Hey Book Lover!

It's a snowy Friday here in Ontario and I am on a deadline. I have to get my next book to my editor by tonight and I was ... more than a bit behind. It doesn't help that being a snowy day, which is basically a Canadian winter equalavent to a rainy day, I want nothing more than to curl up on the couch with a tea, a book and my Netflix subscription--for research, you know?

Instead, I'm managing a very active ten-month old (happy ten-months today to my little lady!), some phantom pains and trying to get this book finished admist all this.

I'd really rather be reading.

And by sun, I mean my UV lamp for my seasonal depression. 🙃

Since I can't be the one to read today 😞I present to you, dear book lover, a sneak peek from my newest release Vanished in Brooklyn, coming to your kindles next Friday! Preorder your copy now!

Chapter One – Rian

Package acquired by messenger. 

Sucking my teeth, I leaned back from the screen as annoyance curdled through my muscles, making them knot tightly. Spinning away from the desk, I let my eyes flirt along the skyline of the city—my city—as I contemplated my next move. 

Being a hothead wouldn’t get me anywhere. The days when business decisions were made on a whim were long gone. With everyone watching your every move, cameras on you at every turn, and little tracking devices seamlessly woven into your phones, you had to be careful. 

That was the mistake my predecessor had made, a cousin whose branch on the family tree had been abruptly snapped off, allowing mine to grow in its place. 

Too fucking bad for him. Lucky for me. 

Spinning back around to my desk, I jammed my thumb down on the call button of my desk phone.

“Yes, Mr. Murphy?” 

“Get me Killian. Tell him if he isn’t here in two seconds, his ass is grass, and I’m the lawnmower.”

“Uh, alright, Sir.” Aisling, my secretary, was likely to convey the message differently. Still, it would have the same sentiment if she wanted to keep her job. 

The line died with a click, so I rose and made my way over to the bar cart. Uncorking the glass decanter, I poured out a triple of a small batch, fifty-year-old Irish whiskey I’d had imported last May, and downed the whole thing in one go. 

My mother used to rub this shit on my gums as a wee lad, telling anyone who said otherwise that it’d put hair on my chest. She wasn’t fucking wrong. And now, I was practically immune to the sting that could bring weaker men to their knees. 

Pouring a second drink and topping mine, I gathered both glasses and carried them back to my desk just as Killian rapped on the door. He nudged it open cautiously,his eyes assessing me, likely trying to discern the seriousness of my earlier threat before he walked in. 

“My ass is grass, col gaolta?” Killian grinned widely as he dropped into the chair opposite my desk and helped himself to his drink. 

“It got the message across,” I said with a grin a grin before we both raised our glasses, “Sláinte.” 

We drank, and when both our glasses were empty, Killian leaned back in his chair, hanging one ankle off his knee. “What’s the matter, Captain?” 

“I arranged for a clan heirloom that once belonged to our grandad to be brought over here, but it seems something has happened. The object was ‘picked up’ by a messenger in Chicago after it arrived.” I slid my laptop across the desk to him, coolly twisting it around so he could see the screen. “Not just any messenger. Click on the signature.” I waited as Killian lifted his hand, the huge silver crest ring on his forefinger gleaming in the light. He pressed the mousepad, and confusion flickered across his face.

“De Luca.” 

The name was enough to make my blood boil as I pulled the laptop back toward me, twisting it around and closing the tab with the scrawl and barely decipherable last name. A name belonged to the same man who’d pushed our family out of Chicago to New York. The one whose feud with my father should’ve ended when he agreed to an alliance, and yet... 

“You think he’s trying to start something again?” 

I leaned back in my chair, staring at my cousin for a long time as I considered the answer. A few decades ago, after my family arrived here from Ireland, my grandad became involved in the North Side gang of Chicago. But after the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and the slow destruction of the gang, we were eventually run out of the city by the Outfit. 

Which suited us because in the end, we became established with the Westies here, and we’d thrived ever since. 

“Angelo De Luca is old. He’s been old for a while. If this has anything to do with him, I’d be surprised. But—I haven’t gotten this far by being caught by surprise. I want you to look into it.”

“Sure thing, Cap.” Killian clapped his hands on the arms of his chair as he began to rise. 

“But I also want you to arrange for some collateral. Just in case. I’d rather be ahead of this than chasing my fucking tail.” 

“Collateral?” Killian’s eyes flashed with excitement. He was a pit bull, one I kept on a tight leash. Loosening my grip at all could mean undue destruction, and it wasn’t quite time for that. 

“Something equal, that’s all. He’s taken a family heirloom. Find something to match that level of … personal importance.” 

Killian gave me a chilly grin and nodded his head before turning to go. Unlike some of the fuckers who worked for me, I could trust Killian’s judgment. He might not have been trained for the position he was in, but he’d sure as fuck earned it. 

That was good enough for me.

Chapter Two – Serafina

The girls giggled as they leaned on each other, spilling out the warehouse door to a flood of camera flashes. My bodyguard stepped in front of me at the last second, his massive burly figure spoiling the shot the paparazzi had lined up.

