Mine to Hold: A Dark Mafia Romance

  MINE TO HOLD

  SARA FIELDS

  CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Mafia and Billionaire Romances by Sara Fields

  Books of the Wolf Kings Series

  Sci-Fi and Paranormal Romances by Sara Fields

  Books of the Alpha Brotherhood Series

  Books of the Omegaborn Trilogy

  Books of the Vakarran Captives Series

  Books of the Captive Brides Series

  Books of the Terranovum Brides Series

  More Stormy Night Books by Sara Fields

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2022 by Stormy Night Publications and Sara Fields

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published by Stormy Night Publications and Design, LLC.

  www.StormyNightPublications.com

  Fields, Sara

  Mine to Hold

  Cover Design by Korey Mae Johnson

  Image by Depositphotos/opolja

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults.

  PROLOGUE

  Mila

  I’d done this a million times, but my heart was still pounding like a drum in my chest. I leaned forward, peeking in through the window to make sure no one was waiting for me inside with a gun ready to blow my brains out. I mean, it wasn’t like I wasn’t prepared. I’d only staked out the joint for the past three days, waiting and watching every single person that went in and came out the front door, back door, you name it. Right now, I was reasonably certain that there was no one there other than the permanent housing staff, but they’d gone to bed hours ago or at least they’d turned off all the lights and were putting on a good show of it.

  Thunder cracked overhead and I jumped involuntarily, looking up when lightning lit up the sky. For the briefest of seconds, the entire world was as bright as if it were the middle of the day.

  I shook my head. I didn’t know why I was so jumpy tonight. I hadn’t seen anyone here in hours. The sun had gone down what felt like forever ago and the long driveway hadn’t had any activity since about six o’clock. I didn’t expect there to be any, not at three in the morning.

  Quit stalling, Mila. Get going already.

  With a deep breath, I reached for the window and pushed it open. The hinges squeaked just the slightest bit and I stilled. I waited several moments, but no one came running. Thunder rumbled on the horizon and a harsh breeze cut through the night, causing a shiver to race down my spine. Not wanting to waste any more time than I already had, I climbed through the open window into the house.

  I didn’t know why I always got nervous before a job. It wasn’t like I didn’t spend every waking hour prepping for it before even stepping onto a property.

  I’d spent a long time studying the blueprints of this house, memorizing the sizes and layout of all the rooms. I knew where the electrical lines ran, the AC ducts, the plumbing, everything. I’d memorized the square dimensions of the closets, blind corners where I could hide in case someone was making rounds while I happened to be inside. I knew that the house had at least ten guest rooms, but none of them were being used. The onsite wait staff was housed on the lower level and not in the main part of the house.

  I was good at what I did. I didn’t like to toot my own horn, but some people called me the best in the business, so who was I to argue with them.

  I knelt down, pressing my fingertips into the plush gray carpet beneath my fingers. I’d entered the big house through one of the guest rooms just like I’d planned. The bed was hadn’t been slept in, but that was expected. I needed to get upstairs to the office. That was where I would find what I’d been sent here for.

  I slinked along through the room and down the hall. Once I entered the foyer, I crouched down and listened. It never paid to be hasty in situations like this. I glanced up, searching the place for cameras, and finding none. I started when a soft meow echoed in the hall, and I kept low and backed up a few steps. A small black cat came down the stairs toward me.

  I reached my hand out, facing my palm up and the creature mewled again. She brushed up against my fingers, purring softly before she ran off. I glanced up the stairs. When I was convinced that no one was around, I decided to chance it and make my way up to the second floor. I turned right and snuck down the hall to the office. The door was locked, but I made quick work of it with a lock pick.

  It took me less than thirty seconds to break in.

  It was a joke, really. With the kind of things that I knew were stored in this place, the owner really should have considered getting a better security system. I mean, it probably wouldn’t keep someone like me out in the end, but it would have at least made it a tiny bit harder for me.

  I didn’t waste any time closing the door behind me. I took a deep breath, listening to the overwhelming silence for a few moments to calm myself. When I was ready, I started looking around the room. Based on the blueprints, I mostly knew what to expect, but actually standing inside the room was something that couldn’t be replicated no matter how much preparation I did beforehand.

  There was a massive cherry wood desk at the center, the kind of desk that a big time CEO would sit at as he decided the fate of his company or whether or not to fire an employee for some narrow-minded indiscretion. I sat down in the chair for a moment, imagining myself in such a position. With a sigh, I shook my head. That wasn’t an option for a girl like me. I had a very particular set of skills and those didn’t necessarily pertain to the life of a career woman.

