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Mafia's Cruel Arrangement Extended Epilogue
REXTen Years Later“Psst. Daddy.” A tiny voice beckons me out of my sleep. The shaking from the tiny hand that belongs to that tiny voice is a lot stronger than I remember.One eye cracks open to see college football playing on the TV. I turn over to look at the play area just outside the den to see an insane amount of toys on the floor, but most importantly, Raina’s markers are scattered about.Fuck.“What did you do, Rock?” I ask, Raquel, our seven-year-old who’s hellbent on getting me off the sofa.“Nothing, Daddy. Swear it. But the babies–” Her voice trails off while I sit up and wish for my wife to come home so I can get a decent nap.My feet swing over the edge of the couch, anchoring me to the light hardwood floors that cover the entire first floor of our sprawling home just outside of Colwood. I hated to give up my old house, but after Raina got pregnant with Riley, our five-year-old, it was time to get something bigger.We’re still on the same property but further back from
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement Chapter 1
MOLLYI had a problem.I was pointing a gun at a guy with green makeup on his face, and I kept thinking how he looked like that goblin guy from one of those superhero movies. A bubble of laughter was coming up in my sternum. I tried stopping it, I did, but once it was past my throat, it was hopeless.I bent over, my gun still in the air, and the laughter was kapoosh! Totally coming out of me.I winced, hearing a note of hysteria on the edge of it.“Molly!” That was my employee who was on the ground, his arms folded behind his head as he lay on his stomach, and I could hear how horrified he was.I raised my head back up, steadied my arm, and cleared my throat. “Let’s review the changes that just happened here. You”—I shook my gun, indicating the green guy—“came in here, to my bowling alley, to rob us. Correct?”He had a rifle aimed at me, and it was at this point I realized how crazy I really was.Like, seriously crazy.A rifle against my handgun. And I was laughing.I was verging on l
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 2
ASHTONThe screaming started again.Three hours into this interrogation, and he hadn’t given up a name.“He doesn’t know.” Trace pushed up from where he’d been leaning against the wall and dropped his arms. He raked a hand over his head, frustration coming off him, but I understood it. I did. It’d been three months since the bodies had been pulled from the water. While Justin Worthing had been a good employee, we were here because of Justin’s woman. Kelly. She’d been best friends, roommates, coworkers, and everything to Trace’s woman, Jess.They’d been sisters.“How’s Jess handling everything?”I was guarded in my approach.Jess and I, we weren’t on friendly terms. We weren’t on any terms, and for a valid reason. I’d put her through a torture session, more psychological than physical, but it put a rift between Trace and me.He and I had been best friends all our lives, attending the same private high school, same undergrad college. When he moved west for graduate business school, I we
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 3
MOLLY“Okay.” Dr. Sandquist was rubbing the top of her nose where it flattened between her eyebrows, and she had her other arm wrapped around herself. Her elbow was resting on her own arm. She looked tired, but that could’ve been because it was four in the morning.I first met Nea Sandquist in a pottery class. I met a lot of friends in pottery classes. It was kinda my outlet. I liked to take an edible, put on my headphones, and get all spiritual with the clay. I felt a connection to the movie Ghost that I didn’t think was healthy.“You are in shock, Miss Easter.”“Molly,” I piped in, kinda hoping for an edible right now.She sighed. “Molly. You’re in shock, but it doesn’t look like you’ve been physically harmed. The key you swallowed should make its way out of you within a day or two.” She shared a look with Nurse Sloane, the head honcho of all the nurses at the hospital. “I’d like to introduce you to our social worker. He can help you go through the emotional aftereffects of what hap
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 4
ASHTONI should be exhausted from hospitals by now.My uncles. My grandfather. All had been gunned down three months ago, on that night. And I had been here, watching from a similar hallway as each of them flatlined. Over and fucking over again.And the blood. Everywhere.I had to give the hospital staff their due, because they’d tried to save each one of them, but Jesus. They came out one by one, all covered in blood, and that feeling right there, watching each of them and seeing how they didn’t want to look my way—I would never ever forget that feeling. It fucking haunted me, every morning, night, and day.I couldn’t get that out of me, no matter how I tried, no matter how I focused, how I obsessed, how I thirsted, but now. Now, I had a new mission, one just for me.Molly Easter.She was sleeping, curled on her side and the blanket tucked over her shoulder.I had mixed feelings concerning Miss Easter, and they stemmed from a day that no one, including Trace, knew about. But right no
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement Chapter 5
MOLLYI did not recognize the sheets I was lying on, and I’m picky. I liked my warm sheets. These were cool and smooth but not silk. They were cotton, but like the most expensive form of pure cotton there was. Another odd thing about me. I knew my bedsheets. I’d worked in a bedding store one time, and I could outsell everyone except Marjorie Jones. Damn that Marjorie Jones. She also had a side business selling Tupperware that was killer. I didn’t like Tupperware, so I was cool with that, but the bedding crown was still a sore spot.I sat up and looked down.Total déjà vu moment, because I had on silk pajamas, and the room was the nicest room I’d ever been in. Where was I?I went to the bathroom and gulped at how nice it was.Or I tried, because I was fully focusing on where I was and not how I was feeling, because if I started thinking about how I was feeling, I’d not be getting out of that bed for another whole week.My whole body was stiff and in pain, and I felt like a walking blac
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 6
MOLLYIt never was with Ashton Walden.He’d come in flanked with his security guards, and then the other time at the nightclub when he’d yelled at me before having me whisked away. I wasn’t altogether sure what went down that night, but I’d felt zapped from him. He had pierced me inside, and that feeling never went away.I felt it again, all over again.“What am I doing here?” I asked again, cursing internally as my voice dipped. A slight tremor slipped out.Hearing it, Ashton stopped. His eyes flared slightly. “You and I have some things to discuss.”I was shaking my head as he went past me, heading through the library and to the kitchen. A shiver trailed down my spine at the same time. “No, I don’t. I want to go home.”I followed him, hugging myself in the opened doorway.He acted as if he hadn’t heard me, pressing a button. A deluxe coffee machine appeared, and he pressed another button. It began rumbling, and soon the smell of brewing coffee filled the space.God.My stomach did i
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 7
ASHTONThe blood drained from her face and her body jerked before she grabbed the counter to steady herself. “Wha—”Buzz! Buzz!I frowned, hearing my door buzzer. My men hadn’t called, and the concierge would never buzz anyone in if they weren’t important to me. Casting her another frown, I went over and pressed the intercom button. “Yes?”“I’m sorry for the interruption, but a Ms. Montell and Mr. West are here to see—”I cursed, then hit the speaker button. “Let them up.” As soon as I was done, I went to Molly and ignored how she jumped at my closeness. “You will keep this between us. Got it?”She frowned, bristling, and I could see the thoughts forming before she opened her mouth. She was going to fight me on this.“If you want even a shot at getting Easter Lanes to be yours and yours alone, you will follow my lead when Jess and Trace get here.” Her eyes lit up at my offer, and she nodded before cursing and smoothing a hand down her hair.“I look a mess.”She looked stunning. “You’r
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