Riccardo
Authors: Elle Raven,Aimie Jennison
THE CAPO: RICCARDO
STUD MAFIA SERIES #2
ELLE RAVEN
&
AIMIE JENNISON
THE CAPO: RICCARDO
By
Elle Raven
&
Aimie Jennison
Copyright © 2015 Elle Raven and Aimie Jennison
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Elle Raven is in no way affiliated with any brands, songs, musicians or artists mentioned in this book.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to the seller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
Cover design by: Margreet Asselbergs from
Rebel Edit & Design
Photographer:
Shauna Kruse from Kruse Images and Photography
Cover Model:
Stephen Hughes-Landers
Edited by:
Becky Johnson of Hot Tree Editing
Formatted by:
Aimie Jennison
OTHER BOOKS BY ELLE RAVEN
Barossa Series
Control Me
Book 1 of the Barossa Series
Initiate Me
Book 2 of the Barossa Series
Stud Mafia Series
The Don: Sebastiano
Book 1 of the Stud Mafia Series
OTHER BOOKS BY AIMIE JENNISON
Mount Roxby Series
Pride to Pack
Book 1 of the Mount Roxby Series
Stud Mafia Series
The Don: Sebastiano
Book 1 of the Stud Mafia Series
WARNING:
This book is intended for mature audiences (18+).
It is a work of fiction and contains material readers may find offensive. There is very disturbing content, graphic sex, violence, religious beliefs and strong language, but does end with a HEA.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PLAYLIST
The Capo: Riccardo
Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud
Paloma Faith – Only Love Can Hurt Like This
U2 – With Or Without You
U2 and Mary J.Blige – One
Elvis – A Little Less Conversation
Tom Jones – Help Yourself
FloRida – Lo
Andrea Bocelli and Katharine McPhee – Can’t Help Falling In Love
DEDICATION
To anyone who has ever fallen in love with the one person they never should have…
This is for you.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost we would like to thank each other. We have become like sisters during this writing process. One minute we argue and piss each other off, claiming we will NEVER write together again! Then, the next minute, we are in love again and talking about future books. Yep, sisters.
A massive thank you to all the
Bloggers
on our tours. You are all amazing for taking the time to share and review for us. It means so much to the both of us.
A huge shout out to
Elle's Pimpette Team
,
Aimie's Pack
and
Elle's Ravens
… you ladies are wonderful and inspire us daily. You seriously ROCK! Thank you.
A special thank you to
Becky
and
Josie
from
Hot Tree Promotions
for our cover reveal and the epic release day blitz they set up for us. We appreciate and adore you both.
A massive thank you to the talented
Margreet Asselbergs
for this cover. We ADORE it like you wouldn’t believe; you’re amazing and do the BEST to work. Thank you for putting up with us!
A super huge thanks to
Stephen Hughes-Landers
for being gorgeous enough to ROCK this cover; you’re an amazing athlete and model.
A mega thanks to photographer
Shauna Kruse
, for creating a delicious custom shoot and being so easy to work with.
To
Becky Johnson
, our awesome editor. You do such a thorough and amazing job. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
And of course, to our PA's
Karensa
and
Kelcey
for ALWAYS keeping us on our toes. For always reading, offering advice, encouragement and making us laugh.
To our beta readers;
Angela
,
Victoria
,
Emma
,
Angi
,
Kia
,
Gillian
,
Sam
,
Chris
,
Jody
and
Erin
. There are absolutely no words for the time and effort you spend reading our manuscript. Without your scrutiny and suggestions, we'd be lost. And, of course, to our loyal readers. You are all so giving. We appreciate your great support, love and passion for this series. It is because of you that this journey has been so incredible.
Lastly, we would like to thank our families. For purely being there for us. We would like to say that all of you have been phenomenal, and we want you to know that we appreciate you more than you'll ever know.
Love,
Elle and Aimie
SYNOPSIS
The Capo: Riccardo #2
(Stud Mafia series)
Temptation. Seduction. Forbidden pleasure.
As the right-hand man to The Don, Riccardo Rossi's role is all about duty, respect and honour. Being the crime boss's daughter, Lorena Morassi is forbidden. Although she is young and off limits, that doesn't stop Riccardo from wanting her. She is a pure temptation, and to have her would be a betrayal to his boss and his mafia family.
Lorena has wanted Riccardo for years and she knows he wants her, too. Being with him would only cause bad blood between her father and his right-hand man. She doesn't want their strong friendship to be ruined, but her feelings for him grow, and Lorena knows she can't stay away. But a night of seduction and forbidden pleasure changes everything.
