EMPIRE
BY Rachel
Van Dyken
Release
Date: May 31, 2016
Must Read
ELUDE prior to Empire
I have lost everything.
My purposeMy love
My soulDeath knocks on my door, I want to answer, but every time I reach for the handle -- the promise I made her brings me back.
So I breathe.
I live.
I hate.
And I allow the anger to boil beneath the surface of a perfectly indifferent facade. I am broken, I don't want to be fixed.But the Empire is crumbling and it's my job to fix it.
My job to mend the pieces that were scattered over thirty years ago.
A trip to New York, only one chance to redeem a lost part of our mafia family.
The only issue is, the only way to fix it, is to do something I swore I'd never do again.
An arranged marriage.
Only this time,I won't fall.
Or so help me God, I will kill her myself.
My name is Sergio Abandonoto, you think you know my pain, my suffering, my anger, my hate?You have no idea.I am the mafia.
I am the darkness.
Blood in. No out.
REVIEW
Empire by Rachel Van Dyken tore me to shreds in the best way
possible. My heart was broken in Elude. My heart was repaired with Empire. It
was a slow journey that had me crying both happy and sad tears because at the
same time I was letting go of the sad and accepting the happy, just like Sergio
did. It has been a long and beautiful journey that the Eagle Elite series has
taken me on. Rachel Van Dyken spins my head with all the twists, blood, and
romance. This series gives a whole new meaning to blood. Family is everything
and I love that.
I have never before rooted for someone so much. Sergio is
the ultimate book boyfriend. He has a lot of flaws but I can’t help but love
the beast. In Elude I saw him finally let go and be someone worth loving. That
balance that he found was a beautiful journey that left my heart bleeding. I do
not know how else to describe it. It was beautifully sad. In Empire, I see him
angered at the world. It’s not pretty. It made me cry with him. All those feelings
that I felt at the end of Elude, where brought back full force at the start of
this book.
At times, Sergio was hurting. It was very notable, but he
did anger me. He had this new opportunity and he just kept messing up! I wanted
to smack him, but then give him a big hug because he was going through
something rough. I am just so glad that he became someone worthy, because he
deserved it all. He deserved al the happiness and love.
About Rachel Van Dyken:
Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and
USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When she's
not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next
book while watching The Bachelor.
She keeps her home in Idaho with her
Husband, adorable son, and two snoring boxers! She loves to hear from
readers!
Want to be kept up to date on new releases? Text MAFIA to
66866!
You can connect with her on Facebook www.facebook.com/rachelvandyken or
join her fan group Rachel's New Rockin Readers. Her website is www.rachelvandykenauthor.com.
You must read Elude BEFORE Empire:
Twenty-Four hours before we were to be married--I offered to shoot her.Ten hours before our wedding--I made a mockery of her dying wish.Five hours before we were going to say our vows--I promised I'd never love her.One hour before I said I do--I vowed I'd never shed a tear over her death.But the minute we were pronounced man and wife--I knew.I'd only use my gun to protect her.I'd give my life for hers.I'd cry.And I would, most definitely, lose my heart, to a dying girl---a girl who by all accounts should have never been mine in the first place.I always believed the mafia would be my end game--where I'd lose my heart, while it claimed my soul. I could have never imagined. It would be my redemption.Or the beginning of something beautiful.The beginning of her.The end of us.
EXCERPT:
“Taxi.” I held up my hand. “It’s
too cold to walk.”
“Is it?”
“For those of us who have
hearts,” I said under my breath.
He paused and then burst out
laughing. “Holy shit, was that a dig at me?”
I shrugged as the taxi pulled up.
“Damn, and you’re not even
apologizing.”
“It was more of a passing comment
under my breath…” I got into the taxi and slid across the cold, worn vinyl
seat. “But true.”
Sergio slammed the door after
him. “And here I thought I was making a good impression.”
“You offered to kill me if I
kissed you.”
The taxi driver frowned into the
rearview mirror.
“She’s kidding,” Sergio reassured
him.
