Owned by the Mafia Bad Boy (Books 1 - 4)

by Raven Dark

  “I know. But my family does things in specific ways. High society has its rules, girl, and you need to learn them fast, which means training must begin today.”

  The locking mechanism on the door to the suite beeped and the door opened, then closed. A computer carry case in one hand, Kane crossed the suite to the bedroom.

  It wasn’t fair that he was so hot. His massive six and a half foot frame was clad in the usual perfectly pressed black Armani suit, his dark wavy hair naturally tussled. He set the laptop case on the coffee table on his way to me. I loved the way he moved, with a grace that always reminded me of a stalking panther.

  “See?” He pulled dark sunglasses down, drinking me in, and that smoldering look made my blood run a few degrees hotter. “You look delicious. Come here.”

  Not that I would ever admit it to him, but I felt sexy, cat-like, and graceful. With him looking at me like that, like he wanted to devour me, I felt like I was the only woman in the world. That thought stung, knowing I wasn’t. I hated how easily he made me want to please him. Right then, if he’d told me to crawl to him on hands and knees, I’d have had to use all my will not to obey him.

  I was about deliver some well-honed bratty retort, when I noticed his hand. His large knuckles looked cut, bruised. “Kane, what happened to your hand?”

  He looked at his knuckles and shrugged. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

  “Yeah, right.” I’d seen that sort of injury on the job often enough to know where one got it from. “Who’s face did you bash in this morning?” I traipsed passed him to the washroom and hunted up a first aid kit.

  He snorted. “Forget it, girl.” But he was rubbing his hand, seemingly unaware of what he was doing.

  I sighed. Cutting me out again. “Sit down, please.” First aid kit in hand, I gently nudged him toward the bed.

  “It’s just a few bruises, I don’t need to be taken care of, Anika.”

  “There are cuts. We don’t want them getting infected. Sit.”

  I expected him to push me away, to totally shut me out. It floored me when he shook his head, for some reason smirking as he sat on the side of the bed. “You know I could never resist a gorgeous nurse getting her hands on me.”

  “Ha ha.” I couldn’t help a smile as I lifted his giant paw and inspected it. “You are not as charming as you think you are, Davros.”

  “I’m not?” Barely a rasp, he reached up and pushed a lock of red hair out of my eyes.

  “Nope.” But I couldn’t look away from his smoking gaze.

  His teeth flashed. “Damn, you’re so fucking gorgeous.”

  I finally tore my eyes away, resisting the painful urge to ask him if he said the same things to Gala. I’d know the truth soon enough. Instead, I opened the first aid kit and carefully wiped disinfectant on his cuts, then looked over his hand. Other than the bruises on his fingers, he looked fine.

  “Can you move your wrist?”

  He made a circle with it, without so much as a wince. “See? No damage.”

  “Make a fist.” He did, again without sign of pain. “Good. Are you going to tell me what happened?”

  “Nope.”

  “Why? I can handle it. No, never mind. I know why. I’m just a slave, right?”

  “Anika. No. Look.” When I sighed and met his gaze, his thumb made circles on the back of my hand. “I told you before, you are not a slave. A man in my life has to be careful what he tells a woman like you.”

  “A woman like me.” A second woman, my mind screamed.

  “Yes.” He took my face in those huge palms. “Even a wife only knows so much about her man’s work when he does what I do. As little as possible.”

  “I know. I get it.” I looked away when he released me. “It’s what keeps the women in their place.”

  “No.” He grabbed my face in a firm hold, but it felt urgent rather than forceful. “It’s what keeps them alive.”

  I opened my mouth, but it sunk in slowly, I had no idea what to say to that. The protectiveness in his voice made me swallow hard.

  “There are only two ways a relationship can work for men connected to the family, Anika.”

  “Is that what this is? A relationship?”

  He sighed and knifed to his feet. Raked his hand through his hair as he turned his back to me. “I don’t know.” After a moment, he spun to me. “Look. In my world, a woman falls into one of two types. She knows everything, or she knows nothing. You have to fall into the latter.”

