Dangerous Secrets

Dangerous Secrets AMY BARNETT Contents Author’s Note 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 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Epilogue Acknowledgments Reviews About the Author Dangerous Secrets Copyright © 2023 by Amy Barnett ISBN-13: 978-0-6454989-2-9 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the product 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. Created with Vellum Author’s Note This book is the first in the DeMarco family mafia series, and ends on a cliffhanger. The road will be trying, but Sage will eventually get her happy ever after. Trigger warnings: This book is intended to be a darker romance and may contain triggering situations and topics such as death, grief, child abuse, graphic violence and explicit sexual situations. Prologue Sage When I imagine how I would kill someone, I picture doing it with a knife to their jugular. Maybe a quick stab to the heart, then a swipe across the throat. We'd be face to face, so I could look them in the eye while they slip away. I see a bloody battle. Adrenaline taking me like a wild animal as I fight rabidly for the killing blow. Teeth bared. Blood dripping. Something poetic and cinematic. Of course, this is only an epic fantasy of a person I'm not. I'm far too weak to kill. A weakness I'm reminded of right now. The house is dark as the night, with only the moonlight shining through the second-floor windows to light my path. My feet shake as I struggle to steady myself, stumbling down our hallway and smearing bloody handprints along the walls as I go. I can only see what's right in front of me, my breath coming in harsh pants that echo in my head. I paste a bloody handprint on my chest as I gasp and double over in horror. I did this. No. I shake the thoughts away. I have to keep going. I have to make it. Even if only my memory of my home guides me down the hall. I pause when I see red dripping at my feet. I've left a trail of blood. Tiny crimson tear drops pave the way I came. Blood drips from my temple, down my chin and onto the tile. There's more blood on my hands too. But that's not mine. Masked men were waiting in my room, trying to grab me, when I snuck back inside through the window. One of my father's men tackled them to the ground before they could get a shot at me. The blood on my hands is his. I'd tried to help him; instead, he told me to run. But running seems too risky. Running is loud. I hear a thump somewhere behind me and turn panicked towards the sound. There's nothing there, so I continue forward on hushed feet. Just across the hall from Dad's office, I'm almost there when I pause. My father's pained groan reaches me from across the space. As does the sound of smacking flesh. "Stay the fuck down if you know what's good for you, Dimitri." I slap a hand over my mouth and press my eyes shut as I suppress a sob. "Why are you here?" My dad's voice. I peer around the corner and can vaguely see into Dad's office through the open double doors. Three muscled-looking guys dressed in all black stand over him where he's crumpled on the floor next to his desk. They all have guns; the main guy's out and trained on my dad. "You know what we want," the main one says. I recognize him. He's the one I opened the gate for. The guy holding a gun in Dad's face... I'm the one that let him in the front gate. "Where's the girl?" As I watch on, I can't bring myself to move. Overruling fear won't even allow me to hide around the corner. All I can do is stare and hope they don't see me. There's no fight in me. No flight. Just complete ice pinning me in place. "One last time, Dimitri. Where's. The. Girl?" The girl? They can't possibly mean me? Dad shakes his head. But I know he'd lie. If it were to protect me, he would never break. He would never lead them to me the way I led them to him. Boots pound up the stairs, and finally gaining some sense, I scramble into the shadows to hide, feet slipping beneath me. Another guy enters the room. "Well?" the leader addresses him without looking away from my dad. "She's not here." The leader cocks his head. "You can't possibly know that. This place is huge." The newcomer doesn't look nervous. "I couldn't get much out of them, but I'm told she-" They talk quietly enough that I miss the end of the sentence. A few beats pass where no one speaks. All that can be heard is Dad's heavy breathing. He slumps against the desk, head resting skyward. "Slippery." The main one finally breaks the silence, his voice a smile. He checks his weapon, filling it with bullets and no bother for a silencer. He aims and fires into my dad's