Admittedly, it stung a little bit, because she was utterly fascinated with the family and no part of it frightened her. The family actually intrigued her, making her wish she could become an even more important part of it. It was probably why she had always been in love with Lucca, the underboss and future boss of the mafia family. To be the boss’s wife … well, that was as far a woman in the family could get, and Adalyn would have loved every moment of it. Now, there was only one thing she had to have in her future husband … He has to be Made.
When a black car pulled up instead of the usual Escalade, she grew worried, wondering if something had happened. She quickly went up to the driver’s side to see her and Lake’s usual bodyguard, Tom.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, just as her eyes travelled to the man sitting in the passenger seat. Trying to stay cool, she could tell the tatted bad boy hadn’t been expecting her either.
“Yes, everything’s fine,” Tom soothed her fears. “This is Angel. He’s going to be helping me watch you girls at school from now on.”
“Hi.” Adalyn smiled like he hadn’t just pulled her into a cleaning closet yesterday.
Angel gave her a quick nod before turning his head forward.
“Where’s the Escalade?” she asked, desperately wanting to talk to Lake.
“It’s not coming. Get in.”
Um, okay …?
Going to the back door, she slid in. Sitting behind Tom, she had the perfect side view of the dark Angel.
So, does this mean he is a Caruso? He doesn’t look like one … She couldn’t help noticing the tats, the beard, the lack of a suit. Plus, what Caruso in their right mind would steal from Lucca?
The thoughts swirled in her head as the car travelled through the city, until her curiosity got the best of her and she could no longer hold it in.
“Are you a Caruso?”
Angel didn’t look back, nor did he say anything.
Adalyn then looked at Tom in the rearview mirror. “Is he?”
When Tom looked at her through the mirror, it was obvious he wasn’t sure how to respond. “Not exactly.”
One of her eyebrows rose. “Then how does a ‘not exactly a Caruso’ get the job of watching Caruso girls?”
“By Lucca giving him the job,” he told her matter-of-factly.
“So, he’s trying to become Made,” she whispered under her breath, smiling.
“I said, he’s not exactly a Caruso, not that he wasn—” That was all Tom got out before Angel’s low voice spoke over him.
“We don’t tell our women about our family business, especially not the little girls.”
Adalyn’s face dropped as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Excuse me? I am not a little girl.”
Again, Angel didn’t reply to her retort, which was starting to rub her the wrong way.
Smiling, she began to quietly mutter under her breath, “I don’t think you thought of me as a little girl yesterday in the clo—”
“What do you do when they don’t listen to you?” Angel had turned his head to look at Tom.
Tom looked confused. “The girls?”
“Yes. How do you reprimand them?”
Clearing his throat, a serious look came over the driver. “We don’t punish our women, if that’s what you’re asking. And you are most certainly never to touch one of them.”
Welp, too late for that.
“Okay, but that doesn’t answer my question of what you do when they don’t listen to you.”
“Only two of them seem to like to cause trouble from time to time, and I’ll take care of them if they give you any.”
Angel gave a quick nod before asking one more question. “Who are the two who cause trouble?”
“Maria is a real pain in the ass, but …” Tom paused, looking in the rearview mirror at a smug Adalyn. “That one in the back, you have to be careful of. She tends to do things without thinking them through carefully.”
“You don’t say?” Angel’s voice held a hint of sarcasm.
Four
The Spawn of Satan
Getting out of the car, she felt relief. To say it was a strange car ride would be an understatement. The awkwardness between Angel and her was very apparent, and she could only hope Tom hadn’t noticed. Actually, it should be the thieving Angel who should pray Tom hadn’t—it was going to be his funeral.
As Adalyn walked up to the girls who stood beside the Escalade and their bodyguards, waiting for her to reach them, she couldn’t help noticing that Lake’s and Elle’s eyes had grown round, admiring the new eye candy. Meanwhile, Angel had the opposite effect on Maria, a hard look crossing her soft features as she crossed her arms.
Adalyn found herself somewhere between the girls on the spectrum of liking Angel—yes, she couldn’t deny how hot the bad boy looked, but damn if he hadn’t pissed her off by ignoring her in front of Tom because she was a “little girl.”
Maria looked the tatted newcomer up and down. “Why is he here?”
I guess she knows exactly who he is, which was good considering she still had no freaking clue.
“Because your brother gave him this job,” Tom answered.
“You’re kidding?” Maria laughed before she pulled her phone from her Louis Vuitton bag and dialed a number before putting it to her ear. “Why the hell is—” was all she got out before she went silent, listening to the other end of the call for several moments. By the time she ended the call, her face had gone from quickly thinking it was a joke to the hard expression she had worn when she had seen him getting out of the car.
An unbothered Angel stood there, uncaring, like she wasn’t even talking about him.
The mafia princess wanted to make something clear. “He better not be for me,” she told Tom.
“Lucca didn’t assign him to you,” Tom reassured her.
Flipping her beautiful blonde, long locks behind her shoulder, she walked up to the dangerous-looking man. Her already long legs, made more so by her tall stilettos, made her not much shorter than him.
