Reign of Desire, page 1
REIGN OF DESIRE
Dark Reign Book Six
A.G. KIRKHAM
Copyright © 2022 by A.G. Kirkham
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Artwork design by JS Designs Cover Art
Contents
Dark Reign Family Tree
Prologue
1. The Animal is Out of His Cage
2. Soft Pillows
3. Do You Defy Me
4. You Really Do
5. Bound Together
6. Retail Therapy
7. Marriage Vows
8. When
9. Friends
10. More Questions Than Answers
11. Valentina
12. Cake and Cream
13. Fatal Mistake
14. The Final Bow
15. Quiet Sex
16. Goodbye
17. Confessions
18. New Beginnings
19. The Future
20. All of Me
21. A Meeting of Minds
22. I Choose Her
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by A.G. Kirkham
Dark Reign Family Tree
Dark Reign Families
* * *
La Famiglia
Marco (Capo) & Gloria Moretti
Son: Nero
Daughter: Grazia
* * *
Nero (Future Capo) & Felicia MorettiLuciano (Consigliere) & Grazia Donatelli
Children: Antonio Children: Ciara
Nero’s Parents: Marco & Gloria MorettiLuciano’s Parents: Paolo (deceased) & Francesca Donatelli
Felicia’s Parents: Mario & Teresa BianchiGrazia’s Parents: Marco & Gloria Moretti
Nero’s Sibling: Grazia MorettiGrazia’s Sibling: Nero Moretti
Felicia’s Sibling: Emiliano BianchiLuciano’s Sibling: Cara Donatelli
* * *
Nostra Casa
Moreno (Capo) & Anna Viale
Children: Samuele, Simona (twins)
Reno’s Parents: Giovanni & Clara Viale (both deceased)
Anna’s Parents: Franco & Angela Corelli
Reno’s Siblings: Sebastian Viale, Dante Viale
Anna’s Sibling: Giorgio Corelli (married to Sara and they have a child Franco Jr.)
* * *
Sebastian (Consigliere) & Olivia VialeDante Viale (Consigliere)
Sebastian’s Parents: Giovanni Viale & Magdalena DeLupa (both deceased)
Olivia’s Parents: Orlando & Diane (deceased) Micelli
Sebastian’s Siblings: Reno Viale, Dante Viale
* * *
Leonardo (Underboss) & Lucia Conte
Children: Joseph
Leo’s Parents: Martina Conte, father unnamed
Lucia’s Parents: Giuseppe & Natalina (deceased) Ferrante
Siblings: None
* * *
Il Destino
Alessio (Capo) & Josephine Cassini
Alessio’s Parents: Alfredo and Maria Cassini
Josephine’s Parents: Germano and Nina Cucco
Alessio’s Siblings: Mara Cassini, Mia Cassini
Josephine’s Sibling: Mona Berto (married to Bruno)
Prologue
LET ME GO
Alessio
* * *
As I make my way into my house after another long, exhausting day, I see my soon-to-be consigliere and right-hand man, Niccolo, standing in the foyer, looking none too happy. He indicates my office with a chin lift in that direction and says, “Josie’s in your office, and it isn’t pretty.”
It’s almost midnight. What the hell is she doing here? I blow out a breath, but head down the hall. I push the door open, and as I do, Josie jumps to her feet and turns to face me. My heart stops. Her face is swollen, her right eye puffy and barely visible. Her lip is cut open and bleeding, and she’s trembling. She opens her voice to speak but nothing comes out, tears staining her face.
“What the fuck happened?” I demand, fury resonating through me, my hands clenching into fists. I feel the heat rising in my face, anger raging inside me. I had her husband eliminated for beating his wife. Now she shows up worse than ever, and with more than a few bruises on her.
“Please let me go,” she whispers, finding her voice. Her body is shaking so badly, I’m afraid she’s going to pass out. I grab a decorative throw my sister Mia chose for this room, which I’ve never had a use for until now, and move to Josie, tossing it over her shoulders and sitting her down on the tan leather sofa.
“Let you go where?” I’m not understanding what she’s asking.
“Please let me go or kill me now. I can’t go through it again,” she says quietly, her lower lip trembling, fingers clenched in her lap, tears falling freely down her cheeks.
“You’re not making any sense. What happened? Who did this to you?”
“My father.” She turns her face away, a shaky hand gently wiping a teardrop away.
I know Germano is a vicious bastard, but he’s nowhere as lethal as I am. He and my father were best friends, and both believed in ruling their homes like they would the territory and businesses they ran. He’s been a loyal underboss. “Why?”
“I told him I wouldn’t marry the man he chose for me. He’s selling me off to a sixty-year-old man to be his arm candy. He said that’s the only man who would have me because I can’t bear children. No one wants me, and he needs to get rid of me because I’m a disappointment.” Josie speaks so quietly that I can hardly hear her. “I told him that I chose not to get pregnant with Aurelio because he would end up killing our child, and he lost it.”
