Until Her: A Mafia Romance Novel (A King Family Series Book 3) Read online

  A King Family Series

  Book Three

  Copyright ©2020 by Ami Van.

  All Rights Reserved. UNTIL HER.

  First Edition.

  Artwork by: Acrux (IG: @off.brandart)

  This book is purely fiction and any resemblance to names, characters, and places is coincidental. The reproduction of this work is forbidden without written consent from the author. The author acknowledges the trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  “Who is it that can tell me who I am?”

  William Shakespeare, King Lear

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Epilogue

  To The Readers

  Ariana’s Gallery

  About the Author

  Other Books by Ami Van

  Chapter One

  Can this woman move any slower?

  He keeps the thought to himself and takes another puff of his cigar while trying to keep his patience intact.

  Lori…or was it Maureen…is taking her precious time picking up her belongings around the bedroom. Painstakingly slow. He swears it shouldn’t have taken the five minutes she’s already used so far since she didn’t have anything with her but her skin-tight dress, a thong underneath, and a small clutch.

  “Do you prefer a cab or an Uber?” he asks because no one could ever accuse him of not being a gentleman. He should probably reconsider that.

  Abrasive? Yes.

  Dick move? Most definitely.

  But come on! Lori/Maureen would be lying to herself if she said she didn’t know any better.

  She’s blonde, tall, and fit. Mid-thirties, maybe? Pretty face too. So, yeah. She should definitely know better. Especially when it comes to a King. By the looks of her batting her lashes though, she’s still hoping to at least spend the night.

  Hard no. Fat chance.

  This is probably Derrick’s fault. Derrick King, his twin brother.

  With word spreading that Derrick went and got married, women have been flocking into his bed with hopes of staying in it long-term. It’s rumored that a King grew a heart and that the infection might have spread to the other three bachelor Kings.

  “Cab or Uber?” he repeats to speed things up.

  He needs to get back home to his ten-year-old daughter, Jasmine. She has some kind of music video that she’s been working on for her digital editing class and he promised he’d take first look at it once his little brother, Rory, is done with the music bits.

  “Can’t your driver take me home?” she asks with a laughable air of confidence.

  “No,” he answers deflating whatever idea is ballooning in her head.

  He grabs his phone off the nightstand and decides for her. He doesn’t have the time to fuck around. Well, he didn’t have the time after he’s fucked around.

  He quickly calls for a cab. Uber drivers can get chatty and this chick would most likely open her mouth about him in one light or another.

  Once he completes that task, he checks the five text messages from both Derrick and his sister-in-law, Stella.

  Oh damn. The last text was over an hour ago.

  Derrick and Stella are finally officially on their honeymoon in Barbados for the next week and being the loving uncle that he is, he’s taken his nephew, Rian, under his wing. Literally.

  Baby boy, Rian, has been sleeping in his wing of the mansion in the nursery which used to be Jazzy’s until she outgrew it.

  After everything his brother and Stella have gone through in the past couple of years, they deserved some time away and to themselves. He didn’t mind.

  Now he feels like a total irresponsible douche for being out late, getting his cock sucked and fucked, when he should be home giving Rian his bath and putting him to sleep. He’s only eight months old and Stella is probably going out of her mind not hearing from him.

  “You should wait downstairs or the cab will leave without you,” he tells Lori/Maureen.

  “Adam, you sure we don’t have time—”

  “Sorry, darling.”

  Not really. She wasn’t that good or anything new. A dime a dozen. That makes him sound like a pig. But it’s the truth.

  When he FINALLY hears the door click and her stomping departure, he dials Derrick’s number without regard to the time.

  “You done?” Derrick answers after two rings.

  “How mad is she?” he asks his brother.

  “You’re lucky she didn’t send Brooks back there,” Derrick tells him, sounding out of breath.

  He didn’t have to ask why. Derrick is on his honeymoon so it’s pretty obvious.

  “I’m heading back now. I’ll send her a picture,” he tells his brother.

  “Five pictures,” Stella demands echoes from the background. “He’ll send me five pictures.”

  He can only picture his brother’s ear to ear grin before he disconnects the call and hops out of bed to get dressed. Derrick deserves all the smiles his face can handle.

  Out of habit, he leaves a benjamin on the night table for the cleaning service. Sure, it’s technically their condo and they have their cleaners come in a few times a week but it’s a small price to pay. A happy employee is a mute one. Not that they conduct business here but having a happy cleaning crew that knows how to scan for bugging devices is always a plus.

