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  Frozen Valentine

  The De Luca Crime Family Prequel

  E.C. Land

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Social Media

  Frozen Valentine

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.

  Frozen Valentine. Copyright © 2021 by E.C. Land. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in articles or reviews. For information, contact E.C. Land.

  Publisher: Knox Publishing

  Cover Design by Charli Childs, Cosmic Letterz Cover Design

  Editing by Kim Lubbers, Knox Publishing

  Formatting by E.C. Land, Knox Publishing

  Proofreading by Jackie Ziegler, Knox Publishing

  Created with Vellum

  Dedicated to my readers.

  Acknowledgments

  My Husband and Kiddos – To my husband who has always been the one to support our family. If he didn’t encourage me to follow my dreams and give them a chance, I wouldn’t be where I am now. He’s put up with my ramblings and throwing ideas around no matter how annoying I can be about it. Also have to be thankful for him being there to send me inspirational music when I need it most. My kiddos, who find what I do, as they put it, cool and want to know how many words I was able to get in each day. They also like to try and help me come up with plot ideas. Some are just as wicked as my own. I also enjoy the fact they come to me when they need help with finding things wrong in their own work wanting to understand better in how things are supposed to be done.

  My Brothers – No matter how much we go through, they’re always there for me. One may not be here in body but is always around in spirit. My oldest brother for being proud of me and not having a problem saying it.

  My Betas – You guys rock! Thank you all for being the first to read the stories as they come alive. It means the world to me. Especially when you all start to get mad. That’s when I know I’m doing something right. And in doing so pushing me to keep going with all the different plots that form in my head. I’m thankful to you all for being ready and willing to read and give your input.

  My Knox Publishing People – If it wasn’t for you all being helpful and encouraging when I need it, I don’t know what I’d do without you all. You’re all wonderful in your own right and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The biggest thing I’ve got to say I’m thankful for most, is the fact I’m able to be around those who understand the way my mind works. Each and every one of you have earned a special place in my life, one way or another.

  Liz – My sister from another mister, my best friend and Publisher/Boss. You’re my go to when I need it. If not for you, I don’t know if I’d ever be where I am today with my writing. Thank you for always pushing me and encouraging me.

  Diane – Without you taking everything on for me, I wouldn’t be able to focus the way I do on my writing. Thank you for everything you do. You’re not just my PA, you’re my friend and I couldn’t ask for a better friend than you.

  Kim and Jackie – I know I’m a pain in the rear; however, you both put up with me. Thank you both for taking on all of my work. I love the fact I work with you both on each of them. Also, the fact when it comes to something I miss, you help me understand how to correct it, so it doesn’t happen again.

  Trigger Warning

  This content is intended for mature audiences only. It contains material that may be viewed as offensive to some readers, including graphic language, dangerous and sexual situations, murder, rape, and extreme violence.

  Proceed with caution. This book does entail several scenes that may very well be a trigger to some.

  Also, tissues are a must with other scenes.

  Not for the faint at heart.

  If you don’t like violence and cannot handle certain subjects, then this is not a book you’ll want to read.

  Playlist

  All The Way Good – OverTime

  Promise – Jelly Roll

  damn! – Jeris Johnson

  What I Need – The Lacs

  The Dreamer – Crucifix

  Love Is A War – Struggle Jennings & Jelly Roll

  Frozen in the Night

  Snow falls from the sky

  The wind whips through the air

  Ice freezes the ground

  Frozen in the midst of a war

  Blood will spill

  Painting the white ground red

  There’s a war coming

  In the night you fight

  Or lose your life

  Snow whips around you

  Biting through your layers

  Frozen in the night

  Is far from the truth

  Only trust those who hold you dear

  War is coming

  Blood will spill

  The snow may coat the painting

  But it’s still there

  Seeping through the ground

  Staining the earth blood red

  Frozen in the night

  Won’t stop here

  ~ E.C. Land

  Prologue

  Blake

  “Blake, why can’t you simply understand what you’re supposed to do?” I cringe at the question my mother asks over the phone. I never should have answered when she called. I didn’t want to talk to her or anyone else.

  Between her and my father, who isn’t ever around but seems to think he can control my life, they make me want to scream bloody murder. Seriously what twenty-three-year-old woman wants her parents attempting to control them.

  They want me married off to some man I don’t even know. Each time they try I brush them off only to end up giving in to at least meeting these men and going on a blind date. One or two of them I dated more than a handful of times. Until I found them sleeping with other women.

