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Out of the Woods
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Taken by the Mafia King Packing Up
TommasoThe doctor I vaguely remembered from the haze on Zahur’s lawn, Dr. Awad, checked the bandages on my shoulder, then my ribs.“Your healing is progressing nicely,” she said.I offered her a half-smile. “Nicely enough you’ll spring me from this joint?”She chuckled. “I suppose.”“Ha!” I started to punch the air in celebration, but Paige’s hold on my hand kept me anchored. A good thing, too. I’d probably have torn something and gotten another week inside. As nice as the hospital was—and it really was, rivaling some of the more prestigious places I’d seen in Philly—I was more than ready to get out of here. Hospital food could only sustain a man for so long.Dr. Awad smiled indulgently. “That is, with a few conditions.”I groaned and slumped back against my pillow. “What?”She pulled out a sheet of paper covered in, thankfully, English. Paige took it before I could and studied the contents.Dr. Awad addressed her instructions to Paige. “We’re sending you home with two medications, a
Taken by the Mafia King The Life
PaigeBefore the first hour of the flight passed, Tom fell asleep. Between the last bit of pain medication the doctor had given him before we left and his injuries, I was honestly surprised it took him that long. I dropped my head back against the seat and let the quiet flow over me. In the cluster of four seats across the plane from Tom and me, Killian watched a black-and-white movie using headphones, and Carp and Stan bickered quietly over a card game I didn’t recognize. It was nothing like the rambunctious flight to Egypt, when I’d spent half the time clinging to the arms of my seat to keep from freaking out.Not least because the dragon I came to slay lay dead behind me, just as I’d hoped. Well, not just as I’d hoped. If I could do it all over again, I’d skip the part where Zahur almost got me again. And the one where a scared woman nearly collapsed Tom’s lung. I flexed my fingers and remembered the smell of the bastard’s blood, of Tom’s blood when we landed in Lebanon.“If you’re
Taken by the Mafia King Sleeping in My Own Bed
TommasoI jolted awake with my heart in my throat as the plane wheels hit tarmac. Only slim fingers surrounding mine kept me from freaking the fuck out. Paige. Holding my hand like she always did. I rubbed sleep from my eyes with my free hand and found her smiling at me.“I was wondering if we were going to have to get one of those wheelchairs to drag you to the car,” she said.My smile felt strained as the plane taxied to a stop. “I’m not that hurt.”As if to prove me wrong, a slow burn seared across my side. Shit! Maybe I was that hurt, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from enjoying my success, my life with this beautiful woman. Just as soon as we got off this godforsaken plane.“I told her none of us could move your sorry ass,” Stan said.I shot him the bird as the plane finally stopped moving. Thank God. After a few minutes of shuffling outside, they got the stairs lined up, and I leapt to my feet.The walls spun around me, my chest ached, and I caught the back of the seat f
Taken by the Mafia King Never Done
PaigeAfter a full night’s—and afternoon’s—sleep, I managed to get up to go check in at the shelter the next day. I’d kissed Tom before leaving, reminded him to rest, and told Miranda to stop him if he tried to get up for anything more than a bathroom break, but I didn’t really believe he’d last long. Honestly, I’d be stunned if he was in bed when I got home. Part of me understood the impulse. I’d woken this morning itching to get back to my life. But I didn’t have a pneumo-whatever-the-fuck that could kill me if I wasn’t careful.I parked in front of the shelter, shook out my shoulders, and put Tom’s inability to sit still behind me. I loved him, but I couldn’t live my whole life doting on him. Other people needed my doting.I strode up the stairs of the shelter and blew a kiss to the picture of Dad on the wall. For the first time, I understood why he’d gotten out of the mafia and why he’d gotten in in the first place. But before I could even finish putting my keys in my pocket, Laur
Taken by the Mafia King Clandestine Meetings
Tommaso“You know that I’m an adult, right?” I demanded.Miranda crossed her arms, standing between me and the freedom of the rest of the house. “Paige was very clear. You stay in the room, if you won’t stay in bed.”I scraped a hand through my hair. “I pay you, not her.”She smirked. “She told me you are both on the accounts.”I barely resisted the urge to stomp my foot like a toddler. I’d lain in bed all morning, very reasonably. I’d watched an episode of a shitty crime drama. I’d read at least three pages of a book. I had a syndicate to run, and I couldn’t very well do that from my goddamn bedroom!Or could I?I smiled sweetly. “I understand. Can you just bring me my laptop? I want to watch something I can’t get on the TV.”She eyed me suspiciously. I focused all my energy on looking angelically innocent.“Fine,” she said. “But I’m telling Paige it was your idea.”“Deal.” I closed the door between us and hobbled back to bed to catch my breath. I might not be in the best shape of my
Taken by the Mafia King Rest and Relaxation
PaigeI trudged up the stairs after a long day at the shelter, exhausted but pleased with the work. Cat had begun helping with dinner after weeks of refusing to come down during mealtimes at all. I’d take the progress. And Miranda had sworn to me on the way in that she’d stopped Tom from ever leaving the room. I pushed open the door quietly, trying to catch him out of bed if he was.Tom sat, propped up with a few pillows, in the middle of our bed with the TV on. I smiled. “Did you survive your first day of bed rest?”“Somehow.” He switched off the TV. “But it’s a lot better now that you’re here.”I dropped my bag and headed for the bathroom. “I’m proud of you. I really thought you wouldn’t be able to—”On the tile floor sat a discarded suit. And not the one he’d been wearing when we got home yesterday. I turned slowly back to him.“What?” he asked innocently.I snagged the tie off the floor and held it up. He went pale.“I’m sorry!” He held his hands up. “Do you have any idea how bori
Taken by the Mafia King Top Dog
TommasoI wiped sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand, and the now-old injury on my ribs tugged. Not painfully. Just enough that I could never really forget how close I’d come to meeting the reaper and seeing what my old man thought of the other side. According to Paige, Cora sent a letter a few months ago. She’d quit the force, just like she’d promised, and taken up some private investigation and bodyguard work. When she’d told me that, I’d made a mental note to stay out of Upstate New York as much as I could. Eight months after being stabbed by the woman with a mirror shard, I still ached. I didn’t exactly need to see what the hell she could do when she made it her job.“So we’ve got two shipments of weapons coming in tonight, and a third shipment of luxury cars going out,” Stan said.I nodded. “And the cars are going?”Stan tapped the tablet Lyle had finally convinced him to use at least while walking the warehouse floor instead of the reams of paperwork my right hand pref
Taken by the Mafia King Slammed
Paige“Hey, Annie has the talking wand,” I said over the clamor of three women speaking in group. “We all agreed to respect that.”They quieted, but Theresa looked at me sullenly. “How the hell are we supposed to be healing together if we don’t all get to talk?”“You’ll get your chance. We still have”—I glanced at the clock in the corner—“two minutes left.”Theresa huffed a sigh and sank lower in her seat.Annie paled. “I don’t have to—”Someone knocked on the door. I turned and found Lily easing it open.“I know you’re wrapping up here, but we’ve got a… situation in the common room.”“I’m done!” Annie dropped the talking wand, a ribbon-wrapped stick Lauren and I had made when there stopped being enough time in the hour-long groups for the sheer number of women we had to just speak freely, into the middle of the circle and shot to her feet. “Paige can go. No problem.”Theresa scoffed. Lily met my gaze with an intensity that promised she really, really needed me in the common room. Wit
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