Thieving Hearts Read online

  Table of Contents

  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

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Sneak peek: Excerpt from Capturing Victory

  Bonus: Excerpt from Driven by Desire

  Sneak peek: Excerpt from The Assassin’s Wife – Book 1 of Angels & Assassins

  Other books by Nikita Slater

  Connect with Nikita!

  Copyright © 2017 Nikita Slater

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  ISBN 978-0-9958624-4-9

  Thieving Hearts

  by Nikita Slater

  Contents

  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

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Sneak peek: Excerpt from Capturing Victory

  Bonus: Excerpt from Driven by Desire

  Sneak peek: Excerpt from The Assassin’s Wife – Book 1 of Angels & Assassins

  Other books by Nikita Slater

  Connect with Nikita!

  PART ONE

  LOST TREASURE

  CHAPTER ONE

  How dare he show up on their door step?

  Katie flew out the door, a raging inferno of gangly limbs and teenage emotion. She was tall for thirteen. Her shiny blond hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail so it wasn’t in her face while she studied her biology textbook. Her bedroom window faced the street. She’d heard the roar of his car first. She pushed herself off of her stomach and peeked through the window as it pulled up to the curb. A tall, dark brute of a man got out of a black, older model vehicle and strode up their lawn toward their house as though he owned the place. He looked more evil than anyone she’d ever seen and she lived in a bad neighbourhood filled with gangs. She’d known right away who he was, which is why, stupid or not, she’d gone in for the intercept.

  She shivered under the malevolent look he gave her. His relentless eyes held nothing. They didn’t even gleam with life the way normal people’s did. What had she been thinking, deciding to confront the guy who’d been hanging around her 18-year-old brother? But she had to do something! Ever since Dexter decided he was big shot gang, he’d been disappearing more and more from his family and falling in with people like Roman Valdez. She couldn’t stand it. She was determined to say her piece, even if his body language promised she wouldn’t survive the experience.

  God, he was big! He was several inches taller than her with thick muscles roping his bare, brown arms. His skin was covered in tattoos. Some she recognized as local gang while others were foreign. All were terrifying to her, signifying blood and death. She hated them on sight. He wore a black sleeveless shirt over what she suspected were more tattoos and rippling chest muscles and a pair of old, torn up blue jeans. Though his clothes looked old and carelessly chosen, they were clean and fit him well. He reeked of death and danger.

  She suspected he was Latino, most likely Mexican, given his beautiful skin and eyes, and his last name. Plus, they were only a few hours from the border. She wondered if he was legal. Maybe she could have him deported. They stood facing each other for long minutes, the tension ratcheting up. So far, neither had moved a muscle, but under her fearful blue gaze, his lip quirked a tiny bit.

  “I can see your thoughts, little girl.”

  His deep, accented voice struck at her like a snake. She suppressed the need to shake under his scrutiny. He took a sudden step toward her. She jumped back, hitting the doorframe with a gasp. His hand landed above her head with a thud. He stared down at her with such loathing that she was certain she was about to die. She understood this intimidation tactic though. She wasn’t new to the neighbourhood. She did wish she was wearing more than a pair of ratty old sweat shorts with paw prints on the butt and a powder blue tank top. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice her lack of attire. His entire focus was on her eyes.

  She glared right back at him and then poked him in the chest. The dead cast to his eyes flared to life for just a second.

  “Back. Off. Our. Porch!” she snapped, shoving herself into him with the intent of off-balancing him and making him stumble backwards so she could leap back inside, slam the door and lock it. All she did was press herself up against the big man.

  They both stood frozen like that for several seconds, Katie seriously regretting her actions and wishing she’d let Dexter answer the door after all. She waited breathlessly for Roman to make a move. She didn’t have long to wait. His hands landed on her arms like steel vices as he shoved her backwards. Her head bounced off the doorframe. Luckily, her ponytail cushioned the impact.

  He bent so his lips were inches from hers. “Never touch me unless you mean it, little girl,” he hissed.

  She glared up at him, refusing to back down. “You’re just a bully!” she snapped.

  He shrugged, hands still bruisingly tight on her arms. “Maybe. Be a good kid and get your brother.”

  Lifting her chin, she stubbornly persisted. “No. I want you to go away and leave him alone. You're bad for him.”

  His lips tightened for a brief moment and he looked torn between amusement and annoyance. She suspected she didn't want him to fall on the side of annoyance. Oh god, why was she goading this man? She wanted to protect her brother, but what about her? Everything about this brutal human screamed violence. The very air surrounding him was a chaotic mist of death and she’d willingly flung herself into it for family loyalty.

