A Famiglia Novel (Book 3)
Dark Illusion is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by A.J. Daniels
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover Design: ©Just Write. Creations
Cover model: Michael Scanlon
Photographer: FuriousFotog
Edited by: Joanne Thompson
He had beautiful eyes.
The kind you could get lost in
And I guess I did
~ S.b
ANTONIO
I’ve always been the dutiful best friend to Braxton De Luca, the Don of the Italian Mafia. But being associated with the Famiglia comes with certain… understandings. I’ve been hiding, never acting on my deepest desires for fear that once the Famiglia find out my secret, it’ll be my blood being spilled next. But when the chance to get away for a couple of weeks presents itself, I jump on it, figuring time spent on the beach soaking up some rays is exactly what I need to recharge. That is until a chance encounter with a stranger my first day in Caye Caulker, Belize, threatens twenty years of buried secrets.
Will I finally admit to myself and the Famiglia what I want? How will the Famiglia react when their illusion of me is shattered?
KAI
Falling in love again was never part of the plan, and certainly not with someone who was supposed to be a vacation fling. Definitely not with someone who turns out to be my new boss. But the more he pulls me in, the more I find myself falling for him. Our love is forbidden by those he calls family, but neither one of us can stop whatever is growing between us. He has secrets, but so do I.
He hides from those he holds dear. I hide from a nightmare.
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT
OTHER BOOKS
SNEAK PEAK
THE CREST OF a wave is created when the lower portion of the wave approaches the shallow bottom, causing it to slow down and forcing the higher portion in the air. The wave crashes when it reaches its breaking point. It’s not dissimilar to riding a bike at full speed only to accidentally hit the wrong brake, causing the rider to go head over handlebars.
I met the love of my life on a sandy beach on a small island in Belize. I don’t remember what the sun felt like on my skin that day, or the sound of the waves rolling in. I don’t even remember the song that was blasting from the bar’s speakers. All I remember from that day was being literally knocked on my ass, and then blue eyes sparkling down at me in amusement. I knew in that moment my life would never be the same.
I fell in love like the crest of a wave approaching the shore. Everything else seemed to slow down around us, while I crested higher. But like that of a wave, eventually everything reached a breaking point and I came crashing down.
Those two weeks spent in Caye Caulker were the best of my life. My only wish was that it didn’t have to end. But we rarely – if ever – get anything we wish for. I couldn’t unlearn twenty years of behaviors, and I had no right to ask him to hide who he was.
Him.
The man who tilted my world on its axis. The man I would choose over my best friend. If that best friend was not the Don of the Italian mafia.
Present Day
MY HEAD IS POUNDING like a sonofabitch when I finally drag my ass out of bed. The sound of foil crinkling makes me pause as the corner of a condom wrapper peeks out from underfoot, and a liquor bottle sits empty between the nightstand and bed.
I hang my head, palms digging into my closed eyes, willing myself to remember what the fuck I did last night. I know whoever I shared a bed with is no longer in it because I woke up sprawled across it. No way would I have been able to ignore another body in there with me. Unless… my ears strain to pick up any noise in the condo, but there is none. No shower running. No smell of fresh coffee brewing. Nothing.
Pushing up off the bed I go to make my way to the shower but not before a note on the nightstand catches my attention. The handwriting familiar to me like my own. My stomach drops.
T,
Wish I could say last night wasn’t a goodbye, but you and I both know you’ll always put them first. I’m not looking to be anyone’s second choice.
I’m sorry.
- K
P.s. There’s fresh coffee in the pot, I know how much of a pain in the ass you can be in the morning.
I crumble the note in my fist, somehow finding myself sitting on the floor against the bed, elbows resting on bent knees, and head leaning forward. The note didn’t exactly come as a surprise. What is a surprise, though, is the pain lacing my heart at the words.
Goodbye.
They are right too. I could never put anyone above the Famiglia. Braxton and the men are the closest thing I haveto family, and even though I am just Braxton’s adviser, or consigliere, I can’t walk away.
Forgoing the shower, I head out to the kitchen after pulling on a pair of gray sweatpants. The smell of freshly brewed coffee instantly assaults my nose. Pictures of Kai standing in front of the coffee maker, leaning a hip against the counter, and grinning over at me start flooding back. I stumble at the memory of blue eyes twinkling in the late morning sun, mischief dancing in them as they rake down my naked chest.
I make my way over to the liquor cabinet, grabbing the first bottle my fingers wrap around and slide down the wall just as more memories of us in this kitchen start invading. And for the first time wish I had enough courage to walk away from the Famiglia, but even if I did there is no guarantee I’ll be walking away with my life.
