Loving Vincent: A Mafia Romance Novella Read online

  Loving Vincent

  A Mafia Romance Novella

  Nikita Slater

  Copyright © 2020 Nikita Slater Writing Services Ltd.

  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.

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  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

  Epilogue

  Nikita’s Newsletter!

  Excerpt: Because You’re Mine

  Also by Nikita Slater

  Stay connected with Nikita!

  Nikita’s Underworld!

  About the Author

  One

  "Are you fucking kidding me?" Vince snarled.

  He stood slowly from behind his desk and shot Jared the type of glare he reserved for people that knew they truly screwed up. Usually the life expectancy that followed was extremely short. Of course, he wasn’t going to off his business partner and best friend just because his plan wasn’t going smoothly, but he was going to make the other man deeply uncomfortable for a few minutes.

  Cracking his tattooed, scarred hands he placed his knuckles on the top of his desk, which was littered with papers, and growled, "How exactly did things not go according to your plan? You told me to trust you with this. That you would make sure Enrico would get the information he needed to make the hit. Now you’re telling me it won’t go down as planned? Am I getting this right?"

  Jared nodded his big, shaggy head and looked grim. "That about sums it up. There were unforeseen circumstances."

  Vince breathed in through his nose, trying to call up some patience, a quality he wasn’t known for. "Tell me."

  "The girl refuses to cooperate."

  He frowned, trying to recall a girl. He hadn’t actually been briefed on many of the details. It hadn’t been necessary. That’s what he had people for. He just needed the hit done, so the fucker that cut off one of Vince’s suppliers was taken out and used as a message for anyone else that thought prison was a safe haven from his wrath.

  "What girl?" he asked impatiently.

  "The health nurse that oversees Enrico's insulin shots," Jared explained. "We’re using her to get a message to him. Enrico’s gang-affiliated, same as the rest of us. The prison locks them down tighter than a nun’s ass. No visitors, no calls. She's the only one he sees regularly."

  Vince nodded absently. He knew how the prison dealt with gang; he'd had the displeasure of experiencing their local penal system himself. It’d been a risky move putting any of them back in the pen for that reason. It had been Enrico’s idea to go in because he had a minor outstanding warrant, meaning he wouldn't be in the prison long. And Enrico’s need for health care gave Vince a way to send messages. Except apparently their nurse wasn’t bribable.

  "How much did you offer her?" Vince asked. Fuck, anyone could be bought. Jared hadn’t gone high enough.

  "I ended around five hundred large, just because she was pissing me off."

  "Jesus fuck," Vince exploded. "Half a million! Who the fuck does this bitch think she is? A trust fund baby?"

  Jared smiled grimly. "That’s just it, she lives like a damn beggar in a shack in the old army barracks on the edge of town. Place should be condemned."

  "I assume you went to plan B when bribery didn’t work?"

  Jared didn’t say anything, refusing to make eye contact. Vince swore the giant enforcer would’ve rubbed the toe of his booted foot on the carpet if he thought he could get away with it. What the fuck?

  "You didn’t force her compliance? Rough her up a little?" Vince assumed.

  "Not exactly."

  Vince rubbed a hand over his face, flexing his tattooed fingers over his eyes. "Why exactly am I paying you?"

  "I couldn’t do it, man. As soon I threatened her, she begged me not to hurt her. She said she has a little girl. You know how I feel about kids!"

  It was almost laughable that Jared, who was the size of a bear, could be brought to his knees by small children and mothers. Both men were ex-bikers. After decimating their own club for betraying them by setting them up after a drug pick up went wrong, they'd moved onto greener pastures and created their own opportunities. They both still looked the part with large, ruthless physiques, tattoos and take-no-prisoner attitudes. Most of the guys on Vince’s payroll fell into a similar category. Except for the Accountant. That guy was beyond fucked up.

  "Okay, fine. Where's the kid? Just threaten the little urchin. You don’t have to mean it, just shake mom up a little, get her compliance. I don’t care what you do, just do your fucking job."

  "Apparently Lola’s dad has custody. Jenna lost the custody battle because he has shit tons of money and lied about her mental health in court. He even made it so she only gets supervised visits so she has to see him four times a month, the fucker," Jared growled, popping his knuckles.

  Vince raised his eyebrows. "Did you have a nice cozy tea and chat with our little nurse who you’re supposed to be turning into an informant? Jesus man. So why didn’t you mess her up after you found out the kid wasn’t around?"

  Jared stared at him in disgust, like he had no heart, which was probably true. "She’s still a mom," he said, like that explained everything.

  Vince slammed his fist on the desk. "I own this fucking city and one little nurse thinks she can fuck up my plan? If we don’t get Enrico the time and place for the hit we’re going to miss our opportunity to send the fucking Ghosts a message," Vince said, an unholy light gleaming in his eyes. "I assume you have a file on her, with her complete schedule?"