  “Why? Because I can’t handle it?”

  “No. Because when your contract is over and I have to let you go, you have to be able to go back to your life, and the less you or your father know, the better.”

  When my contract was over. Damn it, I hated that it hurt thinking about that. I should have wanted Kane’s ownership of me to be over as swiftly as possible, and then to cut him out of my life for good, never looking back. Yet his words only reminded me of a painful truth. I was only with him based on a contract. What we had was temporary. His words might have sounded protective, but they also reminded me of the obvious. Kane held no feelings for me, no real connection. When my contract was over, he’d discard me, just like he did every other woman in his life who didn’t serve his needs.

  Shaking my head, I couldn’t help a bitter laugh. “I think you and I know my life will never be normal.” I turned and headed for the bathroom, though I wasn’t sure what I even wanted to do in there, apart from put distance between us.

  “Anika, don’t be like that. I just want to keep you safe.”

  “No.” I looked at him. “There is nothing between us, so let’s not pretend there is.” I had to have imagined the flash of hurt in his eyes. It would take a lot more than that to hurt him. “What you want is to keep me in my place, because you think I can’t handle more than that.”

  I shut the door before he could reply.

  * * * * *

  When we got to the hospital, my dad was asleep. Unwilling to disturb him, I left with Kane and decided to meet with Fran first. I’d come back after I was done with her and see if Dad was awake. Kane dropped me off at a coffee shop downtown and left for work. As expected, the minute Fran saw me walking toward her booth, her brows rose, and a million questions I had no idea how to answer flickered in her dark eyes. Man, I was going to kill Kane.

  I played it cool, even though I knew in these heeled boots I looked like an ostrich on stilts, and slid onto the bench across from her. She’d picked a secluded booth at the back of the small, almost empty shop, exactly as I’d told her to, so if we talked quietly, no one would hear our conversation. Fran’s roommate was home, and nosier than her, so it wouldn’t be a safe place to discuss my almost mobster boyfriend and his very mobster fiancée.

  “Well, hellooooo, nurse.” Fran wiggled her brows at me. “Wow.”

  “Thanks, I think.” I grinned. Ok, so maybe dressing like this wouldn’t be all bad. Still, I was glad there weren’t many people in the restaurant to stare. The waitress was across the room at the counter, wiping it down. The nearest patron was a man in a suit reading a paper, four tables away. This was the most secure place we’d get.

  “So, you’re finally going to tell me what’s going on?” She set the laptop I’d asked her to bring on the table.

  When I licked my lips buying time, Fran leaned forward expectantly. Everything in me wanted so badly to tell her. To spill it all at last, to the one person I should have been able to tell. But I couldn’t, and, much as Kane would like to think otherwise, he wasn’t the only reason why.

  “No, but I need your help. Boot that thing up.”

  She sat back, crossing her arms and ignored the laptop entirely. “Really? You’re still not going to tell me why you’ve been avoiding me for a week, and why you clam up every time I ask what you’ve been up to? You’re shutting me out, and you want my help?”

  “Fran. I want to tell you. I do. I just can’t. Please, just accept it.”

  “No way, you’re
gonna have to try harder than that.”

  I made a frustrated sound. Okay, so it was lame attempt to stall her questions, one I knew wasn’t near good enough to put off someone as protective as Fran. Shit, Kane was right, I needed to learn how to evade people better. Like him. He would never have let her get anything out of him. Ugh. I couldn’t believe I was wishing I was more like him. Like a Davros.

  “Look. I might back off, except I know something is wrong. You won’t even look at me most of the time. We never hang out anymore. The only time a girl ditches her best friend this much is over a guy.”

  My face flamed before I could stop it and she leaned in.

  “Okay, so it is a guy.”

  I looked at her, and she scowled. A hint of worry flickered in her dark eyes.

  “Wait. Is it that Kane Davros again? Are you mixed up with him?”