Because this relationship… this relationship will never be accepted by them.
Four months ago
Antonio
I NEED YOU.
Three words. Three words that have the power to unravel my entire fucking day. Three words that should not have the effect they do on me. Three words that have my pants suddenly feeling too tight. And three fucking words that I look forward to hearing. Every. Fucking. Day.
Me: Can’t. Working.
I knew my response would do nothing to deter her. Once she’s made a decision on what she wants she never stops until she gets it.
No. Now.
A grin pulls at my lips seconds before my brain realizes what’s happening and then it falls. I can’t afford to be distracted right now. No matter how tempting it is to stand up in the middle of this meeting and walk out to go hunt her down. To take what I need. To give her what she needs. But doing that would be putting the lives of the Famiglia in jeopardy. There are rumors that a new organization has plans to take over our dr
ugs. It is just that right now. Rumors. But things can change in the blink of an eye in our business and The Boss always likes to be prepared. So here we sit, in his home office, talking strategy about what will go down if the rumors turn out to be true. We all know one thing; whatever organization it is has a death wish. The De Luca family is the number one crime family on the east coast. They run everything from drugs to weapons. Nobody would dare try to step on our toes unless they want to die.
20 mins. Same place.
Damn, this girl doesn’t know when to quit.
“Antonio, I need you to put word out to your contacts to keep an ear open. Do it before you take that vacation.”
Sliding the phone back inside my pant pocket, I nod at Braxton and settle back in the leather seat crossing an ankle over the opposite knee, ready for this meeting to be over.
***
Close to forty minutes later I’m standing outside the penthouse suite of a very expensive hotel downtown. I haven’t gotten the key card out yet before the door flies open, a hand reaching out and pulling me inside by my silk tie.
“You’re late,” she breathes against my neck, tangling her small fingers in the hair at my nape, and pressing her soft body up against me.
“I told you…” I nip at her earlobe, my hands skimming down her back to cup her ass. “I was working.” I groan when I don’t feel the telltale sign of a thong under her skirt.
I feel her lips tip up in a smile against my skin. “I don’t have a lot of time. Thought the less you have to remove the better.”
Bunching her skirt around her waist, my hands are back to cupping her ass. One finger dipping lower, running up and down her slit. My dick grows harder behind my zipper when I realize just how wet she already is.
Her head tips back on a moan exposing more of her neck for me to lick up, dark hair cascading in soft waves down her back.
“What do you want, Angel?”
“You,” she breathes, her fingers fighting to undo the belt at my waist and pushing my pants down to free my cock. “Hard and fast. On this table.”
Her legs instinctively wrap around my waist when I lift her and place her on the glass table in the middle of the entryway of the swanky hotel suite.
“Lean back on your elbows.” I run the tip of my already leaking cock up and down her slit, circling it around her clit a couple times before running it back down her slit.
Gripping her hip in one hand, the base of my cock in the other, I slide into her wet heat. My eyes roll back, and I have to remind myself to breathe before I lose it much too soon. I feel the weight from the day lift from my shoulders and block out everything on my growing to-do list. The only thing I allow myself to concentrate on is the woman laying fully clothed beneath me. Her skirt bunched up around her waist, her dark hair fanned out on the glass table around her, jade-green eyes hooded as she looks up at me.
“Antonio,” she moans when I lift her hip slightly and angle it just the right way to allow me to hit that sweet spot. I can’t hold back my own release anymore when her pussy clenches around me like a vise and her own orgasm washes over her. I pull her hips up at the same time as I thrust in one long, hard push, pouring into her.
Our breaths are heavy when I slowly drop her hips back down to the table. I lick up her neck, inhaling the scent of butterscotch and sex on her skin, but when I go to brush my lips over hers, she moves her head giving me her cheek instead.
“I need to go. I told my father I’d be at the meeting with the city this afternoon.”
Trying not to read anything into it and look like a little bitch, I nod and pull out of her slowly. After cleaning myself up in the bathroom and re-fastening my pants, I head back out to the entryway with a warm washcloth for her, but she’s already bent at the waist, one hand braced on the table we just fucked on while the other slips her heel back on her foot. When she straightens back up, she looks no worse for wear. Her hair is perfectly styled down her back; her skirt is back in place. The woman standing in front of me, with my cum still inside her, looks nothing like the woman who was on her back screaming my name minutes ago.
“I’ll text you,” she says over her shoulder as she reaches for the hotel room door and disappears, leaving me standing alone. Again.
Pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger, I feel a massive fucking headache coming on. What the hell is this woman doing to me and just when the hell did our midday romps stop being satisfying?
