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My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess
My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess
ผู้แต่ง: Kristi Christensen

Chapter 1

ผู้เขียน: Kristi Christensen
last update ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2024-08-11 03:30:09

Kat POV

I pressed my ear to the door of the suite on the third floor of the Palazzo Hotel, hearing the steady breathing of the occupant inside. He must be fast asleep - just how I wanted him.

“This should be easy,” I whispered to myself as I pulled the lock picks from where I had hidden them in my hair.

The hotel had been deserted as I had made my way through the foyer and hallways, as it should be at 3am. Only a sleepy looking desk clerk had possibly seen me, but I think the man was too busy scrolling through reels on his phone to even realise that I had snuck in.

Not exactly the kind of service you would expect to find at a five star hotel, but I was glad for it. 

Within a few seconds, I had the door unlocked. With a slightly proud smile, I slipped off my shoes and pushed the door  quietly open before I snuck inside. The room was lavishly decorated and my bare feet sunk into the thick carpet. Exquisite paintings hung on almost every wall and I had to stop myself from pulling one off the wall and cutting it from its frame. 

One of those would earn me a bonus for sure, but I had to find the necklace first. 

I moved slowly and quietly, grateful for the dim moonlight streaming in through the open windows and my ability to see well in the darkness. 

“If I had a diamond necklace, where would I put it?” I mouthed, not daring to whisper in case I woke up the sleeping Castello man. 

The man in question snored loudly and rolled over, facing the bedside table - and the large, velvet box which sat there. 

“It had to be next to his bed, didn’t it?” I thought to myself as I padded closer. 

My eyes fell on the Castello, his sleeping face making him seem peaceful - well, almost peaceful. The scar which ran across his eye belied the peacefulness of his expression, making him seem like a Viking from the olden days. I could imagine him leading a group of fellow Vikings on a raid, the wind blowing in his dark hair which was slightly longer than the length I usually liked, but it suited him more than short hair would have. 

My eyes trailed down his muscular torso, barely covered by the duvet and I bit my lower lip. “A sexy Viking at that,” I thought. 

It was a damned shame that the Castellos were the enemy. They had been at war with the Milano family for years, and I guess that meant he was supposed to be my rival too. It should be a crime to lust after a man who would probably smile as he slit your throat - but there I was, imagining what it would be like to feel his naked body against mine. 

I may have still been a virgin, but I knew enough about the birds and the bees from Giulia. She was extremely open about her work as a prostitute. I just had no desire to launch myself at the Milano men who hung around the house, but that didn’t stop me from imagining what sort of man I would like to be with. And the Viking was damned close.

I tore my eyes from the sexy Viking and edged closer to the velvet box. I picked it up and opened it carefully, my eyes watching the man’s face for any signs that my close presence had awoken him, but he was still fast asleep. 

I almost dropped the box when I looked down at the contents, the diamond necklace shining brightly even in the dim light. The necklace seemed familiar somehow with its zig-zag rows of diamonds encompassing the entire piece of jewellery, but I guess it wasn’t so unusual to arrange jewels in that manner. I’m sure I had walked past dozens of jewellery stores and seen that same kind of necklace in the displays. 

I lifted the necklace from the box, feeling its weight in my hand as I tried to figure out where the heck to put the piece. I had initially planned to string it around my neck beside my own necklace, but there was no way I could walk back to Mother’s house wearing that thing. I would be robbed of it the second I walked through the Palazzo’s front doors. 

Without a second thought, I pulled the necklace from the box, closed the velvet covered casing and set it back down in the exact location I had found it. I was about to tuck the necklace into my bra - the only option of a hiding place that I had in the tight dress - when I felt something snake around my waist. 

My eyes widened with panic as I stared down at the Castello man, his green eyes watching me closely. Before I could blink, he flung me onto the bed beside him, my face inches away from mine. 

“Mine,” he said in a voice that I can only describe as a growl, before he kissed me.  

A strange warmth flooded me, and I found myself pressing into his kiss as his hands cupped my face. I closed my eyes as his tongue swept inside my mouth, igniting a passion inside of me I had never experienced before. 

His hand ran down my body and I shivered at the contact, a soft groan tearing from my lips. 