  He shrugs into his suit jacket then sends a message to Sully, letting his driver know that he’s heading down to the lobby. Another quick message to his other brother, Chase, to see if he needs anything at the club, and one last message to Mason to make sure the drop went as planned tonight.

  By the time he slides into the back seat of the Escalade, Chase has informed him that he’s already on his way home and Mason texted to let him know the drop has been completed.

  All is as well as it should be in their Kingdom.

  He exhales loudly and leans back against the seat, letting the knots of tension
relax a bit for the quiet ride home.

  “Shouldn’t you be in a better mood?” Sully jokes from the driver’s seat as he meticulously maneuvers through their route home.

  Sullivan Landish at age forty-five is only three years older than he and Derrick. Sully has been with their family for almost two decades. Since the beginning. He’s a trusted and even considered a friend and so sometimes, he speaks his mind freely.

  “It’s getting boring,” he confesses to Sully.

  “Boring because things have finally calmed down or boring because you’re looking for more nowadays?” Sully asks.

  He sees Sully’s eyes flicker to the rearview mirror at him and then back onto the road.

  “We needed things to calm down around here. This is the roughest we’ve been through,” he answers.

  He ignores the other part of the question altogether. He didn’t want to be reminded of all their losses in the past few years either. Too many good and loyal soldiers have been buried and they nearly lost both of their future Kings. The children, Jazzy and Rian.

  It has been a rough two-years since Stella’s arrival into their lives. Not saying it’s her fault. He knows all too well that this life has its ups and downs. The timing could have been better and maybe one event didn’t have to snowball into another as it had.

  He remains quiet until Sully pulls up to the front of the mansion.

  He steps out of the SUV, not waiting for the driver to open his door for him. What did it matter at this time of night anyway?

  “Good night, Sully.”

  “Night, Boss.”

  He makes a quick beeline up the grand staircase to his wing of the mansion to check on Rian. Jazzy would be asleep and he didn’t want to wake her. He halts at the doorway of the nursery, surprised to see both Chase and Rory passing their nephew between them.

  “What’s going on?” he asks his younger brothers when he disposes of his suit jacket and steps inside.

  “He’s got a fever. Probably teething,” Chase answers.

  “Don’t tell Stella or Derrick,” he warns his siblings. No doubt they all already know that Stella would demand to come home right away. “We can handle this.”

  “I already gave him Tylenol,” Rory informs him.

  “I got you,” he softly speaks to Rian as Rory hands him over.

  Rian instantly settles down, probably because baby boy thinks he is his father. He and Derrick are twins after all and they look nearly identical again nowadays.

  “Too bad Pam isn’t here either. She’s better at this,” Chase grunts. When it comes to kids, whether Chase admits it or not, there’s always a soft spot there. Like butter.

  Pam, Jazzy’s nanny since birth, now has the role of a part-time nanny to Rian too except she’s on vacation with Brooks at the moment, alongside Derrick and Stella. This is Pam’s first vacation in almost ten years and she deserved it. Especially since she’d been shot saving his daughter’s life.

  Along with the two couples, Elias and his now-wife, Andrea, were also given the gift of an all-expense paid honeymoon in Barbados. Elias, being Chase’s second-in-command, rarely gets time off.

  Chase runs a tight ship. He runs a successful nightclub and his younger brother also keeps very active in the family business. Not to mention, Chase’s extracurricular activities.

  Besides, the more security for Derrick and his wife, the better.

  “We can handle it,” he tells Chase. “I’ll have Willa stay the night with him. She has no problem waking me up if he needs me.”

  This is what his life has become? Staying up all night with a teething baby then waking up early the next morning to have a full breakfast ready for his daughter. It’s worked for him for the past ten years. He’s grateful especially in this line of business. But Sully was right. It’s getting mundane because he’s looking for more nowadays.

  He just isn’t sure what more is.

  “Dad?” “Dad! Are you even paying attention?” Jazzy snarks at him.

  “Yeah, baby. Sorry.”

  “Can I stay at home with Rian? I don’t like him being sick,” she says.

  “Na-uh. Nope,” he answers. “He’ll be okay. You have a test today. Don’t think I don’t know you’re trying to get out of it.”

  “Ugh,” she exhales but still, she gets out of her seat and comes over to kiss him before bouncing out of the kitchen.

  “Jason is staying with you at school today!” he hollers after her. Not that he had to remind her. Jazzy knows the drill by now.

