Little Nightmare (The Rise of the Langes #2) Read Online Rachel Van Dyken

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Forbidden, Mafia, Suspense Tags Authors: Series: The Rise of the Langes Series by Rachel Van Dyken
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Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 62569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
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It was Ivan.

I released a rough exhale. “Which one?”

“Did I say boss? I meant all of them, well most of them, we have too many bosses and underbosses to count. Thank God most of them are in Seattle with the Russians for the next month while we monitor things here.”

It really was a true skeleton crew.

The Alfero boss was here.

Serena and Junior were here representing the Abandonatos.

Phoenix was standing watch and communicating with everyone else and keeping a close eye on Ivan while he stepped into his new role, and while we had a lot of men present, that was basically it.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine how crazy it was when the entire Cosa Nostra plus half the Russians and some of the families from Sicily got together.

The only sane reason the FBI looked the other way was because half of the family actively worked for them and kept Fentanyl off the streets and put an end to so much sex trafficking they would get awards—then again they fought fire with fire and took lives in order to do so.

“Yeah,” I rasped. “Coming.”

Raven chose that moment to escape into her room and shut the door in my face.

I turned to Ivan.

He was still in his suit, though his black tie was long gone and the tattoos on his chest were on pure display while he stared at the solid blue door. “She’ll get there, it’s still raw.”

I made a non-committal noise. “She needs to get there faster. Whoever killed Louis is still on the loose, and we both know who did it.”

“We have no proof. Don’t let your past affect your future when you’re finally out of that shit hole.”

Venice wasn’t a shit hole.

It was one of my only good memories of this life.

The five families took me in, they trained me to be the best, then sent me away to help strengthen the De Lange name in Sicily—they were the reason I was in Venice, the reason I finally fell into darkness, mistaking it for light.

Mistaking it for hope.

"Let’s go.” I breezed past him, my footsteps creating a heavy clicking noise as I got closer and closer to Dante’s study.

The wooden doors had the Alfero crest on them. The entrance was intimidating the first time I saw it. With twelve foot doors and two metal daggers sticking out of the front that you twisted and pulled—still stained in De Lange blood to remind everyone who joined the five families what would happen if one branch turned against the rest.

When I was younger I imagined the blood of my family still cried out from those handles. And now? Now, it was just an entrance, a means to an end. Just like this job.

I jerked open both doors and stepped inside. Cigar smoke plumed and twisted in the air, the aromas of expensive whiskey and cologne mixed with it. A few men sat in the corner playing chess and discussing something about a shipment in low voices.

Dante sat at his desk, hands behind his neck, as he stared up at Phoenix, who was leaning against the door and looking in a black folder. “Could be worse.”

"Is she still ignoring you?” Dante asked, not looking up from the folder on the desk in front of him.

"Naturally.” I imagined he was addressing me. “She hates everyone and everything, but she’ll eventually break and things will go back to normal.”

Ivan moved behind me. “She’s still crying.”

A snort escaped before I could stop it. “She’s dangerous no matter what emotion, believe me.”

Dangerously tempting.

Dangerously stupid at times.

Doesn’t allow her feelings to be felt.

Talked too much even during her sadness.

Dangerous.

Terrifyingly so.

Dante leaned forward, pressing his hands against the oak surface of his desk. “This should’ve been simple, and now we have one dead infiltrator. One grieving girl. It’s messier than it needs to be, and now my little girl’s caught up in it. I should have seen the signs, should have—” He shoves the black folder away. “I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

Phoenix reached out and snatched the folder, adding it to the one he was holding. “Stay close.”

Dante’s head jerked up, making me jump back. “Not too close, remember what I said.”

"She’s a job,” I deadpanned reminding myself and him. “And I don’t get close.” Not anymore. “Remember?” I took a long scan around the room. “Besides, you have to actually be in possession of a heart for it to break, right gentleman?” And I’d lost mine long ago, but could you really say it was lost if it was taken from you without your permission? I turned to leave. “I know what my job entails.”

Dante cleared his throat. “Remember what happens should you forget.”

He didn’t need to say much more. “My ghosts are buried right along with my heart; they fed on what was left of it long ago.”


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