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Taken by the Mafia King First Steps
TommasoI stroked a few strands of sweaty hair out of Paige’s face and kissed her forehead.“Don’t tell me it’s time yet.” She wrapped her arm around my waist.I glanced at my watch. “I wish I could.”She groaned and nuzzled into my naked chest. “One last kiss?”I could never refuse her. I tilted her chin up and caught her dark eyes. Despite the humor she was trying to bring to the moment, a gulf of fear lay in her gaze like I’d never seen before any other mission. I dropped a kiss on her lips and tried not to let that shake me. She was scared because I was facing Zahur, one of the bastards who’d hurt her the worst. Now that we were already inside Egyptian borders, this really wasn’t any more dangerous than any other raid. So despite her clinging fingers, I pulled away from her and began dressing.“I love you.” She reached for the buttons on my shirt.I let her fasten them as I adjusted my pants. “I love you, too.”The first step I took away from her, still naked on the strange bed in
Taken by the Mafia King Tick, Tick, Tick
PaigeThe sun sat well below the horizon by the time I mustered myself enough to get up and rejoin my guards in the common area. Something heavy had taken up residence on my ribs, making every breath just a little shallower than I needed, and I couldn’t get it to go away.“Hey.” Sam leaned away from the table my security team was gathered around, revealing the pile of weapons and technology on top. “You want to play some more cards?”That couldn’t possibly be worse than sitting in the dark alone. I nodded and walked over to the low table that still held the remains of our poker game. Rico, Sam, and Eddie joined me. Thankfully, I’d already hustled Eddie. I didn’t have that in me now. Harry remained at the supply table, bent over a laptop that I didn’t want to ask about.Sam shuffled the cards. I checked the time on my phone: 9:02. Prayer call would be soon. Sam dealt the cards, two apiece.“Ante two,” he said. “And no dinosaur arms.”I tossed in two candied nuts and looked at my cards.
Taken by the Mafia King Marching Orders
TommasoThe rented house displayed none of the chaos it had shown when I arrived this morning. The dozen cars sat in neat lines of six, all off and shut. Light blared from every window of the house, but even as I walked up to the front door, I couldn’t hear a peep. My stomach flipped. Had the spot been found?I opened the door to see hundreds of men creeping from room to room, all armed to the teeth. My split-second of panic vanished. We’d planned this perfectly. Now, we just had to execute. I stepped inside and grabbed the nearest guy, one of Killian’s.“Where is everyone gearing up?”“Up there, second and third doors.” He jerked his chin at the stairs. “Killian said we had to because if we couldn’t walk down the stairs quietly, he’d send us to sit on the plane rather than letting us blow everything.”That sounded like Killian. I patted the guy on the shoulder and headed upstairs. There was a little more activity here, men streaming into and out of the two indicated doors. I ducked i
Taken by the Mafia King Goosebumps
TommasoI gripped the wheel tightly as we pulled out into the night. Killian sat in the front next to me, and men I didn’t recognize with their masks already on filled the back.“I see Paige decided to stay home,” Killian said. “She’s a smart girl.”Smart. Beautiful. Stronger than even Killian would ever know. That memory of her I had on the ride to the house, at her lowest but still finding the guts, the power, to glare at what she presumed was her new owner, returned to me. My worries melted away, and pure, concentrated rage filled my veins. Paige was so strong she inspired me, but she shouldn’t have fucking had to be. I couldn’t fix that, but I could keep one of the bastards who tested her resolve from ever doing it again.“Tommaso?” Killian said. “Did you hear me?”I grunted noncommittally. The time for conversation, for jokes, seemed over. I focused everything I had on picturing Zahur, his guts spread on his perfect marble floor before him. Maybe I’d take the time to cut him in t
Taken by the Mafia King We Had a Deal!