  I’m sorry but I don’t want that life. I don’t want my mother’s life. She and my father both have their lovers and know about them. They don’t care and it bugs me that they think it’s okay. It’s not normal and that’s what I want. A normal life without the headache of them trying to set me up with men I don’t want to be with.

  Sighing, I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. “Mother, I’m not going to repeat myself again. I told you and Father both, I refuse to be set up with anyone else.” My dog, Blue, is sitting in the seat next to me looking out the window excited to see the snow falling around the car.

  “You’re being ridiculous right now. Ethan is a wonderful man. He’ll be a good suit for you. Now your father is in town tonight and he wants you at the table to meet Ethan,” she chastises.

  “Sorry, no can do. I’m not coming over there,” I mutter, looking up at the cabin I’d rented for the next few weeks.

  I needed to get away from my parents and their stifling ways. Thank God my brother, Christian, understands me and agrees. He’d been lucky to not have to put up with their incessant ways. Probably because soon as he turned eighteen, he left for the military wanting to get away from them.

  Christian didn’t want to leave me to deal with them, but he needed to do what he wanted with his life and I told him so.

  Now it’s my turn to do something
for myself. I’d graduated college and have spent the last two years under my parents’ thumb.

  No more though.

  I’m doing my own thing now and I’m looking forward to it.

  It’s why I’ve rented this place. To be away from everyone and take the time to find out what I wanted to do with my life. I’ve always loved writing and even have a couple books already written. I thought I could be an author but every time I brought it up to my mother, she’d shoot it down stating I needed to focus on finding my husband. A man who will take care of me. I didn’t need to do something as foolish as follow my dreams.

  No, what it comes down to is, she wants to live her life through mine. To be able to take from a man’s pocket what she wants.

  “What do you mean you’re not?” she demands snidely and continues her little spew without giving me the chance to answer her question. “I swear, Blake, if you’re not at this table at seven, I will not be pleased, and neither will your father or Ethan. Stop wasting everyone’s time and get your tail to our house.”

  “That will be kind of hard to do since I’m not anywhere near home right now. I’m out of town,” I say, grinning as I can envision her face being one of anger for not informing her of this information.

  The only one to know where I am is Christian because I’d had him book the place for me. My brother gladly did this knowing my parents would look into my accounts to see. No matter how many times I go about getting them off one account by starting another, they always seem to find a way on to it or to be able to see what I’ve been purchasing.

  I swear one day my mother yelled at me for going to CVS to buy tampons. I wanted to wring her neck, only I didn’t, obviously.

  “Where are you?” she snaps.

  “I’m away for a few weeks.” I’m not about to tell her where I am.

  “You need to turn around and come back home, missy. I will not put up with this childish behavior of you running away.”

  Are you kidding me?

  “Look, Mother, I’m not coming home. End of discussion. I don’t want to be with any of the men you’ve tried to set me up with. They’re all the same type of men, assholes, and I will not be with someone who is going to treat me like dogshit,” I state clearly wanting her to hear me though I know she won’t.

  “We’ll discuss this when you get home. I suggest you call me the moment you are back,” she commands and hangs up on me.

  Great.

  Pulling the phone from my ear, I turn my car off. I’d only just parked the car when she called. I open my car door, Blue bounds out of the confinement ready to explore, and I get out slamming the door shut. I don’t need to worry about Blue wandering off. She’s a husky-wolf mix with beautiful blue eyes, hence her name. My dog is my best friend and protector. Christian gave her to me when I graduated college. Said she would be a good dog for me to have. He couldn’t be wrong.

  I quickly grab my bags out of the back seat and rush to the front door, Blue right on my heels when I step onto the porch. Christian told me where to find the key and that he’d had the place stocked with food by the caretaker of the place.

  I couldn’t be more than happy to hear this since I didn’t want to keep going outside more than I needed to. The snow had already started to come down and the roads were barely visible by the time I’d been pulling down the dirt road to the cabin. Plus, it’s freezing out there and being in leggings in the cold is not a good idea. But I’d wanted to be comfortable.

  After all that’s what this trip is about. Being comfortable and figuring out what I want to do with my life.

  I only hope this time away will help me figure out the next phase of my life.

  Chapter One

  Theo

  “You need to get out of here,” Leo declares as he stands in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest. As head of the family, he’s a man you don’t mess with unless you want a bullet to the forehead or even a knife slicing your throat.

  I’ve been his second in command and right-hand man from the day he took over from my uncle. I enjoy what I do but not right this minute. A week ago, I’d gone to pick up my cousin, Leo’s sister Mia, from a club she’d been at with her friends. Her security detail had been with her but the club being popular was jam packed.

