Stolen Bride's Vow: Carelli Family Mafia, #3

By Heather West

Stolen Bride's Vow is book 3 and the finale of the Carelli Family Mafia trilogy!

THEY TOLD ME TO KEEP MY HANDS OFF OF HER.
I TOLD THEM TO TRY AND STOP ME.

HER: The daughter of the mob boss. In other words, strictly off-limits.
ME: The man hired to protect her… and the father of her baby.

Pia's father is not a man to be messed with.
He's killed before and he sure as hell isn't afraid to get his hands dirty again.
But when Pia's life is threatened by a masked man with bad intentions, I get called in.

My job is simple: don't let anybody touch her.
But simple doesn't always mean easy.

Because the mafia princess is begging to be bent over and held down.
That body needs a man to show her how to use it.

And I'm just the guy for the job.

Because when I go to claim a woman, I don't do things halfway.
Pia won't just be my plaything.
She'll also be the mother of my child.

That is, if her father doesn't kill me before our baby is born.

I crossed the line – I know that.
But I'll be damned if I let this old man take me away from my new family.

He can try to marry her off to someone else, or to keep her away from me.
But I'm coming to claim what's mine.

My bride.
My baby.
Our freedom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sopris Page Press
• Release date: Aug 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386582953

Book preview

STOLEN BRIDE’S VOW: A Mob Romance (Carelli Family Mafia Book 3)

By Heather West

THEY TOLD ME TO KEEP MY HANDS OFF OF HER.

I TOLD THEM TO TRY AND STOP ME.

HER: THE DAUGHTER OF the mob boss. In other words, strictly off-limits.

ME: The man hired to protect her... and the father of her baby.

Pia’s father is not a man to be messed with.

He’s killed before and he sure as hell isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty again.

But when Pia’s life is threatened by a masked man with bad intentions, I get called in.

My job is simple: don’t let anybody touch her.

But simple doesn’t always mean easy.

Because the mafia princess is begging to be bent over and held down.

That body needs a man to show her how to use it.

And I’m just the guy for the job.

Because when I go to claim a woman, I don’t do things halfway.

Pia won’t just be my plaything.

She’ll also be the mother of my child.

That is, if her father doesn’t kill me before our baby is born.

I crossed the line – I know that.

But I’ll be damned if I let this old man take me away from my new family.

He can try to marry her off to someone else, or to keep her away from me.

But I’m coming to claim what’s mine.

My bride.

My baby.

Our freedom.

Chapter 1

H ere. Eat. Lu came into her room and dropped a plate of food in front of her. Then he left, locking the door behind him.

The plate was steaming, a nice big heap of chicken and spaghetti. It smelled okay, but the thought of food made her stomach turn. She could throw up right now from having the food so close to her. She pushed it to the door and went to her bed, pulling the covers up over her head to keep out the smell. She would have tried to get them to take it back out of the room, but it’d be no use.

Ever since her little stunt trying to get him on her side, Lu had refused to even look at her. All of them did. They barely spoke to her. They barked commands. Eat. Sleep. But that was it. She felt so alone and missed Ryder desperately.

She’d thought that by now he would have come for her. It had been more than thirty hours since she’d seen him. If he was going to rescue her, it probably would have happened by now. She knew he was no longer in the house. She spent as much time as possible being silent and not moving so she could hear the conversation in the hallway. They didn’t realize how loud they were. She’d heard one of them say that they needed to track Ryder down. Obviously, if he was still there, he wouldn’t need to be tracked down.

She’d been so excited when she heard that, but it had been over eighteen hours ago. How long did it take to rescue someone? She expected him to be there within an hour or so. Had even gotten some things ready so she could grab her bag and go when he came for her.

But now it had been so long, she started to think she was wrong. That he didn’t really love her, that she misinterpreted everything. Maybe he was far from here, on the road, escaping from Matteo and leaving her behind. Maybe he’d already forgotten all about her. Maybe she was really on her own.

And if that was true, what could she do now? She already knew there was no way she could have Paolo find out about the baby. He’d kill her or the baby or both. But what else was she going to do? Could she really raise this baby alone? She’d thought she could, but she was less sure. It was easy to think she could do anything when she’d thought Ryder was coming for her. But now? Now she thought she was stuck.

How in the world would she raise a baby alone? It was ludicrous for her to think she could do that. Hold down a job while raising a baby? Sure, she had the store and that brought in a lot of money, but she still had to be there to work. And she’d have to take care of this baby. Alone. She’d be the only one getting up for feedings, the only one changing diapers, the only one dealing with the spit up and deciding things like how long to let the baby cry. And she had no idea how long you should let a baby cry. If at all.

And all the emotions that came with pregnancy and motherhood? She’d seen one of her friends go through it. And all her non-pregnant, non-mother friends thought she’d gone nuts. Pia didn’t want to be nuts like that. She already cried over everything and that was too much. But she did not want to get into fights over how much formula was okay to give a baby. That seemed stupid. She wanted to go back to shopping and running her store and pretend like none of this ever happened.

That was when it hit her. If she married Paolo, who was quite rich and powerful, she could have that life—her old life—back. She might have to give up the baby. That would be hard. Impossible almost. But if Ryder was gone, really gone, then what choice did she have? She could be married and safe and rich and go shopping all day and spend her time avoiding her horrible husband. That had to be better than having no husband and being broke and all alone with a baby.

But, if she had Ryder, she wouldn’t have to hate her husband. They might not be rich or have the mafia connections her father or Paolo did, but he loved her. He would treat her well and protect her. And he loved their child already as much as she did. Or at least he had seemed to. But that was before he’d left and not come back. Still, she couldn’t shake the idea of having a happy family. She might not be able to go back to her old life now that she knew what it was like to have love. To have Ryder. He’d ruined her.

How could she lie in bed beside Paolo, let him touch her and have sex with her, when her heart belonged to Ryder? And Paolo was not a good-looking man. That was why she’d rejected him years ago when he wanted to marry her. Of course, then she wasn’t ready to get married, but still. She was not at all attracted to him. So, she’d have