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

“Always have. Always will,” I vowed.

“This…I know.” His smile was small, but it was there.

I was still stunned into silence as the rest of the cousins and I walked back toward our bungalow.

Until, of course, Maksim interrupted. “I think you’re the first De Lange to be welcomed in like…years.”

“No pressure, though, really,” King added.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not like he’s going to die now…” Junior joked and then gave me a playful shove.

Kartini shoved Junior back.

Junior’s eyebrows shot up. “The small one came out to play.”

Kartini shoved him again. “I may be small but—”

“She killed a guy. I would tread lightly,” Maksim grumbled.

Kartini gasped.

And then everyone paused.

He paled. “Shit. Sorry. I’m still slightly drunk.”

King smacked him. “You were drinking without me?”

“Serena’s fucking ruthless. Drank me under the table.” He stumbled a bit.

Serena pulled at least a few hundred dollars out of her pocket. “Miss this, Maks?”

Maksim flipped her off.

Izzy just burst out laughing because she enjoyed Maksim’s pain.

And then, out of nowhere, a body barreled toward me.

And my body flew into the pool.

I surfaced and then dove after Ash, who laughed like he’d just accomplished the impossible.

Taking me by surprise.

“You little shit, stop swimming away!” I grabbed his shirt.

And then, more splashes happened.

Clothes were yet again taken off and discarded in the moonlight as we all laughed and swam.

“You know, now that you’re part of the Family, it’s kind of weird that you guys were screwing in the cabana.” King floated by me.

Everyone paused.

Maksim sighed and then shoved King to the bottom of the pool. “Should I drown him? Tell me the truth, Tiny?”

She just threw her head back and laughed. “No, let him breathe.”

“Soooooo…” Izzy, Serena, and Annie swam headfirst toward Kartini. Her grin was huge as they all started whispering and pointing.

And then Ash and Junior were next to me.

“Those girls terrify me on a daily basis.” Junior sighed. “But I love them.”

“They’re the best,” Ash agreed.

Maksim floated by. “All but one.”

“Last year, it was you sneaking into her house,” I pointed out.

He sighed. “A lot of good my love did me.”

I shared a look with Ash that said let it go, and King was already changing the subject yelling about drowning and how could we not care about his life as the next Capo?

I tuned him out.

Because I was going back to my bungalow with that woman. A smiling woman, no…not smiling, beaming.

Like she’d just been healed.

And I’d like to think I had a small part in that.

Chapter Twelve

Tank

It was like once I unlocked the sex goddess inside Kartini, she was insatiable…We stumbled back to our bedroom and slipped out of our wet clothes, falling into bed like it was normal.

She kissed me first.

And I wanted to tell her that I loved her first. Even when I wasn’t supposed to, I did.

And now, now it felt like my heart might explode as I rolled her to her back and kissed down her neck, tasting the saltwater from the pool there.

“This was a good night.” She wrapped her arms around me.

“The best.”

Her eyebrows arched. “Is that a challenge?”

I was already so damn hard for her that my body ached. “Absolutely.”

She sighed. “Tank, Tank, Tank, when will you ever learn? You can’t win against me.” She reached for my cock and squeezed.

“Fuck me.” I threw my head back, wanting to roar. “Kind of feels like winning right now.”

She slid her hand down, then back up. “We should probably slow down, though, so…”

With a menacing growl, I grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head. “That’s a no.”

“I kind of like being at your mercy.” She shimmied, showing off her perfect, perky breasts and tanned skin.

“Question...”

“What?” Her smile was so open, so real.

“In the mafia, do we get to pick where we die?”

She burst out laughing. “Um, that would be a no since you never know where or why…”

“That’s too bad.” I leaned down and pressed my head between her breasts. “Because I pick here.” I turned my mouth and kissed my way back up toward her neck and whispered, “And here.” My kiss lingered at the corner of her mouth as I teased her entrance with my cock. “And maybe here, too.”

She panted beneath me. “No arguments on my end, Tank. But fair warning, if you put in a request to die between my boobs, my dad’s going to run you over with his Lambo.”

We both fell into fits of laughter as I surged forward, causing the headboard to slam against the wall.

“Whoops.” I cursed.

“We’ll pay damages.” Tiny groaned. “Just don’t stop.”

So, I didn’t.

We screwed.

We made love.

We kissed.

We laughed.

And the next morning, when she was still lying there, looking well and truly loved, I dressed and made one last walk of my old life.

My badge and gun both burned holes against my body as I took the trails back up to the main lobby and bar.

I dialed the number.

I wasn’t surprised to hear a sigh on the other end as Thompsons answered. “Any news?”

“It wasn’t them,” I lied.

Thompsons was quiet for a few minutes while my heart raced, wondering what he would say until he finally broke the silence. “So, you’ve chosen.”

“Was there ever a question what side I would choose? Family or FBI?”

“And you’re positive they had nothing to do with my agent’s murder?”

“Positive,” I lied again. It was easy to, knowing what had happened with Kartini. “But, sir, you need to know, he didn’t back down that day. None of my team backed down when I asked them to leave it. So, either you gave the order to continue, or someone else did.”

“The hell?” he roared. “Tank, it was your team. Your call to make, not mine.”

“It was a shit idea in the first place,” I reminded him. “They’re Family. They’re loyal. Creating war after they worked so hard to have peace, it does nothing to help us. It only makes us their enemy. You have to see that. The Petrov Family isn’t weak like we thought, not under Valerian’s