Shit! I’ve always detested Germano, but I’ve had no reason to take him out. Right now, I don’t give a damn about that, and I’m willing to put a bullet in his head.
Josie’s hand comes over my fist. “Please let me leave. I’ll disappear. You can tell my father you killed me. No one will look for me, and I can live out my life in peace. I’ll go anywhere you say.”
She’s begging me to let her out of Il Destino. This isn’t an option. We have so many enemies that within days, at best weeks, she’ll be found by one of them, and her torture and death would be more gruesome than I want to imagine.
“Josie, you know this isn’t possible,” I tell her in a low tone, trying to remain calm.
“Then put your gun right here”—she lifts my hand to her temple—“and put me out of my misery. Anything is better than what my father and this old crony lech has planned for me. Please. I’m begging you.”
I open my palm and allow myself to caress her face. We sit in silence for what seems like eternity. When I finally trust my voice, I call out for Niccolo. He’s quick to enter.
“Take Josephine to my apartment in the city. A man stays with her in the apartment, and one outside the door. No one goes in or out without my permission.”
“Of course. She should see a doctor first, shouldn’t she?” Niccolo makes a good point.
I nod. “Fine. I want an update as soon as he’s checked Josie.” I want to know just how badly her father injured her. “I want you back here right after.”
“He’ll come for me,” Josie says, her eyes flitting from Niccolo to me.
“He can try. But I’m the don of Il Destino.”
“No offense, Don Alessio, but a man has the right to rule his home any way he wants. I’m under his thumb,” she says, reminding me that it’s rare for a don to interfere with personal family issues.
“True, but he is under my thumb.” Without another word, I leave Niccolo to take care of Josie and deliver her to my apartment.
ONE
The Animal is Out of His Cage
ALESSIO
Even a hot shower doesn’t release the tension I’m holding. I’m so enraged, I’ve had to stop myself several times from making the call to eliminate Josephine’s father with a bullet to the head tonight. Even as a young man, I remember that he was a cruel bastard. When I was twelve, he was the first to enter the boxing ring when my father threw me in to toughen me up. Germano was the first to land a punch, and he never held back. A mature man against a boy of twelve. According to my father, he was initiating me into Il Destino and teaching me how to defend myself. Utter bullshit!
As I exit the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my waist, there’s a knock on my bedroom door. I already know who it is and have been expecting him.
“Enter,” I command. Niccolo steps in, and I can see that he’s not pleased with the current situation either. “How is she?”
“Josie’s lucky her father didn’t dislocate her jaw with the punch he threw. She’s badly bruised, has a sprained wrist, and his fingers left marks on her upper arms from shaking her. She finally told me that after I prodded her long enough.” Niccolo looks down at his shoes, then up at me through his lashes. “She’s got a shoe print on her back from being kicked when she fell.”
I can feel the heat rising, a burning in my chest, my blood boiling. I get a lock on it, then calmly tell Niccolo, “Call Germano. Tell him his daughter is safe and I’ll be by in the morning to discuss matters.” I take a step toward him, “Say nothing else, and be prepared to accompany me tomorrow morning. In the meantime, Josephine is guarded at all times, and anyone who leaks her location will be dealt with by me.”
Niccolo leaves me to do as I ask.
I could understand the idea of making me into a man to lead Il Destino one day if I were treated as a son any other time. Instead, I grew into a stronger warrior than him, and that made me dangerous. Dear old Dad would send me on the roughest missions, thinking that I’d come back bloody and broken. Niccolo was my only true friend even then and never let me go it alone. He’s had my back on more occasions than I can remember. I dreamed of killing my father, Alfredo Cassini, so many times, I think that somehow, I willed for our enemies to catch him in bed with his mistress. It ended with a bullet between his eyes. For her part in setting up Dad’s demise, his mistress was killed too. Personally, I would have given her a medal, but she did betray Il Destino, and that’s unforgiveable under any circumstances.
When I took over as don, I saw the fear in Germano’s face. He no longer had his best buddy to cover for him. Germano and my father did just about everything together, especially visit our whorehouses. The one needle that dear old Dad poked at Germano was the fact that he didn’t have any sons. It riles Germano even to this day. His wife almost died during childbirth, which made it impossible for her to get pregnant after Josephine. Knowing that he had to choose between the husbands of his two married daughters, he pitted the men against one another, causing more strain in the family.
It came to my attention early on that Josephine’s husband was taking a hand to her. I’ve killed many men, but I firmly disagree with abusing women and children. I was torn between the desire to rip his head clear off his body and maintaining the tradition to not interfere with family matters unrelated to Il Destino. It was Lucia, Leo’s wife, who saw the extent of the beating that Josephine was enduring on a daily basis. I couldn’t ignore it anymore and made arrangements for Aurelio’s removal from this world. In fact, it was a pleasure. However, before his death, I made sure he felt the same pain that he gave Josephine.