The sound was strange to my own ears, and it took me a few seconds to realise that it had come from me. That realisation was like a bucket of ice cold water poured on the flame of passion I was experiencing. 

Panic surged through me and I pulled away frantically, rolling off the bed on the opposite side of the man. The necklace dangled from my fist, glinting in the moonlight and I could see the moment he noticed it. The passionate haze in his eyes turned ice cold and he lashed out, grabbing the other end of the necklace. He tugged hard on it, but I resisted, pulling in the opposite direction.

There was an audible snap as the necklace broke in two. The look of horror on the man’s face was unmistakable, but I didn’t wait around to see his reaction. I ran as fast as I could, escaping through the door as fast as I could. The roar of anger behind me told me that the man was following me, so I darted down the hallway toward the door which had a picture of stairs on it, choosing the stairs over having to wait for the elevator and risk getting caught by the Castello. 

I heard the ping of the elevator opening and knew that he was planning to catch me in the foyer - something I could definitely not afford to have happen. It spurred me on, bursting out of the stairwell as fast as I could before I dashed through the foyer. I heard the desk clerk shout out in surprise seconds before I heard the elevator open. But it was too late, and I shot through the front door and darted into the darkness of the night. 

I didn’t stop running until Mother’s house came into sight, my heart hammering loudly against my ribcage. Leaning against a nearby tree, I bent down to catch my breath and saw the strand of diamonds still in my fist. 

“Darnit! Mother will be pissed if she sees that I destroyed her cousin’s necklace,” I swore to myself. 

I looked down and noticed my bare feet and groaned. In my haste to run away, I had left my shoes behind.

The entire assignment had been a failure. And what was worse was the knowledge that I now had a Castello after me. 

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ความคิดเห็น (3)
goodnovel comment avatar
Darcymcgrath
Wow, that's impressive Are you open for suggestions?
goodnovel comment avatar
Sherri Schweigl
Great book so far. I love that we get to read about Enzo and Kat now.
goodnovel comment avatar
Sherri Schweigl
I believe we just found the king’s niece, Enzo’s love.
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  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 2

    Enzo POVFour months. It had taken four months to track down the necklace and now it was gone. Well, half of it. I stared down at the box which held the broken strand of diamonds, and let the growl rip from my throat. “Fuck!” “It’s not a complete loss,” I heard Elijah say as he propped his feet up on the decorative coffee table.“Fuck you and your ‘glass half full’ philosophy,” I grunted, stalking to the brandy decanter and pouring myself a generous amount. Eli laughed and stood up casually, straightening his pants back over his prosthetic leg before he swooped in and stole my brandy. I grunted, but didn’t fight him for it, pouring myself another glass instead. Eli - my sister-in-law’s twin brother - was probably the only person in the world who had truly understood me when I had returned from my failed mission to rescue the werewolf princess. My wounds had been deep, cutting through my flesh as well as my heart. He knew what it was like, having experienced being a captive of a g

    ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2024-08-11
  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 3

    Kat POVI was drowning. The water flooded my lungs as I tried to scream, my clothing dragging me down into the dark depths as shadows hovered above the water. Bright lights flashed across my vision like fireworks as my lungs burned, and then it all went black.“Wake up, Kat, it’s just a nightmare.” I felt a hand press against my mouth and my arms flew out to ward off my attacker. “Stop screaming before you wake up the others!”Giulia’s face was barely visible in the dark room, her warm brown eyes filled with sisterly concern.I nodded my head and she removed her hand, brushing my hair from my face just like a real big sister would do. “Was it the same nightmare again?” she whispered, careful not to wake up the four children who slept on mattresses on the floor.“Yeah,” I whispered back, shivering as the cool night air cut through my pyjamas which were drenched with my own sweat. Giulia tugged the thin blanket up under my chin, looking after me just as she had done ever since that fi

    ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2024-08-11
  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 4