I refused to let him get off that
easy. “You also look at me like you want to throw up.”
Mr. Taxi Driver’s nostrils
flared.
“Uh.” Sergio laughed
uncomfortably. “I just have a lot on my mind.”
“The wife.”
Taxi Driver’s eyes looked like
they were going to bug out of his head. Yeah, this was probably the best
entertainment he’d had all day.
“I don’t talk about it,” Sergio
said in a drop-the-subject voice.
“Maybe you should.”
“I have enough money to afford a
therapist, thank you,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Money doesn’t buy happiness,” I
fired back.
Sergio released a string of pithy
curses. “Did someone spike your milk this morning during show and tell?”
“Lactose intolerant.”
“Sorry. Your Kool-Aid.” His eyes
narrowed. “It’s like you’re trying to piss me off.”
Bingo. I smiled. “Funny, that’s
what Dante says to me all the time. Just think of all the things you get to
look forward to. Isn’t that what you said you wanted?”
Sergio looked ready to strangle
me. “No. I don’t believe I asked for an annoying little sister, but if that’s
what you’re offering, please don’t let me stop you. Just know, I won’t hesitate
to put you over my knee if you get out of hand.”
The minute the words left his
mouth. I froze.
He froze.
The taxi driver stared little
laser-like holes into the rearview mirror.
And Sergio leaned toward me.
I swallowed as tension swirled
around us.
He gripped me by the chin and
turned my head to the side, his lips brushing my ear. “It’s like you have a
death wish.”
“You wouldn’t do it.”
He pulled back as both of his
eyebrows shot up, and then he looked down, like something had caught his eye.
I followed the direction of his
gaze and let out a little gasp as a gun dug into my stomach.
“It’s been directed at you for
the last four minutes,” Sergio said through a practiced smile. “I meant what I
said. Listen well. I keep my word. Kiss me, and blood will be spilled.”
“Y-you’re a crazy person!” I
hissed, shoving at his chest. “And I wasn’t going to kiss you!”
“Sure you weren’t.” He put the
gun away. “Good talk though, right? Oh look, the movie theater.”
To say that I scrambled out of
the car like a kid running away from her kidnapper would be a gross
understatement, but the minute my feet hit the pavement, I paused.
My body told me to run.
The guy had pulled a gun.
On me.
I didn’t even watch violent
movies, I’d just panicked and said the first thing that popped into my head!
And I was about to go to the
theater with a guy who probably showered in blood on a daily basis and by the
looks of it — got off on it.
Shivering, I forced myself to
take a deep breath and wrapped my jacket tighter around my body.
That was the thing about men like
Sergio, or maybe just loyalty in general. He’d promised he would keep me safe,
but I wondered if that promise was only extended until I was more trouble than
I was worth.
I was safe, not because of what I
was to him.
But because of who my dad had
been to him.
I was nothing.
And yet, a part of me still
yearned to be… something.
Anything really.
Pathetic.
“Change your mind?” Sergio’s
smooth voice interrupted my thoughts. He was the type of man you felt even when
he wasn’t speaking. His presence was impossible to ignore, kind of like his
ridiculous good looks.
Weren’t mafia guys supposed to be
old?
Fat?
Chain smokers who bought Cuban
cigars and sat behind large desks while counting money and ordering hits on
people who pissed them off?
“No.” I finally found my voice.
“I was just thinking….”
“About?” His hand touched my
back, ushering me forward, but not pushing, almost as if he was giving me the
option of still saying no.
I increased my pace so that I
couldn’t feel the warmth of his fingertips. “Popcorn.” I turned and winked,
hoping it would hide the fact that my body was shaking.
Maybe I was the crazy one.
Because he was armed.
The man was armed.
And he had no qualms about
pointing his weapon at me whenever I got too close.
Huh, we’d have a happy marriage.
I guess we’d never argue, since I
liked living.
And, you know, breathing.
It would suck not to make my
twenty-first birthday because I didn’t fold the towels just right.
And again, I froze.
Was he that neurotic? Or was it
just the closeness?
