Tempted By The Queen

TEMPTED BY THE QUEEN MURDOCH MAFIA SERIES BOOK 4 SAMANTHA BARRETT Copyright © 2022 by Samantha Barrett All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced 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 is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental. All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Cover by Leah Maree at Designs by LM. CONTENTS Author Note 1. Carlina 2. Carlina 3. Vincent 4. Carlina 5. Vincent 6. Carlina 7. Vincent 8. Carlina 9. Vincent 10. Carlina 11. Vincent 12. Carlina 13. Vincent 14. Carlina 15. Vincent 16. Carlina 17. Vincent 18. Carlina 19. Vincent 20. Carlina 21. Vincent 22. Carlina 23. Carlina 24. Vincent 25. Carlina 26. Vincent 27. Carlina 28. Vincent 29. Carlina 30. Vincent 31. Vincent Epilogue Thank you! Also by Samantha Barrett Acknowledgments About the Author My brother, How you drive me nuts, make me want to commit murder but love you all at the same time. This one is for you, I thought it fitting since you are the biggest drama queen. I love you Maymond. Authors Note This book may make some uncomfortable with the content. I have always sworn if I ever wrote a Mafia book, I would go dark, in order to stay true to my characters that is what I have done. Some scenes and descriptions may make you uneasy, make you feel squeamish but rest assured there is an HEA. For those who have read my PNR and thought they were dark, well this is worse, so much worse but in the best way possible. Welcome to the Murdoch Mafia and all their fucked-up shit. Carlina The day she left… I quietly shut the door behind myself, trying to make as little noise as possible. My brothers are all light sleepers and wake at the sound of a creaking floorboard. A sigh of relief escapes me when I don’t hear thundering footsteps behind me when the door clicks shut. I carry my suitcase by the handle so the sound of the rolling wheels doesn’t wake them. I’ve made sure to time my escape well, I have a three-minute window before the new guards take over. I quicken my pace and rush to the end of the drive and slip out the side gate to meet my waiting Uber. I don’t waste time, shoving my bag on the back seat and quickly rushing around to the other side to climb in. I know they will see me on the cameras but at least by the time they figure it out, I’ll be on a plane and long gone by then. They could have Luka track me but I know Bishop won’t as the guilt of him knowing what happened to me at the hands of our father will still his hand. Each of my brothers may be named after pieces of a game but I wasn’t. My father could have named me queen but chose not to. In this world we live in a woman is a means to an end—someone to cook, clean and give you a son. My whole life I have been kept a secret. No one outside of my family even knows I exist, well except for Kiara and now Gage. I know me taking off at this time is shitty as we are in the middle of a war with the other families, but I can’t do it anymore. I won’t be trapped in an ivory tower waiting for someone to come and rescue me. Since being back with Kiara, her strength has rubbed off on me and shown me that I don’t need a man to save me, or my brothers to protect me. I need to fight my own battles and make my own mistakes without Bishop or King bailing me out. The twins and I are close, Rook and I more so. I know me not telling him I’m leaving is going to hurt him but I need to do this for me. I have to get away from this place and clear my head. I need to heal away from my family and that fucking house of pain. Nightmares plague me every night I’m in that house. Every night I close my eyes, I’m plagued by my past and things that were done to me as a child. * * * I thought passing through security at the airport I would get flagged because of my last name, but I didn’t. The law may know what my family does but they can’t prove a fucking thing. Bishop never flies commercial for this reason. I find my seat and quickly place my purse under the seat in front of me. It may sound shallow but I feel giddy over the fact I’m flying economy and not first class, or on a private jet. This is something normal people would do and I love the fact I get to be one of them, even if it is for a short time. I rest my head back and close my eyes, allowing myself to soak in this moment. I’ve never been anywhere on my own. I have always had a guard, my brother or one of our maids escort me whenever I left the house. It used to piss me off growing up. If someone recognized my brothers, they had to say I was their date for the night so they didn’t know I was Tony Murdoch’s bargaining chip until I was of