Asher (Horsemen Mafia Romance Series Book 2), page 1
Table of Contents
Asher
Excerpt from:
The Godfather’s Temptation
(Elijah Prequel Novella)
Horsemen Book List and Release Dates
Contact Info
Description:
She should have died that night.
I should have killed her as quickly and without conscience as I had the man I’d been assigned to make stop breathing.
But something stopped me.
Instead, I found myself draping her over my shoulder and taking her home.
Now she’s locked in the basement, and I have no idea what to do with her.
If I set her free, my associates will kill her.
If I get bored of her, I’ll kill her myself.
There doesn’t seem to be an option where she turns out the winner in this dire situation.
The best she can hope for is to find a way to penetrate the darkness inside me to save herself.
Welcome to Helka Island!
Crystal blue waters and a thriving nightlife.
Helka Island is the most sought-after vacation destination in the world.
At first glance, a girl might think it's paradise...
But even paradise has its underworld. And four dangerous men who rule it.
The Horsemen have united four of the most powerful organized crime families of North and South America and Europe and brought them together on a remote island in the Caribbean, creating an unstoppable force.
The four rulers of the island are a woman's fantasy, but a nightmare to anyone who defies the rules. They're sexy. They're single but untouchable. Expanding their empires comes first for them... sex a close second... Love... well, that hasn't even been a blip on their radar.
But that’s all about to change...
Asher
(Horsemen Series, book 2)
By
Terry Towers
Asher, Book 2 Horsemen Series
Copyright April 26, 2022
By Terry Towers
Cover by: JS Designs & Cover Art
All rights reserved. With the exception of brief quotes used for critical reviews and articles no part of this book may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the author Terry Towers. Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors imagination and used fictitiously.
“When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come!’ Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.”
Revelations 6: 3-4
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Chapter 1
Elena
My feet hurt something fierce, the pain beginning at the balls of my feet and radiating up the back of my calf. Why I’d decided to pick today to break in these ungodly high four-inch heels was beyond me. No man was worth that kind of pain and to top it all off, the jerk didn’t even have the courtesy to walk me to the train station. He was all charm until he realized there was no way he was getting laid by me tonight.
Even if I was the kind of girl to sleep around – which I wasn’t, he was simply too arrogant for my tastes. I’d lost count of the number of times I had to force myself from not rolling my eyes at him for some of the outlandish things he’d said. Do women actually buy men’s nonsense?
Maybe it was the fact that I was a district attorney and my job was to call out liars and see through the webs psychopaths enjoyed weaving. I could sniff bullshit a mile away and that man reeked of it.
That’s what I got for online dating, I suppose.
But really, how else could you find someone in Manhattan nowadays? Especially when it came to someone like me where time was a precious commodity. And sadly, being a district attorney doesn’t give you a huge pool of co-workers to choose from. Most of the people I came in contact with were cops and defense attorneys. Defense attorneys generally hated me and many cops were intimidated by me, yet refused to admit that was what they felt.
Men claimed they wanted a strong, independent woman, but when they came face to face with one, they scamper off like little boys. I wanted a man who’d challenge me, not one full of hot air and an inflated ego.
The train station was still a solid ten-minute walk from where I was. I groaned at the realization. The moment I caught sight of a cab, I’d grab it. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any around without a passenger already tonight.
I proceeded past a nightclub where the music blared and the intoxicated couple lounged out front and the smell of cannabis assaulted my nose as I walked past. The GPS on my phone led me to an alleyway behind the club. I stopped at the entrance of the alley, not liking the idea of going down it alone, but upon looking at the screen and seeing another two-minutes would be added to my trip if I went around, sore feet prevailed and I turned down.
Shoving my phone into my purse, I was a third of the way down the alleyway when the back door opened and the music from within the club flooded the alleyway as a couple exited. The man was chattering, and the woman laughed at whatever it was he’d said. I stopped in my tracks, uncertain of what I wanted to do.
Before I had a chance to decide, the door burst open a second time and two additional men appeared. I stared, unblinking, as I watched the woman and one of the men pin the man she’d come out with to the wall.
He attempted to scream, but the noise was quickly muffled.
The third man stepped forward. While the alleyway was dark, there was a full moon out and the silver blade he held in his hand glistened as the light hit it. They spoke a moment, but their voices were too low for me to make out what they were saying.
I needed to get out of there.
But I couldn’t seem to get my legs to move, shock at what was unfolding before me had paralyzed me on the spot.
