I’m going back, but I’m not the same.”
“Sweetheart, none of us are.” She said sadly. “I guess it is part of what makes us human. We all change.” Her voice trailed off for a moment before she added, brightly, “But Londonderry has changed too – it’s not the city you once ran from.”
“I guess.” Was all I could say. “Do you think anyone will remember me?” I asked, hoping that the city had forgotten me. It was safest that way.
“I don’t know, honey. But they won’t recognize you. Not that you weren’t always beautiful. You’re too skinny now if you ask me.”
"Grandma, listen, please." I tapped the side of the bed in frustration. "That's not what I'm getting at…" though I had lost the puppy fat I'd had as a teenager. At first, it had thrilled me to shift a few pounds, regardless of the reasons.
“I’ve decided not to call myself Kate anymore.” I blurted.
Silence loomed over the phone. She was not pleased and I knew why.
The silence continued and I felt the urge to fill it, to explain.
“Grandma, the people at my new job and my new flat know my other name, my middle name… Eleanor. I’m calling myself Ellie now.”
“But you are
named Kate after your mother…” The hurt in her voice was palpable.
“And Eleanor after you.”
And I wanted to channel the strength and grit of my grandmother. I wanted her to see she was the woman I’d looked up to – ever since she’d taken me and my brother in. Social Services would have split us up; hell would have frozen over before she would have allowed that.
"Grandma, I'm going back to be there for Ryan when he gets out… but I need to be strong. I've been away for ten years. No one will recognize me now, with my new hair." I glanced in the mirror, trying to get used to the image that gazed back.
“And what have you done to your hair?” she demanded.
I cringed.
This wasn’t going well. Then again, I hadn’t imagined it would.
"Well, um…" I felt very nervous. "It's not its usual color." I squirmed.
“And what have you done to your beautiful, blonde hair, girl?” I imagined the pictures beside her chair, filled with a chubby girl with blonde hair that flowed down her back standing beside a skinny little boy with freckles and a missing front tooth.
“It’s not blonde anymore grandma, it’s brown.” I squirmed as I heard the sharp intake of breath over the phone. I couldn’t go back now and tell her I had cut it into a bob too.
“My beautiful blonde-haired granddaughter, Kate's gone and Ellie, my brunette-haired granddaughter has taken her place…”
I heard Freddie, her German Shepherd bark at something in the background. Grandma scolded him before speaking again. She was thinking and I’d give her the time she needed.
“And would this mean that Ellie and Kate would both be safe and happy?”
“Yes, Gran.”
“Ellie.” She said it like she was trying out the name. “I think I understand now why you’ve done it, Sar… Ellie. He won’t find you, you can still be there for Ryan’s parole, and you hope no one will link you with the frightened and angry girl who left Londonderry at 15?” My grandma was smart.
“That’s pretty much it, Grandma,” I confessed.
"Well, why didn't you say so dear? I'm honored you kept my name, dear, but did you really have to ruin your hair?"
A weight lifted from my shoulders… until I realized I hadn't told her how short I'd cut my hair.
Chapter One
Daniel
“You need to get a fucking grip, Nev! That blonde has you pussy-whipped!” Raucous laughter echoed out of the changing room as I walked towards it.
For once, I agreed with Mathew’s taunts. They had been wingmen for each other for years and now that Nevan had got serious with his latest woman, it had cut into their nightly adventures to hook up with anything female that had a pulse.
“Don’t you know I need your ugly-ass face to be beside mine when I go out?” Mathew continued. “You make me look irresistible to women. Will you at least ask if you’re allowed to come and play with the boys tonight rather than sit at home playing house-y?”
“Oh, I don’t think he’ll ask,” I said as I walked into the changing room, smiling as I noticed they all sat up a little taller. I doubted the knew how they always reacted to my presence. That was fine. I was their boss, it was the way it should be.
“How can he ask that if he hasn’t been able to ask if he can have his balls back?” I teased.
"Hey boss, maybe you could ask for him? I'm sure she'd say yes for you." Mathew committed himself to the cause at least. But I had seen how bad it was at picking up women on his own so I could understand why he was so desperate.
“I’ve never asked a woman if I could go out so why should I ask for him? Besides, Mathew, you’re so shit at getting laid you should ask her yourself. I get enough pussy with no need of your help.”
A lie: a constant lie they never questioned me on – but who would dare question me? After Cassie, I swore off ever committing to anyone. Mostly, I could cope without a woman and content in my existence. Besides, I had too much responsibility now was easing up on the daily running of the Kindred Sons.
Every now and then I’d be sure to bring someone with me to one of our events so that Da and Ma would stop their constant questions. They’d been married by my age and there were expectations.
