Ruthless Temptation: An Enemies-to-Lovers Mafia Romance Read online

  Jade Carter

  Ruthless Temptation

  An Enemies-to-Lovers Mafia Romance

  Copyright © 2020 by Jade Carter

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  Jade Carter asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  Jade Carter has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

  Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

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  Contents

  Acknowledgement

  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

  Epilogue

  Newsletter Sign up

  Acknowledgement

  Thank you to Angela Haddon, who designed the cover for this book! You can find her at https://angelahaddon.com/

  Chapter 1

  Emma Flynn

  Music blared out across the club as I made my way over to the bar, finally able to get away from the two men my dad had sent to keep an eye on me. I always liked to tell myself I had to be watched over because I was that important, but honestly, I knew my dad was just worried. Not everyone happened to be the daughter of the head of one of the city’s most powerful mafia families, and while that certainly had perks (a few free drinks, skipped queues, and the occasional celebrity coaxing their way into my dad’s good favor) it also meant I had to put up with my dad sending out some of his henchmen to make sure I didn’t get into any trouble. They were a nuisance but, there was some fun in running circles around them. Ask them to do any number of violent crimes and they wouldn’t even blink, but ask them to keep an eye on a 20-year-old woman and all the color drained out of their faces.

  I must admit, the two he’d sent today were a little different. I’d known Jason since I was a little kid, he was basically my uncle, so a babysitting job was pretty beneath him. While they try to keep me out of family business, I’m not blind, Jason is way too high up in the family to be on babysitting duty, and the other guy… Well, he was something alright. Bellamy, my brother’s bodyguard, was the sort of guy that had the looks and feel of a man that could ruin any girl in the city. Tall, handsome as sin, and piercing green eyes. The strong, silent, and mysterious type. You know, the sort of guy that doesn’t speak much but when he does, you can hear a pin drop because everyone needs to hear what he says. It was pretty typical that I had known him for well over 3 years and he’d barely said so much as ‘hello’, even tonight he looked about as interested in watching over me as a cat has an interest in an old dog. Still, it was a little strange that two people so high up in the family were on watch that night.

  Everything had gotten tense recently. Our family and the Russian mafia were basically on the brink of an all-out war. And now, because of that, I couldn’t go and enjoy a night out without two 6 foot plus guys watching my every move. Which of course made having fun or, God forbid, finding a man sooo easy. Like, I understood the risks and why those guys were here, but it didn’t stop it from being incredibly annoying.

  I breathed a sigh of relief as I got away from them and called over to the barman,

  “Can I have a Margherita please?” The barman nodded, but before he could turn to grab my drink a tall man popped up beside me and coolly interjected,

  “Make that two.” I almost had to roll my eyes at that, but he was pretty cute so no harm in accepting a free drink. I looked over at him nonchalantly as his eyes ran up and down my body in a way that could be described as anything but subtle. Well, at least he wasn’t hiding his intentions.

  “Looking for something?” I asked sharply, his eyes immediately jerking back up to meet mine.

  “Sorry babe, just appreciating the female form.” Ugh, why were guys always like this? Or at least the ones who approach me always seemed to be interested in one thing and one thing only. Like, do I have a problem with casual sex? No. But some subtlety would be appreciated guys! Is it so much to ask for a guy to come over and actually be charming or witty?

  His eyes flitted over my shoulder and back to me, so I looked to see what he’d glanced at and, speaking of charming, Bellamy was calmly walking over.

  “That your boyfriend?” The creepy guy asked as he nodded at the approaching Bellamy.

  “No.” I sighed, “more like a demonic babysitter.” The guy snorted and grabbed his drink from the barman before taking a gulp. He seemed to be swaying a little, clearly a few drinks ahead of me.

  “Hey man! She doesn’t need a babysitter!” I closed my eyes in second-hand embarrassment as the guy shouted at Bellamy as he reached our side of the bar. Bellamy looked the guy up and down for about half a second before smirking to himself and focusing his attention entirely on me, acting as if the drunk shouting man didn’t even exist.

  “Your father wouldn’t want you talking to…” He glanced at the guy again, “this.” His voice was as smooth as his flawless skin, as if he wasn’t already attractive enough.

  “Hey-” the guy tried to interject.

  “Well, my dad doesn’t control my dating life.” Bellamy raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth upturning in a slight smirk.

  “If you say so.” He said mockingly, shrugging his shoulders. “With what’s going on, I’m on strict instructions not to let this go any further. So, I suppose he does in fact control your dating life.” I could feel the heat rising to my face as my cheeks went red. How dare my father try to control who I date! I’m sick of everything being so controlled, I didn’t care what Bellamy or my father or my brother says, I was going to date and do whatever I wanted! I smiled curtly at Bellamy and then leaned into the increasingly confused drunk guy and kissed him deeply. Now, usually my standards are a lot higher than creepy drunk dudes at a bar, but sometimes actions are louder than words and Bellamy needed to get the message he wasn’t in charge here, even if he was convinced he was. I pulled away from the guy who had a half confused, half ecstatic smile on his face and glanced back at Bellamy.

