Empire Series by Penelope Sky – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read

Empire Series by Penelope Sky – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com Sun, 26 Feb 2023 20:50:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 http://www.books2020.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/favicon.png Empire Series by Penelope Sky – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com 32 32 Barbarian (Empire #2) Read Online Penelope Sky http://www.books2020.com/barbarian-empire-2-read-online-penelope-sky Sun, 26 Feb 2023 20:45:27 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/barbarian-empire-2-read-online-penelope-sky Genre: Alpha Male, Chick Lit, Crime, Dark, Mafia, New Adult, Romance Authors: Penelope Sky Series: Empire Series by Penelope Sky
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Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 61942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)

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My father, my own flesh and blood, would have killed me to get what he wanted.
I’ve made a horrible mistake…and I can’t take it back.
I assumed Bartholomew was the dangerous one, when in fact, he’s the only one that actually cares about me.
Apologies are useless. I can’t beg or plead.
Nothing will change his mind. Not after what I did.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

1

BARTHOLOMEW

I sat in the waiting room, my arm wrapped in a tight gauze. My jacket was bloodied and ruined, so I’d shoved it in a garbage can after I got Laura into the hands of the doctors. Now I sat there, the TV in the corner showing the twenty-four-hour news cycle, an older couple in the opposite corner, eyeing me warily from time to time—like they knew I was bad news.

I was bad news.

Bleu entered the room then slowly approached me.

I wasn’t in the mood to talk, but I couldn’t ignore my responsibilities. “How many men did we lose?”

“Two.”

“Who?”

Bleu sat beside me. “Hector and John.”

It could have been worse, but it was still a stinging blow. “And how many did they lose?”

“A lot.”

“Leonardo?”

“He survived. I think a bullet grazed his leg.”

Bastard.

Bleu glanced at my arm but didn’t ask if I was okay. “What are your orders?”

For the first time in my life, I didn’t have any.

“We have to retaliate.”

I couldn’t. We made a deal—and I was a man of my word. “There will be no retaliation.”

Bleu turned his head to look at me. “They opened fire when we left.”

“He never guaranteed our safety.”

Bleu always followed orders and kept his head down. Did as he was told. But not today. “We can’t let him get away with this—”

“Bleu.” My head rested against the back wall, and I turned my head slightly to look at him. “You think I give a shit about anything right now? Until she gets out of surgery, I’m mentally incapacitated.”

Bleu had a flash in his eyes, an urge to argue, but he made the wise decision of keeping his mouth shut. “I’ll wait for your call.” He left the waiting room.

The couple left too. Must have overheard our conversation.

Now I sat there alone.

Minutes later, someone else joined me.

“Where is she?” He surveyed the sea of chairs, as if she’d be sitting there. He came over to me, frantic gaze, his body clean like he’d scrubbed all the blood and dirt away before he came here. “The lady at the desk said she was in surgery—”

“That’s where she is. In surgery.”

Victor gave a heavy sigh before he dragged his fingers down his face. “Is she going to be okay?”

“She’s tough. She’ll be fine.”

“The doctor told you that?” he asked hopefully.

“I’m telling you that.”

He stood near my chair, still upset because that reassurance wasn’t enough. “Is there internal bleeding? Did the bullet hit an artery or an organ?”

“The surgery is to remove the bullet.”

He gave a sigh of relief. “Okay…that’s pretty routine.”

“Why are you here?”

“For Laura—”

“If you really give a shit about her, you’d kill Leonardo with your bare hands.”

His face turned as pale as fresh milk. “I had no idea—”

“I’m sure nobody did.” Leonardo had fattened her up like a pig for slaughter. Told nobody that he intended to turn her into bacon. Couldn’t risk it getting back to her. Because if it did, she’d take Victor’s gun and shoot him in the back of the head. “You want to keep working for a man like that? I’ve been called a madman, but that man is truly psychotic. There are lines you don’t cross—and that’s one of them.”

“I-I don’t know.”

My eyes narrowed. “You don’t know? Your wife was raped, and you did nothing about it. Here we are seven years later, and now she’s been shot in the arm by your boss, and again, you do nothing.”

“It’s complicated—”

“It’s not complicated at all.” I was on my feet, my voice louder than the TV in the corner, ready to tear through my stitches as I beat him so bloody he would be the one in need of surgery. I moved forward and he moved back, his eyes locked on mine. “You have no right to be here. Leave.”

“I need to make sure she’s okay—”

“Leave.” I stepped closer to him, got right in his face, just seconds away from grabbing him by the neck and slamming his face into the wooden arm of a chair.

Like the pussy he was, he fled.

2

LAURA

My consciousness stirred slowly. It started off as a faded dream. Then my thoughts formed. They were incoherent at first, but then they started to solidify, and I started to remember things.

Like being shot in the arm…by my father.

My eyes opened, and I gasped in terror.