They were never satisfying; a tiny voice says. Usually I can tamp it down and shove it back into the dark corners of my mind. Hell, I’ve been doing it for twenty years, but lately it’s refusing to stay silent. Growing louder and louder with each passing day, only getting worse after I had booked this damn vacation at Braxton’s insistence.
He cornered me and told me I had been working nonstop for too long without a break – almost ten years to be exact. Thirteen if we’re counting from when I was last on vacation. He threatened my job at Luca Enterprises and my role with the Famiglia if I didn’t agree to take at least two weeks off. I half wanted to tell him to go ahead, I was tired anyway and this lifestyle wasn’t really for me, but Braxton is like my brother and I just couldn’t turn my back on him like that. So, reluctantly, I agreed.
Two weeks of nothing but myself to keep me company. What the fuck was I going to do?
Antonio
“WORD ON THE street is that Savage Souls want in on the drugs,” I state, dropping into a seat in front of Braxton’s desk and picking out a cigar from the open box he offers to me.
“Then we need to send a clearer message to those assholes.”
“Think we can talk to Adrienne and see what she knows? She’s fucking the VP, isn’t she?”
Braxton pinches the bridge of his nose. “Klara wants me to pull her out of there, but Adrienne is just as, if not more, stubborn than Klara. That woman isn’t going to do anything she doesn’t want to and right now she thinks she’s keeping Klara safe by staying with Ward.”
“If he harms her I’ll kill him,” I grind out.
“Get in line, brother.”
We all met Adrienne when Braxton couldn’t walk away from Klara and decided to claim her for himself. Adrienne and Klara had been friends for years and both felt betrayed when the man they thought was their best friend had a hand in Klara’s kidnapping and rape. We took Adrienne in and claimed her as part of the Famiglia. She’s family now and always will be as far as we’re all concerned.
“I’ll get Alessandro and Stefan to head down and have a word with the Pres. This shit needs to end.”
I nod and go to stand, but pause before reaching for the door. “You sure you don’t need me to stick around?”
Braxton chuckles stubbing out his own cigar. “Nah, we got it covered. Go enjoy Belize.”
“Oh. I intend to,” I say with a smirk and head out ready for two weeks of laying out in a hammock, beach, drinks, and endless women to keep me company.
Only Belize had other ideas. Ideas that I’d long since buried.
***
The Maya Island Airplane touches down at Caye Caulker airport at two in the afternoon on the first Saturday in May. It’s hot as balls and as soon as I step through the doors of the small airport, I immediately want to strip down to my boxer briefs, but I don’t. Despite how much the smile one of the female passengers sends my way tells me she wants me to as well.
Minutes later and with sweat I’m sure is pooling in my dress shoes, my chauffeur pulls the golf cart – a freaking golf cart! – up to the Airbnb I rented for the duration of my stay.
Cabin on the beach is the first thought that comes to mind when I look up at the wooden structure sitting on stilts. The stairs leading up to the front porch are painted the same shade of green as the two apartments on either side of what will be my home for the next couple of weeks. The place itself is painted an alluring turquoise color – I assume to match the color of the sea just steps away. The boards of the porch are painted the same tu
rquoise color, with the railings in an awful orange. They were not kidding when they said Caye Caulker was a colorful place.
Bracing myself for what I might find on the inside, I heave my backpack higher on my shoulder and take the steps to the porch and front door.
I honestly don’t know what to expect the inside to look like – maybe just as colorful, if not more so, than the outside, and the walls are definitely painted some bright colors, but what I’m met with is what one would expect in a typical beach house. Tiled floors throughout, open floor plan, and minimal furnishings in the living room and bedrooms. There are a lot of windows and I’m grateful that they all open. The breeze currently blowing through the place feels like heaven against my clammy skin. A two-seater dining table sits against the far wall, and that’s when I notice the place doesn’t have a TV. Not that I’ve flown halfway across the world to sit on my ass for two weeks and watch TV, but having grown up in houses where there were at least two televisions – if not more – and even having one in every vacation rental, it is a little old, albeit refreshing, that there isn’t one in here.
After unpacking and putting away my clothes and personal belongings, I decide to hit the shower before then explore more of the laid-back island. The cooler water against my heated skin makes me sigh in relief. It was always ingrained in me that whenever I travel – doesn’t matter where – a suit is expected to be worn. Needless to say, I’m regretting that decision as the cool water washes away the sweat and grime from being stuck in a plane for however many hours. I lost count and decided to just sleep for most of the flight to Belize City. However, the flight from Belize City to Caye Caulker was a measly seventeen minutes. Just long enough for us to take off before we were preparing to land again.
Dark Illusion (Famiglia Book 3) Page 1
