Remember Me: A Dark Mafia Romance (The Rossi Crime Family Book 5)

  Rossi Crime Family Series

  Convict Me (FREE)

  Protect Me

  Keep Me

  Guard Me

  Tame Me

  Ever book can be read as a standalone, but series will be best enjoyed read in order

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  Rossi Crime Family Series

  Also by J.L. Beck and C. Hallman

  The Bet

  About the Authors

  1

  Grace

  I’m so close to getting the promotion I’ve been itching for. Working my ass off for. Store manager, yes, so close that I can taste it. After another meeting with Gregory tonight I’m sure I’ve got it. I’m giddy with excitement on the outlook for my future. The only way to go is up.

  With my keys already in my hand and my purse slung around my shoulder, I waltz across the parking lot and to my car with renewed pride. Two years of hard work. Two fucking years of getting up early, covering shifts for people that don’t give a fuck about me, and pretending to like my pig-headed boss. Two years and I’m finally heading in the right direction. I think I'll celebrate tonight, maybe with a new book and a cup of hot chocolate. Reading is my favorite past time, the one thing that hasn’t changed about me in the last two years.

  A big fat grin pulls at my lips. Even if I’m only smiling for myself, at least I’m smiling for something. I keep my eyes on my car as I walk slowly toward it, but not fast enough to draw attention to myself. The store isn’t in the best part of town. Not that it’s a horrible area, but that doesn’t mean that evil isn’t lurking just around the corner. I’ve seen evil first hand. I know it can hide in even the most inconspicuous places. Like the pastor who's supposed to lend a helping hand. Or the parents who’re supposed to show you love and kindness.

  Pfft, as if.

  “Where’s the money, Murphy?” A man’s voice cuts through the air. The voice is menacing, cold as steel, and it grips me by the throat, practically choking me. I didn’t mean to turn my head toward the sound. I knew I shouldn’t have. I should’ve kept walking, but I couldn’t. Like I said, that voice, it gripped onto me with a vengeance. I turned more out of reflex than anything but doing so consequently became the biggest mistake of my life.

  The shiny metal of a gun reflects in the light coming from the streetlamp above just a moment before I hear the shot being fired from it. Oh god. I lift my hands, bringing them to my mouth. My heart stops inside my chest, or at least it feels that way. When it starts beating again it’s in an unnatural rhythm. My lungs constrict as I gather enough oxygen to scream. I know it's stupid, that it will only draw unwanted attention, but I can't hold back the fear racing through me. It reminds me far too much of the past, far too much of him.

  The scream rips from my throat, just as the lifeless body of the man called, Murphy collapses to the concrete. The man holding the gun turns, his head snapping up, those dark eyes finding mine even though I'm partially hidden in the shadows.

  Fear slithers down my spine, and danger coats the air clogging my lungs, making it hard to breathe. Looking into the killer’s eyes, I'm taken back in time, remembering the last time I looked into a pair of eyes as cold as his. I barely survived that night I’ve seen Luke last, but that won't happen here. I didn’t make it this far only to risk dying a second time.

  I feel paralyzed, my muscles rigid with fear for a moment. Time stands still as we stare at each other, but as soon as I see him move, my body springs into action. I sprint toward my car, unlocking it as fast as possible, as soon as I get it unlocked, I rip the door open and throw myself into the driver's seat.

  Once inside, I put the key in the ignition with a shaking hand and start the thing. It turns over right away, the engine roaring to life in my ears. Thank god, it doesn’t choose tonight to be the night that it needs a jump. I glance toward my rearview mirror and see the guy running toward me, he lifts his gun as if he's going to shoot me and without thinking I slump down in my seat and slam my foot on the gas. My stomach clenches, twisting, and tightening. With tires squealing I turn onto the road, running over the curb in the process.

  Oh my god! What just happened?

  I drive home completely on autopilot. My mind consumed with fear. The kind of fear I thought I had buried a long time ago. I grip onto the steering wheel so hard that my knuckles turn white. It's been two long years since I witnessed something so gruesome, so violent, I guess I forgot that part of my life ever existed. I’ve grown so accustomed to my current peaceful life that I forgot there were bad people still lurking in this world.

  I navigate into the parking lot of my apartment complex and park in the closet spot I can find. I try and calm myself, inhaling and exhaling a few times before I put the car in park. Grabbing my purse, I run to the front door, nearly tripping over my own feet in the process. I land against the heavy door, fumbling with my keys to unlock it. Sweat beads on my forehead as I struggle to unlock the door.

  I sprint up the stairs to my apartment, fear pushing me forward.

  My hands are still shaking so much I can barely get the key into the lock. When I finally get in I'm so consumed with fear and exhaustion that I slam the door shut behind me, locking the deadbolt into place before slumping to the floor. It feels like I'm seconds away from cardiac arrest and my lungs can’t suck in enough air.

  It feels like I’m being strangled, but there is nothing around my neck. I pull on my shirt, almost ripping the top part. My whole body is trembling and on edge. I can’t believe I just witnessed a murder…again.

