Bride for the Yakuza's Heir: A Dark Mafia Romance

1. Halo

“We should make you suck our dicks,” the oldest one sneered.

I tried so hardto neverbe directly alone with them. I tried to stay away from them and off their radars.

Ever since I’d been a little girl, even beforemybody hadstarted to blossominto womanhood. MystepbrothersTrevor, Eric, and Baby- they called the youngest one Baby, but sometimes I thought he might be the worstone of all.

“Get away from me!” I tried to shake Eric off of me.

They had surrounded me, the other two at my back so close I could practically feel their erections digging into the crease of my ass.

Summer heat was licking through the entire houseandthe only place where it wascoolwas the basement. I’d come down here toget away fromeverything for a whileandthey’d had the same idea.

“Not much longer now,” Eric whispered from behind me.

I shut my eyes because I knew what they were talking about. My mother was in the hospital dyingandtheir father was by her side.

Cancer, I thought.

It had seeped into our lives and destroyed everything. It had ravaged thesmallbit of normalcy I had anddestroyedmy mother.

Not that everything had been great to begin with.

“Why are we waiting again?” Baby askedtheeagerness in his voice extremely apparent.

“Not sure,” Trevor replied.

Tears were biting at my lash line.I’d learneda long time agonot to let them get to me.Tomake sure thatI was never alone with them for more than a few moments.

There was no use in telling Carl. He believed my mother owed him something.BelievedI owed him something because he’d rescued us from poverty.

We lived in ahugehouse, and he had a respectable name.

Carl Bearstein owned everything in the small Georgia town of Clear Lake.

His sons, with that last name, could do no wrong.

When Carl had married my mother, he’d never offered to adopt me. It was as if he’d withheld the shield of his nameandpeople had noticed.

Specifically, the three assholes that called themselves mystep-brothers.

The pain began to bite into my shoulder, sharp and unyielding. “Ahh…stop, please.”

“Get down on your knees…”

It was Eric whose hand was digging into my shoulder.

Trevor was in front of me, asmile had slithered onto his lips. “No more waiting, I guess.”

Slowly, I sank in front of Trevor while the other two moved to stand in front of him. They began to undo their jeans, the scent of musk hitting my nose. They smelled acrid from the game of basketball they’d just come from.

I’d memorized their schedules to avoid them.

“I…I could bite you!” I hissed outtryingto show them that I wasn’t afraid.

All three of them grinned.

Trevor pulled his engorged dick out, “I wouldn’t advise that Golds.”

I hated that stupid fucking nickname.

My hair was naturally blonde, a gift from the white fatherthat I’dnever known.Wouldnever know because he’d died in a car accident a year after I was born.

“We’re going to fuck you so hard, Golds,” Baby smiledhiseyes darting over me and hovering over my mouth.

“Won’t be today,” Trevor said.

“Or even tomorrow…” Eric leaned down and caressed my lips. “But when she’d dead, you belong to us. The old man won’t lift a finger to save you.”

The door to the basement opened, and their eyes grew wide. Relief flooded me, and I managed to dash past Teresathehousekeeper. She tried to call after me, but I didn’t stop.

That night, I went to the hospital, and I kissed my mother goodbye. I’d waited for Carl tocome out ofthe room before going in. He wasn’t that great of a manbuthe did love her. He’d never left my mother’s side after her diagnosis.

The room she was in had cards and flowers from well-wishers. My nose had wrinkled immediately because the floral smell was so strong. I stood by the window until I saw Carl walking along theedge of the sidewalk, smoking a cigarette.

Idiot,I’d thought.

Walking over to my mother, the machinery in the room beeping with every breath she seemed to take.

“Mommy,” I’d gently shaken her.

She’d stirred, her eyes fluttering weakly. Guilt rammed itself in my gut.

Guilt for waking her up and guilt for leaving…

“HeySugar Lump,” she’d smiled, her lips red and raw from crackling.

“Mommy, I had to see you before I go.”

She reached up to touch my face, confusion clouding her eyes. “School in the morning?”

My reply had been soft, and for the second time today,I was fighting back tears.“Yes, mommy.”

“Carl can take you home,” she’d whispered.

“No, that’s okay. I just wanted to say…”

My words faltered because there was no way in hell I could utter them to her.

“Say what, sweetie?”

I shook my head. “Nothing, mommy. I love you. Get some rest.”

She smiled before already nodding off. They had her on so many drugs I felt blessed to have even woken her. Pulling the blanket up, I kissed her goodbye.

I tried to drink in all the details because I knew this would bethe last memory I ever hadof her.

My mother had always worn pearls in her ears. Walking out of the room, pulling the hood of the jacket over my head to avoid looks from nurses and doctors, I worried that Carl wouldn’t have her buried in them.

Of course, I could have stayed and made sure that shewas buriedwell andproperly.Thathehad the perfect grave marker put in place for her.

But I just couldn’t.

I hadn’t taken the hood off my head for fear of being seen by someone who knew the brothers and Carl. Not until I’d entered the bus station later that night.The backpack on my shouldershadfelt heavy as if theweight of the worldwas hanging on them.In reality,it contained a load of cash, my social security card, and my birth certificate.

That’d been the only reason for me even being in the basement. My mother had put up important documents down there.

The secondthe ticket was printedand handed over to me, relief engulfed me like the waiting arms of an angel.

There was no way I could stick around Clear Lake when I knew what kind of life awaited me.

No one was going to come looking if Carl reported me missing.

I’d graduated a year earlier.

It was summer, and I was eighteenaboutto turn nineteen.

Legally, I was an adult.

The bus arrived shortly before midnightandthat was whenthe text messages came through.It made my skin crawl, but I didn’t care.

Where did you go, Golds?That one was from Trevor.

Eric’s had beennext. Come back to us, Golds.

Baby’s message though….it had been delayedbutit had come. For some reason, his had made my blood run cold.

There is nowhere you can hide, Halo.

After all, he’d been the only one to use my real name.