  Jared handed it over without another word. There would be no arguing with Vince, even if Jared liked the health nurse. There's no way she'd be getting her daughter back now, she was about to become collateral damage in a war she didn't even know about.

  Vince flipped the file open and stopped cold, dark eyes on the contents. He picked up the picture in his long fingers and held it up taking in her sweet, pretty features and shoulder length red hair. Lifting his other hand he pointed at her, marking her with a finger tattooed with the word ‘hell’.

  Two

  "Fuck. My. Life," Jenna sighed, glaring down at her keys. Should she pick them up, or leave them and just sleep on her doorstep? It was about as comfortable as sleeping in her tiny bed in her tiny house.

  Finally, she bent over, swept the keys up and tried fitting them in the lock again, this time more successfully. She shouldn't have bothered though, it was unlocked. Apparently she forgot to lock the door when she left that morning for her shift at the prison. She wasn’t surprised, she’
d been distracted lately between fighting for custody of her daughter and picking up extra shifts at the prison.

  It’d been an extremely long day too. Deborah had called in sick, so Jenna’s shift had gone from eight hours to fourteen. Not that she minded, she could use the overtime. Especially since she poured every cent into her custody battle with her ex-husband, Zach.

  The house was dark. She reached out to turn on a light, but nothing happened when she flicked the switch. She sighed heavily. She’d have to find a flashlight, make her way down to the breaker box and try to figure out why light wasn’t happening. Jenna liked to think of herself as an emancipated woman, but it was times like this, when faced with a spidery basement in a hovel of a house that she wished for a roommate.

  Jenna dropped her lunch bag and purse on the living room chair and shrugged off her sweater. She was still wearing her nursing scrubs and running shoes when she reached out blindly in the darkness, heading toward her tiny kitchen in the hopes of finding a flashlight. She didn't make it that far. An arm wrapped around her waist from behind and yanked her up and off the ground at the same time as a hand clamped firmly over her mouth and nose.

  Jenna screamed into the hand and struggled wildly against the arms that held her. She tried to dig her fingers into the arm around her waist, but it was so thick and strong, she couldn’t move him at all. He didn’t say anything, just held her tightly as her struggles grew weaker. Tears gathered in her eyes as spots began to dance in the dark in front of her. Did Zack hire someone to kill her? Was he finally done with her presence as a constant thorn in his side?

  She knew she was about to pass out from panic and lack of air. Finally she went limp in his hold, hoping he might think she was defeated.

  He tilted his head forward. She felt bristles from his chin brush against her cheek and shuddered. A deep, sinister voice spoke quietly in her ear. "I’m going to move my hand. If you scream, I’ll be forced to hurt you badly. You understand?"

  Jenna wanted to nod, but she was too weak from lack of oxygen. He seemed to understand and took his hand away from her face. She gulped in quick breaths of air, sobbing at the same time, tears rolling down her cheeks. She would have collapsed to the floor if he wasn’t holding her so tightly. She felt like a doll, laying limp in his arms. He was a huge man, similar in size to the one that had been at her house the day before. Jenna was around 5’7", not too tall, not too short. But nowhere near his size, probably coming to just over his shoulder while standing on her own two feet. Though she wasn’t tiny, she felt extremely slight and breakable in his arms.

  She caught a glimpse of his hand as he moved it, and through the dim light from the street filtering through her living room window she could see the dark ink of tattoos. Though she couldn’t be positive, she was pretty sure he wasn’t associated with Zach, but with the guy who had come to her house the day before to menace her.

  He gave her time to recover her breath. She was becoming painfully aware that her ass was lifted and nestled against his crotch. She tried shifting away from him but his arm tightened painfully, forcing her ass more fully against him. She gasped and clutched his arm.

  "Please!" she whispered desperately.

  "You know why I’m here, Jenna?" His voice was a deep purr as it slid over the syllables of her name.

  "Yes." She nodded her head.

  He growled from behind her and brought his free hand up to grip her hair tightly, dragging her head back into his chest. He dropped his head until his lips brushed against her cheek, then her ear. He stiffened and then pressed his face against her hair and… sniffed her? It was a strange moment, but she got the sense he hadn’t meant to do that. He breathed in her scent, lightly at first, and then more deeply, finally burying his nose into the crook of her neck. It was weird. Especially considering she was coming off a fourteen-hour shift. She wasn’t exactly smelling like a bed of roses.

  Jenna stood up on her tiptoes, on top of his thick boots so her legs wouldn't just dangle above the floor. What should she do? Just stand there and be sniffed? Or beg for her life? She sensed she was being held by one of the deadliest men she’d ever encountered. And that was saying something for a woman that worked in a prison.

