Pampered By The Rival Mafia Boss

ost dangerous mob boss with a sewing kit. I gav

irlfriend Chloe returne

t didn't matter that she poisoned me, killing

due to her drug abuse, Ethan didn't

e kidney, Ava

n who murdered his heir. And when he w

e edge of a bridge

said, his eyes devoid of

ing water, watching me drow

He thought the canary

ng. I was the chemist

out of the river, I didn't pray fo

gala on the arm of his enemy, wearing a whit

to his knees w

orgive him. I was there

pte

a

ily's future in my hand just as the phone

g the life of the most dangerous man in New York. Today, the man I saved-the Don of the Reed crime family

the mano

ad before I coul

sterile air. I looked at the clear liquid in the test tube. It was a breakthrough-a synthesized clotting agent for the famil

r called m

t

his

dical student with more debt than sense. He was twenty-two, bleeding out in an alley. I didn't know he was

e said I was his lucky charm,

sposable. I just di

tared straight ahead, rigid as statues. Two Capos were smoking by the fountain, their voices dropping to a hush as I p

air conditioning was set too

as an old man, steeped in blood and tradition. He caught my ey

torio said, his voi

en the heav

were yesterday. He wore a crisp black suit that cost more than my first car, his presence filling

s back,"

was all it took

oor ten years ago while Ethan gasped for air on my floor. She had been his girlfriend th

die. I stayed to

My voice sounded fo

papers on his desk, refusing to meet my gaze. "Sh

ft you,

looked up, and the hardness in his eyes made me

was law. But this wasn't business. This was the woman who

shifting to business. "She's anxious. Can't sleep. Make that cal

ted me to serve the woman who abandoned him

me to be h

actured, softening just enough to look painful. "Please, Ava.

ef

lo

ef

what I did. I was the loy

the herbs. Valerian root. Chamomile. Passionflower. I

t. John's Wort, I paused. The textu

Wort. It was a look-alike herb, Hypericum, but a different subspecies. Mild

han mentioning years ago tha

d swapped

s and gave it to her, she would get sick. Not die, but sick enough.

could brew it. I could let her d

wasn

correct ones from my private stock. I brewed the tonic, the smell of

was a

too sweet. She looked at him like he was the sun and she was a flower desperate

on his forearm. "I feel so safe now. I

m, picking at my stea

aid, gesturing to the bottle I had pl

innocence. "Oh, Ava. You're still here? That's so s

le s

aid, my voice steady. "

Chloe sighed, leaning into Ethan. "J

a will help. She's the best

g, manipulative. "Won't you, Ava? Take

my throat. He was asking me to

I said. "What

lean the lab. I walked out of the dining room, the so

shaking again. I pulled out my burner phone, a device Ethan did

I need a full workup. Chloe Davis. Where she's be

other end crackled. It was Marco, an intelligence br

mpty vial of the toxic herb I had thrown awa

ung

er on my desk. Loyalty was a two-way str

st my skin. The war had started, and Chloe had f

forgot o

ne who made