by Lana Cameo
Hard Crimes
A Mafia Secret Baby Romance
Lana Cameo
Copyright © 2018 by Lana Cameo
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the written permission from the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Visit the website of Lana Cameo at www.lanacameo.com
Want to hear about the hottest new releases, free books and giveaways?
Join my mailing list at http://www.lanacameo.com/subscribe/ and get free your copy of my book “Never Reckless: A Billionaire's Secret Baby Romance” exclusive for my subscribers.
Contents
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
A SNEAK PEEK: Savage Crimes
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Contact the Author
Chapter 1
Anton DeCalvo sat beside his grandfather on the dock of their shipping company’s building. These business lunches were becoming more frequent as his grandfather prepped him to take over the family business. Today, two of the high-up employees in the business, Marco and Stefano, joined them. They would be watching Anton’s every move. So would his grandfather. He swallowed a bite of his burger and kept his ears open as Grandfather discussed business. He was to learn as much from doing as he was to learn from watching others with more experience.
Anton had been in the family business for years now and had learned plenty, but things were different lately. His grandfather was getting up in years and before long, Anton would be the one running the business. If he didn’t learn all he could while he still had his grandfather around, he would fail, taking the business and everyone who worked for them down along with him.
“Are you getting this?” Grandfather asked.
Anton nodded.
“This is the key, right here,” Grandfather said. “As long as this is in place, everything looks legal and the FBI can’t touch us. You don’t have this? You’re screwed, and you screw everyone else. You don’t want to screw everyone, Anty, do you?”
“Of course not,” Anton said. “That’s why I’ve been working under you for almost ten years now.”
“Ahh.” Grandfather slapped his cheek. “My grandson. I thought it would be my son taking over, but we all know how that turned out.”
Anton’s dad was long gone and never wanted anything to do with the family business. Anton had paid the price for this refusal. All through high school, when his parents couldn’t buy him name brand sneakers and he got made fun of, when he couldn’t afford to go on the class ski trip, he had resented them and their meager earnings. He wanted riches and success. His dream then had been to run a big business. Maybe become VP or even CEO of a huge company. And now his dream was here, coming true before his eyes, thanks to his grandfather and years of hard work.
His grandfather was richer than anyone Anton had ever met. And the best part was, in their business, they didn’t have to worry about things like ethics and morals. Nearly everything they did was illegal. To the outside world, they ran a shipping company sending packages and goods around the world. But few people knew that the “goods” they often shipped were things like drugs, guns, and slaves. Anything that needed to be moved and couldn’t be transported through typical means, came through DeCalvo Shipping.
For years, he’d worked directly under his grandfather. That was good for now, but he relished the day he would take over everything. When his paycheck would be even bigger and nothing was out of his reach.
He almost laughed as he thought about it. Not much was out of his reach right now. Women, money, any good time he could think up—it was all his. But having more of a good thing couldn’t be bad. His life had become more than he even dreamed, and it would only get better from here. Soon enough, it would be time for him to find the perfect woman—gorgeous face, smoking body, faithful and loyal to a fault, someone he could trust to keep the secrets, could count on to raise the kids right and be there to take his mind off business at night. They’d have a nice little family, and one day he’d be training his son to take over the family business.
“Now,” Grandfather said. “I’m gonna give you a scenario and I want you to tell me what you’d do.”
Anton set down his burger. Usually, he followed the orders, he didn’t give them. This was his chance to prove he was capable of both. “Okay.”
“A rival shows up and intercepts your shipment. This causes you to lose money and causes your client to lose faith in your ability to deliver. How would you handle it?”
“Is this the first time this rival has gotten in the way?” Anton asked.
“Sure.” Grandfather shrugged and laced his fingers.
“Umm, how much money it cost the company?”
“Thousands.”
Anton looked at his colleagues. Funny that Grandfather actually called them that. Usually the mafia just called employees family members, but whatever. They would be judging his answer. He thought that on a first offense, killing the guy was a little severe, but he had to show he was ruthless.
“Ice ‘em,” Anton said.
Instead of saying he’d made the right call, Grandfather glared. “You think this is a joke?”
“No sir. Just trying to lighten the mood. We take out anyone who gets in our way. Make an example of them so no one else tries it.”
“That’s the right answer,” Grandfather said. “Nothing cute about killing people.”
“No, I know that. I’m sorry.”
“Ahh.” Grandfather slapped his cheek again. “You’re a good kid, Anty.”
Anton tried to read Marco and Stefano’s expressions to see what they thought of his answer, but they were stoic as always.
“We do have the matter of Sergio and Benito Lopez,” Marco said.
Stefano nodded. “It’s been too long without action, boss.”
