MAFIA KING by L. Steele: Book Blitz, Excerpt & Teasers

He tilts his head, his ears almost canine in the way they are silhouetted against his profile.

“Is it because you can? Is it a…a,” I blink, “a debt of some kind?”

He stills.

“My father, this is about how he betrayed the Mafia, right? You’re one of them?”

“Lucky guess.” His lips twist, “It is about your father, and how he promised you to me. He reneged on his promise, and now, I am here to collect.”

“No.” I swallow… No, no, no.

“Yes.” His jaw hardens.

All expression is wiped clean of his face, and I know then, that he speaks the truth. It’s always about the past. My sorry shambles of a past… Why does it always catch up with me? You can run, but you can never hide.

“Tick-tock, Beauty.” He angles his body and his shoulders shut out the sight of the sun, the dawn skies, the horizon, the city in the distance, the rustle of the grass, the trees, the rustle of the leaves. All of it fades and leaves just me and him. Us. Run.

“Five.” He jerks his chin, straightens the cuffs of his sleeves.

My knees wobble.

“Four.”

My pulse rate spikes. I should go. Leave. But my feet are planted in this earth. This piece of land where we first met. What am I, but a speck in the larger scheme of things? To be hurt. To be forgotten. To be taken without an ounce of retribution. To be punished…by him.

“Three.” He thrusts out his chest, widens his stance, every muscle in his body relaxed. “Two.”

I swallow. The pulse beats at my temples. My blood thrums.

“One.”