Page 17 of Endless Summer

“Is this official business? Should I involve my boss?” she questioned.

“No,” Lucky quickly said. He took a step towards her, closing the gap between them. Jules wasn’t sure if she should feel more panicked or turned on by the big guy's proximity. She was pretty sure it was the latter that was making her panties wet. Lucky bit his bottom lip into his mouth and it took all her concentration not to moan and lean into his big body.

“What’s the plan here Lucky?” she asked, needing him to say whatever it was he came to tell her. She needed to put some much-needed space between the two of them before she did something stupid.

“Will you please come with me?” he nervously asked, holding out his hand, waiting for her to take it. Jules knew she should tell him to go to hell and walk away. She was so close to her office; she could almost see the guard standing inside the building. If she took off running, she might be able to reach the guard before Lucky could catch her. Jules looked down at her heels and shook her head, knowing that her plan wouldn’t work. Everything inside of her was screaming at her to run, to get away from the big, sexy-as-sin man who stood in front of her, but Lucky’s next words had her changing her mind and even reaching for his big hand.

“Please, Jules,” he begged. “I need your help.”

Lucky

Bruno Gallo wasn’t sure that his plan would work but he knew that if he could get Jules Leone to trust him, he just might have a shot at saving his little brother. He was Nicola’s last hope and letting him down wasn’t an option. Ever since their parents died, ten years ago, he had taken care of Cola. He was just twenty at the time and the thought of taking care of his thirteen-year-old brother scared the shit out of him, but what choice did he have? He couldn’t let his little brother end up in the foster care system and chance never seeing him again. So, he joined the Gallo organization; overlooking the fact that they were probably the cause of his parents’ accident. They were driving home from the movies one night and their car ended up at the bottom of the river. There was no explanation given by the coroner as to how they might have died, and both of their deaths were labeled accidents. People inside the families talk. When the rumors started circulating about his parents, Lucky was able to piece enough of the fragments together to figure out that the same people his father worked for ended up making sure that he and Lucky’s mother went to their watery graves. He was there when the authorities exhumed his father’s Chevy from the bottom of the river. After all the water was drained from the vehicle, his mother and father’s bloated bodies were found still buckled in their seats, holding hands. That image still haunted Lucky to this day and there would be no getting around the fact that given the right circumstances, the Gallo family would do the same to him.

Around a year ago, he gave them the right reasons to want him dead but instead, they decided to take their pound of flesh out on his little brother. They had Cola and were initiating him into the family. At twenty-three, Cola thought he wouldn’t be asked to join the organization. The last thing Lucky wanted was for his little brother to get involved in the family but since helping Jules and her family, that choice was taken away from Cola.

When his cousin, Luca Gallo called him and begged him to help out his little sister, Mila, he had to agree. Luca and Mila were his blood relatives, and he had no idea that the Police Commissioner was involved. But little Mila had gone and gotten herself tangled up with the former Comish and Lucky couldn’t go back on his word. He got the Commissioner’s sister, Jules, and his son, Michael, away from the guys who had taken them—his guys, the Gallos. They thought they were handing the “prisoners” over to him under Isabella Gallo’s orders, but he had lied. He was good at that—lying and now he had sucked Jules into another one of his fabrications. He hated doing it to Jules, but he had no other choice; saving Cola was his top priority.

When he heard that they were going to send Cola in to kidnap Jules again, he volunteered to go in his brother’s stead. He convinced Isabella to give him a chance to prove his loyalty and she saw his reasoning in that he already knew Jules well enough for her to trust him. Isabella loved a good double cross and when he sold his story of betrayal and deceit, she couldn’t agree to his plan fast enough. The matriarch of the Gallo family had been holding her cards close to her vest and when she played the one about having another one of her guys tag along to babysit him, while he kidnapped Jules, wasn’t one he was expecting. Lucky had hoped to get Jules someplace safe and then use her as a bargaining chip to secure Cola’s freedom. But this new guy, Zan wasn’t going to let anything fuck up Isabella’s plan to bring Jules Leone back to her. Lucky didn’t even want to entertain what was planned next for his pretty captive.

The only thing Lucky was sure of was the fact that he couldn’t trust Zan Santoro, and he’d die before letting anyone else touch Jules.