Now, here we are in the same place we were months ago, with a thirst for blood for another man who dared put his hands on Josephine.
She’s still too young for my tortured soul. Her twenty-four to my thirty-six years. Christ, far too young! I noticed Josephine when she was in her mid teens, and she was exceptionally beautiful even then, with raven-black hair and ocean-green eyes that I swear penetrated my deep dark soul. She was subdued even then. Whenever she was in public, she played the perfect dutiful Mafia daughter. Yet, there was a time when Mia was in the garden and fell into the rose bush. She was terrified to say anything to my father, and it was Josephine who snuck her inside and cleaned her up so that no one was the wiser. Mia told me later that night when I tucked in both her and Mara. I was more their father than our own. I would read them bedtime stories and chase away the monsters hiding under their beds.
Years later, Josephine is still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. Yet, my father and hers organized her marriage to Aurelio. I thought about speaking up after my father died, but the wheels had been set in motion and this would not have been the right move for a new young don.
My father died after their engagement party. While I took my sisters and stepmother home, my father went to see his mistress, and then he was gone. Germano delayed Josephine’s marriage to Aurelio until things settled and out of respect for the death of his don. When I stepped into the role of don, everyone was onboard, but I knew Germano wanted to take the role for himself. I was the logical choice, however, and I’ve proven myself over and over. Il Destino was changing and becoming more progressive. The up-and-coming underbosses supported me, as did their fathers, because they too recognized the tides of change.
Unfortunately, as part of tradition, the don must marry. I put it off as long as I could with the excuse that I was mourning my father’s death. In the end, I chose Angela. She was the daughter of a loyal underboss. She was raised to be the perfect Mafia wife. Angela would look pretty on my arm and knew enough to stay out of my way. Did I love her? No. Did I need to? Hell, no.
Angela was targeted by the Russians, who tried to blame it on Nostra Casa, another Mafia family, and cause a war between our families. Reno set me straight and even allied with me to get revenge for Angela. I mourned her death, not because I loved her, but because she was undeserving of that kind of ending. She was an innocent, and by rights, she was mine. Truth be told, Angela and I exchanged a few chaste kisses on the cheek and were engaged only a few months before her death.
Now the opportunity has come full circle. Either I step in and claim Josephine for myself, or I step back and let her father marry her off again.
I froze when Josephine asked me to put her out of her misery. She would rather die than marry her father’s old lech of a friend. I felt her whole body tremble in fear and looked into her eyes as she pleaded with me to end her life. It scared me that she wasn’t afraid to die.
First, I have to deal with Germano. Not that he’ll have a choice, but I’d prefer not to unleash the animal lying in wait inside me. However, I’ll let the animal out of his cage if need be.
TWO
Soft Pillows
JOSEPHINE
Niccolo drove with me in silence. I believe he doesn’t trust himself to stay neutral with his emotions. He’s been a loyal friend since we were children. Our fathers worked together on family business, and with Niccolo’s mother looking after his siblings, my mom would invite Niccolo to come and stay with us. Even though he was older, he would still play with my sister and me. Although, I think he was just protecting us from my abusive father.
Dad always behaved like the doting father and husband in front of company. Somehow, Niccolo saw right through my father. As we grew older, my older sister, Mona, developed a crush on Niccolo that was in no way reciprocated. Mona was brazen in her attempts to attract his attention. It became impossible for Niccolo to show up at the house without her throwing herself at him. Eventually, he backed away, and what little buffer I had between me and my father disappeared.
After marrying Aurelio, I endured a new brand of cruelty. I became accustomed to being slapped, punched, and beaten. I perfected my makeup techniques to hide the bruises on my face and rarely bought clothing without sleeves to hide the marks. The worst was when Aurelio dragged me into our bedroom and wanted sex. All the romance stories I’d read led me to believe that this was a moment of love and bonding between two people. A connection of hearts and souls.
Instead, it was so painful, I begged him to stop. That just seemed to incite him even more. Even now, I can hear his harsh laughter. Thank God, he didn’t search me out too often. After that first night, I refused to cry or beg him to stop. I gritted my teeth and waited for him to finish.
As horrible as it may seem, it was a relief to come home one day to find him in our bedroom with one of his women. He saw me. Aurelio looked me straight in the eye, sneered, and then asked me to join in. I backed out of the room, listening as he called me a prude and laughed out loud. That was the day I moved into the spare bedroom at the farthest end of the house.
From that night on, Aurelio didn’t hide his women or curb his need to have a variety of them at his beck and call. What was supposed to be my sanctuary became a brothel. It wasn’t just the women, it was the poker games, the cocaine, and the whispers when I attended any of the ladies’ events where I was forced to be present on his arm.
