Stolen by the Mob Boss: A Mafia Romance by Bella Rose

Author:Bella Rose [Rose, Bella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mafia romance
Publisher: Bella Rose
Published: 2016-10-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter One

Lily held her breath as she sat on the steps. The old staircase was known to creak and groan at the slightest shift in weight. Right now, Lily couldn’t afford to let the men downstairs know that she was listening in. Her father would surely be angry, which would probably lead him to use the belt. Lily didn’t want the belt. Her backside still hurt from the thrashing she’d received the night before, after she’d been caught daydreaming and burned Papa’s dinner.

“I don’t have anything else to give you,” her father was saying.

Another man sat in the kitchen with Papa. He looked terrifying to Lily. He was tall with broad shoulders and hair that was so blond it almost looked white. He lounged at the table like a lazy lion. In his hand he held a knife that he flipped end over end without ever cutting himself.

“I’m not sure if your offering will cover the debt, Ivan.” The man stared at her Papa as though he were a worm. “Besides, what sort of man pays his gambling debts in human trade?”

“She’s a good girl,” Papa argued. “She’s pretty enough, and she’s a virgin. Surely there must be value in that.”

Lily cringed in shock and horror. Papa was down there using her as a bargaining chip? She squeezed her eyes closed and tried not to panic. She would not go with the stranger and that would be that. She was her own person with rights and choices. Surely that counted for something?

Knees trembling, Lily stood up and straightened the dress that one of her cousins had passed down to her. All of Lily’s things were castoffs from her many Pasternak cousins. Her mother might have been dead these ten years, but her family still tried to look out for Lily the best they could. Papa wouldn’t allow charity, but he didn’t consider secondhand goods to be charity. They were just other people’s trash turned to good use.

The dress was ill fitting since Lily was taller than Katerina Pasternak, but at least Lily was clean. She padded down the stairs on her bare feet and gingerly entered the kitchen. Wringing her hands together, she searched for the courage to state her case. She didn’t want to leave Papa’s house just to become a slave to a stranger. Papa might not be the nicest person all of the time, but this was the only home she had ever known.

“Girl, what are you doing in here?” Papa demanded roughly.

Lily glanced up at his frazzled red beard and wild hair. Ivan Denisovich could have never been called a handsome man, but her mama had told her that he provided for them and that was all that they could ask. Now she took a deep breath and prepared to beg for her place. “I don’t want to go with this man, Papa.”

“Is that so?” Her papa laughed outright. “And what makes you think there is a choice involved?”

The question caught Lily off guard. Surely everyone had a choice in such matters? “I have rights.

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