  I slid my fingers along the molded edge of the desk and glanced to the right. There was an enormous bookcase built into the full length of the wall. To anyone else, it would just look like a wall of books, encyclopedias, and all manner of reference books, but I knew that it was much more. I walked over to it, placing my hand against the wood. I slid my fingers beneath the shelf, searching for the mechanism I knew would be there.

  Some rich people liked to be nostalgic, using a special book to trigger the door, but from the look of things, I didn’t take these owners to be the type. The mansion was nice, sure, but it had the feel of a place that was decorated by an interior designer and not the homeowners themselves. It was lacking a personal touch and the same could be said for the office.

  Some people had buttons. Others a key code for the computer. I hadn’t been able to find any indication of what sort of trigger mechanism would open the saferoom, other than what my gut told me.

  This place seemed like it was owned by people that would want an easy way in.

  And I was right.

  When my fingers brushed against the small hidden switch, I grinned with victory. I flipped it, holding my breath as the entire shelving unit swung forward.

  I’d found the vault.

  It had been easy, really. Maybe one day I’d write a memoir, telling all my secrets so that people could protect themselves from highly skilled thieves like me. But then again, maybe not.

  Upon first glance, I knew I’d hit the jackpot. It was so much better than I’d imagined it would be.

&n
bsp; There had been whispers of a giant cache on the dark web for ages. I’d kept a file of notes that I saved whenever I saw it mentioned, and over the years I’d gathered enough intel to pinpoint the location. My client was particularly interested in some of the supposed contents, so I’d taken the contract on a premium. My earnings from this job alone would set me up for a long time to come, enough to take a substantial vacation until I felt ready to sign on for another.

  My skills had long been sought after by the rich and famous and I’d spent all my life honing them so that I was the best. I was small, flexible enough to get into really tight spaces, and smart. My overwhelmingly high success rate spoke for itself.

  The silence felt overbearing, but it always did.

  I stepped inside and I ran my fingers over the metal shelving, looking on in awe at the jewelry, old coins, antiques, priceless paintings, and stacks of money. The whole place was organized impeccably. Everything was identified and labeled as if it was a museum or something.

  OCD much?

  I unshouldered my duffle bag and unzipped it.

  My client wanted one particular item in the vault, but there was so much more for the taking. I decided to focus on what I was hired for first. I opened several drawers, finding more money, old watches, gold, and silver bars, but when I found the drawer of raw uncut gemstones, I knew I was close. I opened the one above it and sucked in a breath.

  There were so many diamonds.

  I reached out and touched one of them, marveling as the flawless stone reflected the soft light shining above it. I took a small blue velvet purse out of my duffle and started to fill it with one handful of diamonds after another.

  My client wanted these. All of them. They would be untraceable and highly valuable. Anything else in the vault was mine to keep and I meant to take whatever I could.

  Within reason, of course. I wasn’t going to get greedy.

  I perused the rest of the jewelry, scanning and studying each piece until I settled on a diamond necklace, a tennis bracelet, a pink diamond ring, and several pieces of tanzanite that caught my eye. I secured everything in my duffle, padding it with more money until it was full. I could only take what I could carry and a piece of me was disappointed that I would miss out on the rest of the incredible items stored here.

  I’d never come back though. As a rule, I never hit the same place twice no matter how tempting. It was too much of a risk.

  I was in and out of that vault in less than an hour. I closed the door behind me and lifted the duffle up, slinging it over both shoulders like a backpack. I snuck down the hall but paused when I heard a footstep brush against the floor. In silence, I dove into a coat closet, hiding all the way in the back behind several thick wool jackets. I held my breath, listening and trying to figure out what was going on. No one had ever come here in the middle of the night, as far as I knew anyway.

  Maybe the owners were back from vacation; at least that was what I assumed. From what I could tell, the property was maintained, but not actually lived in on much of a regular basis. I hadn’t thought about it until now.

  Hushed whispers echoed in the foyer, and I crept forward just enough to peek through the gap between the closed door and the wall. There were two men standing there. They were both tall and strong, but I found myself drawn to the one on the left. His eyes caught the light and I studied them, losing myself in the deep mahogany color. His nose was bent a little at an angle, almost like it had been broken before. His chin was covered in the shadow of a beard, thick and dark, giving him a dangerous aura that made me shiver just the tiniest bit.

  My gaze turned downward, studying the expensive suit that covered his muscled form. The fabric shone in the soft light, but the platinum cufflinks on his wrists practically sparkled. Each of them was diamond encrusted. The thick platinum ring on his finger had a single ruby, enormous enough to be five or six carats at least. It appeared to be engraved with something, but I couldn’t make it out from this far away. I’d have to get much closer to see it and I definitely wanted to avoid that.

