Mafia King: A Mafia Royals Novella, Rachel Dyken [i am malala young readers edition .txt] 📗

DoorDash incident with Annie and Ash outside, pants down at his ankles? I’m still traumatized, and I’m all for outside sexcapades.”

King shuddered. “Some things, I should never have to see. One being my cousin’s mouth on”—he gulped—“…never mind. I’m still not okay.”

“It will get better.” Maksim wrapped an arm around him. “These things take time.”

“It was so cold that night.” King put his head on Maksim’s shoulder. “And the lights—”

“There, there.” Maksim gave him a slight hug and then shoved him.

And I realized, I hadn’t stopped smiling.

Tank grabbed my hand.

And I knew as we approached the large structure housing Tex, my uncle and Godfather of the Families, that it would be okay.

I had Tank.

And neither of us were letting go.

Chapter Eleven

Tank

I don’t know what I expected.

But all the bosses lined up in the living room of the hut in the dark with candles lit all around them was not one of those things.

Sergio took one look at me holding Kartini’s hand and straight-up growled like a fucking animal.

Nixon put his hand on his shoulder and pulled him back.

Tex—the terrifying Capo—grinned like a fool.

Valerian stood next to him, arms folded, eyes lasered in on me as if telling me it was time.

And it was.

Every boss was present.

Dante Alfero, Tex Campisi, Phoenix Nicolasi, Andrei Sinacore, Valerian Petrov, Nixon Abandonato—and underbosses Chase Abandonato, Ash’s dad, and next to him, still glaring…

Sergio.

I had no clue if I was about to become a fucking sacrifice to some mafia god or if they were about ready to offer me what Valerian had known I wanted.

I’d already been made, so I wasn’t sure what the hell this was, but it must have been important because Kartini squeezed my hand extra-hard, and I could tell just by the look on her face how important this really was.

Only the older kids were there.

Ash, King, Maksim, Junior, Izzy, Serena, Annie, and Violet all stood off to the side, and then slowly Ash moved forward.

I frowned as Ash, one of my best friends despite the fact that this last year we’d nearly killed each other, moved directly in front of me.

His blue eyes nearly glowed, his whiskey-colored hair fell in a mess over his forehead, and I was reminded yet again how regal he looked when he was being serious and not pissed.

He looked me straight in the eyes then held a card up between us. “Do you know what this is?”

It was a white piece of paper. Written on it…in what looked like blood, was a name. St. Christopher.

I gulped. “The name of a Saint?”

Ash nodded. “The name of yours. St. Christopher is believed to be a protector. From hurricanes, floods, sickness, and danger. The bosses voted and gave me two options for your ceremony. Ever since we met you two years ago, you’ve protected us. Whether from the outside FBI threat, or the threat from within the Family.” My heart pounded in my chest. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “This is your marker. This will always be your marker from this day forward, Tank De Lange.” He said my real name. My real bloodline. The one I’d originally hidden from everyone.

The bosses didn’t even flinch.

Not even Chase, the man who’d killed so many of my family that it was downright terrifying.

They knew I had De Lange blood somewhere down the line.

“Your grandmother was a De Lange,” Ash said with a smile. “We finally found some records the FBI had on lockdown. You can thank Sergio for that hack.”

Could I, though? Did I even want to go down that road? Know what my family had done in the name of the De Lange bloodline? No. Because I had a new Family now—the ones standing in front of me.

I lifted my chin, my eyes focusing in on Ash. “What do I need to do?”

“Take it.” With a shaking hand, I took the piece of paper just as Ash lit a match and held it out. “Repeat after me… As burns this saint, so burns my soul. I enter alive and will have to get out dead.”

“As burns this saint”—I gulped—“so burns my soul. I enter alive and will have to get out dead.”

“Now burn,” Ash said.

I held the paper to the flame and watched it turn into ash between my fingertips.

“Sangue en, no fuori,” Ash said.

Blood in, no out.

Everyone repeated it at once, causing chills to run up and down my spine as Ash then put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me in, kissing my right cheek, and my left. “You chose this. You chose blood.”

I lifted my head high. “There was never a choice, Ash. And if there was, I made it two years ago.”

Tiny stopped in front of me, her smile so perfect and wide. The girl I’d always promised to rescue, now in love with a mafia prince.

“You did good,” she whispered before kissing each cheek and then hugging me.

The bosses went next, most likely seeing the pride glistening in my eyes as I held my head high, taking on what should have been my birthright. What should have been my throne.

Sergio was last.

He was either going to kiss me or kill me.

I tensed when he stopped in front of me.

All I could hear was the buzzing in my ears as he turned to Tiny and said, “Are you free?”

A tear slid down her cheek as she whispered, “Yes.”

“Then I won’t kill him,” Sergio said so matter-of-factly, I wanted to hurl as he turned his face back to mine. “Hurt her with your hands, I cut them off. Speak any ill of her with your tongue, and you’ll never speak again. Betray my Family, and I’ll make you blind so the last thing you see before I slit your throat is the very darkness you’ll be damned to. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.” He leaned in and kissed both cheeks, then slapped me on the shoulder. ‘“We’ll talk later. Tonight…” He eyed Kartini. “I don’t want to know what happens tonight, just