  She always has extra security at school with her. Lately, it’s been either Brooks or one of the two mercenaries on their payroll. Only the best since her kidnapping a few months ago. She seems to be coping with it a shit ton better than he’s been able to though. He’s been checking on her several times a night. Either physically or by the house’s security feed. And no…there isn’t a camera installed in her room. Just in the hallway right outside of her room. She’s required to have the door open at bedtime now. She didn’t object to it at all but has been asking the past few nights if she can close it at least halfway.

  “I’ll take care of that,” Willa, their head housekeeper, tells him. She practically shoves him out of way to get to the dirty dishes. “Claire is giving Rian a bath and some video time with his mom and dad.”

  “Thanks, Willa.”

  He grabs his suit jacket off the back of a chair and heads to the office. Mason is already deep in his tasks of managing Kings’ businesses so he walks over to Derrick’s desk and plops down into his brother’s chair.

  It’s a cold seat.

  He takes no real joy in sitting in it but has been wondering as of late if he’ll have to do so since Derrick is now a husband and a father. Not to mention, Derrick also suffered trauma that caused him to lose some of his short-term memory. He should have taken more time to recover from that. But time is something that’s never guaranteed to anyone is it?

  Truth be told…he doesn’t want to step up.

  Sure, technically, they are all Kings. They all have equal say in the business but Derrick has always been the frontman, the one with a red target painted on his back. It’s always been that way since they started working for the Tianello Family back when they were just nineteen years old. It’s Derrick’s way of doing his part to protect their younger brothers, by being their human shield. Not many outside of the family know who’s older nor cared anyway.

  He’s also technically the oldest brother. Older than Derrick by half an hour. But he prefers a more management type position within their family business. It’s what he’s best at. Don’t get it twisted. He can be just as fearless as Derrick, at times maybe even darker. But only his twin knows the real depths of him. He prefers to keep it that way. Even his two youngest brothers don’t need to know.

  Chase needed a good role model after their mother passed and Rory needed a loving home. Neither younger brothers were going to be getting that from their never-sober father if the man were even available. While Derrick made sure their kingdom was as heavily guarded and feared, he’d been the one who’s kept their family together behind the scenes.

  And he thrived in the role.

  But Derrick has his own family now. Derrick has Stella and Rian.

  Stella is fucking irreplaceable as a sister, as a friend, as a crime boss. She’s perfect for his brother in every way and he’s thankful Derrick found someone as sweet, strong, and cunning as Stella. Of his three brothers, Derrick was the one he was most worried about simply because his twin, though they’ve never spoken about it, had condemned himself to a life of solitude and misery of his own doing. Not anymore.

  He may push Derrick’s buttons by implying he’d gladly step in and take Stella. But truth be told, as gorgeous as Stella is, what he feels for her is on the same level of connection he has with his twin. Nothing more. Nothing less. It’s deeply rooted but still…it’s not what he’s needing.

  And maybe that’s the cause of this need for something more now.
>
  His twin, the closest living soul to him, has a connection with someone else now. Someday, his younger siblings will have their own families too.

  For Chase, he hopes someday comes sooner rather than later because it’s getting hard to keep the asshole humble. Chase’s inflated ego can fill all wings of the mansion. Chase believes he’s untouchable, no matter how much he’s warned the younger King to take it down a notch. He worries there won’t be a woman on the planet—maybe in the whole solar system—who can tame the beast he and Derrick created with Chase.

  He and Derrick have never considered having families of their own living this life but they’d always had hopes that their younger brothers would get the happily ever after they deserved. Now, Derrick’s married with a son.

  And he’s doing the whole single father thing. Go figure.

  As for Rory? He’s starting to realize that Ro isn’t the scared little boy who used to crawl into his bed at night seeking comfort as any child who’s lost both parents much too young would. As of late, it’s becoming more and more clear that he isn’t able to give Rory whatever it is the youngest King is seeking. The worst part? He doesn’t know how to exactly help Rory either.

  His only reprieve is Jazzy.

  Then again, at ten years old, she’s already starting to spread her wings and wanting more independence. She spends more time with Pam and Stella nowadays and eventually, his baby girl will start keeping secrets from him. She’ll start asking for girl advice that he won’t be able to provide.

  He sighs out loud. Much too loudly.

  The point is, what’s given him purpose within the family is slowly but surely slipping away. People grow, they change. And well…the Kings are a well-oiled machine on the streets and within their castle.

  He leans forward on the desk and peruses the various folders for the rest of the morning. Signing too much paperwork. Going through various legalese until he finally reaches the contract for their new security system.

  “Is this what the two mercs suggested?” he asks Mason.

  Mason picks up the same colored file folder off of his desk and browses through. “Yeah,” Mason answers. “It’s top of the line and on its own offsite server.”