Her Captive: Her Dark Mafia Heart Duet, #1

By Talia Ellison

As a mafia boss' only child, Rylie Armati has had to dedicate her life to becoming her family's next leader. When her father orders her to kidnap their biggest rival's son, Liam Martel, and extract information out of him, she thinks it's the perfect opportunity to finally prove herself worthy of her family's name.

But Liam refuses to break. Instead, he makes her question her beliefs and seems to be the only person who can truly embrace her darkness and get through the walls she has built around her heart.

Although he just might be her perfect match, Rylie knows that she has to resist their forbidden attraction or she risks losing not only her heart but her life as well. If only it were easy to do that...

.

This is the first installment in the Her Dark Mafia Heart duet. It may contain potentially triggering situations, violence, strong language, sexual content, and a cliffhanger.

.

Reading order:

HER CAPTIVE (Book 1)
HER SECRET (Book 2)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Talia Ellison
• Release date: Sep 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386245391

Talia Ellison

Talia Ellison is the author of Hold Me, Unfold Me, the Loving Your Enemy series, the Your Love Is Dangerous series, Destroying the Billionaire, The Mafia Proposal series, the My Broken Hitman series, the Her Dark Mafia Heart duet, the Owned by the Mafia Queen series, the Never His duet, the Taking Revenge on Her Bully series, the Varano Mafia series, and Arranged: Cassaro Mafia. She loves to read and write all kinds of romance, and she has a thing for broken, tortured heroes and fierce heroines who aren't afraid to take what they want. When she’s not busy with a book, she likes to watch TV shows and listen to music. Never miss a new release! Sign up for Talia’s newsletter: https://taliaellison.weebly.com/newsletter.html

Book preview

Chapter 1

rylie

RYLIE, COME HERE, my father said through the open door just as I was about to pass by his office. Mentally cursing myself for even venturing into this hallway, especially when my father was here, I steeled myself and entered the room as I wiped all emotion off my face.

Straightening my back and lifting my chin up, I strode toward my father’s desk. I was his only child and the future boss of the Armati family, so I knew how pissed off he’d be if he saw me slouching. He lifted his hazel eyes, raking them over me, his gaze lingering on my long dark brown hair that was splayed around my shoulders.

My muscles instantly stiffened, because it was impossible not to think about just how much my father was bothered by the fact that I was a woman. When I was a child, he’d cut my hair really short and call me son, but after I entered puberty, my curves were hard to ignore, so he’d given up on trying to turn me into a boy. That hadn’t stopped him from shaving my hair off a few times as punishment when I’d failed to complete a task he’d given me.

But I was no longer the girl who couldn’t protect herself, and the gun that was tucked in the holster at my belt almost all the time was giving me strength to keep my dark brown eyes on my father and not let my gaze waver.

I didn’t know if I was imagining it, but his dark hair seemed even grayer than before. Good. Soon, everything that I’d trained my whole life for would be mine, and it was the only thought that got me out of bed in the morning.

What is it, Father? I asked after a few more moments of our intense staring contest that was making me impatient.

The Martels. He bared his teeth, the vein in his neck pulsing. I was rooted to the spot, barely breathing. No matter how much I tried to keep cool or how many times I told myself that he could no longer hurt me, I still couldn’t stop the involuntary flinch that was my usual reaction to his anger, which he’d always tended to unleash on me.

What about them? My voice was steady, and I was grateful for it.

The Martels were our biggest rivals, even though they’d come to our city only a decade ago. At first, my father hadn’t considered them a real threat, which had turned out to be a huge mistake. The Martels had thrived right under our noses while carefully hiding their true power from us, and when the time was right, they’d showed us they were a worthy competitor. It had been too late to stop them then, and we’d been forced into coexistence, as neither of us was willing to risk an open war that would’ve decimated our business.

They are responsible for our busted shipment, he all but growled.

What? I gaped at him. That was impossible. Openly interfering with our business would be a violation of our deal and a declaration of war. The city was divided between us, and as long as we stayed in our half, the Martels in theirs, and we didn’t mess with each other’s business, there was peace.

I didn’t think the Martels had gotten powerful enough to fight us or that they were crazy enough to risk breaking our deal. The city was big enough for both of us and we were both thriving, so I doubted a war was what anyone wanted right now.

Besides, after underestimating the Martels once, my father had made sure his men would never make the same mistake again, and if the Martels had struck a deal with someone else, we would’ve already known about it. Our spies were everywhere and they were loyal to my father.

He was quiet as he pressed his lips into a tight line.

Are you sure it’s the Martels? I asked, and his furious gaze flipped to me as if he couldn’t believe I’d dared to say the words.

Yes, I’m sure. His lip curled as he picked up a tablet that was on his desk and tossed it at me. I caught it and flipped it over so I could tap the screen. A video immediately started to play, and my brow furrowed.

It was the footage taken from some dark and grainy camera. A cop had come out of his car to talk to two men on motorcycles who had a symbol on their jackets. A big snake wrapped around an apple hanging from a branch. The Martels. They quickly shook hands with the cop before leaving.

How do you know this is related to our busted shipment? The Martels had their cops, just like we had a few who worked for us, but it wasn’t all that unusual for the cops who weren’t on our payroll too to get lucky and seize our shipment from time to time. Maybe the meeting was related to their business, not ours.