  When I’d gotten to the club, I witnessed Mia being shoved into the back of a van. I called Leo on my way as I followed the van to its destination. I refused to wait for anyone to join me. I went in alone and found my cousin already tied to a chair with her face beaten. Someone had taken a blade to her face slicing into her skin.

  After I got her untied, I helped her out of the building, but not before taking out several of the men who took her. I recognized them as members of the Gheata family. They’d been trying to force themselves on us and were pissed when Leo refused them the chance. We don’t want anything to do with anything they’re into.

  The De Lucas might deal in drugs, but we don’t deal to kids. If we find out one of our dealers is doing this, they end up dead.

  The Gheata family; however, they don’t care who wants the drugs they deal out and most of them end up in the hands of kids.

  Now the Gheata family are pissed and ready for a war all because I killed several of their men including the head honcho’s little brother, Petru.

  “Where am I supposed to be going?” I demand through clenched teeth, placing my hands on my hips.

  “Go to one of the safe houses.” Leo shrugs. “Right now, Theo, we need you hiding. I’m not about to let these assholes take you out. I’m going to try and get in touch with my cousins from the Satan’s Keepers. Get them to take Mia in. I don’t want anything to happen to her and she needs to be far away from us while we handle the Gheata family.”

  I nod in understanding though I don’t like it.

  If I go to one of the safe houses, I’ll take the time to come up with a way to take out the rest of the fuckers and extinguish the rest of the Gheatas. You don’t mess with the De Lucas.

  “I don’t like it but I guess I have no choice. Which safe house?” I ask.

  “I suggest the cabin,” Christian says, coming into the room with a harsh expression. “It’s already stocked with food and the caretaker keeps it clean.”

  Nodding, I run a hand through my hair. The cabin would be a good place to go. Being secluded from everywhere else and clearing my head enough to find the Gheatas will help.

  “I’ll go there then,” I state.

  “Good, you might want to do so before the snow gets heavy. Weather is reporting a snowstorm coming and heading in that direction,” Christian mutters.

  Shit.

  “Alright, let me get on the road,” I grumble and turn on my heels and head out of the room. I don’t like the idea of leaving the family. I’ve always been around to have Leo’s back and this will leave him without his right-hand.

  Heading to my room, I grab my go-pack and my keys. Time to get out of here.

  Christian

  “Everything set in place?” My boss, Leo De Luca asks soon as my friend leaves the room.

  Nodding, I grin. “Yep, Blake is there already. She got in last night,” I mutter. I should feel like shit for doing this but honestly, I don’t.

  If all goes well Theo will be able to help my sister escape the clutches of our parents. And maybe even make my friend find he’s more than some machine meant for killing.

  Blake, my little sister, has a heart pure as gold and deserves the world. A world without our parents dictating and trying to marry her off to douches. This last one especially, if he gets his hands on Blake, she’ll be dead within the year. He’s a violent man and a part of the Gheata family. Not direct but he’s related to Andreas. Ethan is also the lawyer for the family.

  “Good, I hope this works. He needs to have something to focus on besides the shit filling his head,” Leo grumbles.

  I couldn’t agree more. Since Mia had been hurt, he’s feeling the guilt for not getting to her quicker, but her security deta
il shouldn’t have let the Gheatas get her out of the club. Now my beautiful Mia is scarred and feeling as if she will never be the same beauty she’s always been. What she doesn’t realize is she’ll always be beautiful to me.

  Mia is the princess of the family and everyone dotes on her. Even the men who work for Leo De Luca dote on her. She’s a sweetheart and, if I’m honest with myself, the one woman I want for myself but I’ll never be able to claim her as mine. For one, she’s too young for me. I’m thirty-two which makes me ten years older than her.

  My parents had me and waited years before having Blake. It’s why I’m protective of her. I pretty much brought her up in this world while our parents only wanted to be our dictators.

  I lied to them and said I’d join the military instead I’d been hired by Leo De Luca to work for him. Now I’m his third in command.

  “I know my sister, she won’t be able to resist him once she sees the torment in his eyes,” I mutter.

  “You sure she’s not going to want to kill you when she finds out?” Leo chuckles.

  “Nope, she’ll be thanking me for it in the end.” I grin.

  And I know I’m right it’s just a matter of them connecting over the next few days. Ironically, tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day and she’s booked at the cabin for two weeks. Or so she thinks.

  Theo

  I didn’t realize when Christian said something about a snowstorm heading in the direction of the cabin, that it would take me three times as long as it normally does in getting this far.