LUCA: A Mafia Bad Boy Romance (Claiming What's His Book 3) Read online

  LUCA: A Mafia Bad Boy Romance

  By:

  Evie Adams

  Copyright Evie Adams 2016

  Copyright Cover images are as follows:

  Cover design by Evie Adams

  This book is a work of fiction. All the characters in this book are fictitious and any similarity to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidence.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Table of Contents

  Author’s Note

  Dedication

  ---

  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

  EPILOGUE

  RODYA

  ---

  About the Author

  More From Evie Adams

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  Want to get in contact with Evie Adams? It’s easy! Just email:

  [email protected]

  Come tweet at me: @authorevieadams

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  Find Evie Adams in the Amazon Kindle Store

  If you want more Mafia Bad Boys:

  NICO: A Mafia Bad Boy Romance

  MARCUS : A Mafia Bad Boy Romance

  You may also like:

  The Actress and the Captain : An Arranged Marriage Historical Romance

  Reasonable Doubts (A Romantic Comedy)

  “I used to advertise my loyalty and I don't believe there is a single person that I loved that I didn't eventually betray.”

  -Albert Camus, The Fall

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  PROLOGUE - LUCA

  The sun was oppressively hot and Cristiana and I lay on the rocks- still cool from being in the shade all morning. The rocks were near the cliff, so maybe that was what was making me dizzy. Or maybe it was her string bikini and how she would adjust it every so often when I was looking and flash me some skin. The bikini barely covered anything, but damn, seeing the few spots of skin it did cover excited the hell out of me.

  “Let's get out of here,” she said to me with those hungry bedroom eyes.

  “We can't, we have to wait for Elio.”

  “He'll be fine, I don't want to spend time with him anyways, I want to be alone with you.” She said it aggressively, testing me.

  “You are a bad girl aren't you?”

  “You'll have to punish me?” She came closer, daring me.

  I pushed her down to take a seat. “You'll get something if you don't stop that shit. You know he has a crush on you. We keep this shit secret, he doesn't have to know.”

  “You're always protecting him. From what? He'll have to grow up and get rejected eventually. Why not now?”

  “You don't know him. He goes off into rages. He's. . . unbalanced.”

  “Fuck that. I'm not afraid of him. She yelled to him, “Elio come over here.”

  “What are you doing?” I said to her under my breath.

  “Something I'll have to be punished for later. Stay here.” She walked over as Elio climbed over near her. He was getting ready to dive into the quarry again when she called to him. He kept yelling for us to watch. Trying to impress her.

  I watched them talk nervously. Waiting for one of his rages. The talk lasted minutes and it didn't go as I feared. Maybe I was coddling him. Maybe he could handle it, it might make him grow up a little and quit being so selfish. I protected him, partly because it was my job, but he was family too. He would be the boss in 5 years maybe.

  Family comes first. Before everything. Before beautiful girls in string bikini’s even.

  Cris turned her back to him and called to me, “Come on Luca, we're taking Elio home. He's fine. He understands.” And she waved me over.

  He stood behind her, but I saw him clearly.

  First he looked at me. We locked eyes and a smile grew on his lips. I felt it coming before it ever happened, I knew what he was going to do, it was in his eyes. And he wanted me to know too.

  He pushed her off the cliff with all his might, still smiling. I saw her go over and heard her screams as she hit the rocks below.

  Elio watched her fall as I watched him, a smile on his face as he watched her fall and hit. He turned back to me as I was running towards him. I don’t remember what I was thinking running towards him, but he must have seen something in my face. Something that frightened him enough so he lost his footing. He tied to catch himself and succeeded in not falling forward, after her, instead he fell back and down into the pool behind him.

  I was on the edge of the cliff, trying to see if Cris was somehow alright, but of course she wasn’t. She was an unmoving, bloody mess of strings and flesh. I checked on him second, his head was cracked open and his blood ran into the water of the shallow pool making the water incarnadine.

  I could have left him there to die. Maybe the world would have been a better place. Maybe he deserved that.

  Instead, I called 911 and waited for an ambulance as the operator told me what I could do for him. He spent three days in the hospital and had two brain surgeries but he recovered. Cris did not.

  When the cops asked me what happened I told them she fell and he tried to grab her but she pushed him away so he fell.

  He woke up as a hero.

  Family comes first.

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  CHAPTER 1 - NINA

  “This one's not good enough either?” Ezrah asked me, showing me the picture of the guy he wanted me to marry.

  “I knew him, he's not good enough, trust me.”

  “He's strong, you need a strong man to help you.”

  It wasn't much use arguing with my father, Ezrah Brown. He was old school when it came to those things. “And I will, but not him.”

