Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
My life is about to be twisted up in knots. I’ve been ripped from my life and handed over as a payment for my father’s debt. I’m now engaged to a dark, dominating, terrifying man who has three rules for me.
Rule number one: Obey.
Rule number two: Tell no one anything about him.
Rule number three gives me a peek into just how dark, depraved, and possessive my new fiancé really is.
This dark mafia story has explicit, mature, dark themes and situations that may upset those who are sensitive to common themes in dark romance.
Standalone, no cliffhanger, but more books available in this series.
2024 edition. First edition published in 2015.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
“Her name is Athena. They call her Tia. She’s yours if you want her.”
“Mine?”
“Yeah, yours.” Pop waved his hand dismissively. “For whatever.”
I was sitting in my father’s office absorbing this news, news that this Athena was coming to me as a gift from my father, that he’s taking her as payment for unpaid debts.
Pop said he was about to have the news of the payment arrangement conveyed to her father and then I could do what I wanted with her.
“For whatever” meant I could put her on the streets under one of the pimps on our downline. I could also opt to send her overseas and pocket the profits.
We had connections in a variety of industries, including those of the seedy underworld. We had fingers in less-than-wholesome pies. Looking at her photo I knew she’d fetch more on the black market than the debt her daddy owed. Way more.
We receive commissions based on a variety of pursuits. Some call us mafia. I don’t like that word. You might say I say tomato, you say tom-atto and while it’s all the same fruit, of course, there are many varieties of tomatoes. We’re businessmen. We have businesses we fully own and those we own a stake in.
Not all of what we do is legal, but it’s not all shady business deals and gambling debts, either. The way it’s set up creates multiple layers and plenty of income streams. Money flows to the family coffers from a variety of areas like security, construction, retail and wholesale businesses. There are gray areas, too, like security, protection, and of course loansharking, prostitution, and drugs. We mostly deal in organics rather than chemicals, and it’s only a small part of our business.
Yes, organized crime exists in the 21st century. No, it’s not always as glamorous as it’s portrayed on screens but it’s not always as seedy, either. It’s a living. Some days are fairly ordinary. Some days are a rush. Some days we have to make tough decisions. I’d had to make many difficult decisions so far and I was sure there would be many more ahead of me, especially given that I’d soon be sitting at the helm of the family empire.
My father had humble beginnings as a working guy who was respected and connected around town. He and his best friend, a guy also connected – even more connected that Pop – started a construction company. It did well; they were smart and resourceful. Over time, they saw the need for a number of other services and had the capital to begin expansions so they could better provide for their family without paying half their earnings in taxes. The company has grown by leaps and bounds in the past thirty years.
After the construction company got off the ground, he opened a coffee shop. He now has six of those coffee shops and it’s moving to a franchising model in the next five to seven months. He’s a partner in some restaurants, some hotels, plus a few nightclubs. Some of those clubs have backroom card games; some that deal in big money.
Drugs and druggies, alcohol and alcoholics, hookers, nymphos, bookies, gamblers, loan sharks… they’ll always be out there. Why shouldn’t we profit from it? We have the brains and the brawn and the green. And because of that we’ve got the cars, the houses, the fat bank accounts, and the high tax brackets so we look above-board to the tax man and have the fat rainy day funds in our mattresses, attics, basements, whatever. We do regular shit. We also do bad shit.
Why bust our chops for a bit better than minimum wage and work like a dog until we’re ready to drop to put a meager amount of money into a retirement plan we may never get to spend? Successful men get between what men want and the source.
That’s what we do. You want to bet on the races? We can help. You want to get your rocks off, find someone to cater to your fetishes? We’ll hook you up. You need money to pay off your gambling debts or start up a new venture? Guess, what? We can help there, too.
It all fits together nicely, like a puzzle. People need protection. People need money. People need help from builders to build those businesses they want us investing in, so we do the investing and we do the building. And people need vices so at the end of a hard day they’ve had a little fun.
And because men can have too much of a good thing and get caught up in the sins of the flesh and the thrill of the bet it can get dirty. Some don’t pay their debts. Some need to be dealt with. Sometimes people get greedy and try to take from us. We have to make tough decisions. People come to play; they must be prepared to pay. We show our enemies and those who want our profits that we aren’t to be trifled with.