  “You still here?” He watched me intently, not saying a word, seemingly rolling over thoughts in his
head. But then he just shrugged his shoulders,

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Emmeline.” He smirked one more time before turning and walking back over to the other side of the bar where Jason sipped at a whiskey. No one called me Emmeline, not since I was a little child. Everyone in my family knew I hated it, so considering how much time he’d spent with my brother, that was definitely on purpose. I had to bite my tongue because I knew from that little smirk he wanted a reaction from me. Well, I wasn’t going to be baited by him, no matter how smug he was. I turned my attention back to the confused drunk guy who was now smiling at me like a giddy child. Oh dear, now I have to get myself out of this mess. He slicked his hair back as if he thought he was a model and squinted while he talked.

  “Let’s get out of here baby, my place is just around the corner.” I genuinely felt a little sorry for him.

  “Oh, sorry, I just want to dance. The bar is good enough.” I laughed nervously at the end of my sentence.

  “But the babysitter is gone.”

  “Okay, he’s not actually my babysitter, and sorry, you seem nice,” (he did not) “but I’m not looking to go back to yours.” He furrowed his brow.

  “But-”

  “I’m just gonna go to the bathroom.” I slipped away from him as quickly as I could and headed in any direction, away from him and away from Bellamy and Jason. I just needed a minute to myself without a guy of any description watching my every move, especially anyone related to the Irish mafia.

  I couldn’t believe the audacity of Bellamy or my father. He always complained about me being headstrong, well maybe if there weren’t a hundred eyes on me at all times I wouldn’t feel the need to be free so strongly! It was honestly exhausting. Thoughts of my family and Bellamy’s annoyingly attractive face raced through my head and battled for my attention, so much so that I didn’t notice myself taking a wrong turn. The bathroom in this place was out to the side in a quiet part of the bar. I looked up and realized I’d gone to the end where the men’s bathroom was, I rolled my eyes in frustration at myself and turned on my heel only to see the doorway blocked by the drunk guy that had been talking to me moments before. All of a sudden I was very aware of just how much bigger than me this guy was and just how alone the two of us were. The music pumped out faintly from the bar behind him, softly masking any noise that might come from the tiny backroom we stood in.

  “You shouldn’t lead a guy on like that.” His words were slurred, and he seemed to be having a hard time focusing his eyes. I gulped and very calmly reached into my purse, doing my best not to draw attention to it, as I fumbled for the pepper spray my dad had insisted I carry with me.

  “Don’t ya think?” He raised his voice, slowly stepping towards me. I backed away as he approached, only for him to reach over and grab my forearm, his fingers digging into me as he dragged me towards him.

  “Stop.” I yelped and kicked at him, panic rising inside me as it dawned on me that I was totally on my own against this guy.

  “Shut up, bitch.” I slapped him hard, the smacking sound echoing around the room. “I love it when they fight back.” He said to himself, his disgusting breath unavoidable as his grip tightened around my forearm. I winced away from him and then felt a jolt of adrenaline as my free hand wrapped around the pepper spray in my purse.

  “Screw you,” I shouted as I whipped it out and aimed it straight at his face. But before I had a chance to spray him, his free hand grabbed my other wrist and forced it back down, aiming the spray at the floor. He pushed me up against the wall and mumbled out,

  “Nice try. I-” He was about to say something else as a loud cracking sound filled the room and his grip around my wrists went lax and he crumpled to the floor. Bellamy stood over the drunk man’s crumpled body, his gun in hand. He hadn’t shot the guy, he’d just given him a hard whack with the butt of his gun on the back of the head.

  “Are you okay!?” He reached over to comfort me, but before he could I had already taken a few cheap shot kicks at the drunk guy.

  “Asshole!” I let out all of my anxiety and adrenaline and anger on that stupid drunk creep. Bellamy stood back for a second before stepping in,

  “Okay, okay, we don’t wanna kill him.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Bellamy smirked at that and pulled me back.

  “You alright?” He placed both his hands on my shoulders and looked at me, studying my face, seeing for himself if I was okay. I brushed him off,

  “I’m fine, I had that handled, you didn’t need to step in.” He raised an eyebrow.

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “Well Emeline, I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.” I looked over at him in disgust. Really? I’d just been attacked by that creep and all he could think about was being right.

  “Well, I’m glad you feel smart Bellamy.” I glared at him for a second that felt like an hour, his green eyes coolly meeting my stare. He shrugged.

  “If you’re going to act like a brat, I’ll treat you like one.”