  “Fine, not him. But you have to find one soon. I don't know when I'll be gone, but it could be any day now. If your brother was still around, all this wouldn't fall on you.” He trailed off for a moment, and looked away.

  My brother died two years ago and it still hurt to think of him, for the both of us. Especially because he followed my mother after not even a year had passed. But before he could think too long, he looked at me again and smiled, “But you're it sweetheart. If you don't find someone the family is going to splinter and war. Or one of my guys will step up but you already refused all of them.”

  A strong man was the exact opposite of what I wanted. I was the strong one. Maybe Ezrah didn't see how a woman could run it, but I could. I needed a man who knew his place. A man to stay in the shadows while I led. Not one who wanted to put me in the shadows or the kitchen.

  “They're
all in their 50's Ezrah. You don't expect me to marry one of them right?”

  “Not unless you have to. But if you don't find a decent man around soon, yeah, I'll make you.” He tried to give me a mean look, but it didn’t work.

  “Okay, but not today right?” I used my girlish charm, he was putty in my hands.

  “No, not today.”

  I kissed him on the cheek as thanks and let him get back to business. That was another of his old school ideas. He never talked business around me but I knew every move he made.

  Ezrah Brown – he made me stop calling him ‘Dad’ when I was 12, made me call him by his first name, like an equal. Ezrah was the leader of the Brown crime family in Harlem. But he was getting old, I knew it, he knew it, everyone knew it. Since Mom died, then my brother, he had got old really quick. He was almost 50 when he had me, but these last ten years, from when I was 15 to now, he seemed to age another 50 years.

  We were in Miami, Ezrah had business, but I had pleasure in mind. The nightlife in Miami was as good as New York, maybe better, but it didn't start until late and almost never ended. A friend had told me about a party on an out of the way beach tonight. Somewhere in the Keys or close to them. I would need the boat to get there.

  Ezrah had a boat. Well, he had a boat and a yacht. The boat was still pretty big, but perfect for me to get away on. There was only one problem with the boat. It was purple. It had purple running lines down the side and the upholstery was all purple too. I hated purple and Ezrah knew that but refused to change anything. A passive aggressive way to show me who was boss I think, or a hope that maybe that would stop me from taking it out all the time. But it didn’t work. It was better to suffer in a purple boat than no boat at all. I let him win on the boat issue, and he let me win everywhere else and that worked out just fine for me.

  I called down to the docks and told them to get the boat ready for me. I dressed and packed a small bag and went down to the docks. When I got there, I didn't recognize the driver at first. He wasn’t Mr. Preston, he looked familiar, but he startled me when I jumped on board and he turned around.

  “Who are you? Where's Preston?” I asked.

  “I’m David. Preston went out fishing today and he had a little too much sun....” he flashed a smiled at me and cocked his head to add, “And rum.”

  I liked him already, much younger than Preston, but seemed okay. I had never spoken with him but I had noticed him around, his face was familiar and not at all bad to look at. Usually I was careful not to be alone with men I didn't know very well. I was the heir to the family after all, but I needed to get out.

  “Where to?” he asked with a grin.

  “Oh, just around,” I wanted to feel the wind in my face and get the last bit of sun before the party. I undressed to my bikini and lay down on the bow.

  He drove around slowly, meandering around boats and avoiding big waves, he was good, except I could feel his eyes on me the whole time. Preston was like a grandfather so I never felt strange in my swimsuit with him. But this guy was different. He watched me and didn’t try to hide it.

  “We can't wander around at night here so close to Miami,” he shouted. “The coast guard might think we're drug dealers. Or worse, drug dealers might think we're the coast guard.”

  It was a joke but he was right. The waters could be dangerous at night. “How about we have a drink then I take you over to your party?” He asked with a familiar smile.

  “Okay, one drink,”

  I got up and wound the sash around me and went in the cabin. He followed me down and made drinks, one for me, one for him.

  “There's a party on one of the keys, do you know how to get out there?” I asked.

  He sipped his whiskey, “I do. Takes about three hours to get out there. Maybe less.”

  “You should come, you're about my age, it'll be fun. Just don't drink too much so you can't get me back home.” I joked with him.

  He sipped his drink coolly again, then his eyes came up to me, “I don't think you're going to make it.”

  “No? Why not?”

  “A couple reasons. One is the roofie I just put in your drink. You won't remember anything pretty soon. And the other is you won't see home again for a while.” His cute smile turned devilish, and his face started to lose focus for me.

  “What? What?” I tried to say but my mouth was slow, my brain knew exactly what it wanted but my body wouldn’t do it.