Stan“They are approaching,” Mostafa said from his position on a hill. “From down the street. Like a ship in the night.”I tried to lean out far enough to get eyes on them, but the little Egyptian hissed.“No! They will see you.”We needed the advantage of the ambush. Even with all the men we had, Mostafa said Khaled might’ve leant some additional security. We had no idea what we were really looking at.I put a finger to my ear to trigger the communication device Tommaso had suggested for myself and the two other platoon leaders for this big group. We were each supposed to target one door, just as soon as Zahur’s folks closed up.“Alrighty, that’s the signal,” I said. “Start moving. And don’t forget—you open any doors without me looking at you, you go in a mass grave with the rest of them.”It was the best plan I’d come up with for making sure the attack was successful. I knew we needed the extra bodies, but shit, I did not trust most of these hired guns. The two other leaders radioed
Taken by the Mafia King On the Hunt
TommasoWe waited for another five minutes. Nothing came through on my phone. Nothing moved at the house. The goosebumps wouldn’t completely leave, but I shoved them out of my mind. Probably just nerves. Maybe Zahur had the bulk of his men inside. I silenced my phone and gestured everyone over. The grappling hooks swung again. I glanced at Teddy. He nodded and lifted a packet of explosives. He and two other guys would stay on this side, waiting for the final signal to blow the wall. The first three mercs made it over. Then, another wave.Takka-takka-tak.Carp swore as automatic gunfire split the night, and floodlights flicked on. I launched myself at the ropes to get over. We had to move before Zahur’s guys wised up and unhooked our only way over. We could always blow the wall early, but I didn’t want the cops here any sooner than necessary.On the other side of the wall, it was already chaos. The “handful of men” Killian had seen suddenly tripled in number, raining bullets down from
Taken by the Mafia King Tightrope
CoraI sat bolt upright in my crappy cot as soon as I heard the first shot. They taught me a lot of bullshit in the Academy, shit I never ended up using in the real world, but the one thing they gave me was a damn near perfect sense of when a fight had broken out. I jumped out of bed, my body aching from my last night with Zahur, and padded to the door to listen.More gunfire. Mostly automatic. A lot of yelling. Nearly all Arabic. Another fucking thing they didn’t teach me before putting me undercover that would’ve come in fucking handy.One of the other women, a college kid named Allie, crept up to me. “Do you think they’re here to save us?”I looked down at her and tried not to grimace. Her face was all black and blue from a run-in with one of the guards the other day, but she hadn’t even spent time with the fucker holding us all here yet. She’d only got taken a week or two ago. I didn’t want to crush her fucking dreams. But I’d been here for a month and a half, taken for almost a y
Taken by the Mafia King Missing in Action
TommasoFuck. Fuck. Fuck. I stared down at Zahur’s cackling guard as goosebumps raced across my body. Fucking Mostafa. That two-faced piece of shit had to have ratted on me. He fed Stan, fed all of us, bullshit. And I had fallen right into his goddamn trap. Zahur wasn’t here; Zahur was never going to be here. I had to pretend for everybody else’s sake that I wasn’t the cocky jackass I’d been accusing Zahur of being all along.I shot the guard on the ground just to watch his brains splatter. “Spread out. See if he’s right.”I turned and raced down a hallway I was mostly sure I hadn’t seen before. The fighting, the gunfire melted to the back of my brain. If he wasn’t here, where the fuck was he? We’d told Mostafa about the house we rented for staging, but the piece of shit didn’t know about the hotel. I’d been very clear not to tell him that. Right?Bullets thudded into the wall next to me. I swerved into the nearest room. The pain in my shoulder seemed to be growing, blurring my vision
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Taken by the Mafia King Epilogue
