Todos los capítulos de The Mafia Kings' Deadliest Temptation : Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

The warehouse still smells like blood and gasoline when I peel the wire from behind my ear.Three hours ago, this place was a cage. Now it's a crime scene, and I'm the reason six armed men are zip tied on concrete instead of counting the ransom they thought they'd already won.Marcus Ellery, a mid-level trafficker FDOCS has been building a case against for years, is alive. His daughter, Mia, is crying into a blanket by the ambulance, and I don't go to her, because I can't decide yet whether she'll look at me like a friend or a stranger who wore her friend's face for eight months."Vasquez." Cassie squeezes my shoulder, grinning. "Only you'd walk out of a hostage extraction looking like you just left brunch.""Skill," I say, "not luck."The team laughs. Someone hands me a lukewarm coffee like it's champagne, and for a moment I let them have this, the easy version of me. It never lasts.My phone buzzes against my ribs. Isa. Now.The bullpen goes quiet behind me as I walk it off toward h

Jake pulls up the file on his laptop, and the picture becomes clear fast. Rafael Marchetti has a standing appointment at this jeweler every Thursday which happens to be today, an old habit from before he could afford anything on the shelves.If I happen to be inside that store at the exact same hour, buying something no reasonable federal salary could explain, it isn't a coincidence. It's bait dressed up as fate."You want me to walk in and buy something worth more than my apartment," I say."The Bureau's money, not yours." Something almost like humor flickers across Isa's face. "Try not to enjoy it too much.""Please steal something while you're in there," Jake says. "As a personal favor.""I'm not stealing jewelry, Jake."Despite the fear still sitting cold in my chest from twelve hours ago, I laugh, and it feels like the first honest thing I've done since I walked into that gala.Few hours later, I'm standing inside a jewelry store that smells like money and cologne, trying on a wr

Adriano doesn't rush. He never does. He crosses the room like the crowd should already know to part for him, and it does, conversations trailing off in his wake without anyone seeming to notice they've stopped talking at all."Elena."I freeze.I hadn't told him my name.His gaze remains fixed on me, cold and deliberate, like he's testing whether the name is real. "That was an interesting purchase.""I saw something I wanted.""Clearly." His pale eyes hold mine, unreadable as ever. "May I speak with you? Privately."Beside me, I feel Rafael go still in a way that has nothing to do with charm."Of course," I say, before either brother can object, and let Adriano lead me a few steps away, toward the tall windows overlooking the estate's dark gardens."Tell me about yourself, Elena." He says it like a formality, though nothing about his eyes suggests it is one. "Where does a real estate investor come from, that she bids like that without blinking?""Miami, originally. Nothing glamorous t

I catch the time on the screen, 2:17 a.m., before Rafael's name replaces it. I let it ring three times before I answer, Daniel's arm still heavy across my waist."So Marcus already talked." I slip out from under Daniel's arm and press the phone to my ear, voice low."Necesitaba escucharlo de ti misma." He catches himself, softens it into English. "I wanted to make sure you got home safely. After tonight. I needed to hear it from you myself.""I'm home. I'm fine.""Good." Another pause. I can hear him breathing on the other end, and something about the silence feels more honest than anything he said at the auction. "I've been thinking about you since you left.""That's dangerous for a man in your line of work.""Probably." I hear the smile in it, faint and unguarded in a way I haven't heard from him yet. "Have dinner with me, Elena. Just us. No crowd. I want to know you without an audience.”I let the silence stretch, count it out the way Isa taught me, long enough to feel real, not l

A delivery man stands behind an arrangement so large I can barely see his face around it, a mountain of deep red roses wrapped in black paper."Sign here, please."I do, still staring at the flowers like they might be a mistake meant for another apartment. They aren't. The card tucked between the stems has my name on it, Elena's name, in handwriting too deliberate to belong to anyone but him."I intended to set the mood for our dinner. All you have to do is be breathtaking, Carino. — R.”Sweet, almost. Except nothing about Rafael Marchetti does anything by accident, and even his flowers read like a claim staked before the evening's even started.I set the flowers on the dining table and I'm still smiling at the card when the doorbell rings again.This time it's not the delivery man. It's four, and a garment rack rolling behind them like a small parade, someone already unzipping a bag of makeup before I've fully opened the door."Is this Miss Elena?" the woman in front asks politely, g