  “There it comes, don't fight it. You won't remember anything and you might even pass out but I hope you don't. At least not until I'm done with you.”

  There were two of him now, and the words seemed to be coming from further away. “Roof?” I managed.

  “The Agnetti’s paid me to take you and hand you over to their men. I'm not sure why but I'm sure they have some plans for you.” He sipped his drink again.

  The Agnetti’s were my families’ biggest rival but we stayed away from each other. They did their thing and we did ours and we both stayed out of each other’s way. “Bastard,” I slurred.

  “Maybe.” He walked over to sit next to me. There was only one of him when he was this close but one was even worse than two. My mind was starting to get confused too now and my hands were too weak to push him.

  “I'll be roughed up a little. So maybe you should be roughed up a little too?” He pulled the sash off from around my waist and began to run his hands over me. I tried to push again but I was too weak. It felt like a fight in a nightmare where you move too slow and your body is weak which makes it even more scary.

  “Teasing me all day like that. Looking at me watching you. You're such a cock tease but soon you won't be.”

  “Please,” I tried to push again but my body wouldn't do what I told it to even when I focused everything I had, I was still too weak, too slow, too confused.

  “Good, I like a little fighting,” he said and pushed me to the floor.

  I felt his body over me. I felt his mouth on my shoulder. I felt him put his hand under the elastic of my bikini bottoms. I tried to scream but my throat muscles were weak, a half sob, half yelp came out.

  He laughed and rolled me over, “I think I'll take your ass first, I bet you'll be nice and tight back there, they usually are,”

  I heard footsteps above deck and a voice over me, “Get off her.”

  I rolled myself over and saw the glint of a knife on David’s neck, and piercing green eyes staring at me before everything was darkness.

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  CHAPTER 2 - NINA

  The smell hit me first. A violently foul fishy smell. I tried to sit up and managed to roll over on my elbow. My body was still sluggish and not listening to me. I gagged and tried to throw up into a small bucket that someone had conveniently and thoughtfully placed next to me. But nothing came.

  A voice next to me spoke, “It'll pass,” I moved away from the noise and tried to see where I was.

  A dank boat that stunk like fish.

  Either I'm on a fishing boat or in hell.

  I looked at where the voice came from, a kindly looking grandfatherly man with white hair and white beard. His hands were scarred and his skin was dark and sunburned.

  “What will pass?” I asked him.

  “You're either sea sick or it’s the drugs still in you. Both of those usually pass with time.”

  “I think it’s the smell more than anything.”

  He smiled. “That will pass too. I was just baiting the long line for tonight. Once it goes over and I wash the deck you won't smell anything. “Would you like something to drink?" He asked.

  “Anything.”

  He stood up and knocked on the ceiling, “She's awake,” the boat slowed and footsteps came down the stairs.

  The white haired man came back with a soda that I gulped down and when I looked up again, the kind grandfatherly man was gone, driving the boat upstairs as it sped up. There was a new man watching me. A man with sparkling g
reen eyes.

  “I thought you'd never wake up,” the man with the green eyes said.

  A shiver ran through me at his voice. This was the man who saved me. I was saved from David but what exactly did this savior have in store for me?

  “We're north of Miami now, probably near Georgia. We're taking you to New York, the Agnetti’s so that hasn't changed for you. But this boat ride should be better than your last one. Do you have any questions?”

  I had a million but only one important one. “Where's the bathroom?”

  He pointed a little further back, near what looked like a bedroom. It also looked a lot more comfortable than where I had slept. I walked to the bathroom and closed the thin door behind me.

  There was a small window and I thought I could see a red buoy not very far from the boat. Red buoys meant rocks, a warning for boats not to get too close to them. Rocks meant land. This was my chance. I wiggled out of the window and hesitated for a moment as the water rushed by and the wind hit me. But I didn’t let my brain try to talk me out of it. I jumped.

  The cold water pierced me and snapped me awake. Almost as quick as I started to swim, the boat stopped and turned around.

  “Where do you think you're going?” The green eyes yelled out as the boat idled behind me.

  I swam on.

  “Where do you think you'll go?” He yelled, “Should we get the net or the gaffe for you?”

  I looked for the buoy. The boat couldn't follow near the rocks, not without sinking anyways.

  There it was, the red can. I swam towards it and the boat followed, then I heard the boat reverse and idle again.

  “Damn you.” I heard the voice say behind me and kept swimming.

  The splash behind me focused me harder on swimming as fast as I could. I put my head down and aimed for the shore that must be on the other side of that red can. It had to be.

  Before I was tired, I felt arms on me and I screamed.