The man with the blade took one more step forward and plunged the knife into the man before him. Over and over, the man was stabbed before he slumped to the ground.
I gasped as my eyes widened in horror, the sound just loud enough to catch the attention of the man with the knife. I saw an uncountable number of crime scenes of dead and bloodied bodies, even seen videos of the crimes in action, but it was the first time I’d stepped into the middle of a homicide in the flesh!
Oh shit. No, no, no…
Turning, I tried to flee, but only made it several feet before my heel caught in a large crack in the pavement. I screamed as my body fell forward. Putting my hands out before me, I braced myself for the fall.
“Fuck!” I uttered under my breath, rising back up to my feet when a strong, powerful arm wrapped itself around my torso and lifted me up. Before I had a chance to scream a second time, a gloved hand was over my mouth.
“Inject her,” the man who’d grabbed me growled.
Inject me? What? Stop! No!
I squirmed and bucked against his hold, but he easily overpowered me. Why hadn’t I taken self-defense classes like my mother had told me to when I’d moved to the city? I really should considering the low-lives I had to deal with on a daily basis, but as the saying goes, ‘if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas.’
“I’m sorry sweetie, but you picked a bad time to walk down an alley alone.”
No!
His words were the last thing I heard before I felt a pinch at the side of my neck and the world went dark.
Elena
I didn’t have to open my eyes to know I wasn’t home in my bed curled up under a nice warm blanket. Judging from the roar of the engines, I was on a plane, my wrists restrained to the armrests. I had to force myself to keep from opening my eyes. I needed to know what was going on around me, and if they thought I was still unconscious, maybe I’d get some clues on how to get out of this mess.
There was a dull ache in my ankle that was hard to ignore, but I powered through it, straining to hear any type of conversation.
“I know you’re awake, might as well open your eyes and we can have a little chat.” The voice was deep, with a very distinct Latino accent. Colombian perhaps?
Shit… How’d he know I was awake? Maybe he’d just guessed? I wasn’t sure if I was ready to confront my captor just yet.
“I’m sure your mouth is dry and throat sore. You can have some water if you promise to behave yourself.”
The gig was up.
Slowly, my eyes fluttered open, revealing a pair of terrified forest green eyes. Everything was still a haze. It took close to a minute before the person across from me came into view. I watched as he ran a han
His jaw clenched as he stared at me another moment. “I’m trying to be hospitable here. Either you cooperate and it becomes more comfortable for you, or you continue to be stubborn, not talk and things get very unpleasant.”
Running my tongue along my lower lip, I winced. The lipstick had worn off and my lips felt incredibly dry. “I could use a drink.” Damn, my throat was sore.
A smile slowly crept onto his lips. “Then a water you shall have.”
He abruptly stood and made his way towards the back of the plane. There was a mini-fridge mounted on the back wall where he retrieved a bottle. As he fetched the bottle of water, I took the chance to test the cuffs around my wrists. They were iron-clad.
Fuck!
Panic threatened to overtake me, but I forced it down. Panicking wouldn’t do a bit of good. He wouldn’t release me just because I threw a tantrum, I had to be smarter than that. My only way out of it was to be smarter than him and bide my time. I’d graduated top of my class in law school, I was one of the best district attorneys in New York. I’d find a way out of this as long as I kept my head and wits about me.
“Don’t worry sweetheart, they’re secure,” he called out to me, over his shoulder. “If they weren’t secure, then good luck escaping with what I think may be a broken ankle from a plane flying thousands of miles over the ocean.”
As he made his way back down the aisle, the haze I’d felt a moment ago took over once again. My eyelids felt heavy and my head started to become a challenge to keep up straight.
“Hey.”
The snapping of fingers in front of my face brought me back to alertness.
“Take a drink so you don’t get dehydrated.” He held out a bottle of water with a straw poking out of the top.
“Glad my kidnapper is looking out for my well-being,” I snapped in a sudden bout of anger, accepting the water and taking a long drink, nearly draining the entire bottle before finishing. God, that felt good, giving my dry lips and sore, dry throat slight relief.
Taking the bottle from me, he placed it in the cup holder attached to my seat. “I’m not a bad guy.” Sitting back into the seat, he crossed one leg over the other and continued. “When we land, I’ll have our doctor look over that ankle and if it’s broken, we’ll get you fixed up as good as new. I don’t think it is, but it’s better safe than sorry.”
For just a moment I felt hope. “So you’ll let me go?”
Laughing, he shook his head. “No. That’s really not in the cards for you at the moment.”