It was about ours. You see, that cop who met with them is the one who got his hands on our product, and guess what? Our friendly cops can’t get to it because it’s gone missing. No one knows anything and they can’t help us restore what’s ours. I think it’s obvious what’s going on here.

Working with the cops against us is a violation of our deal. I lowered the tablet onto the desk. It doesn’t make sense. Why risk going to war now? Did they really think we wouldn’t find out they were behind the whole thing?

I don’t know what they think they’re doing, but we can’t allow it. It sounded as if the words were physically painful for him to say, and they probably were. He always liked to have everything under control, and the Martels wanted to take it away from him.

But an open war would bring terrible losses to both of us, no matter who ended up being the victor, so I wasn’t sure why the Martels would make such a move. They couldn’t expect my father to turn a blind eye and pretend nothing had happened and they definitely couldn’t count on us not finding out. Besides, one busted shipment wasn’t going to destabilize us or slow us down, so their motive was unclear.

What about the truck driver? He doesn’t know anything, right? I asked.

No.

So there was nothing special or out of the ordinary with that shipment? Nothing new? We did our best to make sure nothing would ever point to us if things went south.

He shook his head.

What if it was someone else and not the Martels? It’s not that hard to get a few jackets with their symbol. Or the footage could be staged. Someone might be trying to provoke a war and benefit from it.

Oh, it was them. There’s no doubt. The information I have was verified. He rubbed his chin. We have to make them pay. I should’ve known something was up when Edward Martel presumably left town. There’s still no word as to where he is.

So who’s in charge while he’s gone?

His son, Liam.

A pang of envy surged through me. Liam was my age. My father never left me in charge, not even for a few hours. He claimed I wasn’t ready. Liam had no idea just how lucky he was, but then again, there was a high chance this whole thing was his fuckup.

What are you smiling at? my father roared, and I jerked back.

Had I really been smiling? Is this the first time Liam’s in charge?

My father shrugged. As far as we know, yes. Why?

What if he wanted to impress his father and made a mistake? The Martels had been trying to find out who our main supplier was for years. Our product had always been superior to theirs, and as long as that didn’t change, the drug market was ours. What if he believed he could somehow track down our supplier? Or maybe he’s trying to convince someone their coke is as good as ours so he could strike a deal, and that’s why he needed to steal from us?

My father had a skeptical look on his face. I don’t believe he’s that stupid. If it were you who’d done it, I’d believe it immediately. But young Martel...

I gritted my teeth, wishing I could tell him that I was done with his insults and his stupid business, but I had to keep my mouth shut. There was no life for me other than this one, so I had to endure for now if I wanted to stay alive and get a chance to fulfill my one and only dream. If only I hadn’t failed those stupid exams... I pushed the thought away, because now wasn’t the time to wallow in pity. I’d done that enough times already.

How did the Martels and the cops know when and where our shipment was coming? I asked. We constantly varied our schedule, the trucks, and drivers, so if this wasn’t random or just pure dumb luck, how the hell did they get their hands on it?

Unless my father’s men had betrayed us, which was hard to believe. My father was ruthless with traitors. The last man who’d dared to double-cross him had to watch as my father’s men tortured and disemboweled his whole family right in front of his eyes before doing the same to him. I didn’t think anyone was dumb enough to take that risk.

What if they already know who our supplier is? What if they made a deal behind your back to get us out of the picture? If our supplier needed something they can offer...

My father’s face was expressionless. The supplier’s identity was his best-kept secret, and not even I knew their identity. My father made sure he was the only one who contacted them. It annoyed me to no end that he didn’t trust me with anything important, but I supposed I hadn’t earned the right to know just yet, or maybe my father was afraid that I’d kill him and take over if he told me everything.

Sometimes, I daydreamed about pulling out my gun and pointing it straight at his face. Still, when it came to ending his life, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to go through with it. No matter what he’d done to me, he was still my only family and he was the key for me to secure my position as the next leader.

Without his backing, most of his men would sooner run for the hills than follow me, which wasn’t a surprise, because my father rarely hid his disappointment when it came to me, sometimes even in front of his men. Some still believed I should just get knocked up and have a son to solve our little future leadership problem, since having the Armati blood was the only thing that mattered, and I was glad that my father didn’t think the same, at least for now.

Maybe he thought I’d mess that up too, but it was probably his pride that stopped him from using me as a baby machine or marrying me off. If he had to force me to have a child, he’d be admitting that he’d failed to produce an heir, and if there was anything he hated, it was failure.

A run-in with an enemy had left him sterile, and his rivals never forgot to remind him of that whatever chance they got. That was why my success was very important to him. If only he’d give me an opportunity to show everyone just what I could do.

No, my father finally said. Not possible. I only do business with people who know what loyalty is.

If you say so.

His eyes narrowed, but he remained quiet.

What then? Are we going to war?

Of course we are! Nobody takes what’s mine and gets away with it, especially not the Martels!

And what if it’s a trap? Maybe the Martels were counting on my father’s short temper. What if they have a plan? They’d be waiting for us to come to them, and with their boss away...

Do you think I don’t know that? he spat out. If you don’t have anything smart to say, keep your mouth shut.

I ignored his outburst. Who except us knows the Martels met with that cop?

A few of my most trusted men. He eyed me carefully, his tone now perfectly calm. I really hated his mood swings.

"What if we keep it quiet? At least until we know what they’re really up