  “Fran, keep it down.” She’d gotten louder, and though no one looked over, I didn’t want to take any chances.

  She pursed her lips, but hushed her voice. “What’s with the secrecy? What’s he got you involved in?”

  “Just…It’s not all him. I can’t get into it.”

  “But some of it is him.”

  I looked away. At the other table, the waitress poured Newspaper Man his coffee and he pulled out a laptop.

  “Is he responsible for this seductress look you got going on, then?” I looked at her again. She gestured to my clothing.

  Damn it, he was so dead. “Is it that bad?”

  “No. You look smokin’. But it’s also not you.”

  I let out a breath. She’d fill in the blanks on her own now and I’d let her. If I was lucky, I wouldn’t have to tell her anything.

  “Look, he’s hot, and if he makes you happy, great.” She really did speak hushed then, barely audible. “But if he’s keeping you from your friends, from your life, he’s not good for you. Anika, is he hurting you?”

  I squirmed on the seat and my ass stung. With Kane, pain is a relative term. “No. Not like you mean.”

  She widened her eyes. “Wait, not like I mean?” She smirked. “Do I wanna know?”

  “Shh. And not really.”

  She shrugged slowly, like she was trying to understand something that perhaps went beyond even best friend territory. “Ok. I get it. He’s into some kinky shit. But you’re safe, right? You’d tell me if he was fucking with my girl?”

  I couldn’t help a sad smile. I was in more danger than she could ever imagine, but it wasn’t from Kane. Well, unless you counted my heart.

  “Fran, I want to tell you. But I can’t. I will, one day. Please, just help me, okay?”

  She drew back, seeming to think. Searched my face. Whatever she saw there must have convinced her to let the subject go. It shocked me, but she nodded, and closed her hand over mine. “Okay.”

  It flickered through my mind that it was way too easy, but I was too relieved she let the subject drop to ask. Fran opened her computer, booted it up, and cracked her knuckles.

  “All right, fire away. What’s the search parameters?”

  I blew out a relieved breath. God, I loved her. “I want you to find out everything you can on Gala Rossi. Specifically, her relationship with Kane.”

  Her brows rose again. “That model he’s been on and off with?”

  “Yes.”

  “Anika, he’s not with her now, is he?”

  “I can’t talk about it.”

  She leaned back again. I closed my eyes. Wrong response.

  Disapproval pounded off her, the kind that said I was letting myself be used, but she cracked her neck and typed away.

  An hour and hundreds of pages and internet websites later, we hadn’t found anything of use. Mostly, we turned up pages and pages of the Rossi’s oldest daughter in dozens of gorgeous modeling shoots, some with background on her tycoon father and his rumored status as boss of the Rossi crime family.

  “So, not only is she a gorgeous model, and she’s currently ‘in a steamy relationship with the heir to the Davros empire, but she’s Mafia. And apparently you’re the one he turns to when he’s bored of her.”

  “Fran!” I hissed. “Do you have to make me sound so much like a whore?”

  “Sorry. It’s just, I would have expected better from you than to let a guy play you like this.”

  I huffed. “It’s not what it looks like.” God, I even used his words.

  “Well, what is it?” Before I could answer, she stopped typing and rolled her eyes. “We’d probably get a lot further if the Wifi in here didn’t suck donkey balls. There must be too many people poaching off the connection.” She glanced up at me. “So?”

  “So, what?” I took a leaf out of Kane’s book.

  “Don’t try that on me, Chiquita. If it’s not what it looks like, what is it?”

  “I don’t know. He…he won’t tell me. He just says it’s not what it looks like.”

  “Seriously?” She rolled her eyes and humiliation bit into me, knowing what she thought. “You’re buying that? Anika, that’s the oldest player line in the book. You walk in catching the guy with some hottie bouncing on him, and, oh, it’s not what it looks like.”