Betrayal will not be tolerated and long-standing friendships will be broken.
GLOSSARY OF ITALIAN LANGUAGE
Italian –
English
Basta =
Stop, enough
Bastardo =
Bastard
Bella =
Beautiful
Bella mia =
Beautiful one/my beautiful
Capo =
Second in command, leader
Cara mia =
My dear, my darling, precious one
La mia =
My
Ciao =
Hello, Goodbye
Cristo =
Christ
Gesù =
Jesus
Gesù Cristo =
Jesus Christ
Dio =
God
Madre di Dio =
Mother of God
Per l'amore di Dio =
For the love of God
Famiglia =
Family
Come stai =
How are you?
padrino =
Godfather
Sì =
Yes
Sì, è vero =
Yes, it's true
Amore mio =
My love
Ti voglio bene =
I love you
Non esssere avido =
Don't be greedy
Ci Vediamo fuori =
I'll see you outside
Mi dispiace =
I'm sorry
Siamo tutti pronti a mangiare =
Are we all ready to eat?
Disgraziato =
Miserable bastard, good-for-nothing
Bambina =
Child, female
Piccola bambina =
Little girl, little baby girl
Nonno =
Grandfather
Nonna =
Grandmother
Fannculo =
Fuck
A NOTE FOR THE READER
This book has been written using UK English and may contain words you are unfamiliar with. As we are both Aussie, the way we speak sounds normal to us. We apologise if there are other words or phrases you do not understand. Please feel free to contact us for further explanation, or to discuss the meaning of a particular phrase or word, via our author pages or email.
PROLOGUE
The Present
1 Cor 10:13:
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.
And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out,
So that you can stand up under it.
RICCARDO
I have killed since I was a boy. I am a criminal, a killer, a sadist. For years, I have carried out hits for my mafia crime family. I have taken human lives with my bare hands. It’s all part of my duty, honour and respect as The Capo, the underboss and second in command to The Don. A man in my position has an overwhelming amount of power. I must confess I thrive on what I do, but sometimes it gets the better of me.
Yeah, I have sinned. As The Capo, I may not make the ultimate call on who dies, but I have the power to decide on how they die. I fuck with them and torture them until I'm given the information I need. I live in hope that the memory of my sins will keep me on the straight and narrow. They don't. Unfortunately in my line of work, there are too many roads that consume me, all of them leading me straight into Hell.
For years, I have savoured the fear people experience because I am The Capo. I enjoy the thrill knowing that people tremble when they see me. I scare them, with my build. The sight of my body covered in tattoos is enough to make people feel intimidated. What I do is an art form. No normal person can do the job I do. It's hard to break someone, to wear them down until there is no life left in them, not one breath. The scars I have on my back, and my knees, my roughened fingers, and my sheer determination to always be the hunter and never the prey, all forecast danger.
I don't feel guilt.
I don't feel remorse.
This is my job. My life.
This is what I have been groomed for from a very young age.
The only sin and the only guilt I feel is the longing and the desire I have for The Don's daughter. Although I want her in the worst kind of way, I also know I’m too dangerous for her, and she's too damn young for me. I know that doing anything with her would be a big fucking betrayal to Don Sebastiano.
But his daughter, Lorena, is a tease. She flirts with me at every opportunity. I have tried to ignore her advances by keeping her at arm’s length. It wasn't until recently that everything changed. Since the accidental death of her psychotic, drugged-up mother, Lorena has lost her spark. Her spitfire attitude is gone and instead, I see her vulnerable side.
As hard as I've found it, I’ve tried to see her as nothing more than my boss' daughter. A young woman I protect because she’s family. I haven't touched her, haven't done anything other than think about the totally wrong fucking things that would earn me a sudden death by Sebastiano. I am his best friend, his right- hand man. I am the one man he considers to be a brother, so trying anything with Lorena would be traitorous.
She is forbidden.
But I want her, and no matter how hard I try to avoid her and control myself around her, I can't do it anymore. I've tried not to think about Lorena, but it’s useless because I want her so fucking badly. She is a lethal attraction, one I can taste, that I can feel flowing in my blood and with every beat of my heart. I have an ache in my cock that screams to be inside of her. It's the only thing that will ease my need for her.
She is a temptation like no other.
A temptation I may just take a risk for.
A temptation I will be prepared to sin for.
A temptation I'm willing to die for.