Boss: Owned by the Mafia Queen, #3

By Talia Ellison

It looked like things were finally falling in place.

I thought I could have it all.

But now, I just might lose everything...

.

This is the third installment in the Owned by the Mafia Queen series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Talia Ellison
• Release date: Feb 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393966197

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

WE LOST THEM, LEONTI said, his gray eyes filled with anguish as he raked his hand through his black hair.

What the fuck do you mean you lost them? I was having trouble breathing.

It felt as if my world had been turned upside down, and yeah, maybe it had.

My sister, my beautiful, sweet Polina, who I’d saved from the monster who’d held her captive as his sex slave...

My sister had found a gun and pressed it to Xavier’s head.

And then she’d taken him somewhere with her.

I’d sent my men to follow them because I didn’t understand what was going on, but if what Leonti was saying was the truth, then I had no idea what I was going to do.

Everything seemed just so damn surreal. Why would my sister do that? I couldn’t understand.

Okay, I could understand that this was all a big change for her. She’d been held captive for so long, and she’d developed feelings for her captor, Ares. I’d killed Ares, and Polina was mad at me because of it.

But we were sisters.

How could she do this?

Why?

She had to understand that Ares had been a dangerous man who’d ruined her life, but maybe that wasn’t what she thought.

Still, she’d need a lot of time to process what had happened to her. And she’d probably have to spend some time in therapy.

But now she was gone with Xavier, and she had a gun. Just what exactly was her tortured mind capable of?

What if she wanted to punish me for what I’d done to the man she believed she loved? She knew that I cared about Xavier. If she wanted revenge, an eye for an eye, she could kill him.

We followed them as you wanted, Leonti said. But we had to keep our distance so she wouldn’t panic and do something that couldn’t be undone.

And then what? I chewed on the inside of my cheek, tapping my foot against the floor.

This so wasn’t happening.

And yet it was.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

My own sister. The sister I’d spent years looking for. I’d done all kinds of things just to find her and destroy the man who’d stolen her away from me, and now...

Now I didn’t know what to do.

I don’t know what happened. At one point, we had them in sight, but then two cars got in our way, and when they were gone, we couldn’t see your sister or Xavier anywhere. We looked around, but we didn’t see anything suspicious. Everyone is still out there searching. I’ll go back too. We’ll find them.

Wait, how could they just disappear? What about the car? My sister took one of ours. I guess she made Xavier drive. I didn’t think Ares had taught my sister how to drive, but there seemed to be a lot of things I didn’t know about my sister.

She was a stranger to me now.

Maybe even a threat.

I had a hard time wrapping my mind around it. I didn’t want to lose my sister, especially now that I’d finally found her.

But I didn’t want to lose Xavier either.

We found the car in one alley. It was abandoned, Leonti said.

Okay, so search the area. They couldn’t have gone far. I furrowed my brow. Actually, I can go there with you. We can search all the houses and buildings and—

Vasilissa, there’s no need to do that. They’re not in that area, or at least we don’t think they are. He gave me a compassionate look.

But they couldn’t have just vanished into thin air! I threw my hands up, anxiety filling my stomach.

No, they definitely didn’t do that. We think someone took them.

What? But can’t Jorge figure it out? Did Xavier have a phone with him? Maybe we can track them down somehow.

Jorge was a tech whiz. There wasn’t anything that he couldn’t find, so why the hell hadn’t he already found my sister and Xavier?

Focus.

Breathe.

But it was so damn hard to stay calm and clearheaded when two people I loved were in danger.

Okay, yeah, my sister had a gun and could kill Xavier, but she also might be a threat to herself. I didn’t know what state of mind she was in.

What if I lost them both?

But if they’d disappeared, then maybe that wasn’t what she planned. Maybe they were both alive.

Jorge is doing everything he can, but it looks like your sister had help. She left the car in an area where there are no cameras, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. She knew exactly where to go, and someone must’ve come for her, Leonti said.

I don’t understand. But how would she do that? Who could’ve come for her? She’d been a sex slave and Ares was dead, so who the hell would be helping her?

No idea, but it looks like she had an escape plan in mind. Maybe it was Ares’ plan and she overheard it. Or maybe she was with him and he had to use that route, so now she’s copying his actions.

Are you saying Ares’ men have Xavier and Polina? My eyes widened.

That was bad.

Really bad.

I didn’t know if Ares’ men were still out there or if their group had fallen apart after Ares’ death, or if we’d killed most of them. But if some were left and if they were working together, then they could’ve kidnapped Polina and Xavier.

And in her confused mind, Polina might not even be aware of what they were doing. They could use Xavier and her to blackmail me.

And, hopefully, they hadn’t killed them already. It was possible they weren’t loyal to Ares at all, but that they were just mercenaries who chose who they worked for.

Oh shit.

It’s possible. We suspect Polina found a phone and called Ares’ men to come for her, he said. Maybe they had a phone for emergencies there.

So what you’re saying is that Polina wanted to go back to those people?

Leonti shrugged. It’s what she knows. She’s been with Ares and with them for years. Maybe she thinks she has friends there, or maybe Ares taught her what to do so he’d always have control over her.

