All Chapters of LOVE BEYOND BRATVA DARK WORLD: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Aryana Joy M. Santini POVA tear slipped down my check. “Doesn’t this mean that I’m part of the Bernardino family?”Montero squeezed my hand once more before pulling his back. “Yes, but a far superior branch of it.”“And that’s not what he meant,” Rocky said, jerking his head at Craig. “By family, he meant the entire organization.”“Oh, is that all?” I gave a watery little laugh.“It is daunting. But the next step is to pick up the documentation of the test and take it to Don Gregorio,” Montero said.“We will,” Rocky said.As I looked from one man to another, I couldn’t hold back the tears.“What is it?” Rocky Ace asked gently.“I can’t believe my mom kept this from me.”“If you ask me, she wanted to protect you,” Rocky said. “That name would have been a burden. Your mom probably wanted you to have a normal life. To be an average nobody. Bernardino’s life ain’t what you’d call normal.”“Rocky’s downplaying it,” Craig commented. “You don’t know what you’d be in for, if your name was ‘B

Montero Villar POVAsking around, trying to find out a Don’s location was a whole lot easier when you didn’t have a price on your head. Much easier.Still, there were people who were loyal to us, as long as we assured them that Bernardino would never find out. Plus, there were a few idiots who didn’t even realize that the three of us and our Don weren’t on good terms anymore.But mostly, the word on the street had spread.People knew he wanted us gone.Questions like “why” just didn’t matter. Money talks, bullshit walks, as they say.And speaking of money, it was a joke.That cheap son of a bitch had put on our heads. Ten thousand. Each.To a seasoned professional, this would be a joke. Hired guns were expensive. They cost a lot more than a miserable ten thousand bucks. To the average junkie or pimp, though, this was a lot of money. Which is why the ones Craig and I contacted sounded desperate to meet with us. Once we mentioned we were back in town, they all got super-excited. They sp

Anaisse Santini's POVThere’s no way on God’s green earth I’m going to dance naked in front of a bunch of strangers.Anaisse Santini’s own words came back to haunt her as she stood in the darkened stage wing at Phoenix, the strip joint…er…gentlemen’s club, where her twin sister, Annabelle, usually worked as a featured dancer.Until she broke her leg, anyway.Eyes closed, Anaisse tried to block out the bone-jarring thump thump thump of the music and transcend to a calmer, more peaceful place in her mind. No luck. It was awful enough knowing she was about to step out on the stage in front of a crowd of leering men, peel off her clothes, and dance topless around a pole. Did every part of her black biker-chick costume have to inflict bodily punishment, too?Her toes protested the restricting fit of her sister’s thigh-high leather boots with their four-inch heels. Beneath a belted leather jacket barely long enough to skim her crotch, a silver-studded bikini top offered absolutely no suppor

Thomas Rivero or Tommy cursed fate as he met shell-shocked blue eyes. He knew those eyes traveled in close company with the most heart-stopping albeit fake smile he’d ever seen, and the most mouthwatering—and beautifully real—body. Instead of the biker-girl bikini, she now wore a white T-shirt and cropped pink workout pants, but the comparatively sedate ensemble didn’t much distract from the spectacular curves beneath.He’d been trying to get the irresistible package out of his head since leaving Phoenix hours ago. Eight months ago, sanitation workers had found a businessman named Arthur Montes in an alley a block away, beaten to death. Thomas had inherited the cold case just last week. With no solid leads, he had decided to check the club out on an unofficial basis, pretty much because it was the only edgy establishment in the vicinity. He’d walked out of Phoenix feeling like his gut might have been wrong this time, but now, because he’d been masochistic or just plain stupid enough t

“It’s a speck on the map. The municipal website puts the population at just under a million. Father unknown, but according to the local police I spoke to, the mom is alive, and giving birth to triplets – all females - and living in Paliparan, but no brothers, one sister, so not a lot to look at in terms of family.”Thomas watched Annabelle on the monitor and wondered what convinced her to trade the wrong side of the tracks in Paliparan for a Metro Manila strip club. Another small-town hopeful trying to make it big in the city, discovering that the shot comes at a very steep price?“Basically, nothing I uncovered in her past or her family tree sets my Spidey sense tingling, I think some secrets for this family.” Ryan concluded. “I’ll leave the data on your desk if you want to take a look?”Thomas shook his head. Ryan was thorough and his instincts reliable, even if his detective’s badge wasn’t yet six months old. “No need. Nothing’s tingling for me either. What about her job, or person