    Kat POVI collapsed into bed beside Giulia, utterly exhausted from the day of picking pockets in one of my favourite tourist spots. “What a day,” I groaned, knowing that I needed to go and bathe but I just didn’t have the energy to do so.Giulia nodded sadly, waves of depression seeming to waft from her general direction. “What’s wrong?” I asked, sitting up abruptly to look my friend directly in her eyes. She sniffed and seemed downright pathetic as she said softly, “I can’t see Fabio for the next few weeks. His boss has just come into town and he’s in one hell of a mood.”Enzo Castello, Boss of the Castello family, and the Dark Prince. Even his name sounded as vicious as his reputation. “He took over from his older brother as the Boss a few years ago,” Giulia whispered to me as we lay in our shared bed, “but no one really knows the reason why his brother gave up the position. Fabio did say that it happened shortly after Enzo went missing for a period of time and came back horribly

    ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2024-08-11
  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 5

    Kat POV “It’s just down this alley,” Giulia gleamed as she took my hand, guiding me toward the costume shop she knew. Giulia had taken it upon herself to help me find the perfect dress for the fundraiser, and while I was grateful for her help, my sense of style was less dramatic than her own. I guess I was just overly used to wearing neutral colours, whereas Giulia always picked out the bold colours which looked amazing against her dark skin. “Are you sure we are going to find a dress classy enough for me to wear to the fundraiser?” I asked her, unable to keep the doubt from my voice as the costume shop came into view, a few gaudy dresses in the display window. Giulia smiled brightly and tugged me closer as I became more and more certain that I would likely walk out of the shop with a clown costume. “The owner is a friend of mine,” she said, emphasising the ‘friend’ part so that it left no doubt that the man was a client of hers. “I told him about you needing to find a dress an

    ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2024-08-26
  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 6

    Enzo POV“I really hate these fundraiser events,” I muttered to Eli as he passed me a drink which I accepted gratefully. Eli chuckled and joined me, pressing his back to the wall which I leaned against. “Would you rather have had your mother attend instead? Valenti would have loved to have attended.” I cringed at the thought. “My mother would have spent my entire budget within the first two minutes walking through the door. You know how gentle her heart is. The images of the children would have been all the motivation needed.”My mother was, in complete contrast to me, an utter angel. “Well, we’re here so we may as well have some fun,” Eli drawled. “I feel like screwing with some of these prissy bitches.” I chuckled as I watched him stride casually to a woman whose mask barely covered the look of disdain at being approached by someone who she felt was below her social standing. “Good luck,” I whispered into my glass as I took another sip of the alcohol. My eyes scanned the rest

    ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2024-08-28
  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 7

    Kat POVI could still feel his lips on mine as I undressed and laid the dress carefully over a chair in the corner of the bedroom. Careful not to wake the sleeping children, I crept to the bed and slid beneath the sheets. “Did you have a successful evening?” Giulia whispered to me in the darkness. I contemplated telling her about the Castello, but decided not to. As much as I trusted her, I didn’t really want her to tell Fabio. Chances were that her boyfriend would freak out and make a bigger deal out of it than what it was worth. “Yeah, I think I have got enough to make Mother happy,” I responded, my mind returning to the necklace which was still hidden in my boot. I lay awake for at least an hour, my mind wandering down dangerous paths until I finally fell asleep. I woke up much later than I usually did and had made up my mind. I was going to take the piece of necklace back to Castello. Only, when I fetched my boots from the cupboard and plunged my hand into the one I had hidd

    ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2024-08-29
  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 8

    Kat POV“What do you mean, it's gone?” Castello growled at me, his voice low and oozing danger while his face was filled with rage. I stepped backward, bumping into the back of a fancy settee in my efforts to get away from him. “I don't know! It was hidden when I left for the fundraiser, but this morning it was gone. And so was all the money I was going to use to buy my freedom,” I whispered, preparing for the worst possible reaction. A deep growl came from Castello’s direction and I felt cold fear wash over me. No man should be able to make that sound, and yet he almost certainly did. It reminded me of the stories about him - the Dark Prince who prowls around at night, more beast than man. And for the first time since I had heard those stories, did I think that there might be some truth behind them. “Are we just going to pretend that she doesn’t look like her?” Eli piped up as he returned with a bottle of water. “It doesn’t matter who she looks like. She isn’t her. She is human

    ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2024-08-30
  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 9