Grandfather nodded. “As my grandson would say, ice ‘em.”
They nodded.
Anton was always amazed at how nonchalant his grandfather was at ordering people to die. Hopefully, he would be able to be that way. He would order hits and not give a second thought to them. Sit cooly at lunch and over a burger and fries, decide someone’s fate. That was the hardest part of this job, the part Anton hadn’t quite been able to stomach yet. He was getting there, and with his grandfather’s help, he’d learn to keep business business.
If these men had gotten in the way of their company, it was their business to take care of it, set an example, and make sure it didn’t happen again. They had to know that when you shipped with DeCalvo, you got great service, and when you pissed them off, you got killed. That was the only way to make sure they kept their name and influence over their territory. Otherwise, rival families would have stepped in and taken over years ago. His grandfather was tough and ruthless, and that was what kept the family going. That was what was needed. That was what Anton had to become.
He glanced across their parking lot, where three women walked toward a restaurant across the street. People had been coming and going all morning—it was a busy place. He hadn’t taken much time to really look at any o
f them. But one of the women looked familiar. He couldn’t take his eyes off her until he recognized who it was.
With a start, it hit him. Hannah Malcolm. He hadn’t seen her in years. Not since high school. Not since soon after they broke up. She’d been his girlfriend from the first day she walked into that school, and stayed his girlfriend until the day he left, breaking her heart in the process. It had been ten years since he’d talked to her.
Grandfather must have seen him looking. “Something you like, Anty?”
“That’s my high school girlfriend,” he said.
“Let the past stay in the past,” Stefano said.
“She was special,” Anton said.
“Go on then,” Grandfather said. “Go get her. She’ll fall all over you now.”
“Thanks.” Anton quirked his mouth into a smile and swallowed down the last bite of his burger.
He got up and crossed the parking lot, entering the restaurant with her image still in his mind.
Chapter 2
Hannah Malcolm sucked in a breath and smoothed down her skirt. It did little good. On the way to her new job—on her first day, of course—she’d gotten her heel caught in a drain and had broken it. She’d had no choice but to break the other heel so she could walk. But these had been brand new shoes. Shoes she couldn’t really afford.
The altercation had been enough that it’d made her miss her train. Of course, by the time she finally arrived at her stop, she left the train station to find that it had started raining. And her umbrella was sitting right by her door. At home. So she was not only late and had ruined shoes, she was now also soaking wet. She dare not look in a mirror for fear of seeing what she expected—that she looked like a drowned mess.
Surely, her boss would regret hiring her and tell her to turn around and go right back home. Then she’d be back at one of her many low-paying, crappy jobs. She’d never be able to move from her run-down apartment in Elizabeth. All her dreams of being a successful career woman, living in a fabulous loft in the city, had slipped down the storm drain with her brand new, expensive shoe heel.
Taking this finance job in Newark was a stretch for her. It meant commuting farther, taking on a job bigger than she was used to. It meant less time at home in the mornings and evenings with her daughter. It was a sacrifice, but one that she hoped paid off. Now that Melody was nine, she was old enough to get herself breakfast and didn’t mind hanging out at the neighbor’s apartment for a short time after school until her mother got home.
Hannah’s nervousness rose as she approached the building. She walked in, talking to herself the whole way. Up the elevator, past the receptionist, to her cube. She’d made it and set her things down. Maybe her boss wouldn’t notice she was so late.
Hannah hurried toward the bathroom to clean up, but before she could get there, her boss intercepted her.
“Hannah!” Her boss, Lauren, said beaming. “You’re here! Great! I have you all set to start orientation today.” Lauren’s smile faded as she looked Hannah over. “Everything… okay?”
Hannah forced her brightest smile. “Yes, I think.” She blew out a sigh and decided to go for the woman-to-woman pure honesty approach. “I’m so sorry I’m late. After all my careful planning, I didn’t account for getting my heel stuck in a storm drain or missing my train or”—she gestured to her wet clothes and limp hair—“forgetting my umbrella at home.”
“Oh, you poor thing. Well, go on and do what you need to do. We’ve all had those days, believe me. When you’re ready, stop by my desk and I’ll get you your logins and everything you’ll need. I thought we could do lunch today with the team supervisor and all just get to know each other.”
“That would be great. Thank you for understanding.”
Lauren smiled and walked away. Hannah ducked into the bathroom, grateful for a reasonable boss. Her appearance in the mirror wasn’t quite as horrid as she’d expected. She took down her hair and ran her fingers through it, then re-secured it on her head in a loose twist. It was better than nothing.
