Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
The work was by a child—her own work from many years ago. Being a foster kid, she was used to not being wanted. Ella’s desires had not changed. She wanted to have children, be a mother, and to be a wife. She didn’t want to be a business woman.
Many years ago, Mateo killed his father, along with anyone who dared step in his way. But now, he wants children. He wants a life with Ella, and he knows exactly what to do to make it happen.
Ella knew the proposition was crazy. Most people were afraid of Mateo, but not her. She couldn’t believe that she was even considering the deal, but it was the best way to get what she wanted.
So, they got married, and they began the journey of becoming pregnant. But along the way, something happened. It was no longer a business deal once feelings were involved.
A happily ever after isn't in the cards. The mafia does not approve of marrying outsiders, and they will stop at nothing to remove the problem
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter One
Ella Rue looked down longingly at the old piece of artwork from her childhood. It was so stupid to still have this piece, even though it had been a good fifteen years since she drew it, possibly even longer, seeing as she was now twenty-five. She couldn’t recall if she was ten years old or younger when she drew this. Just that it was her dream, right there on a piece of paper.
She had been the child in the drawing, and they were only stick drawings, but that didn’t stop it from meaning something. Now, though, she would no longer be the child in this picture, but the mother.
Ever since she was a kid in the system, all she ever wanted was to have parents. She would watch as people would come and go. Some would sit and chat with her, but subsequently move on and choose another child. No one ever wanted her, and that was fine. They were looking for the perfect child. She just wasn’t good enough to be fostered.
So, until eighteen, she was in the system. That didn’t mean she didn’t attempt to flee a couple of times. She did. There were some awful foster homes. Some of the punishments had been terrifying. Being locked in dark closets, beaten with belts, starved. There were some boys and girls who were also sold online.
Ella didn’t know what happened to everyone, just that she got lucky when she was around sixteen years old. She was moved in with a woman in her sixties, and at first she had been terrified. Only, the sixty-year-old woman, Ruth, had been an absolute sweetheart, and for the last two years of her childhood, she stayed with her. In fact, she would end up staying and living with that woman for another three years, until she sadly passed away. After her passing, Ella moved on. Ruth was the only mother she had ever known.
Anyway, the picture she held was one only a child with the same hope would draw. There were large, white, fluffy clouds, an intense blue sky, sunshine glowing across the whole page. Outside of a large house stood two parents and some kids, all of them happy.
This is what she had wanted as a child, and what she had managed to keep. Sure, the edges were wrinkled, and the paper was getting damaged from years of being folded and refolded.
She wanted loving parents, brothers, and sisters. Now, as a twenty-five-year-old woman, she had the same dream, only she wanted the large family. It was never going to happen. Folding up the piece of paper, she closed her eyes as she felt the lump in her throat threatening tears. The last thing she wanted to do was cry. Crying never solved anything. All it did was make everything a hell of a lot worse. So, taking a deep breath, she started to put the dream away.
“Are you okay?”
She gasped and spun around to see Mateo Cole, one of the scariest men in the city, head of the local mafia, and also her boss.
Ruth would probably be disappointed in her for taking the job at this bar, but it paid well, and she felt safe. Sure, there were fights, and it wasn’t always a picnic, but she liked Mateo. She figured he was nice to everyone who was pleasant to him. Treating him as anything other than a nice man just didn’t seem right to her.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. Am I late?” she asked.
“No, I just saw you come to the staff room, and you’ve been here twenty minutes.”
She glanced toward the clock and her eyes widened. “Crap, I am so sorry.” She should have started work ten minutes ago, but she had been so lost in thought.
Quickly closing her small locker, she rushed forward and Mateo reached out and grabbed her arm.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “You look a little upset.”
“I’m fine. Trust me. Let me go and get set up.”
She moved as fast as she could without running to the bar, pinning her long, brown hair at the base of her neck to keep it out of the way. Wrapping an apron around her waist, she was more than prepared to bartend. The bar, Cole’s, which is what all of Mateo’s bars were called, was already open, and it was thriving.
She pushed the deep yearning out of her mind, because she was not going to find a husband at work. She’d seen some of the men removing their wedding bands and pretending to be single. Cole’s was not a place to believe in the value of marriage or relationships. She had seen way too many people cheating, or going to cheat. They were not interested in their wives or their husbands, just their own desires.
She had already started to consider alternative means. The main one was going to a sperm donor bank. She had thought about making an appointment, but she didn’t know if she was just being impatient. At twenty-five years old, she knew she still had a lifetime to find someone. Only, she also knew how fast time flew and she didn’t want to wait too long.