“So what do you plan on doing to me? I didn’t see anything and I wouldn’t tell anyone even if I did.”
Rubbing his chin covered in a perfectly groomed short-cut black beard, he smiled.
Maybe, just maybe, he’d let me go. Maybe it’d just be a matter of talking with him and straightening it all out.
His smile widened, displaying a row of white, perfect teeth. “Do I look stupid to you?”
I didn’t speak for a moment, opting to glare at him instead. Flashes of the man in the alleyway came to mind. The knife as it shone in the moonlight, and then as it was plunged into the man. Who was he? Why’d they do it? Who were they? So many questions and not a single answer. This wasn’t the plane of a poor man, this man was connected and wealthy. Mafia? Drug cartel? Arms dealer?
“Is he dead?”
“Would it make you feel better to know he was fine?”
“Not if it was a lie.”
“I had business with that person.” He shrugged. “Well, an associate did rather. I had a job to do and it got done.”
He’s a hitman – fuck. And he’d find out who I was. Double fuck. People like him didn’t look kindly upon people like me.
There wasn’t much in this world that’d deserve being stabbed to death in an alleyway and left to bleed out. I huffed. “Yeah, I bet.” I tore my gaze from his to look around the cabin of the plane. It was definitely a private plane, large enough to seat a dozen people. Craning my neck, I looked out the window to see nothing but clouds and ocean. We were leaving the United States… Headed where? The fact I was going to a different country more than scared me, it sent a feeling of sheer terror through me, but I refused to allow my face to reveal what I thought.
The man across from me continued, “If it makes you feel better, he deserved it.”
“Just like I deserve to be chained to a chair.”
He shrugged. “Believe what you want. It’s the truth. I have no reason to lie to you.”
“What are you going to do with me?”
“I don’t know. That all depends on you, I guess. Once I find out who you are, we’ll go from there.”
A door behind me, presumably the cockpit, opened. However, the chains tethering me to the seat wouldn’t grant me enough movement to turn and verify for myself.
“Hey boss, we’re getting close and going to be landing in ten.”
Close? Close to where? The panic within me threatened to overwhelm me again. How in the hell would I get out of this mess? What if they were traffickers? I wasn’t young, I was twenty-eight for crying out loud. Didn’t traffickers like young women, virgins? If they wanted that then they’d be sadly disappointed, I hadn’t had my virginity for over a decade.
He didn’t give me a trafficker vibe, my bet was still on hitman.
The man stood before me, placing a hand on my shoulder and lightly squeezing it as he walked past me. My body tensed at his touch, and I found myself struggling to swallow.
“Thanks,” he said to the other person.
Thanks for what? Perhaps I didn’t want to know.
His footsteps sounded like he was coming back my way. Closing my eyes, I gripped the arm rests of the seat with so much force, my hands went numb.
Please just go away. Please. I silently begged him.
It was the last thing I remembered thinking before I was once more plunged into darkness.
Chapter 2
Asher
Giving the needle back to Vince to dispose of, I walked back to the seat across from my captive and strapped myself in as we descended to the island.
Elijah, my business partner and one of the other four Horsemen who ran the island, wouldn’t be happy. He’d told me it’d be an easy job. In and out. Looking across from me, I sighed. It’d get complicated. So much for a quick in and out job.
I loathed compilations.
Maybe he wouldn’t be there to greet me, but that was wishful thinking. He’d want to know firsthand how things went. He’d want to know if Calvin, the bartender, was dead. He was such an anal-retentive douche that way.
He was most definitely dead, his blood spilled out onto the concrete next to a dumpster. The nightclub where he’d worked and died behind had been relatively busy. Chances are he’d be found by someone before the rats made a meal of him.
As the plane began its descent to Helka island, my eyes scanned the woman across from me. She was stunning with long fiery red curls and forest green eyes. She had the most perfect of ivory complexions with littering of freckling along the bridge of her nose.
Little more than ten minutes later, the plane’s engine was cut and the exit door opened.
Pulling the key to her shackles from my jacket pocket, I undid her binds and picked her up, slinging her body unceremoniously over my shoulder. I had a couple of hours before she’d gain consciousness again, long enough to get her secure at my place. I’d figure out who she was and how to deal with her once the logistics were figured out.
I spotted Elijah immediately as I made my way down the stairs with the mystery woman slung over my shoulder, standing on the tarmac with his hands thrust into the pants pocket of his suit. At 6’3, Elijah was several inches taller than me and slightly broader in stature.
