Physical attraction, mistrust and danger ensue when a mafia leader and his wife protect the witness to a family murder.
Mafia don Anthony Salvatori and his wife Eva are late to the wedding of Anthony’s brother Diablo. When they arrive, they find a wounded man named Austin who is the only survivor of a massacre at the ceremony.
The couple harbors Austin, seeking information while promising him protection. Mutual mistrust leads to conflicts until another attempt is made on Austin’s life. The three form an uncomfortable alliance that eventually turns to friendship, then mutual affection and attraction.
Even if Anthony and Eva can protect Austin from harm, can the love that’s growing between them withstand a mafia family’s intolerance, Austin’s disdain for Anthony’s profession and the complications of a three-person relationship?
General Release Date: 22nd October 2024
Anthony
My wife, Eva, and I were on our way to my brother Satan’s wedding. As the Salvatori crime boss, he inherited the name “Diablo,” which had been the affectionate name used by other relatives for whoever was the head of the family. Diablo was too innocent-sounding for my brother, whose birth name was Dominic. Many in Boston thought he could be the true anti-Christ, and Eva and I were inclined to agree.
For decades, the Salvatoris had been the most feared and respected mob family in Massachusetts. My father, Vinny Salvatori, had extended our empire beyond the original Boston borders, getting our hands into businesses that made quick money. When he had become the kingpin upon my grandpa’s death, he had been determined to put the fear into associates and rival gangs, and he succeeded through cunning, brute force—and bribery or blackmail of key individuals in law enforcement and politics. To his advantage, when bodies of known criminals were found floating in Boston Harbor or the Charles River, people in positions of authority had turned blind eyes. Most residents had, too, because they had learned over time that petty crime was lower wherever organized crime was present.
Papa was in his seventies now and a year earlier, he had deemed it time to hand over the title of Diablo and the day-to-day operations to Dominic—his firstborn son. While Diablo didn’t have the finesse, dealmaking abilities or smarts my father had, he created greater terror. His tactics were more ruthless than Papa’s had ever been, often employing torture before death. Diablo surrounded himself with goons who crushed skulls with vices, stripped skin with razors and gouged eyes with switchblades. Our family was already the dominant force in the Northeast…and Diablo’s heinous acts ensured we’d stay that way by scaring potential rivals. For the first time in the Salvatori family history, city and state leaders as well their constituents were decrying the brutality.
When I had married Eva, the daughter of Hector Santiago, crime leader of the most powerful Puerto Rican crime family in Massachusetts, my father and Santiago had envisioned a business merger that would benefit both families. For a while, that had been the case.
When Diablo took over from my father however, he replaced many of the Santiago members with his own men, either through threats or violence. My father-in-law protested and woke the next morning to a phone call from Eva’s sister crying that somebody had entered her home and slit her beloved cocker spaniel’s throat. Hector provided her with security and stepped up his own, then assumed a silent partnership in all family dealings thereafter. Eva had been outraged at the betrayal of my father’s promise, but she knew I was powerless to alter the dynamic.
On this wedding day, Eva and I agreed to pretend to be the loving brother and sister-in-law at the devil’s union. Diablo had set his sights on a young Italian girl named Loretta—the daughter of one of our organization’s key enforcers. She was as dim as she was lovely. Eva believed Loretta thought Diablo was an upstanding community leader—clueless about the kind of man she was marrying and what her papa did for a living. Although Diablo’s lascivious glances at Loretta convinced me he found her attractive, I doubted he loved her. He wasn’t capable. His main objective was to have a pretty woman on his arm to provide him with male heirs. I often wondered if Diablo already had some considering the number of women he had slept with and continued to bed even after his engagement. If Loretta was aware of his infidelities, she exhibited surprising smarts by keeping her opinions to herself.
My mother, who had abandoned the family a couple of years after I was born, wasn’t invited to the wedding. Once she had walked away from my father, he had kept her from us. I learned years later from Diablo that she had managed to contact him when he was in boarding school, explaining her reasons for leaving and her hopes of securing us. He had shut her down. Diablo wanted to be a Salvatori and his loyalty at the time had been with Papa. Either he had assumed that was what I wanted too or he hadn’t cared. My mother was nothing more than a memory to us now.
My father had anticipated watching his son exchange vows with Loretta, but he had become ill a week earlier and had been laid up since. I had been concerned for his health, demanding that our personal doctor examine him. My father was stubborn though, insisting it was just the flu. Diablo had dismissed my concerns, as well. Though I doubted my brother wished death on Papa, he wouldn’t have minded gaining sole control of the family. Diablo viewed Papa’s continued involvement in our affairs as intrusive and untrusting. They fought most days regarding strategy and tactics because Papa prided himself on having kept our family dealings under the radar when he had been Diablo.
I was snapped from my musings as I glanced at the antique Tuscan clock hanging in the kitchen. Eva and I were running late for the ceremony. She had complained earlier in the morning that she hadn’t been feeling well, and we wondered if my father’s illness was spreading. Eva and I, just like Diablo, had quarters in Papa’s monumental estate. As the only woman in our traditional household, she had been the one to spend time with him while he convalesced. Eva was strong and independent, so I appreciated that she played the role Papa expected of her—keeping him company reading and playing cards with him. However, I had warned her and Papa that their proximity might expose her to illness and this very outcome.
It surprised me, therefore, when Eva had told me an hour earlier that she was feeling somewhat better—well enough for us to make our expected appearances at the wedding. She emerged from our quarters, and I was amazed that she looked both healthy and as beautiful as the day I married her. Eva’s olive skin was flawless and I got lost in her large dark eyes. She wore a red lipstick that enhanced her luscious lips. I liked her long, glistening black hair loose, so that was how she wore it—though she topped it with one of those fancy hats that British women showed off at royal weddings. She wore a pink lace dress that hugged her eye-catching figure, cut low enough that every straight, sighted man would steal a peek at her perfect breasts. They’d keep their dirty thoughts to themselves, though. No man other than Diablo and Papa ever dared to disrespect me.
Gareth Chris has a degree in English and a minor in Theater / Playwriting. When he isn't writing stories about dashing men overcoming challenging situations, he provides consultative organizational design and executive coaching to international clients. He volunteers his time to local charitable organizations that focus on helping the less fortunate - particularly those needing food and shelter.
Gareth makes his home in the lovely New England area of the United States, where he, family, and friends enjoy the proximity to beaches, mountains, and numerous historical cities and sites.
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