Stolen by the Killer: An Enemies-to-Lovers Dark Mafia Romance by Cara Bianchi

Author:Cara Bianchi [Bianchi, Cara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-23T16:00:00+00:00

16

Katie

The carnival is loud. Very loud.

Every couple of minutes, a rapidly building rattle, heralded by the growing chorus of screams. The rollercoaster thunders overhead, and, for a moment, all I can hear are the rider's yells of joy and terror. The wind whips my hair each time as the cars speed past.

Tinny pieces of music, repeating from the game stands. A mechanical fairground organ plays The Blue Danube, with a little animatronic monkey beside it, lifting his hat in time to the tune. I throw a dime into the cap on the ground beside him.

People talking, people laughing, people holding hands, people crowding together in queues and huddled under patio heater lamps beside the food stands.

My nose is filled with the acrid smell of burning diesel, hot grease from the food trucks, and a sickly sweet scent of cotton candy and donuts.

The lights flash, all trying to draw my attention. A coconut shy over here. A ring toss there. Every time I turn my head, a carny calls out to me, trying to tempt me to play and spend.

"Hey, pretty lady? You feeling' lucky?"

"I see ya, sweetie. You wanna see if my nuts are good for ya?"

I blush and cling to Mateo's arm.

I want so much to enjoy myself, just for a while.

Mateo is pointing things out to me, showing me the rides.

"A ghost train. Have you ever been on one of those?"

I shake my head. "I've never been on anything."

Mateo stops and looks at me, his eyes wide. "You're serious? I mean, not even when you were a kid?"

I shrug. "Only for the occasional photo opportunity."

"Ah, shame."

Why did I say that? I'm giving too much away. I don't think Mateo knows anything about me; if he did, he wouldn't have insisted on marrying me when he could just take me to Cyril and rake it in.

"How about we go on the Dodgems?" Mateo says. "I love them. I can drive like a total asshole and not get a ticket."

"Do mafia men usually get ticketed?"

He laughs. "Honestly, no. I was just, you know, making a joke. That thing I do you hate so much." He grabs my hand. "C'mon, wifey. It's happening."

"Okay. But I'm not getting in the same car with you if that's your attitude. I intend to drive around in the slow lane with the old people because I'm sensible."

Not least because I don't want any nasty knocks. I'm carrying precious cargo.

"Boring, more like," he says. I scowl, and he holds up his hands. "Okay, okay. Can't fault you. That's probably a wise decision."

His indulgence of me makes me feel valued. Despite everything, he's letting me just be me, and it feels good.

Cyril always said I'm a brat, but it's not true. I'm just someone who never had a chance to relax and be carefree.

I never even had a teddy bear.

"You gotta be shitting me," says Mateo.

I'm aghast to find I said it aloud. Just how crazy must I seem right now?

I hang my head, waiting for a smart-ass comment, so I can hit it back at him and move on from my embarrassment.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.