The Sting of Love: USA Today Bestselling Author

by Gray, Khardine

  The Sting of Love

  USA Today Bestselling Author

  Khardine Gray

  Copyright © 2020 by Khardine Gray

  STING OF LOVE PART OF THE GANGSTERS AND DOLLS SERIES Copyright © 2020 by Khardine Gray

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design © 2019 by Cover Courture

  Editing- Julia Goda- Diamond in The Rough Editing & Cassie Dess-Hearn

  This work is copyrighted. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  The author asserts that all characters and situations depicted in this work of fiction are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations.

  It is intended for mature readers. All characters are 18+ years of age and all sexual acts are consensual.

  Contents

  The moment she walked into my club, I knew I had to have her.

  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

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Khardine Gray

  The moment she walked into my club, I knew I had to have her.

  Her beauty captured me, her body enticed me.

  Everything about her was tempting.

  So tempting I had to have more than one night with her.

  But our paths should never have crossed.

  I can paint the picture however I want but the truth is I’m a dangerous man.

  A gangster.

  I work for a powerful man who rules the underworld with a ruthless hand.

  Assigned to look after the empire in Italy, my focus should never have been on her.

  A woman I couldn’t have.

  I broke my rules by getting involved.

  Then I slipped up.

  My enemies saw her as my weakness.

  A dagger they could stab through my already wounded heart.

  The lamb to the slaughter they want to kill to teach me a lesson.

  When they try, I’m forced to kidnap her to keep her safe.

  I lock her away in my house on the island where no one can find her.

  It’s too dangerous for her to be with me, but more dangerous to be without me.

  War is brewing on my hands.

  She’s right to call me a monster.

  I am.

  But I can’t allow her to die for being with me.

  Chapter One

  Donny

  I cast my gaze over the people below me on the dance floor like I own them. Resting my hands on the metal rail of the balcony, I smile.

  Fuck, I might as well proclaim myself king because if I please the powers that be I’ll be the new boss here and over the whole empire in Italia.

  Bel Posto is the most popular nightclub on the east coast of Sicily and attracts anybody who’s anybody looking for a wild night of fun.

  Being the boss has a ring to it I definitely like. Boss or not, people know my face and know who I am. They know to straighten up to attention when they see me and they know who I represent. There are certain benefits to working for a powerful mafia boss and being the right-hand man to one of his capos. This is one of them.

  Although I grew up in Sicily, I live in Chicago. One of my jobs is to fly out once a year to check on business. I’ve been doing that for the last seven years. This is the second time I’ve been this year, and this trip is the one that matters most for my future. In a nutshell, I have to prove my worth. Prove I can be as badass as the boss is in Chicago when dealing with the criminal underworld.

  This trip is the one that will define me in more ways than one. The chance to be in charge is an opportunity I’d be an idiot to miss for the wealth and recognition that will come to me and my family. At the same time, taking the steps to seize the chance is also a sign that I’m ready to put the past behind me.

  The meaning and accomplishment the opportunity holds for me is serious as fuck, but I’m the kind of guy who can step away from the serious aspects of life and appreciate the sight of a beautiful woman when I see one.

  Especially when they look like the goddess below me sitting at the bar.

  Tonight has brought out a sea of beauties, but the raven-haired goddess I’m looking at is the kind of woman who stands out in a crowd.

  She’s beautiful with a face like an angel, has wild jet-black hair that sparkles against the club’s strobe lights, and a body made for serious sinning.

  I know exactly what to do with a body like that.

  She’s what I call a perfect specimen of a woman, like a lost pin-up girl who could give Marilyn Monroe a run for her money. This goddess has perfect fully rounded breasts I could play with all night and curves in all the right places. The best part about her is, she’s completely oblivious to the effect she has in that little blue summer dress that’s caressing her body the way I want to.

  She came in about ten minutes ago and went straight to the bar.

  I’ve been watching her. I’m not the only guy watching either. I’m just the guy who’s most likely to claim her. The guys who noticed me watching stopped the minute they realized that I saw them. They were the fuckers who knew better than to piss me off. The other guys looking at her haven’t seen me yet. I can’t blame them, though, for hoping to get lucky with her.

  Thinking with my dick is the last thing I should be doing tonight because I’m not on the prowl. I can’t help it, however, when candy is laid before me, and I think if tonight goes well and I don’t lose my shit in the meeting, I’d like to dip my hands in the sweet jar that is this woman and have some sinful fun with her body.

