Tempting Bad: A Dark Mafia Romance

PROLOGUE

JASMINE

Three months ago from now, I never would have seen this coming.

I was shaking, with warm tears rolling down my cheeks, holding a gun up at the man who’d turned my life upside down from the minute he stepped in it.

Adrian Romano.

The definition of everything I should have been avoiding.

Time and time again, he’d put me in danger.

He’d compromised me.

I could have died because of him…

So why, why in its own fucked-up way, did I still have feelings for him?

Why did I still love him?

“You don’t want to do this,” Adrian whispered, his eyes burning into mine. “Come on, Jasmine. Put the gun down. This isn’t you.”

“You lied to me. For all this time. You promised me that you would protect me. When you were the one that I needed protecting from all along,” I sobbed, convulsing, hardly able to keep myself upright because my vision was getting hazy, my eyes fogging and clouding with tears as my surroundings continued to spin around me.

“Don’t do this,” Adrian pleaded. “I love you, Jasmine. You’re the most beautiful girl I know… And I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to realize that. I can’t believe I’ve been so oblivious to what was staring at me right in the face. That you belong with me. You should be with me… Nobody else.”

I swallowed down a lump in my throat, sweating profusely.

Growing dizzier and dizzier with every word that came out of his mouth, not knowing whether I should believe him, when he’d lied to me so many times before.

“How can you hurt the woman that you love?” I trembled.

And before I could change my mind, or had the chance to come to terms with what I was doing…

I pulled the fucking trigger.

And then I allowed myself to fall to the floor, rocking myself backwards and forwards as I screamed and sobbed manically, feeling all of the sanity I had inside of me…

Leave my damn body.

My world came crashing down on me from millions of different directions at once, each time like daggers straight through my chest…

And straight towards my motherfucking heart.

1

JASMINE

“Drinks are ready to be served!” said the barman Peter, slamming them down on my tray.

I groaned, ready to serve them at the tables. It was a Friday night, so it was bound to be a busy night.

My name is Jasmine Cassidy. I’m thirty-five years old, and I work as a bar waitress. I’ve been doing this job ever since I was sixteen years old, because I didn’t do well at school, and didn’t have the best grades. It wasn’t the best job, but it got me a living, and for that, I was thankful.

I’m Filipina, and I have tanned skin, a slim figure and short black hair. Arched black eyebrows, a pointed nose, plump lips… and chubby cheeks that always manage to make me look younger than I actually am.

Tonight, I was wearing tight black jeans paired with a black vest. This was the Golden Ace bar, in the heart of London, full of rich and influential people, so we always had to ensure that we looked the part.

I made my way over to the table who wanted drinks.

“One rum and coke, and one vodka tonic,” I stated, putting the drinks down on their table.

“Thank you!”

And this cycle usually repeated all night.

I made my way back to the bar.

The barman Peter was probably the only actual friend I had at work, because all of the girls here were bitchy, and too stuck-up for their own good.

Me and Peter would have a good laugh talking to each other at the bar.

He was a short, stocky man with blonde hair and a scruffy, rugged beard. He loved wearing clothes that were three times too big for him.

He’d tell me everything, from a bad date he’d been on, or a nightmare one-night stand he’d had…

And I’d tell him everything too, about how I’d reject every single guy who ever tried to make an advance on me or show interest on me, and then at night, I would feel lonely and regret it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d had quite a few boyfriends in my time. Had sex with them, had a good time with them.

But I never really felt a connection with them.

It was just intimacy – nothing beyond it.