Page 265 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

Marchella.

Chella.

And just like that, the elusive bargaining chip falls right into my lap.

I needed an incentive to get Frankie to return my money, and now I have one.

Except she just happens to be the girl who got away…literally. She’s the girl I fantasized about for the better part of my teen years. Hell, I did more than fantasize about her, too. But I was smart enough to know back then that if I got too close, the sparks I felt between us would ignite and the flames would swallow me whole.

And that’s in addition to what Frankie would have done to me if I even dared look for too long.

All of the memories burst between my ears, swirling through my mind as I scrub a hand down the front of my face. I need to get my head on straight. This is my job! I can’t let these crazy feelings take over when I have so much at stake, like the loyalty and respect of my family and organization. I need to show them all the consequences they’ll face if any of them decide to pull a similar scheme, how I won’t tolerate deception and if they test me, they’ll pay with their lives. And not only them, but everyone they love.

Just like Frankie.

My throat tightens and I clench my fists.

And Marchella.

Fuck.

I turn to Ray. “Make sure Bobby meets Frankie at the meeting spot Sal gave him.” My jaw twitches. “And get me a location for his sister.”

CHAPTER6

MARCHELLA

Aheavy feeling in my gut weighs me down as I finish straightening up Frankie’s room. We are not running away from our lives. Our reality is bleak right now, but dammit, I’m going to figure out a way to make it better. There has to be something better out there for us.

I thought we hit rock bottom when Mama died. I had no idea how much deeper hell went.

But, as they say, when you finally do crash, you have nowhere to go but up.

So that’s my glass-half-full perspective for the day.

My mind wanders back to my shift last night at the bar and the mystery man who left me hundreds of dollars as a tip for pouring liquor into his lap, then left me high and dry after my shift.

His eyes had been so captivating, it reminded me of another time…a happier one where I was carefree and in love. Sure, some might have said it wasn’t real because I was only fourteen, but I know what I felt.

It’s strange. The man from last night was rough and cocky and arrogant, but those eyes…they gripped me in the same way. I’d have followed him just about anywhere while caught under his salacious spell. There had really only been one other guy who’d elicited this kind of response, but that was such a long time ago, in a different life, one where we danced around our feelings for years because the danger overshadowed the future.

And then a worse danger seeped into our lives, poisoning any chance of us being together.

I was young but I knew what I wanted, what I needed.

Then I was yanked away forever, and what I wanted was shoved into the dark recesses of my mind and heart, to the point where it almost felt like a figment of my imagination.

Like it wasn’t ever real.

Like it never could be again.

Fast forward to the present.

I let out a deep sigh. Dating and sex…those are luxuries I haven’t experienced in a very long time. Most guys aren’t too thrilled about hanging out with the daughter of a convicted murderer, and an infamous gangster to boot.

My shitty past just insists on dictating my future. It’s like the quintessential re-gift that just keeps fucking looping with no end in sight.

Too bad, because some mind-bending sex is exactly what I need to get my mind off of our dismal circumstances. I thought I was on the path toward it last night, but oh well.

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