  She must feel my eyes on her because she looks up for the first time to where I’m standing, and our eyes lock. I’m amazed she hasn’t done so before given the focused intensity of my stare.

  Since I’m not one of these pansy-assed pussies who look away when they get caught blatantly checking a woman out, I continue to stare. I’m Donny Caporetti, and lust runs through my veins the same as my blood. In all my thirty-five years I’ve never restrained myself, and since I’m not about to do it now, I hold her gaze and smile, allowing her to see my interest in her like I’m marking my territory.

  We’re about thirty feet away from each other, too far to clearly see those eyes of hers, but I can tell s
he’s interested in me too from the way she looks back at me. I can feel the heat in her desire, the want in her arousal as she traces her finger ever so lightly down her cheek. I’d bet her skin is as soft as I imagine it to be too.

  I would continue this stare fest and do something about that twitch in my cock, but the footsteps behind me signal that it’s time to stop thinking with my dick and get serious.

  I turn away from the beauty and face Alex as he approaches me. He’s the third capo to our boss, Claudius Morientz, and he’s always ready for business.

  He’s a big guy like me. Six foot four with the same kind of muscle and the same wild streak for fast cars and motorcycles.

  “Who are you watching tonight?” he asks as he gets up to me and scans the crowd below.

  “Not telling. Don’t want that wife of yours to cut my dick off for trying to lead you down the path of temptation.” I smirk.

  “Relax. There is no temptation when you’re with the perfect woman.” He chuckles. “I was just asking because you seemed so engrossed.”

  “I was. There’s a doll by the bar with the body of a goddess.”

  He laughs but doesn’t look. It probably doesn’t occur to him to look either because he’s so loved up with his wife, Cora. He’s been married for over a year, and Cora is nigh on giving birth to their son. He’s not as excited to be in Sicily as I am, but our presence here is necessary.

  I’m classing it as a trial period for me and my first task is to sort out the shit that might be brewing under our noses. It’s the kind of shit that could destroy us if it hits the fan. That’s why he’s here too, as well as to give the okay on whether I can handle the business or not.

  When all’s said and done, he’ll be going back to Chicago, and I’ll stay in Sicily. That’s if I make the mark. If I don’t it’s game over and I’ll be a grunt for life.

  “You ready? The prick is here,” he says, pulling in a ragged breath.

  I raise a brow. “I’m ready.”

  This is going to be interesting, and I already know it’s going to test me because I can’t stand Mario, that prick, any more than he can stand me. Our meetings in the past have been edgy to say the least. He’s one of those fuckers who think they should be handed shit on a plate just because they’ve been doing a job for a long time. I have news for his ass tonight.

  Alex and I head down to the ground floor and out back to where the main offices are situated. Mario is already waiting inside the office that I’ll be using. He’s sitting on the leather chair in front of the desk, one leg crossed over the other and a glass of scotch in his hand. Ice clinks against crystal as he straightens up and gives us a smile. Neither of us is smiling, however. It’s clear this fool has definitely gotten far too comfortable because he doesn’t take heed of the seriousness in our demeanor.

  He’s been taking care of business for the last nine months since Pablo retired with a bad heart. Pablo has been running the show for the last forty years. Right from the old days when alliances were formed. If he’d had sons it would be them who would take over management and not me.

  If Mario wasn’t the sloppy prick we’ve discovered him to be, he’d be the obvious choice out of respect for his years of service, regardless of the links myself and my family have to the alliance and the business. But he’s royally fucked himself over by being an asshole.

  The handful of seconds I’ve been in here highlights irritating facts about his personality that always rub me the wrong way. Mario is sloppy as fuck with that lackadaisical, far too laid back attitude I can’t stand. There’s a time to play and a time to work. When you do your work, you can play hard and have the best of both worlds. This asshole looks like he’s been playing too much and enjoying the spoils of living it large. The fool most likely thinks we’re just here for the usual checks and doesn’t have the brains to suspect that trouble must be on the horizon for us to come back to Sicily so soon.

  Alex takes his seat behind the desk and leans forward onto the wooden surface while I sit in the chair across from them. I’m just supposed to observe this first part.

  “Good to see you guys so soon. Chicago is always welcome in the motherland,” Mario chimes and sips from his drink. He has a very distinct overbite that looks more pronounced when he’s brown-nosing or talking shit. “I trust you’ve seen that things are going good here even in Pablo’s absence. The man trained me well.”

