The Sweetest Sin
Twisted Fates
Daniella Kunz
Copyright © 2020 Daniella Kunz
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.
First paperback edition: September 2020
Cover design by: Ashlee Drage
Prologue
The day my mother died, a piece of me did too. My childhood essence, the part of me that needed to feel loved and cared for, began to fade. I fiend for the affection and kindness I was no longer given, as my father would lash out at me, continually blaming me for her death, even though I knew he was the one who took her life. It wasn’t long until I let go of the childhood fantasy of being nurtured and became defiant against my father. I no longer respected him. I fought him every chance I got within reason and holding on to self-preservation. Though I despised him, I didn’t have a death wish.
I knew the only thing keeping him from killing me too, was knowing I was an asset to him. Knowing he could use me as a pawn, sell me off to whomever he needed to get something in return. I always knew one day I would be given to some man of my father’s choosing, not having a choice in the matter.
What I didn’t know or come to expect was that that man would be the notorious Capo of the New York Familia. A man driven by darkness and rage to match the devil, as the rumors of him were whispered around my father's men. He made enemies in his wake wherever he went, and killed with no remorse.
I never gave him a second thought, never cared to feed into the rumors of a man who would play no part in my life. He was someone who shouldn’t even know of my existence, let alone be in Los Angeles. An enemy territory that was clear across the country from him, but he did.
What brought him here? My father...and he was out to settle a debt. Unfortunately for me, I became the bargaining chip.
1
LILIANA
I sat at the water's edge listening to the waves’ crash as they rushed onto the shore. Feeling the cold water and fine grains of sand licking at my toes before it ebbs away, back into the ocean. A breeze rolls off the water surrounding me with its salty mist as I take a deep breath, inhaling in all the faint scents from the ocean. I have been coming here more and more lately, my only reprieve and chance to breathe. To feel relief from the constant suffocating grip of my father, of this world we are a part of.
Digging my toes into the grainy, wet sand, I begin to feel calm as if my nerves are being washed away with each retreating wave. Closing my eyes, I am drawn back to my childhood. Remembering the night I felt my life was about to shift, even at the young age of ten.
Sneaking downstairs, still too awake to go to sleep, I wanted to gaze out at the stars in the sky. It would always calm me and help me tire when I couldn’t sleep. The window inside the sitting room by my father's office had the best view, and rarely no one ever used it. Not at this time of night, especially. As I quietly pass down to the hallway, my attention is drawn to the light streaming from under the door in my father's office. My body stills as I hold my breath, not having realized he was still awake. I am about to turn around and scurry up to my room, afraid of getting caught and of the punishment to follow when I stop short as I hear my mother's voice. Her soft docile voice is raised as she is arguing with my father, and the sound is strange to my ears. I have never heard mother be anything but obedient to my father, let alone raise her voice.
Curiosity pulls my feet forward, drawn to my mother's odd behavior as I strain to hear past the walls for the cause of this abnormality. As I get closer, or as close as I dare, I start to make out parts of their conversation flowing under the door. "You cannot do this, are you mad, why would you be dealing with the New York Familia behind Dante's back!"
"I am the head of this family, and I will do what needs to be done. I turn a blind eye a few times that they need to pass shipments through our area, that is all. I refuse to sit and be a useless pawn and get shit on anymore. Soon I will rise in the ranks. Be a name to fear, a name of respect."
"You will get us killed for your disloyalty, every one of us, your daughter, me, is that what you want! I will not play a part in these schemes while you lead us to slaughter." The echo of flesh hitting flesh bounces off the walls to my ears followed by my mother's sharp gasp.
"You will do as you are told!" I stood there frozen and numb, unsure how to process what was going on or what any of this meant. Hearing footsteps shuffling over the carpet towards the door is what finally thaws me from my place. The fear of getting caught forces