  He didn’t look like just a rich man. He looked like something else.

  A criminal.

  “Listen, Ronaldo, if we’re going to use this place as a safehouse for the gun runners, we need to man it with better defenses,” the man muttered. His brow furrowed with frustration, and he turned those hardened brown eyes back on his partner.

  The man beside him looked exasperated and a little bit high strung, like a man that had drank a whole pot of coffee an hour ago and all the caffeine was hitting him at this very second. The whites of his eyes were a bit bloodshot and there was a hint of annoyance behind them.

  “No one knows this place is here, Jon,” Ronaldo answered.

  I knew about it, but I wasn’t about to tell them that.

  “What if we post guards around the perimeter? Would that be enough, boss?”

  Boss? Boss of what?

  “We should install security cameras on the inside too. We’ve got a lot of money stashed here and it should be adequately protected,” Jon continued resolutely.

  “I’ve got a few guys that could do something like that,” Ronaldo replied.

  “Good. See to it that it’s done. I’m going to arrange a few things myself in the meantime,” Jon said thoughtfully. I watched him closely. His brows drew together as he thought through various options before he moved to the stairway.

  I’m not sure where these men had come from, but they most definitely hadn’t been here when I’d broken in. Safe in the closet for now, I hunkered down, shifting only slightly to balance the weight of my stolen goods on my back. I got comfortable and listened to them talk about a few different kinds of weapons and which Russian arms dealer would be best to work with for each one.

  By the time they walked off, I’d been able to figure out that they were involved in some shady alliances that worked to sneak weapons in and out of the city of New York, as well as the surrounding area. Guns, knives, bullets, bombs, you name it, they were shipping it in and out of the state. I watched as they moved upstairs and disappeared toward the office.

  I was certain that I didn’t want to get involved in any of that.

  Even though I knew that I hadn’t left a trace of me for them to find, I was still a little nervous. I had left the place as I found it, shutting the drawers, and only taking what I could carry. At first glance, it wouldn’t have been obvious to anyone that I’d been there, or at least, it shouldn’t have been. Either way, it was time to go. I’d already been in this place longer than I wanted to be.

  I took advantage of their absence, sneaking out of the closet and back down to the guest room I’m come through in the first place.

  I slipped out the window and kept to the shadows all the way into the safety of the surrounding woods. After about a mile’s hike, I came upon my motorbike and mounted it. With a hard kick, I started up the engine and sailed off into the night. I smiled, knowing that another job was complete.

  I didn’t look back.

  CHAPTER 1

  Jon

  Fucking hell. This wasn’t good.

  I’d only been in the vault for a few minutes, but I knew enough to know that the contents had been trifled with. There were things missing and a lot of them.

  I passed my hand over my face and sighed. It had only been six months since Cyrus Holt had placed me in charge of the Montagna family. He’d warned me that there would probably be quite a bit of heat and tension from the underboss Ronaldo and those loyal to him, and he’d been right. Sure, I’d been able to acquire several lucrative deals since then and things were calmer than they used to be, but they were nowhere near settled. If I could prove myself as a better head of the family than Mike or Anthony, that would ease the stormy waters for good.

  And this… this would definitely throw things into a tailspin.

  This was shit rotten luck.

  For a long time, I’d served the Montagna family as their consigliere. Typically, that meant that I wa
sn’t part of the family’s hierarchy, but I was their key advisor. I was impartial, assisting the boss and the family when they needed advice. The family had voted me into position back during Mike’s reign and I’d served him for years, at least until he was killed, and his son Anthony took over. Anthony’s time had been even shorter, mostly because he was young, foolish, and had been too focused on getting revenge on a girl who’d rejected him in high school. He’d pissed off the wrong people in the process and he’d paid for it with his life.

  I’d always been known for being competent, trustworthy, and rational when it came to family matters. I did what needed to be done for the good of the Montagnas, even if it meant putting a bullet in between the eyes of our enemies. I’d done that several times in the past and since I’d taken over.

  Things were just beginning to level out for me. In the time since I’d taken the position of kingpin of the Montagna mafia family, I’d acquired several lucrative weapons contracts with tenuous alliances that I’d been trying to secure for years, some of them in Russia, some in Ukraine, and others in Belarus. My foot soldiers had set up several business fronts in the city, including our own counterfeit printing press safely below the ground floor of one of the biggest banks in the state. I’d paid people off, blackmailed several political players, and strengthened the position of the family at least tenfold since Anthony’s demise.

  It was all going perfectly fine until this very moment.