  Finally, he let out a tiny huff and said from between gritted teeth, “I will say this once only, chica, then you will back the fuck out of my space before I hurt you. I am the only thing keeping your brother safe on these streets. He is in over his head and… he is good people… a good friend to me…”

  He trailed off, making a frustrated sound as though he didn’t know h
ow to finish. Katie tilted her head, trying to look past the tattoos and brutality. After a moment of silence, she asked quietly, “You don’t normally like people, do you?”

  He nodded, his gaze flickering down to her. He studied her as though seeing her for the first time. Her breath caught in her throat. She didn’t want someone like him to see her. He was far too predatory. Even at such a young age, she could feel something shifting between them. She tried to edge sideways, but he held her tight against the doorframe as he looked her over. After what felt like ages, he released her. She didn’t waste a single second. She turned and hurried inside, leaving him to find Dexter in the comfortable recesses of her family home.

  His deep voice followed her back to her room. “Run away, little rabbit, we’ll play another time.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  One year later

  “You said you would keep him safe,” Katie choked, glaring at the tall shadow standing in the door of her bedroom. “You lied to me!”

  She didn’t know how he got into her house in the middle of the night. She didn’t care. She wanted to hurt him as badly as she was hurting inside. And she knew each tear that dripped down her face was like a punch in the gut to him. She could see it written on his normally emotionless face. His hands were fisted at his side. Clenched as though he’d gladly enjoy every second of the agony he would cause the ones that dared to give her pain.

  They had barely spoken since that day on her family doorstep, but she saw the 21-year-old gangbanger her brother drove around with more and more often. Hanging out in the shadows, watching. For her part, Katie ignored the big, frightening man. Not always an easy task when her mom, a bleeding heart, seemed determined to coddle her oldest son’s best friend. Luckily, Roman wanted none of Mrs. Pullman’s affection and rarely accepted the many invitations she extended to the ‘poor’ orphan boy. Not unless Katie was going to be home as well. And she did her best to stay out of Roman’s way, disturbed by the way his eyes followed her every move, whether there were others in the room or not.

  Katie’s dad seemed indifferent toward Dexter’s friendship with Roman. Not that he had a choice. Mr. Pullman was a bookie who’d worked for the mob for more years than Katie even knew. It was how Dexter got involved in gang. They did dirty work for the guys her dad worked for. She resented the hell out of the connection, but what could she do? She was terribly afraid that Wendell, her next brother in line, would get sucked into the abyss of gang or mob life next. She just wished the entire family could move away and start fresh somewhere else. Some place safer.

  Now Dexter was dead and Roman had somehow known to come to Katie in her darkest moment. She wanted to cling to his strength, but she also wanted to scream at him and beat him. Her brother was dead and he couldn't make it better.

  Her anguished eyes never left his face as his long legs ate up the steps between them. Her body was collapsed in on itself on the bed, where she spent most of her time these past weeks since the funeral. There was no one to stop her. Dexter’s death had devastated the entire family. Her mom rarely left her own bed, lost in a world of prescription sleeping medication. Her dad almost never came home from work. Wendell was hanging out more and more with Alan Bancroft, finding comfort in the cars Dexter had loved. She was glad for him.

  Roman reached out and touched the top of her head, stroking her blond hair. He tugged several wet strands away from where they stuck to her flushed cheeks and tucked them behind her ear. She knew she must look awful, yet he looked at her as though she were beautiful. He always did, she realized. She didn’t know when he started looking at her that way, just that he did.

  “You need to eat, chica. And to sleep,” he murmured huskily.

  “I…” her voice cracked on a sob. She licked her lips and tried again. She whispered into the dim light of her bedroom, “I can’t… Dexter can’t do any of those things anymore. I just don’t want to, Roman.”

  His hand clenched over her head for a second and then he opened it to cup the back of her skull. His fingers were so long they slid into her hair and enveloped her completely. She closed her eyes and leaned into the comfort with a sigh. He stood so close to her that she could feel his chest moving as he breathed. She thought of how this man had protected Dexter, of how they had talked together, laughed together, driven around the city together. She was certain that Dexter was the only person that could draw out this side of Roman. The human over the killer. Just as she was sure Roman would have traded his life for Dexter’s.

  “I’m sorry,” she cried, fresh tears springing to her eyes. “I know you couldn’t have done anything. You wer… weren’t there when they got him.”

  He stiffened next to her. “I wish I was.”

  She shook her head, her hair pulling sharply in his fingers. She savoured the pain. It was the first thing she felt after weeks of numbness. “No, Roman, if you were there, you might have been killed to.”

  “Fuck,” he growled, his fingers tightening in her scalp to a painful degree. She knew that he didn’t realize. “I wanted to die with him. He was my best friend.”

