Her dad turned on the Milborne family and promised to testify against them. In return for turning state’s evidence, he was assured that he and his family would be safe, but that turned out to be a complete lie. Milborne had friends in high places and he ordered her father and her family’s murder. They had no idea that Milborne’s men would be able to get to them in the safe house the government put them up in. Her father promised her and her mother that they were all safe but that turned out to be just another one of his lies. Two guards were watching them and one of them was on Milborne’s payroll. He was supposed to kill all of them, including his partner, and make it look like his partner had turned on them, taking out her family and he stopped him. But the guy must have had a change of heart because he insisted that his partner take Blake and leave. He told his partner that they had intel that Milborne found the safe house, and that they needed to divide the family up to keep everyone safe. Fortunately for her, the guard agreed and got her out of there just in time. Milborne’s guys showed up and blew up the safe house. She was presumed dead and that was that. No one came after her and when she found out that she was being assigned to the Milborne case, she kept her mouth shut about her connection to the mafia leader. She wanted to bring him down and if that meant keeping silent and maintaining her secret, she would.
The guard who got her out never told anyone what he had done. He drove her up to Connecticut and convinced his childless sister, Angelina, to take her in. Angelina gave her a good home Blake came to think of her as her mother—she still did. They never really spoke about what had happened, although she knew that both of her parents were dead. The story was all over the news. Her picture was shown with her parents as one of the victims and it was labeled as a gas leak—their death’s listed as an accident.
Angelina decided to change her birth name, Rachel Tillman, to Blake Reid, and every aspect of that little girl, whose picture appeared on the television as a victim, disappeared completely. She learned to keep her head down and her mouth shut and that served her well. Blake joined the police academy and graduated at the top of her class. She rose quickly in the ranks, wanting to be the youngest woman detective in the state’s history. Every goal she set for herself, she reached. When the CIA came calling, she quickly took their offer, moved to New York City, and never looked back. The only times she returned to the small town where she was raised, was to visit Angelina.
She parked her car in the back of the lot and walked into the abandoned warehouse where she was supposed to meet her boss. He liked her to stay off-grid when it came to her reporting in, and that was just fine with her. If she was followed by one of Milborne’s men, they would see the shady warehouse and assume she had scheduled a meeting with one of their buyers. Milborne delt in weapons of all types but mostly military-grade, top of the line weapons and she was currently one of his top sellers. It was why he had sent her in to meet Tirana and why he trusted her, for the most part. She wasn’t a fool. Blake knew that Milborne had her followed periodically. He was a shrewd boss who never left his back unprotected. He had men and women, for that matter, who’d die for him, no questions asked. They were loyal, some out of love for the Milborne family and some out of fear of what Milborne would do to them and their loved ones if they crossed him.
Blake walked down the dark alley and into the back of the warehouse. “Reid,” her boss breathed. “How did your meet up go with Tirana?”
“Went well,” she said. “I’m sure you’re thrilled with the fact that he’s asked me to dinner.”
“I won’t lie, Blake, I’m not upset about it. I’d love to bring down the Tirana’s holdings in the US while we’re tearing apart the Milborne Family.” David Guest wasn’t someone to go up against, even if she did believe that her boss was biting off more than he could chew. “Of course, we won’t be able to bring down the whole Tirana Syndicate since they are based in Albania and out of my jurisdiction. But Altin Tirana is a start.”
“You sure you’re not getting in over your head, Sir? I mean, if you piss off the Tirana’s by taking out Altin, don’t you think they’ll retaliate?” she asked.
He shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Don’t know and right now, I don’t care. I want you to get close to Altin Tirana,” he ordered.
“You can’t be serious,” she breathed. “Are you honestly ordering me to sleep with him?”
David chuckled and shook his head, “I’m telling you to do whatever it takes to get under Altin Tirana’s skin,” he said. “I want this. I want Milborne and Tirana and I have a feeling that you’re just the woman who can make that happen for me, Blake. You in or out?” She wanted to bring down Milborne more than she wanted her next breath. Her boss didn’t know it, but she had dreamed of doing just that since she was just a little girl. Revenge for her parent’s death was her driving force for so long, she didn’t know any other existence. Altin Tirana would be a bonus for her boss, but she had no stake in bringing him down. If she was lucky enough to bring them both down, she wouldn’t mind it, but Milborne was her top priority.
“I’m in” she agreed. She turned to leave the warehouse through the hidden back door.
“I take it we’re done here,” her boss called after her.
“Yep,” she shouted back over her shoulder. “I’ve got a date to get ready for and I’m going to need to stop and pick up a new dress on my way home. I’m betting Altin Tirana likes his women wearing close to nothing and lets just say my wardrobe lends more to the conservative side.”
“I’m assuming you’ll be charging this new dress to your company card,” David asked.
“You know it,” she said, waving back over her shoulder. “Talk soon.”
“Don’t fuck this up, Blake,” her boss growled. She didn’t plan on it. Blake wanted this whole mess over as soon as humanly possible and if that meant sleeping with the enemy, then so be it.
Altin: The Tirana Brothers (The Social Rejects Syndicate Book 2)—coming soon! Universal Link-> https://books2read.com/u/mKyPjZ
Check out this upcoming dark mafia series coming from K.L. Ramsey! Pride (Deadly Sins Syndicate Book 1) is coming in March 2021!
Damion
Damion Pride wasn’t sure how the hell he was going to fit his next two appointments in as scheduled, but he had no choice. His very bossy business partner, Finnegan Envy, was riding his ass and giving him more shit than he wanted to deal with. His friend usually knew where and when to draw the line but lately, he was a pushy bastard who didn’t know when to quit.
They knew that starting their own business right out of college could turn into a shit storm, but if he knew that it was going to be this much work, he would have taken his Uncle Rock up on his offer to join his syndicate. Rock Greed was his mother’s brother and when he made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, Damion foolishly declined. He knew that branching out and starting his own venture was going to take work, but this was above and beyond what he expected. If it wasn’t for Finn, Damion would have quit a long time ago—well, Finn and the money that they were pulling in. For two kids who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, they were doing all right for themselves.