by A. G. Khaliq
corrupt me
book one
dangerous desires
part one
A MAFIA ROMANCE
a. g. khaliq
CORRUPT ME BOOK ONE
DANGEROUS DESIRES (PART ONE)
ISBN: 9798695518276
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2020 by A. G. Khaliq Cover photograph purchased from stock website The right of A. G. Khaliq to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1998.
Apart from the original work written by the author, all songs, song titles and song lyrics contained in this book are the property of the respective songwriters and copyright holders.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author.
To contact the author, reach her through her website https://agkbooks.wixsite.com/agkhaliq or Instagram @agkbooks
reading order
All books must be read in order to understand the story correctly. This is not a standalone series.
dangerous desires (part one)
dangerous desires (part two)
forbidden fruit
notices
This story contains mature themes, sexual situations, strong language, graphic violence and explores some sensitive topics like domestic abuse, which some readers may find upsetting or triggering. Viewer discretion is advised.
If you relate to any of the topics discussed, please remember that you are not alone. Speak to somebody, or call the Samaritans, The National Domestic Abuse Helpline, the police and so on.
This story is told from the main characters Maya and Donte’s points of views for the most part, but on some occasions, the point of view may switch to other characters. This will be made clear with the chapter title names.
dedication
Thank you to all of my readers.
Without your support, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Thank you to all of my family and friends. If I listed everybody, I would probably take up a few pages.
A special thank you to Yousuf Thahsin, Sarina, Rajan and Abdi for your encouragement and help with proofreading, which was the driving force of my progress.
prologue
donte
My pops had been telling me to settle down for years. He told me to find a woman who would stand by me no matter how tough things got, and would have my back through thick and thin.
And the truth was, I was tired of empty sex. I was tired of one-night stands, and I was tired of screwing women just to toss them away and never speak to them again.
I’d built myself an empire from nothing.
I’d put blood, sweat and tears to get to where I was today, to be the owner of several huge 1
businesses, including my multi-million dollar software company Indigo Limited.
And now…
I just wanted a woman to share that with.
So when Sapphire Myers walked into my office telling me that she was the new Python developer, I couldn’t help but to fall head over heels for her beauty. She was so fucking sexy and she didn’t even realize it, but I could see the pain in her eyes. She looked tired, exhausted, broken…
She looked like a mystery.
A mystery that I wanted to solve.
But I was battling with my own demons. I had some dirty secrets of my own, and a past that I wasn’t proud of.
I was part of a Mafia family. A family of organized crime.
But God help me, even though I had my own skeletons in the closet…
If I’d have known that Sapphire was going to betray me in the worst fucking possible way, I would have torched that bitch and left her to die the first time I ever laid eyes on her. I would have disposed of her without a second fucking thought, and then moved on with my life without looking back.
It takes more than a pretty girl to bring me 2
to my knees. The more I push, the more she pushes back. Sapphire is a challenge that I’m not used to, but she needs to learn a thing or two about loyalty.
Because in my world, snakes and rats are buried six feet under. To teach them a lesson not to fuck with me. Because in the Mafia, we’re bound by blood…
And I won’t hesitate to do the same thing to her for getting on the wrong side of me. I won’t hesitate to give her the same treatment that countless people before her got. Somebody should have warned her that if you play with fire you’ll get burned.
Because at the end of the day…
I didn’t choose this life.
This.
Life.
Chose.
Me.
3
1
maya
“I know it's a big ask, Maya,” my boss shrugged, folding his arms. “But you're my only hope.”
“Are you sure it's safe though, Boss?” I asked, with an uneasy expression on my face.
“This is the Mafia we're talking about. If they find out who I really am, I'm a dead woman.”
“Maya, they won't find out, trust me,”
Boss replied. “You're going to be wire-tapped, so the minute we sense something's wrong, we'll send our team down to help you.”
4
I took a deep breath in, my heart pounding with nerves, as Boss continued to debrief me on the whole situation.
“But there really is no way of them finding out you're a secret agent,” Boss went on. “You're going to have your whole identity changed, including your name. As far as they're concerned, you're just going to be another software developer working for them. We have to nail down the Russian Mafia, we've been chasing them for so long.”
“I understand,” I mumbled, taking my head into my hands.
“Just make sure you earn their trust. Get any sort of information you can,” said Boss.
“Anything that can help us take them down.”
“I'll try my best,” I nodded, and then let out a sigh that I didn’t know I was holding.
“Alright Boss, run me by everything we have on the case so far.”
“Of course,” Boss smiled, with his hands on his hips. “Come along to the main room.”
