 by Jane Henry.jpg)
Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
And landed straight in the arms of Boston's most formidable and feared mobster, Sergio Montavio.
She's penniless and virtuous.
He's wealthy and wicked.
She's innocence and light to his depravity and darkness.
But when Sergio makes her an offer she can't refuse, Eden faces a Leave the only refuge she's ever known...or sell her soul to the Devil.
Devotion, a stand-alone novel and spin-off of the Rossi family saga, features a steamy, forbidden love, opposites attract billionaire romance. Mature readers only, please
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
CHAPTER ONE
Eden
“I’ll come back for you.”
My words feel like a strangled plea, as if I’m somehow begging Starla to believe me. I need to give her the hope I can barely hold onto myself. My hands in hers, I squeeze, trying to convey with a touch what words can’t.
I’ll move heaven and earth to come back for her, even if it kills me.
And it might.
When she squeezes back, I can feel her own desperation coming off her in waves, but she manages to put on a brave face.
For me.
Starla whispers back, “I know you will.”
I have to pretend I don’t hear the pain in her voice. The worst of it all is having to leave her in misery to set her free.
I stare into my sister’s hopeful blue-gray eyes and see the courage that I need. They see her as less than, as weak and damaged. Imperfect. Cursed, even.
I think she’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.
In her plaintive voice, barely above a whisper, she begs me. “Go, Eden. You have to. We’ll be back together again, I know it.”
Somehow, the confirmation that she knows I’ll be back gives me the little boost of courage I need to move. To face the wide-open world that’s a black hole of uncertainty. To leap over the cliff and into the wild.
A twig snaps in the underbrush of the woods beyond the fence.
We both freeze. My heart pounds so fast I’m dizzy. Long minutes pass while we wait for another sound. Finally, I hear a low growl.
I exhale in relief. A wolf or coyote, maybe.
They’re not who I fear.
Starla squeezes my hands again. “Go, Eden. Go!”
We’ve been planning this for months, for me to escape and get what I need to buy us both freedom—a home and money, whatever I can earn as quickly as possible. If I don’t go now, I may not get another chance for a year or more… or ever.
But now that the time has come—when I have to actually leave my sister alone, knowing the punishment she’ll face if anyone ever suspects she helped me escape—I can’t move.
“Eden,” she says in an impassioned plea. “Please. You have to.” She gives me a quick embrace, holding me to her. I can feel the bones in her back, her rib cage pushed up against mine. So thin and frail, she feels as small and fragile as a child even though she’ll be eighteen – and technically an adult— in two years.
I kiss her cheek. My lips are damp with her tears.
I love you, I think, but I don’t say it out loud, because speaking those words to her could send her into a tailspin. We’re not allowed to love anyone but God. It’s heretical, a damnable offense to tell her I love her. And I’ve already given her enough reasons to face the worst penalty.
But I hope she feels it.
I hope she knows it.
One day, I’ll tell her.
But for now, I have to show her.
It’s a scary place to be, when you’re afraid of what lies ahead of you and terrified of what’s behind you. But I love my sister.
So I run.
CHAPTER TWO
Sergio
“Boss?”
Gino’s husky voice draws my attention to the bar. I look over to my bodyguard, our stoic yet fiercely loyal enforcer, built like a brick-eating linebacker. He’s loyal to the core and not what I’d call the most intelligent guy I’ve ever met, but he can knock a grown man out with one solid punch and sniff danger out a mile away. In other words, he’s a goddamn human pit bull.
I’m glad he’s here tonight.
“Yeah?”
“You wanna drink?” he asks. When he grins at me, his gold tooth flashes. Goddamn Italian icon.
I shake my head. Opening night means I need to be in complete control.
“I’m good, thanks.” There’s a time and a place for a drink, but tonight isn’t one of them.
I stand at the entrance of Bella Notte, my pride and joy, and take in every detail. I scan the crowd for any signs of trouble. I can’t help it—Bella Notte is my baby, and the people here are under my protection. I can’t deny the sense of pride, ownership, and responsibility I feel. It’s taken years of work and planning to get here, and I won’t let anything slip. So I’ve checked every lock, gone over every detail, made sure everything is perfect.
Florence Mascarelli, affectionately dubbed “Aunt Flo” by our entire crew, saunters in as if summoned with a platter of meatballs. At first, I didn’t get why half the women in the family would crack up every time I said Aunt Flo was coming to visit, until my cousin Marialena filled me in. “But she likes it, Serg,” she assured me. “Makes her feel feminine.”
And if that doesn’t say anything about who she is, I’m not sure what would.