Queen of deceit a dark m.., p.1
Queen of Deceit: A Dark Mafia Romance (Mafia's Throne Book 2), page 1
Queen of Deceit
Mafia’s Throne, Book 2
Aidèe Jaimes
Queen of Deceit
Mafia’s Throne Book 2
by Aidèe Jaimes
copyright@2021 by Aidèe Jaimes
All Rights Reserved.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.
Copy edited by R.C. Craig
Cover Design by Aidèe Jaimes
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
About
Books Under Aidèe Jaimes:
Books Under Haden Hudson:
Chapter 1
DILLON
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…
Each second that passes is marked loudly by the clock on the fireplace mantle, each tick seeming more damning than the last. The sound reverberates through the unnaturally silent room, exasperating the deadly quiet.
Intensely dark eyes remain locked on mine, narrowed and furious. Several minutes have passed since we revealed my true identity. Since I sat on the throne he once occupied, taking my rightful place as the new king.
Fury is justified, and I understand it. I’d be angry too if I were in his shoes, sitting across the desk from me in a chair made for a capo, not a kingpin.
But even now as he stares at me, killing me over and over with his wordless glare, I can’t help but want him. He’s been defeated, yet he still exudes a power that beckons me, even if he probably intends to use that power to bring me down.
Any other woman would cower under such a threat. Not me. It only serves to fuel my lust for him. It certainly helps that he’s sexy as sin in one of his favorite black tailored suits that displays the width of his chest to perfection. At first glance, he’s all poised control, until one sees his heavily tattooed hands that speak of so much more. He’s danger dressed in a business suit.
Begrudgingly taking my gaze off him, I order, “Leave,” to the room.
Will lifts her chin to her men, and they file out. However, Enzo’s remain, glancing from him to me, waiting for his command to obey.
I shift in my seat, my throne, crossing my legs as I cock my head. “Will I need to retrain them to heed their new master?”
“Go,” he mutters so low that I can barely hear him, but they do.
They walk out in silence, the guards and Tony. However, when Adrian passes me, he lifts his gaze to mine, and in it, I see disappointment. At this, I do turn away and don’t look back until I hear the door shut. Hate and anger, I can take, but disappointment…
“Where are my dogs?” Enzo asks out of nowhere. “Dino was shot.”
“Yes.” I wince, remembering it vividly. There was so much blood. My heart tore at the possibility of losing him. Will shot him because I never clarified they were now my dogs. It was all my fault. “He’s on the mend.”
“So he’s alive.” He crosses his legs, mirroring my movement, and casually rests his forearm there. “I want them back.”
“Soon. When he’s fully recovered. Connie needs to stay with him. She’s the only reason he’s willing to lie around all day.”
“What about Danny Dudeck? I want him back too. In one piece.” His voice deepens to a guttural demand that doesn’t allow for debate.
The corners of my lips pull into a smile as I consider what he wants. I pick at a little scratch on the desk as I say, “All right. I’ll give him back to you the moment you return Dean to me.” I lift my eyes to his. “And in the same condition.”
His gaze narrows as he realizes what I’m suggesting. “Rose,” he says warningly.
“What?” I raise my brows. “At least I won’t force you to witness as his tongue is carved out.”
Silence again. It stretches between us, filling the room with tangible tension that compresses my lungs, and I suddenly feel my throat closing. Reliving the memory of a loyal employee’s tongue being removed because he had the misfortune of working for me.
Until that day when Lucian held me, rooted me to the spot with the best view of Dean’s torture, I’d never thought about others we’d lost that way. Until that day, they were nothing but a casualty.
But Dean… He watched me, clung to me for hope as he was made into a mute and still remained true to me, even when I did nothing to stop it. That’s loyalty that cannot be left unrewarded.
“Why?” Enzo asks, finally breaking the unbearable silence. “Why the fucking charade?”
“I told you.”
“I want the truth,” he says between gritted teeth.
“That’s all you ever got from me.”
He laughs, throwing his head back as his shoulders bounce, but I don’t believe he finds it funny. When his eyes snap back to me, any sign of amusement is gone.
“Every goddamn word that came out of your mouth was a fucking lie,” he accuses, pointing his finger at me as he does so. “From the very beginning.”
I slam my fist against the wooden surface of the desk. “I never lied. Not once.”
“I asked who you were, and you said you were Dillon’s!” he yells, ramming his fingers through his hair, breathing deeply in an effort to regain control.