She made it through her morning orientation and had some time to set up her cube. She’d brought some photos of Melody along in her tote bag and set them out on her desk. The photos were a good reminder of why she was there—to make a better life for her and her daughter. No matter how difficult this job turned out to be or how overwhelmed she became, she knew that at the end of the day, she would go home to her daughter and everything would be better.
Once the IT guy got her computer set up and she could log in, she sat down and looked over her first assignment. Just reading what was needed made her heart speed. Could she do this? It didn’t make any sense.
Hannah took several deep breaths and had to get up to walk to the water fountain. She kept up her pep talk in her mind. You can do this, you can do this, you can do this. They wouldn’t have hired you if you couldn’t. By the time she returned to her cube, she was ready to tackle the task.
She opened her computer program to get started and ran into a problem. Already, she was having issues. She tried to figure it out and make things work, but it wasn’t making sense. She was near tears when she decided she would just have to ask for help.
With the printout of the assignment in hand, she knocked on Lauren’s door.
“Come on in, Hannah.”
“I just have a quick question about this task.” She showed Lauren the print out and explained her problem.
“Oh goodness!” Lauren said. “Oh no, this belongs to a different department. No wonder you had trouble. I’ll take care of that. Your assignments should all be waiting in your queue. If you run into any trouble or have any questions at all, just ask.”
Hannah felt the relief wash over her. She hadn’t messed up, after all. When she returned to her desk and checked where Lauren had directed her to, things went much smoother. She hadn’t even looked at the clock and when Lauren showed up at her cube, it took her a moment to realize how much time had passed.
“Oh, sorry,” Hannah said, “Let me just grab my bag.”
“I saw what you’ve been working on,” Lauren said, leaning on the half wall of the cube. “It’s all looking very good so far.”
“Thank you.”
Hannah followed Lauren to Sarah’s cube, then they left the building together.
“I know this fabulous Italian place just a few streets away,” Sarah said.
“Sounds perfect,” Lauren said. “Hannah, are you good with Italian?”
“Absolutely.” A cheesy pasta dish sounded like exactly what she needed right now.
After they ordered, they sipped their water and nibbled on breadsticks. Lauren and Sarah, who had known each other for years, started an easy conversation, and Hannah jumped in where she could.
“Have you seen the newest episode?” Lauren asked as they discussed a popular TV show.
“It made me cry,” Hannah confessed.
“Me too!” Sarah said. “I can’t wait for next week to find out what will happen with the doctor.”
“You know,” Lauren said, “One time I dated someone who looked just like the doctor.”
“No, you did not!” Sarah exclaimed. “Who?”
“A guy named Sam. But he turned out to be a complete loser. Just like my last boyfriend.” Lauren sighed.
“This is why I stay single,” Sarah said. “Not worth it.”
“I agree,” Hannah said. “I can’t even remember the last man I dated, but I know it wasn’t good.”
“Things didn’t work out with your daughter’s dad?” Lauren asked.
“No. He vanished.”
“Loser,” Sarah said. “See, you’re better off.”
Hannah wasn’t so sure. Being a single mother had been difficult and something she’d never thought she’d have to do. If Melody’s dad had been there, really been there, it likely would have been better for them both. Not that it mattered. She hadn’t seen him in ten years. He was gone before she could even tell him he had a daughter.
Trying to date while being a single mother hadn’t gone much better. Most men weren’t prepared for that sort of thing, and many of them didn’t seem good enough to be a father to Melody. Things had been going fine when it was just the two of them, and she planned to keep it that way.
As she was thinking this, feeling as resolute as ever in her singleness, she looked up to see the very man who she’d been thinking about. Anton DeCalvo. He was tall, wearing a suit, of all things, and as hot as ever. She swallowed hard. Would he even recognize her after all this time? She’d never forgive herself if she didn’t at least go find out.
“Speaking of men,” Hannah said with a smile, “will you excuse me for a moment? I just saw someone I haven’t seen in a long time.”
They both looked toward the door and giggled when they turned back to her.
“You better go talk to him!” Lauren said.
Hannah set down her napkin and stood, wishing more than ever that she hadn’t broken her heels. She felt short and it was difficult to walk in broken shoes. But she managed, and as she neared him, she saw that he was already looking at her.
He broke into a grin and raised a hand to wave. She returned his wave and grin.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw you walk across the parking lot,” Anton said. “Hannah Malcolm. After all these years, still as beautiful as ever.”
“Thank you.” Her cheeks warmed and she couldn’t stop smiling. “It’s so good to see you! I can’t believe it’s been ten years. And you look just as good yourself. Maybe even better.”
Had she really just flirted with Anton DeCalvo? How was it possible he was here, in the middle of her crazy day, making things even more bizarre?
