All Chapters of The Banker: An Alpha Male Dark Mafia Romance: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I didn’t feel the bullet enter my shoulder, just the jerk of my body at the momentum. My shoulder jutted back and my body shifted because the force was much stronger than my own velocity. Smoke burned from the tip of his gun. The smell was suffocating—along with that of my own blood. It was the first time I’d ever been shot, and the shock that washed over my body protected me from the pain.I stayed on my two feet—refusing to fall.I held his gaze, my eyes narrowing with a promise of death.Damien dropped his smile, and against his will, he showed a slight look of respect. “Damn, you’re stubborn.”“Damn, you’re a bad shot.” He’d hit me in the shoulder, missing the main arteries and organs.“No. I hit my mark perfectly.” He kept the gun trained on me, this time aiming it between my eyes. “Drop the sword. Or die.” The barrel didn’t shake as it stared me down. “What’s it gonna be, sweetheart?”I wanted nothing to do with this life. While I loved my father, I’d told him I wanted nothing t

He widened his grin farther, hating me but wanting me at the same time. His green eyes were set in a handsome face, his masculine cheekbones complementing his full lips. He was a beautiful man, but he was tainted by such evil, his handsomeness got lost in translation.Micah ignored his right-hand man. “If your father remains in my captivity, I will torture him and kill him.”I maintained the exact same expression, just as I would in a poker game. My brother was part of the family business, but he hadn’t been mentioned once. He must have disappeared before they could get to him—and now they had no idea where he’d gone into hiding. He would never tell me, so it was pointless to ask. “I assumed. What do you want from me?” I didn’t have special skills or any interaction with the family business, so I didn’t have much to offer. Even my information was useless because I’d turned my back on the trade. That should be obvious to them—if they did their research.“We’ll make a trade with you,” M

I had a few friends in high places, so I used that to my advantage to get an audience with the right man.A hitman.He specialized in killing high-profile targets and making it look like accidents. He’d retired a few years ago, but he’d had an illustrious career that garnered him a great deal of respect. Bosco Roth was a good friend of my brother’s, so I called him and asked for an introduction to this famous killer.Now I sat on the bench at the bus stop in the middle of the night. It was two in the morning, and everyone was at home. The only company I had was a bum sleeping across the street in the alleyway. The sun had been gone for hours, but the humidity still hovered over me in the darkness. I was in jeans and a t-shirt, but even that was too warm to wear.Heavy footsteps sounded to my left, and that’s when I turned to see the huge man covered in sleeves of tattoos. He was terrifying in appearance, especially when he clenched his jaw like that. He didn’t look the least bit pleas

After I finished work at the gallery, I walked a few blocks until I reached the café Cato liked to frequent. This time, I didn’t stop by in the hope of seeing him. After the long day I’d had, I wanted an iced coffee and a muffin to rip apart with my fingertips.Most people hated the brutal summers here in Florence, but I didn’t mind them at all. I’d grown up in this treacherous heat, and I couldn’t imagine my life without that experience. So I took my coffee and muffin and sat outside. I had a client who’d recruited me to decorate his summer home in Tuscany, and now I was studying images of his living room and dining room to determine the size and color of the frames as well as the artwork that would complement each one. That was my job—finding artwork for rich people. Sometimes people just wanted cheap stuff to cover the walls, but occasionally, my clients had more refined taste and preferred masterpieces by local artists. Those always took longer to locate, but since I charged by th

“Yes, I will.” He moved his hand into my hair as he pulled me in for a kiss. He cradled my head against his palm then kissed me softly on the lips, giving me a tender embrace that was nothing like what he gave the other women. This was purposeful, soft, and so slow that it made my legs shake.I’d just watched him kiss those other women minutes ago, and instead of being disgusted by being the third in line, all I could think about was how good his mouth tasted. His cologne was purely masculine, and when I felt his hard muscles brush against me, I wanted to sink my nails into his skin. My thighs tightened, and I breathed into his mouth as my hand gripped his thigh under the table. He was a solid rock under my fingertips, pure muscle stretching denim. My mouth naturally matched his cadence, moving past his and receiving his tongue with vigor. I sucked his bottom lip before I gave him mine. There was nothing I liked about this man besides his looks, and I never thought I could have such a