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Zafira Guzun
The Guzun Matriarch, orComare, as everyone in the Bratva world called me. A name I earned as the wife of one of the most respected Bratva leaders ever. After his death, I stepped back, preferring to leave the hard decisions to my children… or so everyone thought.
Betrayal is a hard pill to swallow. This time, it turned sideways in my throat. Now, I’m being suffocated by those I loved and trusted unconditionally. No more… It is time they suffered the consequences.
Bogdan Rusu
Theubiytsa smertior the death slayer as everyone in the Bratva called me. A moniker I earned as the advisor to the Pakhan of the Guzun Bratva. I’m respected because I’m a nice guy… but I’m feared more, because I have no mercy.
Keeping Zafira Guzun safe has been my priority since her husband passed away. It hasn’t been easy, especially since she meant more to me than being my boss. She was my heart… except she didn’t trust me, and that hurt… deeply.
In the end, only one thing mattered…
Who needs to forgive and who needs to make amends… or will pride and hard-headedness be their undoing?
Excerpt: Dominant Nature
The Decadent Sins Series, Book 1. A dark, mafia romance series
CHAPTER ONE
The NCS Headquarters below the Restaurant Wholesale Depot, Marginal Way S, Industrial District, Seattle, Washington…
“I SWEAR IT WASN’T ME. I WOULD NEVER betray your trust; least of all steal from you! On the life of my wife and children.”
Torin Caruso, aka The Slayer, known only as Mr. S, the Crime Lord of the National Crime Syndicate, Kings Inc., watched the cowering man with disinterest.
“Since you insist.” His gravelly voice floated through the air with solid confidence. If the vibrations of voices were stories of emotion and honesty, Torin would fail at both. Emotion in his opinion was a waste of time, and honesty—like that fucking existed in the world he lived in.
Proof in point was the wiry older man watching him with growing terror in his eyes. As one of the most feared crime lords in the United States, honesty was the one aspect he expected from everyone who swore allegiance to him. Except for keeping his true identity from those in the crime world, and of course vice versa to those who were part of the normal life he lived otherwise, Torin was honest to the point of being insulting.
Lying to him came with a hefty price tag. Betraying his trust—well, that increased the debt exponentially—sometimes to a lethal level. William Kent was about to learn that the hard way.
Torin’s eyes remained locked on the trembling man, his eyes glowing like the darkness of Hades. “Fetch his wife and children.” He got up and walked toward the elevator, ignoring the fearful protest of the man who struggled violently against the ropes keeping him tied to the chair. He cast a sideways look at Razor, the Enforcer, who was almost as feared as he was. “Call me when they’re here.” He smirked as William Kent’s wails turned shrill.
“Please! I beg you, leave them be.”
“Shut his fucking mouth. He’s giving me a headache,” he said as the elevator doors silently slid closed behind him and immediately shot upward, carrying him the two stories to ground level. His entry upstairs as the CEO owner of The Restaurant Wholesale Warehouse was quiet. Since the elevator was hidden behind a bookshelf in his luxurious office, his coming and going underground to the operation hub of The Kings Inc. headquarters went unnoticed. Besides, no one would get past his PA, Lee Powell, who barricaded his privacy like a vicious guard dog.
He’d spent millions of dollars creating a myriad of tunnels from the entrance under the West Seattle bridge at the Duwamish Waterway. It had been done with the sole purpose of keeping the actual location of the underground hub a secret … not only from his enemies but also from his own followers and those who manned the operations room on a daily basis. Every time someone entered through the hidden hatch, accessible only by using an eye scanner that appeared to be a black pebble in the concrete bridge pillar, a preset electronic system lit up a different passage and locked the others with sliding walls. From there it wove in so many directions, no one could keep track of the direction they were going in. The same applied when they left, and never via the same passage as they arrived. To this day, no one knew about the shell company above that was one of the many he ran as a reputable businessman in the community.
He removed the black cap and large pilot shades that he always wore as Mr. S. It covered his silver hair and half of his face which aided to make him unrecognizable. He removed the long black coat that was part of the crime lord persona and replaced it with a blazer before he opened the hidden bookshelf and walked into his office.
To date, none of his trusted captains or soldiers knew his true identity. There were only two people, aside from his brother, who knew who he was to the outside world. One was his cousin, Matteo Caruso, who was the family representative on The Commission, as well as his advisor at the NCS. Since Matteo was a well known sports star, he had to keep his identity secret to the crime world as well. The two cousins had become known for the disguises they wore. No one challenged them about it. They were too shit scared.
The second was Razor, who had been his and Matteo’s friend since Torin arrived in the U.S. thirty-five years ago and moved in next door to his family. He was the only man he completely trusted with his life.
He flicked the switch next to the door, which turned the small light above it on the outside to green, indicating to Lee that he was available. Not surprisingly, she walked in minutes later after a sharp rap of knuckles against the wood.
“I’ve got messages for you.” She handed him a steaming latte and placed a plate filled with sandwiches in front of him as he settled behind his desk. “You missed breakfast,” she explained as he regarded her with a rising eyebrow.
“I didn’t. I ate at home this morning.” He took a sip of his coffee. “But I appreciate that you take care of me so well.”
“It’s a shitty job, but someone has to do it.” She offered a bright smile to soften the insult. Of all the people in his life, Lee was one of the most honest and straightforward people he knew. For that, he held her in high regard.
“I don’t need to be mothered. I had one, and believe me, it’s an experience I could well do without.”
He sighed as his response brought a frown to her face. If there was one thing Torin Caruso never did, it was open up about his private life. As a businessman, he always kept associations with his employees on a professional level, but somehow the lines had become blurred with Lee over the eight years she’d worked for him. For one, he trusted her and that was one thing he didn’t do lightly—ever.
