Page 1 of King
Prologue
ALANA
Thefrontdoorslamsto our place so hard the large, frosted panes of glass rattle against the wooden door frame. Matteo’s angry voice echoes through the massive house he bought us three years ago as a surprise to me. Not really a surprise that made me happy at the time, but it’s Matteo. He really isn’t a person you can say no to even if you wanted too.
His heavy footfalls disappear upstairs. I let out a breath of relief he doesn’t come into the kitchen. I don’t feel like arguing about anything and everything, especially today. Today I just want to leave.
Lately, he’s angry all the time, and I think it has to do with what I overheard–the final straw that’s forcing me to do what’s right. He’s a sadistic bastard, and I have no business being here or being with a man like him.
I pick up my phone, send a quick text message to Amelia Grace, my best friend, to let her know Matteo’s home, and there’ll be a slight change in plans.
I didn’t expect him home this early in the afternoon. When he left this morning before sunrise to go to the club he manages, he said he wouldn’t be home until the next morning.
His workdays have been getting longer and he’s been working well into the early morning hours. Sometimes he slips into bed around 4:30 in the morning but only after taking a nice long shower. I have no idea if he’s cheating, and it really doesn’t matter if he is. The love I had for him died a long time ago. I’ve wanted to end our relationship for a while now, which I planned to do today by leaving, while he was at work.
When you’re involved with amade manin one of the country’s most notorious crime families, you have to be careful about what you do, when you do it, and how you do it.
We haven’t had the best relationship for the last few years and what I overheard gave me the final push to get my ass out of here. In the beginning, he sold me a dream. When we first started dating, he was one of the most caring and remarkable men I’d ever met. Or at least I thought he was. He wined and dined me. Showed me the person he wanted me to see by promising me the world. Most of the time he delivered. Surprise dates, vacations, and candlelight dinners for no reason. Anything overly romantic Matteo Messina did it for me with a smile on his face, a bouquet of my favorite flowers in one hand and diamonds in the other. At one time I thought he was my forever. Honestly, I’d never met a more amazing man. Then one day it all ended. Like someone flicked the light switch on. Then I came to the realization those good times were nothing more than an illusion, a way to make me fall for him. A very expensive form of manipulation. Why he focused on me, I never understood. Maybe it’s because he’s a narcissistic bastard and he can’t let go of something he wanted so bad.
It took a long time for him to show his true colors, or I just refused to see him for the person he truly is. But when it clicked… when I discovered the truth and got a real understanding of who Matteo Messina really is and not the mirage, he showed me all these years, there wasn’t any way for me to stay with him.
I’m in one of those damned if I do, damned if I don’t situations. Try to leave and I might die. Stay and it’s still possible I might suffer the same fate. However, by leaving I’m able to help other people less fortunate than me. That’s how I know I’m doing the right thing despite the danger it puts me in.
I pull Matteo’s favorite liquor from the cabinet, a nice single malt whiskey, along with a glass, a butcher knife, and a spoon from the drawer. It’s early but I know he won’t turn it down because he’s been drinking a lot more lately.
I sit them on top of the white marble counter of the kitchen island. Digging into the pocket of my jeans, I pull out two sleeping pills. I’ve had trouble sleeping for years, and hate taking them, but today they’ll come in handy.
With shaky hands, I crush the two pills with the blade of the knife on the countertop, scrape the thin powder in my hand, then dump it in the glass. I uncap the liquor and pour it into the glass then grab a spoon from the drawer of the kitchen island, and stir the liquid, making sure the pill totally dissolves.
“Hope the hell this works,” I mumble to the empty kitchen. “If it doesn’t, I’m dead.”
Those two little pills aren’t enough to kill him but just enough to keep him knocked the fuck out at least until the next morning. When he wakes up and realizes what I’ve done, and that I’ve left him, he’ll try to kill me. But I’ll be long gone.
“Here goes nothing.”
I take a deep breath, grab the glass with the two sleeping pills dissolved in it, and head out of the kitchen, then upstairs to our bedroom. I hear him yelling and cursing before I even reach the door. It’s gotten to the point he doesn’t care if I’m in the same room when he discusses family business now, which is very different from when we first met. He thinks he has me on a tight leash and whatever I hear I can’t understand, or I’ll keep my mouth shut about it. I guess when he wakes up in the morning, he’ll know how fucking wrong he’s been about me this entire time.
I take another deep breath, push open the door and step over the threshold of our bedroom. He’s sitting in one of the chairs in front of our floor-to-ceiling bedroom window, his olive-skinned tinted red in anger.
Matteo’s a gorgeous man. His square jaw is visibly tense from the argument he’s having over the phone, but it highlights his aquiline nose and high cheekbones. Wavy hair, dark as night, reaches his shoulders, and gleams in the sun’s rays filtering through the window contrasting nicely with his bronze skin and green eyes. He’s absolutely stunning.
The devil in disguise. The devil I wish I never met.
He’s so engrossed in his argument he hasn’t even noticed or acknowledged me. I have time to take in another deep breath and then out, letting go of the doubts of how all this could go terribly wrong. Now’s the time to set my plan in motion for better or worse. There’s no turning back after I do this. And if I don’t do it now, I’ll die alongside this despicable man. I refuse to die with him anywhere near me. I will not be another one of his victims. My duffle bag is packed, hidden deep in the back of our walk-in closet. After he falls asleep, I’ll meet Amelia Grace so we can ditch town to wherever her brother’s sending us.
Finally, his eyes flick up to me, as I walk towards him, putting a little more sway into my hips. His brow arches and that devilish smirk slowly forms on his face. Right now, he looks more like the man I fell in love with, and less like the devil I know him to be. I’m not fooled. At least not anymore. He’s shown me his true colors a long time ago. There’s nothing good about him, only evil.
I force a smile, hoping I’m able to mask my true feelings of disgust. When I reach him, I slide onto his lap. His eyes remain on me, filling with lust but questioning what I’m really doing. I haven’t been as affectionate with him lately because his touch makes my skin crawl. He has good reason to question my actions right now.
I hand him the tumbler of whiskey and he grabs it without hesitation.Thank God.Instead of taking a sip like I thought he would, he downs it in one shot, then gives me one of the most heart-stopping kisses before turning back to his conversation.
I stay on his lap, running my fingers through his hair as nervousness and exhilaration move through me. I don’t know how long it will take the pills to start working but I can see the finish line. His body relaxes as my touch lures him into a deep sense of security. Once he’s asleep, I can finally breathe. And it won’t be long before I’ll finally be free of Matteo.
At least, I hope.
Chapter One
KING