“I’m not sure what Lucca was thinking assigning you to this job, but we better not have a problem.”
Adalyn, Lake, and Elle all looked at each other with oh-shit faces.
His dark gray eyes bore into the blonde who had threatened him. “Let’s hope not, princess,” he said, showing he knew exactly who she was, too.
“Um … Are we missing something here?” Adalyn could no longer stand not knowing what the fucking hell was going on.
“He’s a Luciano.” Maria stepped back, practically spitting out the last of her words at his feet. “But not just any Luciano. He’s Lucifer’s son.”
Oh fuck.
“I would like to go to class now,” Elle said before walking off with a Caruso following right behind her.
It was obvious to the rest of them why she had to leave. Elle had protected her best friend, Chloe, all through high school after her friend had been kidnapped and scarred by the one they called Lucifer.
Lucifer Luciano was the mob boss of the Luciano family … until recently, when Lucca removed him from not only the family but this earth. At least, Adalyn was pretty sure Lucca had gutted him after he’d kidnapped Chloe once more, wanting to finish what he had started years ago. Except this time, it was from the Caruso family home.
“Don’t ever go near Elle or speak to her,” Maria threatened him. “She’s the only person Chloe told what happened to her years ago, and they’ve been best friends ever since.”
This time, Angel nodded his head in understanding.
For the first time, Adalyn saw something different behind his gray eyes. What it was exactly, she didn’t know.
“Okay, I think it’s time you all get to class,” Tom interrupted.
Maria walked past Angel, being sure to knock into his shoulder.
Staring at Angel … Luciano, everything that happened between him and Adalyn became a different story. It was a Luciano who had stolen from Lucca. A Luciano who had pul
led her into the closet and, like Maria said, not just any Luciano. He’s Lucifer’s son.
A chill went up her spine at the realization that the thing that had been nagging at the back of her mind since she had met him was correct. Angel did come from the fucking Devil himself.
He is the spawn of Satan.
Thank God, was all Adalyn could think when they took their seats at the very back of the jam-packed class while Tom and Angel waited outside the door. Their seats sat very close together thankfully, so they could whisper to one another without disturbing anyone. At least, they hoped.
Adalyn pulled her friend in closer to her. Finding out who Angel was changed things, and she was going to definitely need help in the future. “I have to tell you something, and you have to promise to keep it a secret.”
“Does it have anything to do with Angel?” Lake asked, knowing her all too well.
“Um …”
“Adalyn!” Lake whispered harshly. “I can’t promise to keep something away from Vincent if it involves Lucifer’s son!”
Stunned, she stared at her best friend since forever. “So, you’re picking my brother over me? I thought it was hoes before bros?”
“Will you stop pulling that card? You used that on me last week when you wanted McDonalds at one a.m., and I told you I couldn’t just ‘steal’ Vincent’s car while he was sleeping to come pick you up to get you some damn chicken nuggets.”
“Yes, and I’ll never forgive you for that,” she huffed, crossing her arms.
“Oh, my gosh … You know you could have just taken yourself, right?”
“No, because then I would have been a shameful fat-ass who needed McDonalds at one in the morning. Everyone knows that if you go with a friend in the middle of the night, it’s considered ‘cool.’ It’s like an unspoken rule.”
“What kind of rule is this? You’re not even fat!” Lake’s voice had risen, causing a few students to turn around and look back at them.
Smiling at the lookers, Adalyn waited until they turned their heads back to minding their own business before she turned hers back to her friend. “It doesn’t matter if you’re physically fat or not; you’re just automatically fat if you have to have chicken nuggets in the middle of the night. The rule is real. Ask Maria if you don’t believe me.”
Lake just stared at her, blinking for a minute, trying to digest the shit Adalyn had just spewed.
“Okay, let’s just get back to the topic. Can you keep your best friend’s secret? The one who was there for you way before your boyfriend ever was?” Adalyn’s eyes bore into Lake’s, ready to judge her if she said no.
“All right, fine, I promise to keep your secret. But this better not get me in trouble with Vincent.”
“It won’t if you don’t tell him,” Adalyn assured her before leaning in closer to whisper softly, “I actually met him yesterday. He may or may not have pulled me into a closet at the casino hotel—”
“He did what?”
Adalyn bit her lip, wishing she could have thought this through. “He, you know … pulled me into a closet.”
“Why did he do that? Did he hurt you?” Lake began to really worry.
Adalyn was going to have to be careful since she did want to keep the secret of him stealing the ring from Lucca. “No, he didn’t hurt me. He just wanted to talk.”
“You don’t pull someone into a closet just to talk.”
It was really hard to lie to her BFF, but … LIE.
“Well, he did.”
“Okay, then, what did he want to talk about?” Lake clearly wasn’t buying it.
“He just wanted to get to know me, I gues—”
“Really, Adalyn? You expect me to believe that? Why tell me this secret if you’re not going to really tell me?”