He began walking out of the room, and then led me to the control room, where there was a board plastered with photographs and notes.
“Look at all these photographs, Maya…”
Boss began. “There's a pattern in all of them. But they never leave behind any evidence. Anything 5
that links them to these murders is destroyed.”
I held out the photographs in front of my face, reading the information that was written on them. I could feel my heart leap to my throat, and my blood run cold, as the innocent lives that had been murdered stared back at me in their pictures.
The first picture was of a black man with brown eyes and black, afro-textured hair, wearing a white vest. The picture was taken at the crime scene. There was a bullet mark in his chest, and his vest was soaked with blood. The blood had pooled around his body.
I looked down at the case notes, to learn more about who this man was.
ALFONZE MICHAEL.
19 years old.
Shot outside of Hunters Lane.
&
nbsp; Known to have a crack addiction.
Deceased.
The second picture was of a white woman with platinum blonde hair, porcelain colored skin and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a salmon pink 6
colored maxi length dress, and she had also been killed. Her picture was also taken at the crime scene, and yet again, there was no evidence left behind…
LILY GRAHAM.
30 years old.
Shot outside of Woodwick Central.
Known to have a cannabis addiction.
Raped and murdered.
The third picture was of a Puerto Rican man, wearing black jeans paired with a black jacket.
He had a Tribal tattoo across his chest, and the Crime Scene photos showed horrific images of him laying down next to his sisters, his mother and his father, all of them left to die in their own pool of blood. They’d left a gun in his hand to make it appear that he’d killed his whole family before killing himself, but that was just pure bullshit…
RAYMOND RUIZ.
32 years old.
Whole family beaten to death and murdered in their own home.
Known to be involved in a turf war.
7
Known street dealer.
Fuck. Those people might have got themselves involved in some dodgy shit…
But they didn't deserve this.
They didn't deserve their life being put to an end like this.
It was crazy how many people lost their lives from being involved in drugs, and it broke my heart that there was nothing that I could do to stop all of this from happening. A woman was raped and murdered just because she owed the people money. Those horrific, disgusting bastards needed to pay for what they’d done.
“All of the people affected were young…”
Boss began, with a timid expression on his face,
“And they had their whole lives ahead of them.
All of these murders were done in the same city, and drugs are connected to each of these murders.” He broke off his sentence, shaking his fists angrily. “The very city that the Russian Mafia own their corrupt enterprise of Indigo Limited. The very city where they conduct their operations!”
“Boss, I understand,” I mumbled.
“Shit, I'm sorry for raising my voice at you, Maya…” Boss said exhaustedly. “But this 8
shit makes my blood fucking boil! They're so good at covering up their tracks. If we let them get away with these murders, that's blood on our hands! Nobody else's!”
“Well they won't be getting away with this any longer,” I murmured, my voice dropping to barely below a whisper. “I'm gonna make them pay. I’m gonna make them pay even if it’s the last thing I fucking do.”
Boss folded his arms as he stared back at me, and then he nodded his head in approval.
“Alright, I'll get you a flight booked for Manhattan tomorrow. I’m gonna have an apartment ready for you when you get there, as well as a new identity, and everything in your past wiped clean so that you can’t be traced.” He sighed heavily, as he made his way to his desk to type on his computer. “Good luck with this, Maya. It's gonna be one fucking tough job, and you're gonna get close to breaking point so many times. Promise me you'll stay safe.”
“I promise,” I confirmed.
“If there’s any problems, where it gets to a matter of life-or-death, you make sure that you fucking contact me,” he said. “This is the Mafia.
They don’t fucking play around. Be careful whenever you’re gathering evidence against them. Make sure you never get caught.”
9
I nodded.
“A man with potential involvement with the Russian Mafia is a man named Donte Abruzzi. He’s young and very wealthy, and he’s the head of Indigo Limited, so he’s bound to know about all of the shady operations that go on in Manhattan. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of evidence hidden away in that massive building,”
Boss muttered. “Remember your fucking training. Take whatever means necessary to get the information that we need. Even if it means you have to seduce him. Bastards like him think with their dick. They have no fucking respect for women.”
I swallowed down a lump that had formed in my throat, suddenly feeling my insides twist into knots. I felt nervous at the thought of the possibility of so much being able to go wrong in this mission. I was putting my life on the line for the sake of the greater good.
But it was a risk worth taking.
“Take care of yourself, Boss,” I said.
