Monster: Made & Broken (A Mafia Bad Boy Romance)

by Nora Ash

  “Just hold on a little longer. We need to get out of the house,” he said, and awareness returned as the smell of smoke registered in my nostrils once more.

  I forced my limbs to take most of my weight, but Marcus kept an arm around my shoulders as he guided us through the outer wall of the house, supporting my wobbly legs for every step. When we reached the back of the house, the heat was unbearable and the smoke was getting thicker.

  “We have to get out now,” I coughed into my sleeve. My eyes stung and it was hard to see.

  “Hold on,” Marcus grunted. “We’re at the back of the house now, less chance of getting shot.” He released my shoulders, and the next moment, I heard the sound of breaking glass.

  “Come on, Evelyn,” he coughed, pulling on my coat. “Make sure you stick to the curtain.”

  Through the slits of my eyes, I could see he’d smashed in a window and pulled a curtain down to place over the frame so we could climb out without cutting ourselves to shreds.

  The cold air was like a slap to the face when I tumbled through the open window and landed in the flower bed underneath it. I rolled over onto my hands and knees and coughed until all I could feel in my lungs was air.

  That’s when I noticed that Marcus was crouched next to me, gasping for air and holding his side, and a stab of fear shot through me, killing the momentary respite.

  “Are you hurt?” I asked, reaching for him to try and find the source of his pain. He had to be all right. We hadn’t gone through all of this for him not to be all right

  “No,” he managed to choke out. “Bastard kicked me in the side, burst some stitches. I’m fine.”

  He didn’t look fine, but when he drew in a final, deep breath before moving into a crouch, some of my initial panic settled.

  “We need to get out of here,” I said, looking out from behind the large rosebush we were hiding behind. There weren’t any combatants in this part of the garden, but shots were still being fired from the front part of the estate.

  Marcus nodded. “Yeah, we—” His voice cut off abruptly as two shadow moved around the corner in a low run, and Marcus fumbled in his pocket for his gun—the gun still lying on the kitchen floor inside the burning building. Cursing, he pressed me back with his body, physically shielding me from the approaching figures.

  “Marcus?” a low hiss sounded, and my heart skipped a beat from pure relief. Blaine.

  “It’s us,” Marcus confirmed, his protective stance in front of me relaxing as he got to his legs. Seconds later I could make out both Blaine’s and one of the twins’ faces in the dark as they stopped in front of us.

  “You both all right?” Blaine asked, eyes roaming over both his brother and my huddled-up form.

  “Never better,” I muttered.

  “Brigs?”

  “Dead,” Marcus said, glancing at me, but he didn’t elaborate. “Dad?”

  “Still fighting, along with Louis. We’ve almost got them all now. It’s a matter of minutes, so you two need to come with us. Right now. If Dad finds you, you’re both dead.”

  * * *

  When I got out of the shower attached to the small hotel room Blaine had driven us to, Liam was in the final stages of stitching up Marcus’ wounds, both men sitting on the bed while Blaine was messing with his phone by the room’s single window.

  “There,” Liam said as he wrapped a clean bandage around Marcus’ torso. “That should keep you from bleeding out the second the plane takes off, but you’re gonna want to find a doctor when you land.”

  Marcus grunted noncommittally, and Liam turned his eyes on me. “If he doesn’t do it, poke him in the side wound. A nice, hard jab should make him plenty compliant, yeah?”

  I grimaced, but Liam just winked at me, his eyes sparkling with mischief despite the serious situation.

  “Louis’s managed to send Dad to Gatwick looking for you two, but it won’t be long before he’ll have freed enough men from dealing with Brigs to spread them to Heathrow, too,” Blaine said as he shoved his phone in his pocket and walked over to us, handing us each a ticket. “Your new flight leaves in a couple of hours, but Liam and I will need to get back to deal with Dad, lest he thinks we’re revolting. Have you still got everything else Rob gave you, Evelyn?”

  I nodded. “I took out a lock box at the airport.”

  “Clever girl.” He offered me a small smile before his focus switched to Marcus, his smile fading. “I’ll be in touch when it’s safe to come home.”

  Marcus nodded, placing his hand on Blaine’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

  “Anything for family,” Blaine said softly, squeezing Marcus’ shoulder in return. “Be safe.”

  “And you.”

  “Always.” Blaine nodded at me, giving his brother one final look before he walked out of the hotel room. Liam didn’t say anything, but he pulled first me and then Marcus into a tight hug before he followed Blaine out, shutting the door behind him.