  “I don’t doubt your training one bit,” Alex says and cracks his knuckles the way Claudius does. Those guys hang around each other so much they all have the same mannerisms. The result is the scary, badass effect that doesn’t stand for shit.

  I’m a little different. I’m cool and calm. People tend to underestimate and mistake that for a sign of weakness, then they get the shock of their lives when I switch up on them.

  “Good, good. Hope everything’s okay. It’s not like you guys to summon me for a meeting at this hour. I’m hoping to bang the new waitress tonight, so if we could wrap this up quick, it would be much appreciated,” he cajoles.

  Motherfucker. Alex and I exchange glances. The fucker is so comfortable he’s lost his sense of respect, and the rawness of his nose suggests he’s sniffed a little something something too.

  Alex straightens up and smiles. It’s the first tell that shit’s gonna go down tonight. Mario smiles back like a fool, completely missing the point.

  “I can see fucking must be on your mind, if you can speak to me and my guy like we’re the same,” Alex states. It’s then that Mario tenses and the laid back attitude fades. “Things are not okay, Mario. This meeting is about relieving you of your duties.”

  “What!” The prick gasps and straightens up so quickly his drink slushes and some of the liquid spills onto his white shirt leaving an amber stain.

  “You fucking heard me, so I won’t be repeating myself,” Alex answers glaring at him. “Pablo’s been gone for nine months, and you’ve let things slip into shit. Things look good on the surface, but they aren’t.”

  I like watching. Observing. I like to watch people’s reaction first and try and pick up on body language. The first thing I notice about this guy is he gives nothing away. I don’t know what that means yet. You can never tell what shit unpredictable people will do. So, I have no idea what his reaction is truly telling me when he looks as shocked as expected after an accusation like that.

  He sets his glass on the table and looks serious now. “What’s happening? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says.

  “We’re here again because the boss got a tip off from one of our associates that his name and the business came up in some evidence that was enroute to the feds. Evidence that would have linked him to human and drug trafficking.”

  Mario’s olive skin goes pale, and he shakes his head. “Nah, nah, that’s not happening here, my friend.”

  “Looks like it is, and we’re going to check things out. Donny will be in charge with the view to take over in the next few weeks.”

  Mario’s nostrils flare and his eyes blaze. “What the fuck? You kidding me?” he snaps, and glares at me.

  I straighten up, but I don’t say anything yet. I don’t like how this fucker is looking at me, and it looks like I’m going to have to teach him a lesson.

  “I do not joke,” Alex answers. “This is fucking serious. The boss’ name and the business has been removed from the evidence, but that doesn’t fix the problem.”

  “It’s not my fault. I’ve been doing everything exactly the same,” he argues.

  I’m pretty sure he hasn’t. Pablo was the kind of man who would take care of things like it was his own business. Mario is not like that in the least.

  “Mario it’s clear to me that you let things slip with certain clients, and now we have to investigate,” Alex points out and his face hardens. “If you can come in here and talk about fucking the new waitress, then I’m sure as shit that you don’t have your head screwed on.”

  “Come on, man, that’s not something
to take and judge me. I work hard when it’s time to work. Now you are taking my job away. I’ve been Pablo’s assistant for the last ten years,” he contends. “I’ve taken care of all the business across Italy and Sicily alongside Pablo, and doing it all on my own for the last nine months.”

  Right as he may be, getting caught up in shit like human and drug trafficking are the kinds of mistakes that can’t be allowed to go unnoticed. They are big things to worry about. The scare gave us the heads-up that we’ll need to look into everything and find the loose links. Something definitely happened along the way and that something is Mario’s fault. We can’t give second chances to people who fuck up when they’re supposed to be in charge of a big operation.

  Claudius owns a number of hotels and businesses in Sicily and the mainland of Italy. Some he inherited from the old empire, others he started with his own hands. We run a tight ship that allows us to keep business in general clean, and other things as dirty as they need to be. It keeps the feds off our backs, and keeps business going. His lack of attention could have meant disaster to all of us.

  “Yet this shit has presented itself in the few months you’ve been in charge,” Alex says.

  “That’s not fair,” he counters.

  “If you did good, we wouldn’t need to come back here,” I say, speaking for the first time, knowing I’m going to piss him off. I do. Mario glares at me like he’s ready to kill me. Let him try.

  “Fuck you,” he throws back, and the corners of my lips turn up into a smile. Looks like it’s time for the lesson I was contemplating.