Chapter 1 reveal!
The three women that we were looking for at the airport should not have stood out. They were supposed to be professionals. Three of the smartest women in the world. Risky, brave, and deadly. We weren’t the only ones looking for them. The Kaleotos wanted them. The Syndicate was looking for them. Even other criminals wanted them, and certainly wanted the money their capture would bring. I had a different goal. I wanted to save my brother Matt’s life. And it was my fault that he was even in trouble. Max, the crime boss, went by one simple name. Growing up two towns over from Slots, Maryland, allowed me to grow up in a fairly normal situation, but with the temptation of all Slots could offer. My brother liked to gamble. Okay, he loved to gamble. Sometimes he was good at it. Sometimes he was horrible at it. After borrowing too much from a dicey loan shark and defaulting on his loan, Max gave my brother his repayment terms. When Matt failed to make a payment, the burden of his loan shifted to me. I had to head up the crew that was looking for the Lady Mafia, and I had to be successful at finding them or my brother died. The ransom for the Lady Mafia would pay off my brother’s debt in full. Who was I? Well, I worked for the government. That’s what most people got out of me when they asked. The reality was where my brother enjoyed taking risks with his money, I enjoyed taking risks with my life. My job was working for a contractor that worked for the military. I specialized in the unspecializable stuff. You needed a document from a heavily guarded facility? They sent me instead of a SWAT team. I’m great with a gun, better with my mouth and quick with my retreat. I think Max messed with my brother just to get to me. Get me in debt to him somehow. And my latest job was my most important. The Lady Mafia had burned their reputation in the crime world. One minute no one knew of them and then, in the next second, everyone was talking about them. The rumor was that each of the three women had a piece of intelligence that should fit together like a puzzle. That’s all I knew. I needed all three, and I needed them alive. There were a ton of crews that were researching the identities of the Lady Mafia. Most that were in on this job? The worst that could happen to them would be losing out on a huge reward. For me? I was going to lose someone I loved. After a month of working with my first crew, I had found something that I was hoping everyone else hadn’t noticed. There was a hashtag on social media called #LadyMaafia. The girls in the selfies attached matched what we thought we knew about the ladies age wise. This was an enormous risk. A big gamble. We were in the right place. Slots was a smaller version of Las Vegas but with all the same vices available. Their plane finally landed. Now was the moment of truth. I looked at Tucker as he pointed to the gangway. Three women stumbled into view. They seemed like a cluster of bags, and I was pretty sure that two of them were accidentally tied together with headphones. The brunette had the blonde in a vise grip, her fingertips denting the pale skin. “How the hell did you find shrimp on the plane? Goddammit, Aster.” Aster responded through her pursed lips—like she was playing that kid game where you pretended to be a fish. “Mhhm. Murrrmhhh. Madu.” “I told you something was up when she was wearing a baggy dress.” The redhead disentangled herself from Aster, letting the headphones dangle. They moved in our direction. I met Tucker’s eyes. These were not the women we were looking for. Before we could say anything, I was eye to eye with the angry, gorgeous brunette. “Do you have any Benadryl?” I shook my head no, trying to blend into the crowd. I was never supposed to stand out. It was one of my special talents. But either she’d made me or she was desperate for help. I was in deep shit now. Not bringing in the Lady Mafia would get my entire crew out of the running for the money. They didn’t know I was planning on swapping the money for my brother and getting the hell out of dodge. I would not pay any of them their fair share. I mean, I would, assuming we all lived through this, mail them their money after I made it. It was basically robbing one to pay the other now. “I swear to all that is good and holy, that if I find an EpiPen, I’m holding you down and slamming it into your heart.” The brunette turned back to me as if I was part of the conversation. “Do you know what she does? She eats shrimp so she will blow up like a balloon. Have you ever heard of an allergy to shellfish that causes a person to only swell in her tits, ass, and lips?” The blonde of the unfortunate allergic reaction was wearing a little crown that read, Bride to Be. The redhead had on a matching headband that read, Bride’s B!tch. “Um. No.” I wasn’t supposed to talk to the targets, but they weren’t supposed to find me first. I had to roll with the punches. These girls were having trouble getting off a plane like three grown ass women. They were not some of the world’s most feared assassins. We needed three women tomorrow. And these women actually had pink satin jackets with Lady Mafia emblazoned on the back. I think that made it worse. This was a case of mistaken identity. I heard Breck in my ear—-the wireless communication was hidden. “The plane is empty. These are the girls behind the #LadyMaafia hashtag. It matches with their profile pictures. We’re fucked. This is a massive misdirection or…” “Bad luck and these women are just horrible spellers,” I finished for Breck. I had to make some quick decisions. These women needed to come with us on the slim chance that we could make something work. My brother’s life depended on it. Aster’s eyes went wide before she looked down at her chest. “Here we go!” I watched, mesmerized, as her right breast seemed to self-inflate. And then her left breast followed. What had once been excess fabric was now brimming with swollen cleavage. Breck was in my ear again. “Um, did her boobs just pop up out of nowhere?” Next, she whirled around and pointed at her rear. It did a similar trick. Her figure went from nice to ridiculous. I felt like I was in a paranormal movie. Nothing on the human body was supposed to change that quickly. Aster started giggling. “Bang. Pop. I’m here to make it drop.” She started twerking with her now bulbous booty. “And now we have the dancing personality. Shit.” The brunette grabbed Aster by the upper arm. “We really needed the chatty Instagram model to celebrate your upcoming wedding?” Aster tugged on her now painted-on dress. “This dress was on clearance! What was I supposed to do, Indy?” Indy, the brunette, grabbed up all of Aster’s bags and fashioned a quick hand leash out of Aster’s headphones and used it to drag her farther into the airport. I decided. “We keep them until we know. Lev, you in place?” “Yeah, boss. I’m out here in the fake Uber waiting on a really stacked shrimp addict and a mad chick.” I couldn’t believe I was uttering these words on the job, “They all have tiaras on.” “Copy that. Girls in tiaras.” There was a crackle in my ear as the connection in our wireless earpieces shifted. We were going to have to kidnap three drunk women, one of whom was apparently in anaphylactic shock, in broad daylight. This day had gone from sh!t to super utter sh!t.
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✓Forced Proximity ✓Enemies to Lovers ✓Surprise Twists ✓Spicy Times ✓Sisterhood ✓Laugh out Loud ✓Mafia Romance ✓Against All Odds