  “What did you just say? How dare-” As I was mid verbal assault, his phone buzzed in his pocket and he immediately ignored me and went to answer his phone.

  “Yeah?”

  “Excuse me! I was talking you fu-”

  “Of course. Right away Sir.” Bellamy glanced at me as I stood there fuming at him. “I’ve got to go.” And without another word, his back was facing me and he was out of the room. Then, Jason finally arrived and received just as curt a goodbye from Bellamy as he left, “I’m leaving, make sure she doesn’t do anything else stupid.” Jason nodded and then absorbed the scene in front of him. The crumpled creep and the shocked and fuming Mafia boss’s daughter.

  “Well. He’s charming, isn’t he?”

  “A delight,” I said sarcastically.

  “What happened here?” He nudged the creep with his foot.

  “Creepy guy, the robot over there knocked him out… But I had it covered.”

  “Right.” Jason nodded and looked around the room, searching for a conversation that wasn’t there. He’d always been the sort of guy to talk non-stop, friendly but sometimes annoying. He opened his mouth to say something but then stopped himself, seemingly toying with the thought in his head.

  “What is it Jason?”

  “Oh, it’s family business, probably shouldn’t say.”

  “I am family!” He chuckled at that.

  “True. Well, like I said, I shouldn’t say, but… Guess where he’s off to.”

  “Probably going to sit silently and brood in a dark room.” Jason chuckled.

  “Not today, no. He’s probably off to the sit down with the Russians. I tell you I should have been at that table! Don’t know why your dad stopped bringing me. To think he’d rather have your brother’s bodyguard than me! I’ve been with this family for years. I-”

  “What?” I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. After everything they’d done to our dad was gonna have a sit down with them. I didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the opening of old wounds, but all the adrenaline suddenly rushed back into my body. There’s no way my brother would allow this. How could he!

  “Where?”

  “Probably neutral ground. My guess would be that old Italian restaurant Luciano’s.”

  Without another word, I stormed past Jason, Luciano’s already tapped into my Uber app destination.

  “Wait! You’re not supposed to go!” Jason’s voice trailed off behind me as he realized there was no stopping me.

  Chapter 2

  Bellamy Temple

  I arrived at Luciano’s a little early, which gave me enough time to get a whisky to calm down the faint tingle of nerves. It was very rare that I got nervous about anything, but this sit down was the type of event that, if it went wrong, could cause a lot of pain for a lot of people. So, as I sat down on one of the chairs just outside the restaurant front and sipped at the whiskey, I couldn’t help but wonder why I was thinking about Emma Flynn. My mind
should have been squarely on the Russians, I should have been eagle-eyed for absolutely anything that could have gone wrong… and yet it was that spoilt brat that kept on creeping into my mind. I just couldn’t believe the recklessness of that girl. Everyone who was remotely associated with the family knew that things were on a knife-edge, so not the time to be out partying or talking to random men. I noticed my brow furrowing and a light scowl inching across my face. Well, good. The meaner I looked, the less trouble we were likely to get into. But the thought of her face as I cut her off to answer my phone brought a little smile to the corner of my mouth. There was something so satisfying about showing her she wasn’t actually the center of the universe. As far as I could see, she’d had everything in her life given to her on a silver platter by her father. She might be smart, attractive… she might be a lot of things, but she didn’t understand having to fight for your place. I’d spent every minute of my life clawing for the position I’m in now, so seeing someone be so careless was infuriating. And yet, my mind kept going back to the fire in her eyes when she’d insisted that she could have handled it. She absolutely couldn’t have, but the passion for her independence made me smile. It intrigued me. The way that her dress had clung to her curves… No, she was the boss’s daughter, so I couldn’t even entertain thoughts like that. In any case, it wasn’t an experience I’d have to get used to, I was above babysitting and I’d never have to put up with her nonsense again. Anthony Flynn had wanted someone he could trust to make sure she didn’t get wind of this sit down, we couldn’t afford emotion getting in the way of today, so for the first time (and hopefully last) I was the one looking after her. Only God knows how much convincing it took to get Anthony and Callum Flynn to agree to this in the first place. The last thing we needed was Emma rushing in at the last minute or convincing her father and brother it was a bad idea.

  Callum Flynn’s car pulled up next to the restaurant as I gulped down the rest of the whiskey. Callum, Anthony, and a few other associates got out of the car. All of them wore tailored suits that were akin to my own. Callum was tall and slim, far too charming for this line of work. He had his hair shorter than usual, framing his high cheekbones and cold blue eyes. While his father Anthony was a lot shorter and broader, the only feature they shared being his equally cold, blue eyes. Callum nodded at me as they all approached and shook my hand one by one. The difference between Callum and his father could be summed up by the jewelry on their hands. While Callum wore a few expensive rings and an even more expensive watch, his father had a simple wedding band.