by Bella J.
“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 Lucio 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.”
~to be continued in Mafia King~
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About the Author
All the way from Cape Town, South Africa, Bella J lives for the days when she’s able to retreat to her writer’s cave where she can get lost in her little pretend world of romance, love, and insanely hot heroes.
She has a taste for dark, romantic suspense novels with mysterious, brooding bad boys and strong, sassy women who bring them to their knees. Add a little humor and a lot of sexy, and she’s in writer’s Heaven.
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