“On a scale of one to ten…” I was
proud of the way I kept the shaking out of my voice. Why was I so scared? Oh right,
because he’d pointed a gun, no, shoved a freaking gun into my stomach and done
it with a smile on his face. “How OCD are you?”
An easy laugh escaped him as he
glanced around the movie theater lobby and then back at me. “What makes you
think I’m OCD?”
“Things.” I gulped then forced a
smile that I didn’t feel. How was I supposed to go through an entire movie
knowing he was one uncomfortable conversation away from losing it? “So?”
“What can I get you?” A teen boy
looked at Sergio then smiled wider when his eyes fell to me.
Immediately, Sergio wrapped a
protective arm around me, basically forcing my body to curve into his warmth.
“My wife and I will have two buckets of popcorn, two packs of Sour Patch Kids,
and a bottled water.”
I didn’t correct him about the
water.
“Wait.” Sergio held up his hand.
“Sorry, Dr. Pepper mixed with Coke.”
The teen scrunched up his face
then rung us up. His eyes fell to me again then back at the register, like he
was trying not to look but couldn’t help it, which was comical, since I didn’t
really think I was anything to look at.
When he handed Sergio back his
change I could have sworn I heard a growl from my “husband.”
As it was, he jerked the candy so
hard out of the kid’s hands that I was surprised he didn’t do a front flip over
the counter.
“He’s a boy,” I whispered under
my breath. “No need to shoot him too.”
Sergio glanced down at me,
muttered a curse. “He was staring.”
“He looked about one science
project away from solving world hunger via his mom’s basement… hardly the type
of guy that I’d date.”
“Date?” Sergio said it so loudly
the people in front of us waiting to show the attendant their tickets jumped
and then turned around. “What the hell do you mean date?”
Crap. I’d messed up again.
My palms went sweaty while my
face felt numb with fear. Regardless of how pretty he was to look at — I was
finally fully aware of how dangerous he was to me.
To everyone around me.
Sweat trickled down my lower back
as I gulped down more soda and shrugged. “I just mean, he’s not my type.”
“No shit he isn’t, because you
don’t get a type anymore.”
“Right.” I licked my lower lip,
pretending not to be scared, pretending to be the brave person I wasn’t was
wearing on me.
By the time we made it into the
theater I was dizzy.
It was too much all at once.
“So…” Sergio’s voice was in my
ear. I jumped a foot. He frowned as if he couldn’t figure out why I’d be so
jumpy. “Dante sits behind you, right?”
“Right.” I exhaled in relief. I
forgot. It wasn’t a date. It was a challenge. He’d called me his sister, so
therefore he was my brother, right? Hah. I relaxed a bit as I pointed to a seat
a few rows back and quickly stole the goodies out of his hands then made my way
to my own seat before he could object.
The credits started rolling.
And I found myself ducking in the
chair.
The hair on the back of my neck
stood on end.
As if I was being watched —
because I was.
Ten minutes into the movie, I was
so stressed out, I almost burst into tears. My back was to him.
Wasn’t that a big no-no? My back
was to the dude with the gun.
Even though he was supposed to
protect me with the gun, all bets were off now.
Sweat pooled in the palms of my
hands.
The music rose as one of the
actresses ran down the stairs screaming.
I couldn’t take it.
And then, a body sat down next to
me.
Sergio gave me a suspicious look
then put a seat between us.
I exhaled.
But it wasn’t relief.
At least I knew where he was.
And where the gun was, he was
right handed, so there was that.
I finally allowed myself to relax
enough to watch the movie when I saw Sergio’s right hand duck into his jacket.
I gripped the plastic arm rests,
my fingers digging into the cheap sticky plastic material as he slowly pulled
something out.
He turned.
And I flinched so hard that there
was no mistaking what I thought he was doing.
Even though he had grabbed a
black cell phone.
The damage was done.
My entire body shook as a big fat
tear escaped, I tried to wipe it away but I wasn’t fast enough.
“S-sorry.” I shoved past him and
ran.
But my body was too scared.
Too tired
To make it very far.
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