    Kat POVI sat outside the address Castello had given me for hours after the sun had set, waiting for the man and his wife to finally go to bed so that I could break into the house. “Come on,” I groaned, looking at the watch on my wrist. “It’s almost midnight! So much for old people going to bed early.”I twisted my necklace around my finger, playing with the pendant - a nervous habit that I had picked up at some point in my life, I just couldn’t pinpoint when it would have been. Maybe from a time beyond what my memory allowed me access to. I had tried time and time again to remember something from before Giulia found me on the streets in Rome, a gash on the back of my head, blood matting my hair and staining my nightgown. Before that was a blank slate apart from a faint memory of a boy with white hair and eyes of a pale blue calling me as I laughed and ran away through the trees. “It’s not funny, Kat! You’re going to get us both in trouble,” he had shouted in my direction. That was

    ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2024-09-01

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  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 103

    Kat POVI felt the icy fingers of fear wrap around my heart as Damian let out a deep growl, his eyes glued on me. He was going to kill me, of that I was sure, and my beloved Enzo was going to watch it all. “I guess you get to choose how you die,” Anka giggled, tapping her dagger on her chin. “My blade, or your lover’s hands.” Anka swung her blade out at me, catching me off guard and the sharp steel sank into my forearm. I let out a hiss in pain as I jumped backwards, my hip crashing into the cement balustrade of the balcony. “Kat!” I heard Enzo call out followed by a strange metallic sound. Damian launched himself forward, anger in his eyes as his heavy footsteps thudded on the stone flooring as he began to run at me. I gripped the banister, my body frozen in fear and dread. This was it. This was how I was going to meet my death. It was as if it all happened in slow motion as Damian’s body shifted ever so slightly as he ran, and I saw something flash in his eyes - almost as if he

  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 102

    Otis POV“Was it really necessary to lock ourselves in this room?” Henry grumbled from across the colossal dining table in the palace dining hall. “We could have stayed in our rooms, or left Slovenia entirely.”Gunter let out a deep sigh, “would you have liked Katerina’s rebels to twist the narrative to make it seem as if we were letting her take the throne? No. We stay put until Anka kills the little bitch, and then we announce the victory with pride.”Devon nodded enthusiastically before adding, “besides, it is best that we are together while the killing of Katerina takes place. No one would be able to say that we intervened in any way, even though Damian is there to make sure that the job is done. That was a clever idea, Otis. Well done old man.”A smile tugged on the corner of my mouth but I bit my cheek to stop it from escaping. I would be lying if I were not proud of my plan. Having one of Katerina’s mates be the instrument of her death while the other was forced to watch? That w

  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 101

    Kat POV“Damian.”I breathed his name, my voice failing me as I watched him confidently stand beside Anka, her personal bodyguard.“What the hell did they do to you?” Enzo shouted his way, but Damian didn’t even respond in the slightest… not even a twitch of a muscle or a blink.Vasilios gripped the bars beside my head even tighter, his fists turning white as his voice dropped to a mere whisper. “That is Damian, right? It isn’t Darius?”Jurgen nodded… well, I think he nodded because the next words out of Vasilios’s mouth were, “what the fuck did they do to him? He doesn’t even look like he recognises us!”I had honestly wondered why I hadn’t seen Damian on the battlefield, and a part of me had hoped that he had escaped – oh, how wrong I had been.“Ah, I see you haven’t forgotten my darling pet over here,” Anka purred, stroking Damian’s cheek lovingly. “When the council asked me to choose who I wanted to serve me, I could think of no one better than the King of the Rogues. Ha! King!”S

  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 100

    Enzo POV“It has to be a trap,” I grumbled as I stomped up the hill toward the castle with Kat by my side, her hand in mine. “Are you certain that you need to do this? None of us will blame you if you cancel and tell Anka that the fight should be on neutral ground.” She sighed and leaned against me as we walked, lifting our joined hands to kiss mine. “If I try to back out now, she will twist the situation and make it seem as if I have bowed down to her. Anka is a master manipulator, and I can’t take that chance.” I didn’t like it, not one bit. But Kat was determined to end this fight for the crown today, and nothing I could say or do would change her mind. She didn’t even let the rest of her guards follow us up to the castle - only Vasilios and myself had been allowed to accompany her, with Jurgen trailing behind like a beaten puppy. He was just mopey because his mate still hadn’t been returned to his side after being taken for medical treatment. She and the rest of the council’s