  She reached out and touched him. Putting her hands on him for the first time since that day on her doorstep, winding her fingers in his T-shirt as though she would never let him go. She looked up at him, her eyes pools of blue sadness. “I don't want to lose you too,” she whispered, the tears flowing freely once more.

  “Katie,” he groaned, dropping his heavy frame onto the small bed next to her. He pulled her onto his lap and held her while she sobbed for her dead brother, soaking his T-shirt through.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Four years later

  He’d waited five long years for her to grow up. He wasn’t going to wait a minute longer. He’d watched and waited as she’d flitted gracefully through her teenage years. He’d stepped in when it looked like a boy might be getting too close. As far as he knew, she never suspected a thing. His beautiful, innocent Katerina. He would do anything for her. Except let her go.

  He expected her to do the normal ‘girl’ thing on her eighteenth birthday and throw a party, or go out with friends. Not his Katie. She was busy packing her stuff in boxes and driving it over to the small, dingy apartment she’d rented a few blocks away from her family home. He was the muscle behind the move, so he was around to hear the worried arguments her mother subjected her to. She counter-argued every one. His girl was independent.

  Again, he underestimated her if he thought she would throw a party her first night in her new apartment. Instead, she shooed her mamacita out the door with a lingering hug and promise to call. Then she stepped back, locked the door and twirled on the spot, her lithe body twisting beautifully in the sunlight filtering through the grimy living room window. Her long, blond hair swung around her shoulders. Hunger beat a fierce tattoo in his chest. He was certain she forgot he was there. After he set down the last box he’d melted into the shadows and watched as she’d gently soothed her mama’s anxieties.

  I have a good job, mom, I can afford the rent. I’m about to start college and I need the space. I promise I’ll come home for Sunday dinners every week. You can use my bedroom for that extra office you always wanted. I’ll be fine, you’ll see!

  She would not be fine. The big, bad wolf was about to eat her up. Take the sweet virginity he’d been protecting for so many years and then never let her go. He’d wanted her from the moment he set eyes on her. Only, back then, when he was a stupid 20-year-old with no money, a black heart and a lot to prove, he had no idea what that ‘want’ would turn into. The kind of twisted, painful heart-wrenching love that would rip his soul apart. Katie was his salvation and she was about to find out.

  As he stepped out of the shadows, she proved to him that she knew he was always there by looking right at him and giving him one of her cock-hardening smiles that never ceased to make his chest swell with love.

  “Should we order in? I know it’s not the best birthday dinner in the world, but I really want to order from that diner down
the street my first time ever in my new apartment. Will you stay and share it with me?”

  How the fuck could he say no to that? He’d introduce her to the new realities of their changed relationship after she ate her birthday dinner. He wanted her to take him seriously, he didn’t want to terrorize the delicate blond. He was a big, scary, tatted up motherfucker. He was seven years older than her. Not as wide a gap as it used to be now that she was getting older, but still a lot to an inexperienced 18-year-old. Not that he’d been able to touch anyone else since her intoxicating presence had taken over any thoughts of another woman. He’d been loose with himself in his youth, but not since coming to realize exactly what Katie meant to him a few years back.

  They sat on the cracked linoleum floor of her new kitchen, leaning against her cupboards, eating Chinese food straight out of the containers with plastic forks. She didn’t have plates yet. Or a table and chairs. Roman yearned to provide her with everything she would need, but it wouldn’t be necessary. She would be moving in with him in a matter of days. She just needed to get used to the idea. Get used to being with him.

  He watched her mouth as she chewed her food and slurped at the Szechwan noodles. She savoured each bite and licked the fork to make sure she got each and every flavour morsel. He loved that there was no pretence with this girl. She ate with gusto and talked with her hands, describing the courses she was enrolled in at the local college. She didn’t seem to care that he made no effort to contribute to the conversation, only grunting his responses as he ate, never taking his eyes off her. She was used to Roman’s silent ways. They didn’t see each other often, but when they did he never deviated. He couldn’t tear his eyes from her.

  Finally, she dropped her fork into the empty container, set it on the floor beside her and leaned back with a sigh, rubbing her full stomach. A satisfied smile stretched her beautiful lips and she shifted her blue eyes toward him. “What do you think?”

  He dropped his half-finished container beside hers and leaned forward, his long legs stretched beside her bare ones. He lifted her hands in his and tried to think of what she’d been talking about. He could tell from the stiffening of her body that she was nervous. She wasn’t used to him touching her. Hell, she wasn’t used to him spending any time alone with her. Except for the time he sought her out after Dexter’s shooting, he usually avoided situations where they might be together. He didn’t trust himself around such temptation.