Forbidden Temptations (Tempted #2)
Janine Infante Bosco
Dedicated to
Jennifer, Trish, Michelle and Rachel
Thank you for your helping hand, making Forbidden Temptations everything I hoped it to be.
I’m so thankful for you ladies.
Dear Reader,
Thank you for choosing to read my book. It humbles me so much that you have taken the time to read something I have created.
Illicit Temptations was meant to be a stand-alone and not part of a series. However, the characters have taken on a life of their own and I couldn’t be happier. This next book in the series, Forbidden Temptations, is truly a piece of my heart and I am already working on the next two books that follow Anthony and Adrianna’s story.
There are a few things I hope you keep in mind while reading this book. Remember, this is a work of fiction and while I try my hardest to deliver a story that is realistic, there will also be aspects of it that are not. The characters in this book are not meant to be collegiate men. They aren’t meant to speak proper English. They are street guys and you will find a lot of slang in this book. You will find the characters speak of Anthony’s time away in prison. They will call it jail, they will call it prison, they will say he did a bid and they most certainly will say he was locked up. In my experience, this is how people actually speak. While they may know the difference between jail and prison, they aren’t stopping to differentiate the two before speaking.
Again, thank you for taking the time to read Anthony and Adrianna’s story. I hope you love them as much as I do.
Lots of Love,
Janine
Prologue: May 2012
I had eight months and six days left of sleeping on this piece of shit bunk bed, in this piece of shit jail cell with an annoying little fuck for a cellmate. To say my life had turned to shit was an understatement. I was doing a three-year bid for possession and distribution of narcotics; if that’s not a fucking joke I don’t know what is. I have done a lot of fucked up shit, most of it illegal, but I never did drugs. Never sold them and never fucking snorted them, so it was pretty fucking funny that I went away for both. I didn’t have a say in the matter though; if I wanted to climb the ranks in the mob, I had to do whatever the fuck I had to do. So, when the boss told you that you needed to do a bid – you did it. The same goes for when the boss tells you the sole purpose of being incarcerated is to murder the man who ordered the hit on his Underboss. You don’t ask questions – you just do it. Too bad that plan went astray when my mark moved to a maximum-security prison before I could get the job done.
I stared up at the ceiling trying to tune out the little shit that was in the cot below me running his mouth. I swear to God he loves to hear himself talk.
“Overheard the C.O.’s talking about your next fight Bianci. They’re worried that you’re going to get your ass kicked like you did the last two fights.” Cheech said pointedly, getting my attention with that.
He was right, I got my ass handed to me and was still sporting a black eye as proof, but not because I couldn’t fight. I was built like a machine. My power was undeniable, and when you put boxing gloves on me, I was a goddamn bull, fucking indestructible. I had purposely thrown my last two fights because I wanted to feel the pain. Each hit a reminder that I was a greedy bastard living in a self-created hell. I had destroyed everything that mattered to me. I had destroyed her.
“I don’t give a fuck what people are saying. They’re only concerned about who they’re going to bet on and which inmates are going to bring them the sweet payoff,” I replied angrily.
The correction officers here were a bunch of jerkoffs, always thinking they’re invincible just because they had a badge. It made me want to look at their smug faces and tell them they weren’t real cops, that their mother’s probably made them take the city test because they knew their sorry asses wouldn’t amount to shit. These guys didn’t respect their badge or bleed blue, they fucking bet on the inmates, slipped us cigarettes, and turned their fucking heads so we could beat the living fuck out of one another. My boss, Victor, had half these guys in his pocket and if my mark hadn’t been shipped to maximum-security, they would’ve locked me in a room with him and walked away so I could murder him. Don’t get me wrong, they were fine with me, but that’s because they didn’t have much of a choice. If they wanted that extra cash in their pocket, they had to treat me like a fucking king or Vic would cut them off.