Zan

Zan Santoro waited in the driver’s seat of the van saying a little prayer that no one around the Police Commissioner’s office spotted him and blew his cover. He tried to convince Lucky to let him park around the corner, to stay out of sight but the big guy refused. Lucky said that it would be easier to get Jules into the van if they were close to the building she worked in and Zan just hoped he was right.

Zan spotted Lucky walking hand in hand with probably the sexiest woman he’d ever seen. She had curves for days and her tight sweater and pencil skirt that hugged her every outline had Zan nearly swallowing his damn tongue. Lucky pulled the door open to the back seat and helped the curvy little brunette into the back of the van. Zan had to hand it to the big guy, the woman seemed to have no clue she was being kidnapped. Hell, she even seemed to willingly climb into the janky van they were using. As far as abductions went, this one had to be the smoothest ever.

“This is Jules Leone,” Lucky politely introduced. Zan nodded and waited for his partner to climb into the passenger seat but instead, Lucky slid into the back seat next to Jules. “Drive,” he barked, glaring at Zan in the rearview. He did as he was told but when they got to the safehouse, where they were supposed to hold pretty little Jules for a few days, they were going to have a talk about who was in charge. Isabella Gallo didn’t send him along to take orders; he was there to give them, and it was time he reminded Lucky of that fact. He couldn’t risk blowing his cover, not after he had come so far.

Zan wasn’t sure what the hell he was going to do about the fact that they were effectively kidnapping his new boss's assistant. He had taken the undercover job, for the new Comish, just before Jules was hired on. He’d only met the Comish once and Jules had that day off. They had spent the afternoon shooting the shit and getting to know each other. Zan had to admit he liked the guy. He asked Zan what felt like a million questions about his time working for one of Chicago’s crime families and Zan told him how he had gotten out of that organization and decided to do something good with his life. That was when he joined the Army and eventually made his way into Chicago’s finest, working his way up to detective. He was lucky to get out of the family at such a young age. He was able to start over and find a way to do good with his life. That wouldn’t have been a possibility for him if he had stayed with the mafia family. Now, at forty, he was ready to get out altogether but his dream of starting a detective agency never seemed to fully pan out. He decided to stay undercover and finish working for the force until he was up for early retirement. Then, maybe he’d be able to find a way to make that dream a reality—if he could stay alive long enough to make that happen. He wasn’t a fool though. Zan knew that working undercover, in one of the largest mafia families in Chicago, would land him in hot water and probably dead before he ever saw retirement. It was the life he had chosen though and one he’d chose all over again.

“So, you want to tell me where you are taking me, Lucky?” Jules piped up from the backseat. Lucky seemed more nervous by the minute, and he wondered what the big guy was planning exactly. He knew that this woman and he had a history and from the way Lucky looked at her, it was a personal history that made Zan worry. There was a reason why Isabella Gallo didn’t trust Lucky and that was because he had already double-crossed her for this same woman. Zan had a feeling that now wouldn’t be any different.

“I’m sorry, Zan,” Lucky said. Zan looked at him through the rearview mirror, spotting the gun being pointed at him at the same time he heard the cock of the barrel. “I didn’t want to do this to you, man but I have no choice. She has my brother.”

Jules looked between the two of them and down at the gun that Lucky was holding. “What the ever-loving fuck is going on here, Bruno Gallo?” she growled. Zan bit back his laugh at the way the feisty brunette used Lucky’s full name. Under different circumstances, he would have done everything in his power to get Jules in his bed, preferably under his body, panting out his name. But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about things like that. Now, he was going to have to try to figure out just what to do about Lucky and the gun that he had pointed at the back of his head. Zan had a feeling he wasn’t going to like his choices, but he had worked too hard to bring down the Gallo organization to let one lust-crazed lunatic destroy all his hard work.

Bound by Her Mafia Bosses (The Bound Series Book 1) Universal Link-> https://books2read.com/u/4X0Zg7

Bound by Her Mafia Bosses is a spinoff of the Ties That Binds Series. If you want to catch up on the three-book series that launched The Bound Series, check out this excerpt from Saving Valentine.