“Because …” She paused, taking a deep breath, wondering if she should reveal this part. “I need you to keep me away from him. He’s bad news, and I know it. But … you know how I get when they’re hot, bad, and hot.”
“You said he was hot twice … Oh God, you like him.” Lake’s wariness was only getting worse.
“No, I don’t. I said I think he’s hot, not that I like him. I actually think he’s a sexist jerk, and I don’t know why I find him attractive, anyway.”
“Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.”
“What? Are you okay?” Adalyn was beginning to worry something was wrong with Lake.
“That’s how Elle felt with Nero, how I felt with Vincent, and how Chloe felt with Lucca. You see where I’m getting at?”
She gulped loudly, and the hairs on the back of her arms stood up. “Oh, no.”
“He’s Lucifer’s son … a Luciano … and you’re a Caruso,” she whispered. “God help you.”
A story had been told for Elle, Lake, and Chloe, and now it was like she could feel the book of the rest of her life opening, but it didn’t have her name on it.
It held the name: Angel.
The question was: did she want to jump in it? If she did, it was almost inevitable they would crash and burn due to his last name. The families hadn’t mixed blood as far as she knew … ever.
Five
A Nice Name … For an Unfortunate Girl
Shifting his weight to his right foot after standing there for so long, he checked his watch to see how much longer he had to endure this torture. Fuck, this is boring.
A buzzing noise had him reaching for his phone in the back pocket of his jeans.
“Do you mind?” he asked the man beside him, who had been watching him like a hawk all day. Tom was supposed to be showing him the ropes, and even though the Caruso was trying his best to hide the fact that he was watching his every move, it was obvious to a man like Angel.
“Sure.” Tom nodded, giving him the go-ahead.
Walking a bit of distance away to keep his conversation private, he answered the phone with a “Yes?”
“How is it?” a voice similar to his asked.
“Slow.”
“I wouldn’t say that. You’re at a college, surrounded by hot girls. You were always the lucky bastard between us.”
Angel’s voice went low. “You mean lucky enough to be the one chosen?”
“Yeah, well, there is no fooling Lucca Caruso. Your name might be Angel, and out of the two of us, others might think you are one, but we both know you’re the evil twin.”
Angel smiled, knowing his twin brother Matthias was right. They’d had their fun ever since they were born, letting everyone think Matthias was the strongest, smartest, and meanest one, but in reality, it was him.
Growing up the way they did, it wasn’t easy, to say the least, so making everyone think they shouldn’t mess with Matthias while they always ignored or underestimated Angel had protected them. It was their armor. Over the span of their lives, very few had found out the truth about them, and when they had, they’d realized too late.
Until Lucca.
“Did you get it yet?” Matthias asked, getting to the real reason of the phone call.
Feeling the heavy weight of the ring deep in his pocket, he was able to tell him what he had been unable to yesterday. “I did.”
“Then it must have gone successfully.”
“Well, not exactly.” The image of the troublesome little brunette filled his mind. “I didn’t realize I had an audience.”
“Who?” A hint of worry appeared in Matthias’s voice.
“A Caruso girl.”
The wariness in his brother’s voice turned dark. “Will she be a problem?”
“I’ll take care of her,” he put simply, without a hint of remorse.
“Good.” Matthias paused. Knowing Angel would do whatever it took, he then gave his brother a final warning with the dark tone still present, “Be careful, Angel. Remember, no matter how much time you spend with them, you are and always will be a Luciano, never a Caruso.”
Angel looked at Tom, who remained down the hall, as he put his hand deep in his pocket. Seeing Tom’s muscles tighten and his eyes s
lightly narrow, becoming trained on what Angel was about to pull out of his pocket, revealed to Angel all he needed to know.
Rubbing his thumb over the ring, he thought about who it belonged to and why he had stolen it back. For family.
“I know, brother,” was all he said before he hung up and headed back to the spot he had come from.
When he finally pulled his hand out of his pocket, coming up clean, he saw Tom ease again. He had to refrain from rolling his eyes to the back of his head. Stupid fucker.
No, there was no fooling Angel, who knew every trick in the book when it came to watching someone. He had become an expert at it, and had gone undetected due to the act he played. Not only that, but the reason he had learned how to have a watchful eye in the first place was because he had felt what it was like to be watched from a very young age. Feeling the judgmental eyes of others was something he could and always would feel. It never failed to make his skin crawl …
…“You can each pick one thing,” his older brother, Dominic, had told them when they’d walked into the busy gas station.
Angel couldn’t help noticing the stares they got the second they walked in; not only from the customers, but the cashier, too. He wasn’t sure why they were looking at them that way. He wondered if it was because of the dirty, dingy clothes they wore, or if it was because their thirteen-year-old brother was taking care of his eight-year-old twin brothers.
“Ooo … I want this.” Matthias grabbed a bag of gummies from off the shelf.
“No.” Their older brother snatched the gummies out of his hand, putting it back. “It’s breakfast; pick doughnuts or something. Just hurry up or we’re going to be even later for school.”
Angel (Made Men Book 5) Page 2