“You heard what you wanted to, Enzo. That night, I said, ‘I am Dillon.’ I never lied to you. When you asked why I came to your club, I told you exactly why. Yet you chose to allow me to stay in spite of it. I even told you that you were too exposed. You knew I’d betray you if you let me go.” My jaw tenses as I fight against the need to scream at him for being so blind. “You know what your problem is?”
“Do tell.”
“You believed I was a man.” I wave a hand through the air dismissively. “Everyone makes that assumption; I’m used to it.”
He snickers. “You allow it because it suits you.” His lips part as he processes everything. “Dillon. Dillon Rose Callaghan.” My name rolls off his tongue in a warm rumble, almost as if he’s tasting it. And I like the way it sounds.
Clearing my throat, ready to move on to more pressing matters than the way my full name coming from him almost makes me whimper, I take a sheet from one of the folders I brought in and push it across the desk to him.
“What’s this?” he asks, bringing it to his eyes.
“That’s the list of new suppliers I want to work with.”
He tosses it back to me. “I’m happy with the ones I use. We have established relationships.”
“A fact I’m all too well aware of. We’re a new organization, and need to start fresh.”
“You think my current business associates will be happy being cut off just like that?” he questions. “That’s millions of dollars in loss for them.”
“I know. We won’t end our connections right away. We’ll slowly break ties, ordering fewer and fewer shipments. By the time we stop them altogether, they won’t even feel it.”
“I don’t understand. If you want to redo everything we have set up, why not just start your own syndicate. You could have had your own territory.”
“I want this one.” I push the sheet back to him. “I’m just taking back what was once ours.”
He sighs heavily, then picks up the list and scans it. “Most of the people you have on here don’t like me very much.”
“They’ll deal with it.”
“So that’s the plan. Get rid of everyone loyal to me.”
“Not everyone. You may keep your capos. Tony is good. I like Adrian. Lucian…” I flip my hand back and forth. “Him, I can do without. Where is he, by the way?” I probe, wondering if it would be worth my effort to bring him in and assess his worth.
“Out of your reach now.”
“So still in New Jersey?” I smile when his trigger finger twitches almost imperceptibly. “There isn’t much you’ve done I’m not informed about.”
“What do you intend on doing with him?”
“I don’t like him, but I won’t go after him, if that’s what you’re asking,” I say.
He nods and says something that takes me by surprise, “You should let Adrian go.”
My gaze narrows on him suspiciously. “Why’s that?”
“He’s only here because my father wanted him. With all these changes, he won’t fit in.”
“Hmm,” I say thoughtfully. “Even if that’s the case, he stays. I want him nearby so you don’t get any ideas.”
“That’s exactly what I don’t want…Dillon. He’s going to do something stupid you don’t like, and you might be the one getting ideas. He’s my brother, and I say that for his own good, he goes. You can appreciate that. After all, you and your sister must be close, and family is the most important thing. What did you call her?” He taps the tip of his nose. “Oh, that’s right. Will.”
Something in his expression makes me uneasy, though I’m not sure exactly what. “Adrian stays.”
He smiles, rubbing the five o’clock s
“Is that so?” I do my best to maintain eye contact, but his nearness almost undoes me. “I won, Enzo. Accept it.”
Pushing away and freeing me from his overwhelming presence, he moves to the door. With his hand on the knob, he turns to me. “You need to take a better look at that chessboard you seem so fond of. All you’ve done is expose your most important piece. And now…” His eyes rake over me in the same manner they did the day we met, devilishly confident that he’d get me. “I know who you are.”
Chapter 2
ENZO
8 Years Old…
My mother’s narrowed stare intimidates me, making my hand tremble as it hovers over the pawn sitting in front of my king. When I move it to the knight, she lifts a brow and I pull back.
“Make your move,” she tells me.
Once again, I drop my gaze to the chessboard in front of me, going over scenarios of what her next move will be based on what I do. But every one of them has me hesitating because I fear it’s the wrong choice.
“Enzo, you’re stalling,” she practically sings.
“Momma!” I screech. “You’re not letting me think.” For hours, we’ve been playing. For hours, I’ve been losing. It’s the same every time. While most parents would cut their children some slack, my mother seems hell-bent on teaching me the hard way.
Huffing, I move the bishop. It’s farthest from the piece I’m trying to protect, and I hope the move serves as a decoy.
In a flash, my mother swoops in with the queen I hadn’t realized she’d positioned so well.
“Checkmate.” She grins.
Confused, I glance around the squares, wondering what the hell just happened. Anger seeps into my veins, and I pound the table, sending the glass pieces flying everywhere.
“Why do you make me play this game?!” I go to stand before the fireplace, wishing I could throw the entire thing in there and watch it burn. That would certainly be satisfying.