  “Fran, for god’s sake.” I loved this woman to death, but sometimes I wanted to strangle her. Especially when her words fueled every worry, every fear I’d had about Kane and Gala from the moment I’d learned he was supposed to marry her in six months’ time. I wanted so badly to believe him, but when Fran said it that way, I felt like such a fool. At least she was being quiet.

  “Just keep looking, Fran. There has to be something on them, something that explains what’s going on.”

  “It’s obvious what’s going on. He’s using you. You’re dad was right, the Davroses are bad apples.”

  We spent another hour looking before Fran shook her head and snapped her laptop shut. “We’re not getting anywhere. All we see are pages and pages of Gala with Kane, or other gorgeous models like her.”

  “I know.”

  We paused to let the waitress fill our cups.

  “Don’t you find it odd, though?” Fran said when the waitress was gone, leaning on the table with her arms.

  “What?”

  “She’s never with anyone but Kane. I mean, even when she was younger, we only see her with girls. Or him. It’s like…”

  I scrunched my brows. “What? It’s not that strange. If her father really is a kingpin, he’s likely got a hell of a lot of control over her. She probably wasn’t allowed near boys.”

  “Maybe. But something’s off. Their relationship looks…” She trailed off and shook her head, like she couldn’t put her finger on what she saw in the images.

  I opened the laptop and turned it around, looking at the picture of gorgeous, perfect Gala, walking and laughing with another hot model with red hair, almost as red as mine. Their arms were loaded with shopping bags from expensive shops, and they looked like they were having a good time. Just two girls hanging out. Something tugged at the back of my mind, but when I tried to put my finger on it, the thought wouldn’t form. It looked…what?

  Kane’s words reverberated in my head. It’s not what it looks like. But how?

  “I don’t get it, Fran. What are we missing? What isn’t he telling me?”

  “I don’t know. But I’ll tell you something.” She took my hands until I looked her in the eyes. “If he won’t tell you what’s going on, you have to end it. Because a man who expects you to play second best, and who shuts you out of his life, isn’t worth spending your life with.”

  I stared at the image of Gala and her friend, biting my lip. Under any other circumstance, she’d be right. I knew that. But I also knew, when it came to Kane, nothing was ever that simple.

  “Fuck. Who did this?” I rounded on two of my father’s men, gesturing to the empty cab of the sixteen wheeler I stood in. For the second time in less than a week, thousands of dollars in supplies for one of my father’s companies were gone without a trace. Only this time, it was a s
hipment of computer equipment instead of construction supplies, and the supplies weren’t meant for Dominic, so it wasn’t someone trying to sabotage him.

  One of the men, Lowery, jumped up into the back cabin with me and looked around. There was nothing left to see but a few empty, overturned boxes. “I dunno, boss. This truck was filled when it showed up yesterday. Every item on the order was here.”

  “There’s no sign of sabotage on the doors, Mr. Davros.” The other guy, Marcus, shook his head at me after looking over the back doors of the delivery truck. “Whoever got in here had the security code.”

  Jaw tight, I leaped down and scrutinized the small security pad on the door, which could only be opened with a three digit code. Marcus was right, it didn’t look tampered with. Great. All I needed was another excuse to get into it with my father.

  “Who had the access code? Marcus, Lowery, I want a list of everyone who could have opened this truck. One hour.”

  “Boss, it’ll take longer than that if—” Lowery started.

  “One hour.” I put my face in his. “Whoever it is, has those computer systems, and I want—”

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  I spun toward the dirt road that led into the parking lot of large warehouse where the delivery truck was parked. A black Rolls had stopped a hundred feet from the truck, and a tall, slender man in a forest green velvet suit got out. His driver closed the car door behind him.

  “Manny?” I growled, recognizing him as one of Dominic’s Lieutenants. Bile burned the back of my throat, remembering Manny’s usual trade. How could any self respecting man send boatloads of women into foreign countries, selling them into sexual servitude?

  “Davros.” Manny nodded to the two men who got out of the car and flanked him, both in dark suits. Subtle bulges in their blazers revealed they carried pieces to either sides of their chests, like thuggish FBI agents.