The Cruel Guardian: Kingpin's Property, #0.5

By Kendall Hawkins and Isabella Starling

★ Dark mafia romance with age gap, forbidden love & forced marriage! ★

 

 

Every year on my birthday, my godfather comes to visit.

Every year, my parents throw him out for buying too many gifts for me.

They hate Xavier… but I love him,

 

I've lived my life in seclusion, sheltered, hidden and taught to be obedient. Mom and Dad never let me leave. My only bright light is Xavier's yearly visit.

 

My parents say he's cruel, vicious and unforgiving, but all I see is a man who wants to give me everything. But on the night of my seventeenth birthday, everything changes.

 

He says I'm no longer a little girl, and the time has come for him to collect his debts. And this debt is one only I can pay for…

 

The Cruel Guardian is the free prequel to the Kingpin's Property series. Xavier and Tallulah's story continues in Book 1, The Dark Protector.

Author's note: Get ready for some dark spice with this pitch black mafia romance. This is a novella, with a happily-ever-after guaranteed at the end of the series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kendall Hawkins
• Release date: Oct 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201079512

Book preview

Prologue

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Tallulah

When I was a child, my father used to do magic tricks for me.

I would sit on his lap and clap excitedly as he performed one after another. Looking back, they weren’t complicated to figure out, but as a little girl, I loved them. I would put my chubby little arms up with delight and clap my small hands.

Mom always looked at us with affection. But sometimes, I saw that look on her face change. She’d clear her throat and look away while wiping the smile from her face, then we’d carry on as if nothing had ever happened.

Ever since my younger sister was born, I’ve known I’m not my parents’ favorite child.

But it wasn’t until my fifteenth birthday that I discovered why.

That one day changed everything and my life as I knew it was over in a split second. The moment the truth came out. It all made sense after that: my parents keeping their distance, keeping my baby sister away from me, everything. I finally understood it all.

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On the morning of my fifteenth birthday, I wake up with a bright smile on my face.

Nothing will stop me from feeling happy today, not even my parents, who congratulate me in quiet voices and hand me their gift. Tearing into the wrapping paper, I light up as I pull out a beautiful necklace. It’s a gothic cross pendant on a silver rope chain.

I love it, I tell my parents with a delighted smile, and they nod to acknowledge my words. Thank you so much!

Just then, Mathilda, my little sister, comes through the door. She’s a sulky eleven-year-old right now, and she’s obsessed with me.

Perhaps it’s because my parents don’t pay me much attention and she feels sorry for me. Or maybe it’s because I’m her older sister and built-in role model. Either way, she loves me, and I’m grateful to have at least one person who seems to enjoy my company.

Mathilda runs up and wraps her arms around me, giving me a sloppy kiss on the cheek as she says, Happy birthday, big sister!

Thanks, baby, I say with a bright smile. It means a lot.

All of us call Mathilda baby since she’s the youngest of our little family, but I think she only really likes it when I do it.

She sits next to me and we eat breakfast together. Nobody offers to put my necklace on, so I do it myself, admiring the way the cross falls against my pale skin. I admire the matte, antique beauty of the pendant against the shimmering silver chain. My heart is beating into overdrive with anticipation as I prepare myself to ask what I know my parents are already dreading.

Finally, I gather enough courage to ask.

When is Xavier coming?

Instantly, my parents share a troubled look.

He’ll be here soon enough, I’m sure, my father says in a clipped tone. Finish your breakfast, girls.

I’m unsatisfied with the answer, but I know I won’t get much more out of my parents. They’re strangely annoyed by