PaigeI stood in the vestibule outside of the chapel, clutching my flowers, my heart hammering in my chest. Organ music belted through the doors, and I was just waiting for my cue.We all were. My two bridesmaids, in simple maroon dresses, stood ahead of me. Like she could feel my eyes, Lauren turned back and winked. I smiled. The dress looked spectacular on her, and I’d promised up and down that Tom would invite enough handsome men for her to go home with a date. This, of course, had been complicated by Tom choosing Killian and Stan as his two groomsmen. While I liked the older man, and he kept Lauren laughing, I didn’t exactly see the two of them as a couple.Mom stepped up next to me with a smile. Her mother-of-the-bride dress, a deep burgundy gown with gold accents, caught the light and sent it dancing. “Are you excited?”I inhaled sharply. “I kind of can’t stop thinking about the seating chart for the reception. Who have I become?”She laughed. “Your father.”Tears beaded in my e
Taken by the Mafia King Old Time's Sake
KillianI sat behind my desk and looked out over my men. Tommaso took his usual seat. Adrian hovered in the corner like he wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself yet, just like he had at the beginning. Patrick was still laughing about spilling his wine. Just like old times. I stood and started pouring everyone drinks.“So,” I said, “do you have an update on the warehouses, Adrian?”He started toward my desk, then paused. An odd moment passed. It wasn’t really my desk anymore. I’d left the hunk of wood behind because I had no need for it on the island, and he’d loaded it down with computers in my absence. Despite that, I’d never seen anyone sit behind it but my father besides me.I offered Adrian a drink. “Sit.”He nodded. “Didn’t want to step on your toes. The situation is pretty simple, all told, but I can tell there’s a certain amount of grace I’m supposed to be handling this foreman with, and I don’t—”Tommaso joined me at the bar to pour. “Do you remember that foreman in the so
Taken by the Mafia King Big News
PaigeI tucked my arm through Tom’s and straightened my long, floral romper. He kissed me on the cheek, then knocked on the door. Joyce swung it open.“Hello!” She welcomed us both in with hugs. “Mr. and Mrs. Ricci are in the drawing room. Please, come in.”We let ourselves be bustled through the door, the wine we’d brought carried off to the kitchen, and our coats taken to some closet somewhere in the mansion. Adrian used it as a base of operations when Killian and Sera weren’t home, so I’d been here a few times since the wedding, but I’d never felt comfortable here. Finally, we were led to the closed doors of the drawing room, and Tom opened them with a smile.Inside, we found not only “Mr. and Mrs. Ricci,” but also Olivia and Patrick, Adrian and Penny—who still wouldn’t even talk about their dance at the wedding—and Sera’s mother and brother, as well as Lauren. Sera leapt up to greet us, and Killian followed a few paces behind. I threw myself into the hug just as much as Sera did—I
Taken by the Mafia King Checking Up
SeraI folded a T-shirt and put it into Killian’s suitcase. “Are you sure we need to leave so soon?”He chuckled and took the T-shirt back out, then replaced it with a suit shirt. “Very, unfortunately. Adrian is in the middle of a difficult situation with one of the warehouses, and he needs a steady hand to guide him through.”My stomach churned at the thought of leaving the villa. We’d only been here for a couple of months, and we’d promised everyone we’d return, but dammit, I wasn’t ready yet. Lazing around the villa and having sex whenever the mood took us was way too fun to stop after only a few months.“But we’ll be back soon, right?” I asked like I didn’t already know.“Cara mia.” Killian took my hands. “What is happening in that head of yours?”I sighed. “I don’t know. The thought of leaving just make me kind of sick. We just got away from all that. I don’t want to be scared again.”He studied me for a long moment. “You do look a little pale. How sick is this making you exactly
Taken by the Mafia King Humdrum Excitement
PaigeI squeezed Tom’s hand in the car on the way to the airport.“Sad to be leaving?” he asked.I smiled. “Always. It’s so magical here.”He laughed. “Not just saying that because we’ve spent most of the vacation in bed?”I ran my free hand up his leg. “No, we have weekends for that at home.”“Fair enough.” He kissed the back of my hand. “I do like going on these little vacations, though. It’s a nice escape for a few days.”I nodded. I really was going to miss Paris, but I wouldn’t have wanted to stay much longer anyway. Lauren had been texting me updates about the shelter, especially the new one as women settled in. I kept thinking about how much I was missing, how much they needed me there. And I knew Tom was feeling the same. Apparently, Lyle had his sights set on someone new, and Tom was itching to pull the trigger. Anybody else would probably think we were freaks, desperate to leave a luxury vacation to get back to our grueling jobs. But those people didn’t realize just how much