  Everything from my past was finally fading, becoming nothing more than a distant memory and now this. What I saw today opened the floodgates. Everything I’ve done in the past two years was to forget, to start a new life and leave everything I ever knew behind. I don’t want to remember my old life. But after tonight it’s all I can think about.

  I don’t have much here, just my car, and the tiny apartment I call home. But that’s all I really need and more than expected after the way I grew up. The small religious community of Safe Harbor—safe, hah!— in North Woods, was my home for the first eighteen years of my life.

  My parents were strict and not the overly loving kind, but I still didn’t expect them to do the horrendous things they did to me.

  Like selling me, as if I was a product on the shelf at the grocery store. They sold me. My own parents! I was supposed to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, but luck had been on my side that day and in a twisted turn of fate I ended up being set free. Even better, I was given a new identity and enough cash to start a life…a real life. I was thankful beyond measure I just wish I could make my heart forget about him.

  My chest hurts just thinking about Luke. My parents’ betrayal hit me hard, but it was nothing compared to the soul crushing pain of Luke's deceit. He told me he loved me, promised me forever. I knew he did some bad things, but nothing prepared me for the truth, the darkness he covered up with a boyish grin and sweet whispers. I thought he was different, thought he was a good man, but he was merely the devil in disguise, lying in wait to show me his true colors.

  Groaning I tell myself that I need to stop thin
king about him, stop thinking about what could’ve or should’ve been. There is just no point in hoping for something that I lost so long ago, something that I don't want or need. I want stability, safety, a simple life without death, without danger.

  I hold a hand to my chest, and squeeze my eyes shut as I focus on my breathing and nothing more. It takes me forever to get my erratic breathing under control and when I do, I'm far too exhausted to move, my muscles so tense it hurts to even breathe.

  My mind and my body aren't even on this plain, and it feels like I'll never escape this life. All I can do is curl up into a ball right where I am. As my eyes drift closed, I hope that tomorrow will be a better day, that when I wake up, today will have been nothing but a dream.

  My neck and back are stiff from staying on the floor in front of the door and my stomach is nothing but a knot of anxiousness. I only slept for about two hours, spending the rest of the time between shaking like a leaf in fear and crying my eyes out from being overwhelmed with emotion.

  The reality of what happened settles harshly on me, so harshly that I spend all day cooped up in my apartment and for the first time in two year I actually call into work sick. It's not going to look good for the promotion, but I don't care. I considered going to the police all day. Telling them about what I saw, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I might be hours away from North Woods but how do I know that the police here are any different from the ones back home?

  I hold my head in my hands. How can I trust any type of law enforcement after knowing what the North Woods police department let happen? The violence, the selling of girls. They let Safe Harbor do horrendous things for so long, that when it came to breaking the law, no one could touch them. I decided against calling the police and pushed the thought away. I don’t need any crooked, corrupt cops, helping me.

  I couldn’t bring myself to leave and go to work this morning, not knowing I would have to walk over that same parking lot where last night’s events took place. The thought alone makes my stomach churn. I haven't been able to eat anything other than crackers, since lunch yesterday, which sucks since I know I’m hungry.

  It's going to be okay. I try and tell myself even though my body refuses to accept that response, hell, even I know that's not the truth. It took me two years to get to feeling somewhat okay, and now I’m back to square one. I can't let myself live in constant fear. I know I can do this. I just need to get my shit together. Deep breaths. I inhale and exhale harshly trying to focus on happy thoughts but every time I close my eyes, I see that man falling to the ground. I hear the sound of the gun being shot, and I see the killer’s dark gaze piercing mine.

  I wish yesterday didn’t happen. I’m so tired, my body is sore, and my mind is in complete disarray. And even though I doubt I can sleep I still curl up on my bed, pulling the blanket up over my body hoping to at least catch a few hours of sleep.

  I close my eyes and concentrate on my breathing, slowing down my erratic heartbeat. I feel myself drifting off, sinking into that state between awake and asleep. I burrow deeper into the pillow, praying for even a moment where I can relax, when the sound of glass shattering has me sitting straight up in bed, my eyes wide, my body once again on high alert.

  I jump out of bed, almost falling on my ass as I get my foot tangled up in the blanket. I’m going to die and all because I was stuck on the floor with the damn blanket wrapped around my feet. I stumble across the floor, my gaze swinging around for some kind of weapon. When my eyes land on the lamp on the bedside table I grab it by the bottom and tighten my grip on it. It might not do much damage, but it should be enough for me to get a head start, and out of the apartment. The sound of heavy boots slapping against the floor bounce off the walls. I’m about to have another panic attack, when I realize said footsteps are headed right toward me. I start to breathe heavily, my chest rising and falling rapidly. My hand is sweaty, and I nearly lose my grip on the lamp.

  Fuck. Oh, god, no.