  I looked up at Marcus, clutching the ticket in my hands. “You’re coming with me, right?”

  He nodded, but the look of guilt on his face took away the rush of relief. “I’m sorry, Evelyn.”

  “For what?” I asked, genuinely baffled. Somehow, against all odds, we’d both made it out alive, and he was sorry?

  “Everything,” he said softly. “I wanted to give you a new life, a free life. I never wanted you to experience a night like this.”

  I shook my head and turned so I could press myself against his body. He stiffened, as if he didn’t know what to do.

  “There’s nothing to be sorry for. We’re together—that’s all that matters.”

  Marcus shook his head. “No, Evelyn. We’re not. I can’t…”

  I gaped up at him as his voice trailed off, but instead of the expected pang of hurt, only anger bloomed in my chest.

  “You can’t what? Be with me? Love me? What, exactly, is it you think you can’t, Marcus?”

  He cringed and looked away from my fury. “You deserve so much better. I hurt you. I…”

  I grasped him by the chin and pulled his face back so he couldn’t look away. “Now you listen to me, Marcus Steel. What I deserve is to be happy. And loved. And for that to happen, you need to get over whatever it is you think is wrong with you so we can be together. I need you, don’t you get it? You. You haven’t hurt me, and you never will hurt me. All you’ve done, from the moment we met, is protect me and care for me. And all I want is to protect and care for you, too. I know we were meant to be together, with every part of my soul. So stop fighting it because you’re afraid.”

  Marcus blinked, clearly stunned by my rant. “I… didn’t hurt you? But… you cried.”

  I rolled my eyes—I just couldn’t help it. “You mean in the basement? I cried because you finally let me in behind the darkness and it was the most raw and beautiful moment of my life. And then you went and ruined it by thinking you knew what was best for me instead of bloody asking me.”

  He stared at me for the longest time, seemingly taking forever to process what I’d said. But I’d had enough of waiting. Rising up on my tip-toes I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips to his, reveling in the warmth of his mouth as we kissed, long and gently.

  “What about the monster?” he whispered against my lips when I pulled back for breath some time later. “The darkness. It’s a part of me. Pretending like it’s not is pointless. You deserve so much more than that.”

  I smiled and drew against him as he instinctively held me closer. “I kind of love your monster. Haven’t you noticed that all it wants to do is protect you and the people you care about? I don’t want more than what you are, Marcus, because you’re already everything I could ever want and more.”

  He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Instead he just looked at me with clear amazement written across his impossibly handsome face.

  “What?” I asked.

  The gentlest of smiles spread slowly across his mouth, lifting up the corners and making me g
asp at the pure, unadulterated love shining from his silvery eyes. “I love you. From the first time I saw you, I’ve loved you. And I will love you with all that I am until the day I die.”

  I smiled back at him. “I’m glad, because I’m not letting anything come between us ever again. Not even you, you hear?”

  The smile slipped off his face. “Loud and clear, my love. But I just have one question. It dawned on me I never asked you.”

  “Asked me what?” I said, frowning at his serious expression.

  “Will you marry me?” Marcus grasped my hands and knelt down, wincing as he did. When he was resting on one knee, he looked back up at me, and the emotion in his eyes made my heart throb hard and fast behind my ribs as a grin spread on my face.

  “You arse! You had me all worried!”

  He simply smiled, stroking his thumbs across my knuckles in a gentle caress. “Will you?”

  “Yes. I will marry you, Marcus.”

  * * * *

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  Read Blaine and Mira’s story in Dangerous, book 1 in the Made & Broken series.

  DANGEROUS

  Killer. Heartbreaker. Husband…?

  Blaine

  I hurt, break and kill for a living. The Family point, I deliver.

  But this time, they ask too much. This time, they want me to marry the one woman who knows my secret. She has reason to hate me, I know, but I'll take her, I'll break her, and I'll make her mine.

  That's the only way I can keep my secret.

  Mira

  When I ran away eight years ago, I thought I’d escaped the underworld I'd always known.

  I made a life for myself. I thought I was free. Then my past came knocking at my door.

  Now I’m marrying the son of London’s biggest crime family. A man who hates me as much as I hate him. He’s ruthless, brutal, and dangerous—everything I’ve always feared.

  He's taken away the life I built, he's taken my freedom. And now, I fear he's taken my sanity, too.

  How else could I have ended up pregnant with his baby?