The Chicago Mob is the same as it has always been—violent, greedy, and excessive. The Outfit families have turned their backs when they were needed the most one too many times, but Dino DeLuca didn’t expect anything different.
His whole life has been lived for the Outfit—for his family.
He has a whole new set of reasons to live and fight now.
Karen Martin makes Dino change all the rules.
He’s finally ready to show everyone just how much waste is truly worth in the mafia, and just how far one will go for freedom from it all.
He’s learned these lessons well.
Too well.
Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to three young sons, one cat, and two dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a hubby calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something … when she can find the time.
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“You okay?”
Dino’s head popped up at Karen’s soft voice. Leaning
against the brick wall of the restaurant’s alleyway, he’d found a quiet place
to think. He took a final drag from his cigarette, and then tossed it to the
wet pavement, giving Karen a fleeting smile.
“Fine. Aren’t you supposed to be working?”
Karen cocked a brow at him. “I do get breaks, don’t I?”
Dino chuckled. “You know you do.”
“Well, I’m using this one to check on you. You’ve been
quiet today.”
“I’m always quiet, Karen.”
“True, but you talk to me.”
She had him there.
Dino didn’t want her worrying over him, though, so he
deflected her questions in the best way he could. “Something was off in the
Accounts Receivable for last month. The numbers didn’t add up. I need you to go
back over the ledgers again before the numbers get logged in.”
Karen sighed. “You know my numbers are good, Dino.”
They were.
She was damn good at keeping the books.
Or cooking them to hide shit, for that matter.
Still, he was the boss.
Her lover, sure, but the boss just the same.
“Look over them again,” he said with a shrug. “Maybe
it was just my eyes that saw something that wasn’t there.”
Karen gave him another one of her looks, then finally
nodded. “All right.”
Dino checked his watch, noting the time. He had been
trying to stay away from this particular restaurant as much as possible this
week, just in case, but that hadn’t worked out very well for him that morning
when he woke up with an ache in his chest. An ache he couldn’t really explain,
but left him feeling cold and lonely in a way he hadn’t experienced before.
He knew instantly what it was.
He missed Karen.
It was almost too
easy for him to get in his car and decide he’d work out of the restaurant
where she worked for the day. It was almost strange the way the ache calmed the
very second he was driving in her direction, knowing he was just minutes from
seeing her.
Dino had a pretty good grasp on how messed up he was,
but when he put Karen into the picture, it was almost as if all of that
craziness went away for a time. He didn’t have to be the Outfit man, the no
nonsense Capo, or the brother trying to keep his siblings safe and clear of
pain and manipulation.
He just had to be him.
That was all Karen knew.
It was all she asked for.
Dino liked that a lot.
Problem was, he didn’t know how to deal with the way
it left him feeling.
Like maybe he was going to have to end whatever he had
going on with her because getting too close could be dangerous—but he wasn’t
sure if it was too dangerous for her, or him.
He was just a mess.
“Do you want to do dinner later?” Karen asked, still
hanging out the back exit door.
Dino didn’t think on that offer for long, because
despite how much he wanted to agree to it, he knew that he couldn’t. Not with
Ben in a fit and liable to send someone after Dino. Thankfully, no one had ever
gotten in the way of one of Ben’s lessons, as far as Dino knew, and he didn’t
want to start now.
Especially not with Karen.
“Raincheck,” Dino said, glancing away from Karen’s
crestfallen face.
He didn’t want to see her sadness.
He didn’t want her to see his lies.
“Soon, though,” he added.
“You sure?”
Dino forced back the stinging sensation prickling at
his throat, the words trying to take back what he had said and grab onto what
she was offering. It wasn’t a good time.
“Soon,” Dino repeated.
He frowned at the sight of Karen’s back as she
disappeared inside the restaurant.
She hadn’t even said goodbye.
Dino couldn’t blame her, really. How fun could it be
to find yourself stuck in a relationship with someone like him who took a great
deal from you, but rarely offered the same in return? It wasn’t that he meant
to be like he was—distant and seemingly selfish—but he didn’t know how to be anything else.
And hadn’t he told her once that all she needed to do
was tell him to leave and he would go?
Karen still hadn’t told him that yet.
Somewhere deep inside, covered by years of old scar
tissue and buried beneath the memories of those wounds, Dino knew the truth was
beating hard in his heart.
He seriously hoped she never told him that.
Even if it ended up killing him.
Dino considered going back inside the restaurant and
apologizing to Karen before leaving for the strip club to finish business for
the day, but he decided against it.
Why?
Because he was a fucking coward.
No other explanation was needed.
Strolling down the alleyway toward the mouth of the
parking lot, Dino fished in his pocket for the car keys that should be in
there. He pulled the keyring out, the jangling keys clamped tightly in his fist
as he walked out of the alley.
And looked up to find the butt of a handgun coming
straight for his face.
Dino didn’t even have time to react before the hard
butt of the gun cracked him straight in the mouth, sending him sprawling to the
ground with a shout. The taste of blood—tangy and metallic—bloomed in his
mouth, making him gag.
It always did.