He was there, his hand on mine, sitting right at my bedside like he’d been there the entire time. Dark hair. Dark eyes. His calm command soothed my terror as his thumb stroked my hand. “You’re in the hospital. You had surgery to remove the bullet from your arm. The doctor said you’ll be fine.”

I looked down at my arm, seeing that it was wrapped up in a sling. I moved my fingers then tried to lift my arm, but it hurt like a bitch, so I stopped.

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Advertisement Bartholomew (Empire #1) Read Online Penelope Sky http://www.books2020.com/bartholomew-empire-1-read-online-penelope-sky Sun, 15 Jan 2023 19:18:37 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/bartholomew-empire-1-read-online-penelope-sky Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Erotic, Mafia, Romance Authors: Penelope Sky Series: Empire Series by Penelope Sky
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Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)

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With Roan out of the picture, I’ve taken Croatia and eastern Europe. Now it’s time I take Italy as well.
I just need to get rid of the Skull King.
What better way to accomplish that than by using his daughter against him — who happens to live right here in Paris.
But my problem goes south the second I lay eyes on her.
She’s the perfect solution to all my troubles. All I have to do is put a knife to her throat to get what I want. The Skull King will cave. Italy will be mine.
But that’s the last thing I want to do.
What I really want to do is make her mine.
Who says I can’t have both?
At least until she finds out the truth…

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

1

BARTHOLOMEW

The days grew longer. The nights shorter.

Gray clouds were replaced by sunshine, and rainy afternoons were replaced by colorful flowers. Paris came alive once again, the lights from the Eiffel Tower shining like a star rather than a lighthouse in the fog.

I hated it.

I sat alone at the bar. It emptied out shortly after I arrived, either because people didn’t like the look of me, or because it was almost midnight on a Tuesday. My half-full glass was my company, along with the bartender, who cast worried glances my way. I was the only reason he had to keep this place open, but he wouldn’t dare ask me to leave.

Finally, my guest arrived.

He stepped out of the cold and into the bar, in a long-sleeved shirt and dark jeans. His bright eyes found mine, and with a subtle look of annoyance, he joined me at the bar.

I rapped my knuckles against the counter. “Another for my friend here.”

The bartender was quick to help us, sliding the glass across the counter.

I held up my glass to him. “To old friends.”

Benton held my gaze for a second before he clinked his glass against mine. “And old enemies.”

The corner of my mouth lifted with a smile, and I drank.

He did the same.

We hadn’t spoken in six months, but his life had changed substantially. He was married now and had just found out he had a baby on the way.

I’d congratulate him, but it sounded like a miserable existence to me. “My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.”

“It was just the three of us.”

“Did you knock her up on purpose, or…?”

“Yes.” Benton flashed his fierce eyes on me. “There are people out there who think children are a blessing rather than a curse.”

“I’m definitely not one of those people.”

“You don’t say.” He took a drink. “How are things in the Catacombs?”

“Stale.”

“Are we talking about the air quality or business?”

“Both.” I brought the glass to my lips and took a drink.

“I find it hard to believe business has been stagnant with Roan out of the picture.”

I turned to him, my eyebrow slightly raised. “How did you know that?”

“Bleu.”

I was certain Benton disapproved of his brother’s choice, but he didn’t ask me to fire him. “Croatia isn’t that big of a market.”

“You’re still moving millions of pounds a week.”

“I hear the Skull King does more.”

Benton went rigid when he heard what I’d said. “I’d hoped you moved on from that.”

“Looks like you don’t know me as well as I thought.”

“You have more than enough, Bartholomew.”

“Until I have everything, it’ll never be enough.”

Benton studied me, his blue eyes showing all his thoughts like words on a page. “I understand the high you get with every conquest. It fades…and then you need another. With every bullet that misses your heart, with every skull you smash beneath your boot, it gives you something you can’t find anywhere else. But it’ll never fix the problem, Bartholomew. It’ll never fill that hole.”

“What hole?” I asked, my lips slightly curled in amusement.

Benton stared at me, refusing to actually say it.

I swirled the glass, watching the liquor spin like water in a flushed toilet. “The Skull King’s days are limited.”

“And then what happens when he’s dead? There’ll just be another.”

I tipped my head back and took a drink before I tapped the glass to the counter. “Not if I take his place.”

2

BARTHOLOMEW

France shared a border with Italy, but the distance between us was still infinite. To control a territory that far away required intense delegation and management. I was up for the job and ready to kill anyone who resisted.

But I needed to know my enemy—and that required research.

It required spies.

It required massive payoffs.

I stepped into the living room, barefoot and bare-chested, wearing sweatpants with nothing underneath because I’d just finished with my favorite whore in the bedroom. Bleu was there waiting for me, a pitcher of ice water and a glass placed there by my butler. A black folder was sitting there as well.

I took a seat in the armchair, knees spread wide apart, sweat still on my back that smeared against the leather chair.

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