  Finally he spoke. "Tell me why I’m here, baby."

  "You’re… you’re here about a message for Enrico Garcia."

  She shivered against him. His arm tightened in reaction, causing her fingers to skitter over his forearm in fright. The muscle rippled under her fingertips. He widened his stance, slowly lowering her to the floor so she could stand between his legs, which made it even easier to tuck her ass back against his hips. She gasped, feeling the press of a sizeable erection against her.

  He chuckled darkly from behind her and pushed the hair back from her ear, running his finger over the delicate shell. She tried to flinch away, but he clamped his hand down on her shoulder, holding her still. "I heard you have a problem delivering my message."

  Jenna nodded, knowing she was dealing with a much different man than the other guy that had ridden up on a motorcycle and tried to threaten her, but proceeded to wrap himself around her little finger. This guy wouldn't be manipulated by the damsel in distress routine she’d been practicing for years for the lawyers and the courts in order to get her daughter back. Although to be fair, she’d never anticipated needing it for some scary biker guy.

  Without warning, the man holding Jenna shoved her forward into the wall next to the kitchen. She opened her mouth to yell, but snapped it shut on a whimper, remembering his warning to hurt her if she screamed. He landed heavily behind her, crushing her against the wall. He reached down and yanked her arms up, trapping them over her head by holding her wrists in one of his hands. He ground his denim clad cock against her lower back, unable to reach her ass now that she was on her feet. She bit back a whimper of sheer terror. Taking a fistful of her hair, he pulled her head back again.

  "That doesn't work for me, babe."

  She panted, terrified that he was really going to hurt her now.

  "Name a price," he growled in her ear, licking the skin just below.

  Jenna shivered, her thoughts scattering as his hot tongue traced a path along her neck. She was terrified of the man holding her, but his tongue was distracting her, making her feel things she’d never felt before. Maybe this is what a panic attack felt like? She was pretty sure she was hyperventilating, which was definitely a symptom of panic.

  "No… no price," she gasped, dread filling her chest. She’d gone through this with the other guy. But somehow she didn’t think this guy would take it as well as the other one. "I won’t be bribed into doing something illegal. I could lose my job!"

  He seemed to think about this before speaking. "So, you refuse to be bought?" he drawled, almost conversationally, though she could feel the chill emanating from him. This was a man who wasn’t used to people telling him no. "What if the price tag was something you’ve been trying to purchase for a very long time? What if I can get you your daughter, Lola?"

  Jenna went stiff as a board in his arms, her breath catching in her throat. A moment later a whimper of pain emerged before all hell broke loosed. Or as much hell as someone so much smaller was able to unleash on someone his size. She screamed insults, scratched at his hand where it held hers and kicked for all she was worth.

  "You piece of shit son-of-a-bitch!" she yelled. "How dare you suggest I drag my beautiful, innocent daughter into whatever fucked up shit you have planned at the prison? I’ll claw your eyes out before I let you say her name again. You miserable bastard! How dare you think you can corrupt my feelings for my child!"

  He seemed almost stunned by her fury, allowing her to freak out for a brief time, before he shut it down. Probably because the neighbors could hear and might call the cops. He picked her up, spun her around and slammed her back into the wall, dazing her into shutting up. He loomed above her, menacing in the moonlight coming through the window. She could finally see him and it was terrifying. He was prob
ably half a foot taller than her with thick muscles corded across his shoulders and roping down his arms. His hair was dark, maybe black or dark brown and cut severely short. He had a few days growth of stubble as though he couldn't be bothered to shave. Even in the darkness she could see the tattoos snaking up his neck and the teardrop tattoo underneath one eye.

  He stared down at her, fury glowing in his dark eyes. He drew back his fist. Jenna flinched and cried out as it crashed through the wall next to her head. Drywall danced in the air around her face making her cough as she breathed it in. He pulled his fist back, placed his hand on the wall next to her head. "You’re lucky I don’t take out babies or my next plan would be to go after Lola."

  She stared up at him with wide terrified eyes, unsure what to say or do. Though she didn’t trust him, she clung to his words. He wouldn't hurt Lola; he didn't hurt babies.

  His eyes roved over her. He seemed to be deciding something. He brought his hand up to her face. She flinched back, smacking her head into the wall. He ignored her and brushed his fingers down her cheek and over her lips. He stopped on the bottom one, pinching it between his thumb and forefinger, pulling it out slightly and then releasing it. His fingers were so big his thumb nearly took up her entire lip.

  "What… what are you doing?’ she asked.

  "I have to find a way to get that message to my man, Jenna."

  She stared at him with wide, blue eyes. She didn’t understand until he started to lower his head. "No!" she gasped and tried to lunge away. He grabbed her arm and yanked her into his chest, lifting her up onto her toes while he dropped his head to hers. He held her chin.