Taken - A Gangster Stepbrother Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

daughter.”
     
                  A ringing sound echoed in her head. “The Grants,” she whispered. Oh god, this wasn’t really happening.
     
                  “Yes, you’re probably familiar with them,” he said in slow measured tones. “Doug and Ethel Grant.”
     
                  Emma didn’t know if she wanted to faint or throw up. Probably both.
     
                  “Charisse,” she whispered, almost gasping. “Charisse is…was….She….”
     
                  Antonio nodded. “Charisse Grant was your mother. And Gabe Del Marco your adoptive father.”
     
                  Emma gripped the leather seat, her knuckles white and her palms sweaty. She looked down at her feet. Doug and Ethel Grant. Her wonderful adoptive parents. They had rescued her from a nightmare of jumping homes and various foster guardians. How she had longed to be their actual daughter, to share their same blood and to know she truly belonged to them.
     
                  Doug and Ethel Grant. Her…grandparents?
     
                  And all because Gabe Del Marco had provided and funded it to be possible.
     
    Gabe Del Marco.
     
    Her stepfather.
     
    With an electric bolt of realization, Emma sat up as if zapped. She gaped as she stared at the cool and powerful man before her. She stared at his large hands as they calmly rested on his knee.
     
    Antonio Del Marco was not only the head of the most notorious and brutal crime syndicate in the country.
     
    He was also her stepbrother.

Chapter Five
                  “This…This can’t be right,” Emma said slowly, trying to remember to breathe so she didn’t faint. “This isn’t right.”
     
                  Antonio kept his eyes pinned on her, watching her sway. He reminded Emma of a panther just before he pounced. “It is right. I can show you your birth certificate, your mother’s and my father’s marriage certificate, and even your grandparents’ birth and marriage certificate, if you’d like.”
     
                  Emma’s head spun. This was insane. She was just an orphan. A nobody! Spots flashed around the edges of her vision.
     
                  “Put your head between your knees, if you’re going to faint,” Antonio said calmly.
     
                  It was his voice of unconcerned coolness that snapped Emma back. She sat up and glared at the man who had literally turned her world upside down. In one day, he had completely destroyed everything she knew about herself.
     
                  “So why now?” she demanded, her voice stronger. “Why are you telling me this all now?”
     
                  Antonio nodded, clearly glad to be getting back on track. “The Cavalli Family and the Del Marco Clan have been at war for a long time. And even as our businesses change into something more representable, we have had a lot of blood lost between us. But Frank Cavalli, head of the Family, has reached out to me.” Antonio paused. “He wants to create an alliance.”
     
                  Although she was still reeling from all the recent revelations, it wasn’t lost on Emma how huge an alliance like that would be. It could mean less gang wars, less violence, less battles over territories.
     
                  “This is something that I would like very much to happen. It’ll help bring the Del Marco Clan forward into the future and away from the old days of our past.” Antonio leaned back a little in his seat. “But old organizations such as ours are all still quite traditional and can only see an agreement as truly solidified through old rituals.”
     
                  Rituals? “What the hell are you talking about?” Emma asked, feeling reckless and brave. It didn’t matter if this was Antonio Del Marco, head of the Del Marco Clan. In one fell swoop, she had