Fortress of the Damned

FORTRESS OF THE DAMNED MEDICI MAFIA SERIES MACKENZY FOX DAKOTAH FOX CONTENTS About the Authors AUTHOR’S NOTE Blurb Prologue 1. Rocco 2. Sloane 3. Rocco 4. Sloane 5. Rocco 6. Sloane 7. Rocco 8. Sloane 9. Rocco 10. Sloane 11. Rocco 12. Sloane 13. Rocco 14. Sloane 15. Rocco 16. Sloane 17. Rocco 18. Sloane 19. Rocco 20. Sloane 21. Rocco 22. Sloane 23. Rocco 24. Sloane 25. Rocco 26. Sloane 27. Sloane Epilogue Acknowledgments Find Us Here: WANT MORE? Also by Mackenzy Fox Copyright © 2023 Mackenzy Fox & Dakotah Fox All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Cover by: @peachykeenas (Savannah Richey) Formatting by: @peachykeenas (Savannah Richey) Editing and proofreading by: Nice Girl, Naughty Edits (Kenzie) Alpha reader: Michelle (The Outgoing Bookworm) Beta reader: Alana S Final proofread by: Kiki Edits Dakotah: For those that asked for more of Rocco, this is for you x Mackenzy: For our readers (because we didn’t plan on Rocco having a book) but we’re so glad you wanted his story, thank you x For Charlie: you always were our superhero x ABOUT THE AUTHORS Mackenzy Fox is an author of contemporary, motorcycle, dark mafia and steamy themed romance novels. When she’s not writing she loves vegan cooking, walking her beloved pooch’s, reading books and is an expert on online shopping. She’s slightly obsessed with drinking tea, testing bubbly Moscato, watching home decorating shows and has a black belt in origami. She strives to live a quiet and introverted life in Western Australia’s Northwest with her hubbie, twin sister Dakotah and her dogs. Dakotah Fox is a new author of contemporary, dark mafia and small-town romance. She enjoys walking and hiking, finding new tea haunts, and is a qualified yoga instructor. When she’s not writing she enjoys finding a good book to curl up with, loves watching Beauty and the Geek and is the Queen of planning. You can find her living a quiet, fulfilled life in Western Australia’s Northwest with her beloved doggies. #twinlife #indieauthors #girlsrule AUTHOR’S NOTE CONTENT WARNING: Fortress of the Damned an adults only dark mafia romance centered around the Medici Boston underworld crime family. It contains dark scenes which may disturb some readers including but not limited to: Violence, mentions of human trafficking, torture, foul language, gun violence including a public shooting, PTSD, and lots of kinky spicy love scenes. Reader discretion is advised, for adults 18+ Please note: This book is the 5th in the Medici Mafia series and while this book can be read stand-alone and does not have a cliff-hanger, it is recommended that the books are read in order “I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright, who art as black as hell, as dark as night.” - Shakespeare BLURB Rocco: WE SHOULDN’T WORK Everything about her is exactly what I don’t need. What I shouldn’t want. I bury my need for her, my desire, and everything in between. I thought my heart was destroyed long ago, too tortured to ever feel love. I’m a soldier. I feel nothing. Damned for all eternity because of what I do. But when it comes to protecting her, there is nothing that stands in my way. There is nothing I won’t do. Even sacrifice myself, if that’s what it takes. Sloane: HE’S A MAN OF HONOR. A vigilante. Surrounded in darkness. Some would say he’s a ghost. His soul maybe damaged, but his eyes tell a different tale. And in them I see the light. He doesn’t want to be saved. And if my soul isn’t his to take, how to explain that to my heart? I didn’t get the memo. It doesn’t stand a chance. But then again, not every fairy tale ends the way we want. Especially this one. PROLOGUE ROCCO TEN YEARS AGO Death swirls around me. I feel it. And I know death, because I’m constantly surrounded by it. At least, that’s what I think it must feel like. I’ve inflicted it on so many people, I have often wondered when my time would be up. This could be it. I feel the holes in my back where I’ve been shot. I feel the warmth of the blood leaking from my body, soaking through my military uniform. I don’t even know where the fuck I am. Maybe I’m dead already? From what I recall, I’m in the middle of a war zone. It’s not as though you’re given an itinerary in Special Ops, not when our missions are this dangerous. No one, not even your loved ones, know where you are. Lucky for me, I don’t have anyone I’m close to. I glance beside me, blinking through the sheeting rain that has me soaked to the bone. I don’t know how the fuck I’m going to get out of this. My Captain, Jason Riggs, lies beside me, and fuck me, if I’m dead, then he’s definitely cactus. After he’d been shot in the back of the leg, I hauled him over my shoulder and ran for our lives. “Stay the fuck down,” he mutters. Thank fuck, he’s still alive. I can’t even move my body. I ain't going nowhere, and I know this is bad. Very, very bad. I try to speak, but nothing comes out. I feel the blackness behind my eyes, threatening to shut down any resolve I thought I had left. I hear the chopper off in the distance, but I’ve no idea if