But he’s dead! Why would she want to go anywhere near those people? I couldn’t understand it. I just couldn’t. How can she trust them more than me? I’m her sister. I’ve never done anything to hurt her.

You killed Ares, and she loved him. For her, their love was genuine.

I groaned. So now what?

We’ll look for her. We’ll scour the whole city until we find her and Xavier.

But what will Ares’ men do with them? What if they’re already dead? Ares could’ve planned for Polina to go back to his men in case anything happened to him, and then maybe his men were supposed to kill her so she wouldn’t talk about anything he’d done to anyone, or maybe to protect his associates and who knew who else.

And he’d made her believe that they would help her if she needed it.

Oh hell.

She thought she’d be safer with them than with me. That broke my heart even more. My own sister didn’t trust me.

We shouldn’t jump to conclusions, Leonti said. It’s possible Ares had a safe house somewhere and Polina took Xavier there.

What if we don’t find them? I gave him a desperate look.

We will. Have faith.

But I had no idea if I could do that.

Everything just seemed so damn hopeless right now, and I wished I could go back in time to stop all of this from happening.

But no one could’ve seen it coming.

No one.

My sister had surprised us all, and it made me wonder what else I didn’t know about her.

Chapter 2

ARE YOU SURE THERE’S nothing I can do? Nothing I can help with? I asked, as I paced up and down Jorge’s computer room.

He was working tirelessly and trying to find my sister and Xavier, but two days had already gone by and we had no clue as to what was going on or where they were.

At least we hadn’t found their bodies, but that wasn’t exactly a relief.

I just wanted to find them.

It didn’t matter how or what it took. But right now, I was like a caged animal, and my cage seemed unbreakable.

I’m sure we’ll find them, Jorge said. But it’ll take time.

We don’t have time! What if, when we found them, it would be too late?

I couldn’t imagine a world in which Xavier was dead. I missed him so damn much.

We might have broken up because I’d gone after Ares and put my life in danger without telling him anything about my decision, but even if I couldn’t be with him, I still wanted him alive.

Hell, I’d been so close to freeing him of his debt to me, which he’d taken on from his sister Ava to save her life, but I’d never gotten the chance to tell him that.

I wanted that damn chance.

Even if I couldn’t see him every day, or touch him, or hug him, or kiss him, I wanted to know that he was somewhere out there, alive and happy.

Living his life.

Things should’ve never happened like this, but there was nothing I could do about that. The annoying helplessness was driving me crazy. If we didn’t find out something soon, I was going to lose my mind.

Jorge’s brown eyes turned to me for a fraction of a second before returning back to the screen in front of him. All of my systems are up and running, and my special app is scanning hundreds of traffic camera footage as we speak. If they’re out there, we’ll find them. I’m checking the footage from that day too. They can’t only move around in the areas without any cameras.

I know. I let out a sigh.

Jorge, and everyone else, was doing everything they could. Maybe I should go out there and try to find my sister.

Maybe I’d feel a special connection to Xavier or to her, but that was crazy. If there were some magic in the air, I would’ve already used it to find my sister after she’d been kidnapped.

What if she’s not with Ares’ men? What if there’s someone else? I wondered who could’ve taken her in.

What if there was someone who’d been nice to her? It wouldn’t be overly hard for her to get attached to anyone who’d showed her some kindness.

Hell, she’d fallen for her captor, and he’d been willing to give her away so he could have me. The thought of it made me sick.

And even though she knew all that, she still grieved his loss and blamed me for everything, and if he were alive, she would’ve gone with him.

We’ll find them too, Jorge said.

Yeah, everyone kept saying that, but I didn’t know if I could be that patient. Wait, do you know where Ares was buried?

We weren’t the ones who’d buried him.

We’d just gotten the hell out of there. His men who’d survived must’ve done something with his body and had probably buried it somewhere.

I think so. Why? Jorge asked.

She might want to visit his grave. It wouldn’t surprise me if she wanted to do that to feel closer to him.

I just hoped she wouldn’t take Xavier there and kill him thinking that Ares was watching her from the sky.

Could she really believe that someone like him could’ve gone to heaven? Or would he be looking down at her from hell?

I’ll send someone to watch the graveyard. Maybe she shows up, Jorge said.

After almost an hour, I took a seat in one of the chairs because my legs were starting to hurt from all the pacing, and I had no idea if we were going to find anything anytime soon.

But then a beep almost made me jump and fall off the chair.

What’s that? What’s going on? I sprang to my feet in an instant, going closer to Jorge.

Um, the system recognized a man. Someone who was seen around Ares. It might be one of the people working for him or someone else, Jorge said.

Where? I didn’t care how tiny of a clue we had.

I needed to do something.

Anything.

I had to do something other than keep thinking about all the terrible things that might have happened to Xavier and my sister.

Actually going after someone was exactly what I needed, especially if it was going to lead me to Polina and Xavier.

Jorge brought up a map that covered the whole screen, and a red dot appeared on it. Right there.

Wait, right now? He’s there right now? I asked.

Yeah. This is new footage.

Excitement filled my chest. Do you know what he’s doing there? Is anyone with him?

"There are two guys with