Taken by the Mafia King Perfect Fit
TommasoWhen I told Paige I’d set everything up for another two days in Paris, she’d immediately insisted we spend a day shopping. I put up a cursory front of complaints, but in truth, I was perfectly happy following her from store to store and carrying her bags. Even better, she loved it when I made jokes about some of the worst, frilliest, most French things we came across. She laughed and joined in. For years, I’d heard men complaining about shopping with their girlfriends—fiancées—saying it was the most boring thing in the world, but even if we weren’t laughing up a storm as we paid our way through the most expensive boutiques in Paris, I still would’ve been having a ball. The sun was shining, she kept looking at the ring I’d put on her finger with a soft wonderment I’d never seen in her eyes anymore, and my face hurt from smiling. Paige and I could’ve made a hell of an afternoon out of reading the phone book.“Stop!” she said.I froze, my free hand twitching toward the gun I’d hi
Taken by the Mafia King Beginning of Forever
PaigeI didn’t know how long Tom and I lay there, listening to the fireworks and seeing the very top of their arcs through the sliver of windows accessible from the floor. I pillowed my head on his chest and enjoyed the steady beat of his heart. Engaged. The last time I was here, I’d been on the cusp of recovery, just starting to make strides toward the person I was today. Now, I wasn’t done—I didn’t know if there was a done for traumatized people or people in general—but I was so much better, stronger, happier than I had been.The last time Tom and I were in Paris, I’d thrown myself at him and chickened out. As much as I could stay at a private view of the Eiffel Tower, I wanted to show him just how much had changed. Just how much I meant the “yes” that had fallen so easily from my lips. I rolled on top of him.“What do you say we take this back to that hotel room you picked out?”Tom grinned and pulled me down for a kiss. I pressed myself against him, feeling every line of his body.
Taken by the Mafia King The Only Ones
PaigeI sat across from Tom in an empty, stunning restaurant in the middle of the Eiffel Tower with my head spinning like the three sips of wine I’d had with the appetizer were enough to make me drunk. He’d really rented out the Eiffel Tower. And not one floor, the whole thing. We’d ridden an empty elevator, the two-Michelin-star chef kept coming out to tell us why he’d selected particular dishes based on the information Tom had given him about our preferences, and I couldn’t hear anything but the soft classical music over the speakers. It felt like a dream.Tom took my hand. “So?”“So what?” I asked.“Was the surprise worth it?” He grinned.I looked over his suit, a forest green that brought out his eyes, worn without a tie. His dark curls tumbled into his face. I’d never seen him look so perfectly put together and so casual. He looked…well, he looked exactly like the man I’d fallen in love with. Nothing like the one who’d scared me so badly all those months ago in Cairo.“I get the
Taken by the Mafia King Peace Time
TommasoDespite how much I wanted Paige to keep that little black dress on, we had a few hours before the Tower officially emptied out for our use. I talked her into putting on something a little more walkable and keeping the lingerie on. As if to punish me for my restraint, she picked a pair of tiny, wide-legged shorts that showed the tops of the garters attached to her stockings every time she moved and a fitted blouse. I changed and somehow convinced myself to leave the hotel room instead of stripping everything off her and spending the hours in bed.She took my hand as we stepped into the lobby. “I should’ve known. When you plan a surprise, it’s never just one thing. Where are we off to first?”“So nosy.” I smiled.“You’re right, I’ll stop asking.” She slid the room key out of her pocket and fiddled with it for a second, then dropped it. With a small smile, she bent at the waist to pick it up, exposing those garter straps again.I grabbed her waist and hurried her the final few st