“Enzo, pick up the pieces and set up the board again,” she says with patient authority.
“Why?” I whine, slumping my shoulders and doing as she says because I remember the last time I didn’t obey. I can still feel the sting of the paddle on my butt and how I couldn’t sit for a day. “I don’t know why you make me play. I suck at it. It’s just a stupid game anyway.”
She helps me set up the pieces, then takes my hand. Loving chocolate brown eyes look into mine. “There’s so much more to this than what you see. It teaches you patience, dedication, cunning.” When I glance at my feet, chewing on the inside of my mouth, she cups my cheek. “You will be a man soon, my sweet boy. These are all traits you will need to succeed.”
“But I never win.” I tuck my chin into my chest and dig my toes into the plush rug.
“That’s because you’re afraid of risk. You’re so concerned with protecting the king, you don’t see what’s in front of you. Sometimes you have to expose your weakness in order to coerce the opponent to reveal their strategy. And that’s when you strike,” she says as she punches two fingers into my side, quick as lightning, making me giggle.
Something comes over her expression at that moment, something I’ve never noticed before. Gone is the softness, the gentle gaze. But I can’t tell what I’m seeing, other than the fact that it’s frightening. I wonder if she’s truly teaching me chess, or if she’s preparing me for something darker in my future.
She points toward my seat. “Sit.”
I do as I’m told. Once more, I lose, and again, she makes me play.
“Take the risk!” she exclaims. “You’re making the same mistake. You won’t see where I’m coming from if you remain so guarded.”
“I can’t do it!” I cry.
“Yes, you can.”
But I never win, at least not today. It’s dinnertime by the time she lets me go. We walk side by side to the kitchen, and I stop just before we enter.
“Momma?”
“Hmm?”
“Will I ever get it?” I shyly lift my eyes to hers, feeling the heavy weight of failure on my shoulders.
She cups both my cheeks and smiles sweetly. “Of course you will. There will come a time where you control what and when you lose, and no one will ever beat you again.”
I raise my brows as I’m filled with awe at the certainty in her words. “Even you?”
“No one.”
Chapter 3
ENZO
Present Time…
I step out of the office to find the redheaded woman leaning against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. My eyes stray to the rose pendant that lies between her breasts, reminding me of who she is.
“You like what you see?” She smiles a smile that can only be described as wicked and conniving.
My gaze moves to where her pointed boot is placed against the delicate wallpaper behind her, and my hands roll into fists at my sides. “Didn’t your boss teach you that listening to a private conversation can be dangerous?” I hiss.
With a shrug, she pushes off and moves to the doorway where I’m standing, forcing me to the side. “Perhaps you should ask your lackey brother the same question.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The boy, Julian?”
“Adrian,” I correct.
“Whatever. It’s hard to remember all the Macaronis.”
My blood boils and a very distinct prickling spreads over my scalp.
She attempts to walk past, but I reach out faster than she can react and wrap my fingers around her arm. “Listen, you little bitch, and listen well. Regardless of what your sister has told you, this is not a permanent situation. I am the fucking boss around here and I don’t care who the fuck you are. If you don’t learn respect, I will make an example of you.”
“You don’t scare me,” she snaps back.
I lean over her, though, to my surprise, she doesn’t cower, doesn’t move a fucking inch. Instead, she glares at me with defiant green eyes that remind me much of Ro— of Dillon’s.
“I can see you don’t fear me,” I growl. “But you should. Unlike most of the men you’re used to dealing with, I don’t give a fuck what’s between your legs. I will kill you.”
Tightening her lips, she yanks herself free. “Yes, sir.” Turning on the spot, she enters the office and slams the door.
Bitch. I knew it the moment she appeared on the camera and blew a hole in Dino. She’d still be a bitch, even if she were a man.
For a moment, I remain, unsure of what my next step should be. But staying here for too long isn’t it. A glance around the hall I’ve walked down so many times, but today feels foreign, makes me want to run. To get the fuck out of this place that’s been invaded and forever changed.
Like me.
Unable to face anyone right now, I move into the hidden doorway and follow the secret passage to the main house. I exit near the study, intending on barricading myself inside for the next couple of hours. To dissect every millisecond of every moment and every conversation I had with her.
Was she right? Did she always tell me the blatant truth, and I chose to hear only what I wanted to, turning it into a sweet lie?
I am Dillon.
I’m here to seduce you. To find a way into your home, and into your bed.
I belong to the Callaghan family.
She said she’d always be honest, and if asked a question she didn’t want to answer, she’d still figure out a way to do it without lying.
I’ve never played against Dillon. Because she can’t play against herself.