Valentine

Valentine sat by the front entrance, waiting for her contact to walk into the hotel. She had spent the better part of a week now trying to set up this appointment. Tonight was no different. Val knew that it was a long shot, but if this guy was really keeping tabs on her brother, she’d sit in that stuffy lobby all night long.

Four more couples walked through the lobby and disappeared to their rooms and one family with three rambunctious kids checked in for the night. Val smiled to herself as she watched the two younger children fighting over a toy. It reminded her of Anton and the way the two of them used to fight about everything. They drove her poor mother crazy. Now, she’d give just about anything to see Anton again, including risking her own life, to meet a complete stranger in a hotel lobby.

Val checked her watch one last time before she stood and smoothed her hands down her slender thighs, ironing out imaginary wrinkles from her dress. She chose the blue crushed velvet number that hugged her every curve, hoping to garner a little interest from her mystery man. But that would only happen if he actually showed up. His text was short and to the point, telling her to meet him in the lobby at seven. It was now quarter to eight and she was starting to feel that he had stood her up. She was no one’s fool, and she wouldn’t start playing that role tonight. Valentine retrieved her purse and started for the revolving gold doors, that would lead her out of the stale air of the entombed lobby and onto the streets of Manhattan. She loved the city after a good rainstorm and tonight was a doozy.

The city was busy tonight and the excitement that she felt when she first stepped foot in New York bubbled up inside of her again. Val couldn’t wait to be able to call home and give her mother the good news that she had found Anton, but she wouldn’t be making that call tonight. Still, she wouldn’t let tonight’s setback turn her mood sour. She was in her favorite city again and the whole night lay before her feet, ready for her to make the first move. Val stood on the corner and hailed a cab, refusing to take no for an answer, even showing off a little leg to get the cabbie to stop. Valentine knew what her assets were, and she wasn’t above using them. If her body got her in the door, she’d use it to get where she was going.

Two cabs passed her by before a black limo pulled to the curb, effectively blocking her from the street. She shot a dirty look in the direction of where she assumed the driver would be sitting, not able to see through the tinted glass. The back window rolled down, revealing whom she assumed to be her seven o’clock appointment and she didn’t miss the amused smirk on his handsome face. He gave her the once over, his eyes lingering on her long, stocking-clad leg. Valentine released her dress and smoothed it back into place.

“If I knew that was the greeting you were going to gift me with honey, I would have hurried my meeting along,” he said. She had never heard his voice, always communicating with him via text. His deep baritone had her thinking of what he would sound like when he was aroused and needy, whispering praises into her ear, as she obeyed his every order. Hell, she needed to get her fucking hormones under control. Sure, it had been over a year since her last failed relationship, but she had her trusty vibrator to keep her satisfied and that was good enough, for now. She didn’t even know this man’s name—he was a complete stranger, claiming to have information on where Anton was. For all she knew, he could be a serial killer, and wouldn’t that serve her right? Her mother always warned her against falling for dangerous men, a lesson her mom knew all too well.

Growing up, she knew that her father wasn’t a good man, but he was still her dad. He ran with the wrong crowds and owed favors to men in high places. When they came to collect and he couldn’t pay, he wound up dead. Her mother tried to move them out of their little neighborhood, but once you were a part of that life, there was no getting out. They were left alone, for the most part, but once Anton turned eighteen, all her father’s old buddies started sniffing around again and before they knew it, her brother was in over his head. After almost five years of working for some of the major families on the Chicago scene, Anton went out one night and never came home. Her mother called her, begging her to come home, to help find her little brother. Val didn’t have the heart to tell her mom that her life was in California now and that she couldn’t give up her career and just run home every time Anton found himself in a little hot water.

Two weeks passed and the phone calls from her mom became more frantic. She was just as sure as her mother that Anton had gone and done something to either get himself killed or worse, run off. If that was the case, neither she nor her mother were safe, no matter where they ran. The families didn’t take kindly to deserters. They would drive that point home by going after the defector’s family, killing them off one by one, until they either turned themselves over or died trying. Valentine shivered at the thought of anyone getting close enough to hurt her mother. If Anton ran, she’d find him, and he would answer to the families for what he had done. Val would never let anyone, or anything, touch her mother.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com