And with these words…
I turned on my heel, and began walking out of the room. I felt motivated to bring all of these people to justice. That was the reason why I took on the job of being a Secret Agent in the first place. I wanted to prove to myself that there 10
was still some good left in the world.
The Capo of the Russian Mafia was going to be in for one hell of a shit-storm. I would do whatever it takes to put him behind bars, no matter what means I had to take to achieve that.
I would corrupt him.
But right now, there were still some matters that I had to attend to before I left the city to go undercover. Matters with my mother…
And matters with my boyfriend.
I made my way into my apartment, turning the keys and unlocking the door, and walked over to the bedroom, where my mom was laying in her wheelchair, fast asleep. She looked so peaceful, and I didn’t want to disturb her.
I took steps closer to her, crouching beside her, and began stroking her hair. My mother was sixty-five, with faded grey hair and pale skin. She’d been in an accident when she was younger, which caused her to be in a wheelchair ever since. I was all that she had. I didn’t have a father figure in my life, but I didn’t need one anyway. Me and my mom had each other’s backs, and that was all that mattered.
I’d been looking after her for as long as I 11
could remember. Ever since I was still in education, and I was still doing my Criminal Law degree. I made so many sacrifices for the sake of my mother, but I didn’t regret it. Friends came and went…
But family…
Family stayed there till the very end.
As I stroked her hair, she jolted upwards, awaking from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes, looking upset and confused.
“Mama, are you okay?” I asked.
“Who are you and what are you doing in my house?!” Mom shouted shakily, jolting backwards at my touch.
“Mama, it's me, your daughter…” I whispered, tears welling in my eyes. “Maya…”
“Get out, get out, GET OUT!” Mom screamed angrily, trembling with fear.
I drew out a deep breath, before taking her face into my hands, trying my best to help her calm down. I could feel my heart shatter into millions of tiny pieces, at the sheer reality that my own mother failed to recognize me sometimes, ever since she’d started to develop the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease…
“Mama, don't be scared… It's okay.”
“Is that you, Maya?” Mom whispered.
“Mama, I'm going away for a long time,” I 12
murmured. “I have to leave for work. I'm going to have to take you to a care home while I’m away…” I broke off my sentence, as a single tear slid down my cheek.
“But I want to stay with you,” Mom insisted.
“I know, Mama…” I took a deep breath in. “It won't be forever. Just until I come back.”
“But they won't look after me like you do,”
she pleaded.
A moment of regret washed over me as my mama's sad face bored into my eyes. I had an obligation as a daughter to look after her and provide her with what she needed…
It broke my heart watching my mama grow older, watching her lose her memory more and more, day by day.
And the fact that there was nothing I could do to stop it, just screwed with my mind to the point of no fucking return.
But then I remembered how many lives had been lost to the Russian Mafia…
I c
ouldn't be selfish.
I needed to bring them to justice.
“They'll take great care of you Mama, I promise,” I said, squeezing her hands in mine.
“Let's go.”
I got up on my feet, and began wheeling 13
my mother out of my apartment, ready to make my way to the care home where I was going to drop her off. I knew that my boss would make sure that she was well-provided for while I was gone. It was the least that he could fucking do, and he’d been good to me while I’d been working this job, so I never, ever doubted him and his generosity for one second.
I was going to miss her while I was away…
I just hoped that the sacrifices that I was making for the sake of going undercover would end up being worth it.
I drove down the Highway, with my car playing Blinding Lights by The Weeknd on a low volume. Now that my mama was being taken care of, it was time for me to pay my boyfriend a visit to let him know that I was going away.
I met my boyfriend at work. His name is Brett, and we've been together for two years now.
I'm 28, and he's 32…
But I couldn’t help but to feel regret. We got together naturally because work was so demanding, with both of us being in the Secret Service. We saw each other all of the time, and we were pretty much together nearly every hour of the day. We weren't entitled to much of a 14
social life…
We always had to stay focused, avoid getting distracted, and put our all into the task that we were given. We knew what we signed up for when we took the job. It was never going to be easy for us. I guess that being with Brett was a rash decision to stop us both from feeling so lonely, because work just got the better of us both sometimes.
It just felt like the relationship was so forced. I cared for him, that I did.
And he cared for me, too…
But we were always just so busy. It felt like my job was consuming me. I wanted to be loved, and I wanted to feel loved.
But it was a myth with this job. I guess I just "settled" for Brett, knowing that I would probably not have the chance to meet anybody else. There were no sparks, and no fireworks whenever we kissed. I didn't even have the guts to sleep with him yet. I didn’t feel ready to take that step, because my heart just wasn’t in it…