  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 99

    Kat POVAnka stood just on the edge of the parking lot, two of her bear bodyguards beside her with guns and a mean glint in their eyes. Okay, I might have been too far away to see their eyes, but I’m pretty sure that they looked as mean up close as they did from my distance away. “Oh, Katerina,” Anka laughed bitterly, “I wouldn’t have thought you would be so stupid to have come back to Slovenia, but I guess you couldn’t tell that you aren’t welcome. If you had a death wish, you should have just said so. I’m sure my men would be happy to oblige you.” Anka laughed at her own joke and the bears chimed in, causing the hair at the back of my neck to stand up. Aurora growled lowly and the men kneeling before me slowly stood up, creating a shield with their bodies against any attack. “Why should I be afraid of her?” I asked myself, shaking my head. I nudged Vasilios aside and stepped in front of him as Enzo tried to pull me back, but I shrugged off his hand and he came to stand beside m

  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 98

    Kat POVI had heard so much about the way adrenaline pumped through the body when you’re in battle that it’s like someone else takes over - and I guess they were right - but no one had ever told me the effects of coming down off of that adrenaline high. One look at the dead bodies strewn across the parking lot had my stomach churning, and I realised that I had actually killed someone. The nausea clawed its way up my throat, and I couldn’t hold back any longer, emptying whatever was in my stomach in a manner which certainly didn’t suit a princess. “Are you alright, Kat?” I heard my brother-in-law ask, concern evident in his voice. I nodded to Luca as I wiped my mouth on my sleeve, fighting the dry heaves which I knew were far from gone. “Of course she is alright, Castello,” Jurgen replied, his chest puffed out as if he had something to do with my composure. “She is Princess Katerina, the only royal woman to ever have joined in a battle.” I blinked hard as my voice found its own fr

  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 97

    Jurgen POVI had expected a tough battle - I think we all had - but some part of me had envisioned it happening on the hills of the Slovenian countryside and not in the parking lot of Enzo’s nightclub. The rogues rushed at us in waves, hoping to overpower us by their sheer numbers, but they were untrained and their fighting was sloppy. Perhaps that was why the Council decided to send in their brainwashed drones.The first soldier who attacked me took me by surprise, his strength and technique so vastly different to that of the rogues. I barely managed to drop him when another launched at me, and then another. I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears as I was confronted by three of the Council’s soldiers, and for a brief moment I doubted my abilities. “You are a blessed wolf, Jurgen,” I gave myself my go-to pep talk. “You were touched by the light of the moon, and you can get through this.” I guess it helped as my hands were soon coated with the blood of one of my attackers, the ot

  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 96

    Enzo POVIt happened so quickly that it was almost as if it had been practiced, like some choreographed scene in one of those cheesy action movies Luca loved. The whole room seemed to shake as the back wall of my club crumbled, and rogues covered in dust and building debris stormed in. I barely saw Jurgen and Vasilios exchange a glance, their unspoken commands to each other once again reminding me of why they were such a great team in battle. If it hadn’t been for the pair of them and their cohesive strength, I would probably have died back when I was being held prisoner by that band of sadistic humans. The sound of Vasilios’s battle cry yanked me from my memories, and I watched as he charged toward the sea of rogues, my brother close behind. “We have to get Kat to safety,” Jurgen shouted above the chaos, grabbing her around the shoulders and steering her back to the front door of the club. “If we can get her into the parking lot, we can hide her away in one of the cars.”Kat opene

  • My Mafia Mystery: The Barefoot Princess   Chapter 95

    Kat POVUnder the cover of darkness, Vasilios’s plane taxied down the short runway and came to a complete stop before the occupants moved an inch. I could see Vasilios’s phone light up as he dialed his mate, the phone ringing only once before I heard Cassie’s concerned voice on the other side of the call. “Are you safe? They haven’t laid any traps, have they? You’re all still alive?”Even in the darkness I could almost see Vasilios roll his eyes in response, and yet he still managed to hide any frustration with his wife as he reassured her that we had arrived back in Slovenia safely. “I still don’t understand why Elle and I have to sit this fight out,” Cassie huffed, and Luca’s head snapped in the phone’s direction at the mention of his mate. Vasilios let out a long sigh, as if he had been waiting for her to say something along those lines. “Love of my life, you need to look after our son. This is going to be a war, and I will not have you in the line of fire - just as Luca would r

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