  I flatten myself against the wall behind the door, hoping I can catch the intruder off guard. I hold my breath as the door swings open and the light is switched on. Why is he turning the light on? I’m momentarily blinded by the sudden brightness—that explains the lights, asshole wanted to blind me— but that doesn’t stop me from swinging the lamp like a baseball bat and hoping to hit him somewhere where it counts. It hits him directly in the head, right where I had wanted.

  He grunts, a slew of curses follow, and he stumbles backward but doesn’t pass out as I had hoped he would. Instead he swings around with a snarl just when I try to push past him and run out the door. As soon as our gazes collide and the darkness in his bleeds into mine, I know I’m in trouble. I recognize him instantly as the man from last night.

  “You’re going to fucking regret that, bitch,” he growls at me, grabbing me by the arm and yanking me away from the door. I try and pull away, scratching at his face with my nails but all that earns me is a hard slap to the face. I stumble backward with the blow and he takes that moment to push me onto the bed. I watch in horror as he pulls a knife from his pants.

  “You gonna start behaving or am I gonna have to start cutting you up?” His voice is menacing, and terror rains down on me.

  “Fuck you,” I snarl, spitting right in his face, uncaring if he’s going to hurt me or not. What he doesn’t get is that I’m not going to stop fighting. Ever. I don’t care what he threatens me with, or what he does. I will not back down. I survived once before. I’ll survive this too.

  He takes a step toward me, his hands reaching out for my arms, just as I roll to the side and off the bed. A growl emits from his lungs and he lunges for me this time. Once again, I manage to be a hair faster than him and escape his hold.

  My gaze swings to his hands, ones that are coming right for me, but I don’t see his knife until it’s too late. My eyes widen, as the blade slices through my skin. Pain lances across my flesh, the adrenaline pumping through my veins acting as a painkiller, but the pain is nothing in comparison to possibly being caught by him. I rush toward the door, uncaring of my injury, only feeling the need to flee.

  Three feet away from the door he catches up to me, grabbing me by the back of the shirt, the sound of the fabric ripping, as he drags me backward fills my ears. My teeth rattle inside my head, as he throws me down on the ground, my body hitting the unforgiving floor, with a loud thud causing my bones, and flesh to throb with pain.

  When I look up at him, I see he is already swinging the knife at me, the glint of the blade shining in the light above, and for a split second I think this is it.

  This is how I’m going to die.

  After fighting so hard to get to where I am, this is how I will die?

  I squeeze my eyes shut, a silent prayer on the tip of my tongue.

  When nothing happens and the deafening sound of silence echoes through my apartment my eyes flutter open. I blink, trying to figure out what is going on. The man who was standing in front of me a moment ago is crumbled on the floor like a rag doll. My eyes roam over his face, his eyes are open, but he isn’t looking at me, in fact he isn’t looking at anything and I realize then why… it’s because he is dead.

  There is a bullet hole the size of a quarter in his forehead. At the realization, a scream catches in my throat. The blood dripping down between his eyes, and over the bridge of his nose, running down onto my gray and blue rug finally hits me.

  I can’t think. I can’t move. The air stills inside my lungs, and for a moment there is complete silence, all before a painful ringing fills my ears. I don’t move a single muscle until I see the reflection of someone in the TV screen coming up behind me. Shit, they killed him, and now they’re going to kill me too.

  Without thinking I grab the knife the dead guy dropped on the way down to the ground. I can hear my pulse thrumming in my ears, and I grip onto the handle with a death grip as I push up off the floor and swing around to face my second intruder.

  My eyes lock on a familiar pair of pale blue eye
s that have haunted me every night since the day he ruined us and broke my heart.

  Time stops. The entire world fades away, leaving just him and I suspended in time.

  How? Why?

  I blink, then I blink again, hoping that maybe I can rid the image before me from my eyes, but I’m still seeing the same thing even though I know it’s not possible. I haven’t seen him in years and yet, he’s here, standing in front of me looking ten times darker, and still impossibly handsome.

  Fuck. I must be dead. This is not real. Maybe I hit my head and now I’m seeing things. I momentarily bring my hand to my head to feel for a bump. Nothing. He stares at me, his eyes piercing through me, holding me in place.

  “You brought a knife to a gunfight?” His thick brow is raised in question. The sound of his voice washes over me. It comforts and destroys me all at once, piecing together the broken shards of my heart, only to break them all over again.

  His voice is deeper, rougher than it used to be, almost like he’s swallowed a handful of gravel. His blue eyes remain on me, looking at me with an emotion I don’t understand.

  He’s bigger, his body nothing but a wall of muscle, his russet brown hair is no longer long, but cut in a military style, short and close to his scalp. Obviously, time has been good to him, which only angers me more.

  My stomach clenches as I roam over every inch of him. He’s dressed from head to toe in black, his entire body vibrating with fury, that doesn’t match the look he’s giving me.

  “L-Luke?” My voice is unsure and shaky, reflecting just the way I feel right now. It’s like even though I know it’s him standing in front of me, I don’t actually want to believe it.