Distance

DISTANCE BENEATH THE MASK SERIES BOOK 1 LUNA MASON CONTENTS Authors Note 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 Epilogue Thank you About the Author Acknowledgments Copyright © 2023 by Luna Mason. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any for or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the us of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Cover Design: Coffin Print Designs Editing: Tara Edits Formatting: Books and Moods You can join the authors reader group. You can get exclusive teasers, the first to know about current projects and release dates. And also a chance to win giveaways- Luna Mason's Mafia Queens AUTHORS NOTE Distance is a dark, standalone mafia romance. It does contain content and situations that could be triggering for some readers. This book is explicit and has explicit sexual content. It is intended to be for readers 18+. For a full list of triggers please visit the authors website Or visit the authors Instagram This book is dedicated to all my readers out there who need to escape reality. To be told you’re a ‘good girl’ by a morally grey, tattooed mafia hitman. Keep flicking those pages. I’ve got you. Keller is waiting for you… CHAPTER 1 SIENNA That’s it. Ten days is long enough for this pity party. My tiny bedroom is shrouded in darkness thanks to the wonderful invention of blackout blinds. I’m cocooned snuggly in my duvet, surrounded by snotty tissues. The Salvator Brothers being the closest I’ve come to human interaction. My life is just one disaster after another. Ten days ago I walked in on my fiancé, now ex-fiancé, balls deep in some leggy blonde as he bent her over the kitchen counter. My world was crumbling as my heart shattered. He was too busy entertaining his guest to notice me hurl my engagement ring at his head and storm out. I shudder at the memory. The persistent prick is obviously now racked with guilt, as despite being blocked in every way possible, he continues to reach out. During my ten days of avoiding sunlight and wallowing, the realization dawned on me. My sadness wasn’t for Jamie cheating specifically. I think I was in love with the idea of him, rather than truly him. Maybe I am just unlovable. I sigh, tucking the duvet up even tighter around my neck. Being abandoned by your own father and neglected by your alcoholic mother doesn’t muster much for self-esteem. Something my therapist and I are trying to hash out. Somehow, I’d let the illusion of love and needing a man cloud my judgment. All I wanted was for someone to show me I was enough. I’ve spent my whole life caring for myself, before leaving my toxic family home in London. At eighteen, I uprooted my life for a sociology scholarship at Columbia University. That teenager I was then, with a spring in my step, would be pissed to see me in this state now. I snatch my phone off the bare nightstand, the light from it almost blinding me. I have to blink through my teary eyes to focus. Twenty-four missed calls and three texts. I rub my temples, trying to ease the pulsating headache as I open up the latest onslaught of Jekyll and Hyde messages. Unknown Babe, please call me back. I am so sorry. It is not what you think. Wow, I didn’t realize you could confuse watching his cock slide in and out of another woman. This one almost makes me chuckle. Unknown I need you, I miss you, please call me Unknown You know you NEED me, just get over it Me Fuck OFF. Rage jolts through me as I hurl my phone to the floor with a thud. Tossing my head back with a huff against my pink fluffy pillows, the tears are now free-flowing down my cheeks. I was so almost happy, with a good steady paralegal job at a top 10 law firm in Manhattan. It just wasn’t my dream job of working in social care. I had a fiancé. It wasn't an all-consuming passion and love, but I felt safe. I knew something was missing. I didn't want to face it because at least I had managed to run away from my old life in London. At least this was better. It is always my problem. I crave more, more out of life, more out of relationships, and it has gotten me this far. I have a fire within me that tells me I can do better, so I work my ass off to not become my mother. Just chuck me a bottle of vodka right now, though, and the resemblance is there. An absolute shit show. “I will always choose you.” Damon’s deep voice booms through my room from the small flatscreen plonked on my dresser. Don’t we all secretly love a bad boy? Jamie was sweet, reliable, and secure. Three things I thought I needed, not wanted. He pushed me to find my job for financial security to build a base to pursue my dreams. He took me on dates. He asked how my day was when I would get home from work. But there was always something missing. There was never that spark. That’s one thing I’m relieved about.