Officially, I was the underboss of the Kindred Sons, but everyone knew that Da had all but handed over the entire mob’s business. That meant that all the women had dreams of becoming a mafia wife. The first lady, even.
Never gonna happen.
I’d take them home and fuck them raw as a one-time thing.
You loved me? Great, fuck off.
You hated me? Great, fuck off.
I didn’t need women in my life to fuck things up.
I had a good thing going here and I didn't anyone to mess it up. One thing having a woman in your life guaranteed was that things – no matter how innocent – always got messed up.
The others finished dressing and left for the night, whilst I chatted with my two deputies. What started as light-hearted banter turned to real business. We all knew that the peace between Kindred Sons and the Doyle’s was fraying – no matter how much dad wanted to believe that we could keep a “gentleman’s” agreement. We weren’t gentlemen and they certainly weren’t.
Nevan was first to speak. “Do you think the training we’re doing now is enough? I mean, some of our guys are too soft. We need the killer instinct to be ready to kick in and the brute force to back it up.” The guy was a deep thinker and honest. When he spoke about things like this it wasn’t to challenge, he was as committed to the Kindred Sons as any who ever took our oath – including me. I’ve seen this guy take bullets for us. He’s killed and nearly been killed for our cause.
“Yeah,” I mused. “But getting them hyped up too much won’t help either.” I paced the floor. “I agree with you though, we’ll step up the sessions in here, but it needs to be outside gym hours. I still need this place to front as only an actual gym, not a mafia training camp. The last thing we need is more fucking cops poking around.”
With a preliminary start of what training sessions would run, I left them to figure out their extra-curricular activities for the night.
I would try to figure out when we could up our training without it being spotted by the police that seemed to keep a constant vigil across the street. I knew what they were doing, they knew what we were doing – it was only a matter of time before they’d try to raid us again or try to pin something on one of us.
And that would never happen on my watch. Not a fucking chance.
Chapter Two
Ellie
The drive had been long, and every so often I’d catch Toni glancing at me as she drove. She had thought I’d gone mad and begged me to dye my hair back as soon as possible. I felt less guilty about spending the last of my rent money on getting it done professionally. I could tell, as a hairdresser herself she wanted to get up close to it but knew better. Then again, she’d never expected to get that close… I didn’t let people that close anymore.
The one thing I allowed Toni to do was to help me buy more colorant so I could touch the roots up by myself. I let her show me how to do it too. I just hoped I wouldn’t color the top of my forehead at the same time too.
I liked the length and color more than I imagined. The girl with the silver-blonde hair stood out, especially with the ice-blue eyes. But I didn’t look like her anymore. Toni would have noticed if I tried to wear the brown contact lenses too, so I’d have to get used to them fast… I started work in just two days and I needed to be ok with repeatedly poking myself in the eyes.
I didn't sleep well on Sunday night since I couldn't settle. The noises were different in the flat I now lived in, and the walls were thinner than in my old place – I could hear my neighbors' televisions from both sides and the woman who lived above me seemed to enjoy walking around in stilettos… at least that was my thoughts at 3 am this morning when I heard her move around upstairs. I pulled the duvet over my head to dampen the noise and closed my eyes. I cou
ldn't expect a two bedroom flat in my price range in the city to be anything spectacular. With thoughts of Ryan's parole hearing at the end of next month, I tried to get back to sleep.
I rose early on Monday morning, hoping a shower would refresh me as the night certainly hadn’t. I dressed quickly and was ready for work an hour earlier than I needed to so I took a moment to practice before facing what was to be my new life.
After twenty minutes of unsuccessfully trying to put my contacts in, my eyes were watery, sore and looking a little red. I had to make a choice: keep trying to get these fucking things on, or hope I’d be fine without them.
Having one last try and almost losing the contact inside my eye confirmed that my choices were down to one. I’d have to be OK with not wearing contacts. They were too much hassle for me to do on my own. What if one fell out at work and I’d have to slip it in again with no one noticing? I knew I couldn’t do that. No, the contacts would become more trouble than they’d be worth.
The woman in the optician's had made it feel so easy, now, I'd be unlikely to ever wear them again. I doused my face with cold water, to relieve the stinging in my eye and practiced how I'd introduce myself to my new workmates.
“Hi, I’m eh-Ellie… Hi, I’m Ellie; I’m the new administrator…” I streaked a smile across my face and tried again. “Hi, how are you? Yes, I’m Ellie.” After downing a large gulp from my now lukewarm mug of tea I tried again. “Pleased to meet you, I’m Ellie, the new administrator.” Yes, that sounded more confident – like I’d been calling myself Ellie for my entire life.