“This way, Miss. De Luca.” He held out his arm to direct me while his body blocked the cameras. 

I followed the girls to the waiting limo. As they slid inside, I turned, looking at Joey while batting the huge false lashes I was wearing. “I know my father says your job is to make sure nothing happens to me. Surely there’s a way I can have fun with my friends without you standing around looking like a linebacker Lurch, right?” 

He looked unamused by my comparison, staring me down with an expression that said, ‘No.’ 

“Let’s compromise,” I said, taking a chance and pitching my offer when his face still gave nothing away. “You ride in the car I know you have sitting down the block waiting to tail us, and stay six feet away from me while we’re at the club. The whole point of me being here is to connect with people in the fashion world. Having you staring them down and freaking them out will not endear anyone to me. So, please, help me out, Joe. Separate vehicles and six feet. Please?” 

“Fine, but if I’m standing six feet back, I can bring back-up, too.” 

A Cheshire Cat-like grin spreads across my face as I pat his arm. “We both know you already have two back-ups backing you up. But sure, I’ll play along.” I winked before twisting away with a flick of my hair, sliding into the car, and slamming the door shut with satisfaction. 

All my life, my father has dictated my every move and choice. It took me six months to get him to agree to even let me come to Fashion Week in New York alone the first time, which included extensive compromises on my part. But, unlike my brothers, I had nothing of my own. 

And I wanted something. 

I wanted this. 

So, I asked for it. As payment for not dating anyone until my father determined who I would be married to for business purposes, I could attend Fashion Week every spring and fall. Provided Linebacker Lurch and his team came along. But they always managed to kill the vibe.

Not tonight, though. Tonight, I was going to have fun. For once in my life.

“Sasha, come here.” I waved over the girl everyone told me could pass for my sister. Tonight, we were going to put that to the test. “Take off your dress. We’re swapping.”

“What? No. This is a Valentino.” 

“Last season’s Valentino, Sasha. Don’t act like you didn’t get it off a clearance rack.” I snapped my fingers and pointed to the dress before undoing my own. She eyed my outfit, a custom Levarro and shrugged, realizing she was getting the better end of the deal. 

“I only want you to keep my bodyguards on you at the club so I can have a bit of fun. Easy enough?”

“What’s in it for me?” She shimmied out of her dress as I peeled mine over my head and held it out to her. 

“Five grand, if you keep your mouth shut and play along.” Her eyes lit up at the amount as she held out her Valentino and took my dress. 

By the time the limo rolled up in front of the club, Sasha and I looked like each other. When the door opened, I fell out of it with the other girls, following them to the door giggling and smiling for the cameras while Sasha came behind us, allowing Joey and his team to get an eye on her. 

When I slipped into the club with the other girls, I looked over my shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief. No one had caught on yet that it was Sasha. I hoped I had enough time to lose myself in the crowd.

The further I melted into the bodies, the more my heart pounded as my nerves built. The voice in my head, the one that sounded so much like my father, began listing all the things that could go wrong if I wasn’t careful. 

Reaching the bar, the bartender fixed my drink, and I willed my heart to still as I glanced over my shoulder and sought out Sasha and Joey. Where I’d thought freedom would give me a high I’d never experienced before, I only felt increasingly anxious and scared with each passing minute. How surprising that I was missing the comforting reassurance Joey’s ever-looming presence. 

The bartender flashed me a gorgeous smile that I couldn’t even appreciate as I pulled the drink to me and stared down at it, trying to determine if he’d mixed something else into it. My bodyguards were my eyes and ears.. I didn’t know how to take care of myself in a place like this. 

What had I been thinking? How could a girl who had been told what to do all her life take even a bite of freedom, let alone a whole gulp like I had?

Stumbling away from the bar, I looked around quickly. My eyes found a man in an all-black suit standing against the wall, holding his ear and speaking. He had to be Joey’s. As I pushed my way through the bodies toward him, his eyes found me, and he dropped his hand from his ear. 

Meeting me halfway across the club floor, his hand gripped my shoulder tightly. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“I know,” I breathed, relief washing over me. “I’m sorry, it was a stupid prank. I shouldn’t have done it.” 

The man stared me down for a moment before nodding his head curtly. “We should go. Fun’s over.” 

The bodyguard steered me away from the club and back out the entrance with a firm grip my shoulder. I followed him to the black SUV and waited while he tugged the door open. Slipping inside, shame and guilt consumed me. I wasn’t sure if I was mad at myself over having a taste of freedom and panicking like a child or for trying to steal it in the first place. 

“You look pale,” he said, thrusting a water bottle in front of me. “Have a sip. Calm down. You’re safe now.” I met his eyes for a moment. I didn’t recognize him. How long had he worked for my father? 

Still trying to place a name to the face, I cracked open the top and took a long gulp of water. As the car pulled away from the curb, I leaned back in my seat, the edges of my vision darkening. 

My heart suddenly raced, when from the front seat, I heard, “Tell the Captain I have the collateral he asked for.”

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That's it from me. Wish me luck finishing this book and then my plan is a quiet night with a book boyfriend while my real life husband takes care of the kids!

Happy Reading!

Kylie xoxo