LAID BARE: A Dark Mafia Romance/Organized Crime Thriller

prologue

raven

My heart was pounding against my chest as I lay in the hospital bed, my lungs constricting.

I feared for my life. I took a deep breath in…and a deep breath out.

A deep breath in…and a deep breath out, doing my best to remain strong for my unborn child. Doing my best to fight this monster, and not let him get the better of me. Doing my best to keep going…even though it was proving to be more and more difficult.

“You think that just because you’re outside of my home you can open that mouth of yours, you bitch?” he snarled, making his way to my bed.

“You belong to me!” he bellowed. “You thought you could speak to the police about what I did to you?”

He cracked up with laughter, a menacing laugh that caused my head to sear.

“You don’t know I pay off the police to keep me out of jail?” he sneered. “You really thought you could get rid of me? You will never get rid of me. Never!”

He spat on me, clambering on top of me, slapping my face to the side, forcing me to look him in his eyes.

Before he began punching me mercilessly, I could feel my jaw snap as he continued to beat me. Not stopping for a breath. Not sparing me any mercy.

I faded in and out of unconsciousness as the pain began to overwhelm my body.

Limp, bruised and bloody.

My surroundings blurred around me. I did my best to speak, but I could barely let out a sound as he wrapped his hands around my neck, squeezing for all he was worth.

“P-Please, no!” I breathed. “You’re going to kill my baby!”

Tears rolled down my cheeks as he let go of my neck, a smirk forming on the corner of his lips.

“P-Please, it hurts too much…” I struggled, but it just came out as a murmur.

“I loved you and you went against me!” he roared, shaking his fists with anger as his veins pulsated their way to the surface of his skin. “You won’t walk out of this hospital alive.”

And those were the last words I heard…before everything went black.

1

raven

“No…” I screamed as I jolted upward from my sleep. “No, no, no!”

I began sweating profusely as I did my best to regain consciousness. The moon was out, glimmering against the window of my cheap, worn-out apartment, my torn curtains barely covering the view. There was no doubt I wasn’t in the hospital, pregnant with a baby, fearing for my life from the monster in my dreams…

I was in my own bedroom, in my own home.

I was safe.

I didn’t know why I kept having these weird dreams. These dreams of a man attacking me, possessing me, wanting to kill me. Nightmares of an abusive man holding a chokehold over my life…

When in reality, I was lonely, and I didn’t even have a boyfriend. My life was just working, day in and day out, and then coming home to my apartment, having just my sister for company.

I rubbed my eyes groggily, reaching for my phone on the bedside table. I gasped in shock as I read the time on the phone, which was ten p.m.

“I’m gonna be late for work!” I screamed angrily.

This wasn’t good…

This wasn’t good at all.

I needed to quickly get ready, because my boss was going to be mad at me for being late. Boss despised me and treated me like shit, and this would only add more fuel to the fire. I was supposed to be at the club over an hour ago.

I quickly tumbled out of bed, tidying my hair in the mirror, and putting on some leggings and a crop top. I didn’t have time to do my makeup or check for a proper outfit—I needed to set off straight away.

“This will have to do,” I muttered to myself, exhausted, and then began making my way out of my bedroom.

I saw my sister Sophia sitting on the couch with her legs up, watching the television. She was blonde, pretty, with bright blue eyes, and pale skin.