Ciao Bella

by Rachel Van Dyken

Genres: Billionaires Romance; New Adult Romance

Synopsis

How thin is the line between love and hate? Find out in Ciao Bella a brand-new standalone mafia romance from Rachel Van Dyken, the number one New York Times bestselling author of the Eagle Elite series.

The Five Families thought the war was over.
They have no idea, I'm the very beginning.

I kidnapped her to prove a point—at knife point, it seemed sharper that way.
See what I did there?

I used the perfect virginal daughter from one of the most powerful Families in the Cosa Nostra to fix the broken pieces, knowing that in the process—I’d spread hers for the world to see.
I would embarrass her, shame her, use her, but I would never touch her… my one and only vow to her father in exchange for his allegiance.

The flowers at our wedding would be extravagant—people would watch it like a celebration, she’d live it as her funeral.
Call me twisted, but I thrive off her hate, I wouldn’t know what to do if I had her heart—I’m not good with pretty things I’m capable of breaking.

I’ll use every single person I can to restore order… to bring about the peace that my Family deserves.
But something sinister lurks in the darkness.
In the end, it may not be just my Family I save but theirs as well.

They say the past comes back to haunt you—that history repeats itself.
Bet they never saw this coming.

After all, when one Family falls—another will rise.

Ciao Bella.
The Rise of the De Langes

Release date: June 25, 2024

Publisher: Van Dyken Enterprises INC

Print pages: 212

Sample

CHAPTER ONE

“You can’t bestow wisdom on idiots. I would know. My dad told me that every day until I realized it was me, I was the idiot. God love him.” —King Campisi, Capo dei Capi

Bella

There are three things you absolutely need to know about me.

One, I have a short temper, compliments of my dad.

Two, my dad is, to put it mildly, one of the most powerful mafia bosses in Chicago.

Three, I hate ham. Can’t stand it, which brings us into four.

Okay, so I meant four, whatever.

And four, I despised Ivan De Lange with every fiber of my soul. If he was on the side of the street limping, you best believe it was because I ran him over with my car, my bike, and then a stolen tricycle for good measure.

He wasn’t making matters easier by picking a fight during family dinner in front of everyone.

More yelling commenced from inside the house. I winced.

And now you’re all caught up.

I’m Bella Abandonato, college sophomore at one of the most elite universities in the nation, spoiled princess, hell of a cookie lover, and this is how I destroyed my enemy: one chocolate chip at a time.

Damn, too much? And was I really trying to do my manifesto while Ivan cornered me in the yard next to the giant tree he’d pushed me out of when I was fifteen?

Yes.

Was it the same tree I shoved his head against? Also, yes.

I had no problem feeling guilty when it came to him, and he had no qualms about being guilty when it came to me.

“You’re an idiot,” I said with purpose and a strong sense of conviction. I wanted to carve it into his skull so that every time he saw his own face in the mirror, he’d remember like the complete dumbass that he was.

An idiot.

See? Not that hard, and sometimes for people like him, from his Family, reading may be tough, but for him it’s literally something that makes a person wonder, can he even see words?

Ivan leaned in, too close, way too close, his green eyes penetrated mine in a way that was so severely uncomfortable that I wanted to trip him then grab the closest object and hold it high over my head. He’d of course tell my family and it would be a whole thing, the last thing we needed was more war between the Families anyway so we’re taught at an early age, not to necessarily play nice, just not to get caught by any of the bosses from any of the Families.

Ivan was cruel when I first met him at fifteen, when he came into our lives and decided to start working for the Families, not that he was really given a choice

as an orphan. I’d been warned to be nice because he didn’t have any parents left, but he just wore his anger so much on his sleeve that the first thing he said to me when I offered him some homemade cookies was he didn’t eat poison then looked me up and down and said. “You should probably cut back anyway, am I right?” He’d pinched my side and what followed was me slamming a plate against him, cookies flying everywhere and blood everywhere that, till this day, nobody’s really sure where it came from.

Then again, I was in the Cosa Nostra, Italian mafia blood ran through my veins, my heart pulsed with it each beat it took and I knew that I’d either live a seminormal life or I’d be the one to wreak havoc.

I had nothing but amazing experiences around me, if you counted all of the… er, attacks. Listen, they wanted to live normal lives too, but when you’re five of the most powerful and richest Families in the underground, people tend to want to take your throne or stop air from getting into your lungs.

It was a thing.

When I was little, my dad, Nixon Abandonato, a badass in his own right and boss of the Abandonato Family, would tuck me in with my blue unicorn, kiss me on each cheek and tell me how he met Mom. “You see, our Families were at war, and her parents died a bloody death, but her Grandpa never gave up and put her into hiding, and I’d loved her for forever and never forgot her, but we were from two Families who should have never connected… blood spills when there’s envy.”

“What’s envy?”

“Means you want what someone else has and want to…” Uncle Chase walked into the room and mimed a slit across his neck.

At the time, I thought he was just being goofy, but my dad said something mean to him in Italian that I later found out meant really bad things.

That… was normal.

And while I felt bad that my Family was responsible for the killing of Ivan’s, they’d been horrible humans, so did he really have to take it out on me on a daily basis?

He’s been given the world despite the fact that his Family was full of complete losers. My Family gave him a literal silver spoon to redeem himself with while

 shoving it up their asses, no, just no.

The actual fact that I, ME, almost got kicked out of my freshman year at Eagle Elite University, ran by dearest Dad, was unthinkable! Everyone knew who I was, and he didn’t give a shit, he wasn’t even scared of my dad… he respected him, but he didn’t pee his pants when he made eye contact.

On top of that, he was a sociopath.

I stared across the field at him. We’d been sent out back again to fight it out. The kitchen, living room, and well, even the bathrooms were off limits to us during family dinners.

And Dad said he refused to keep fixing the dents in the walls. Apparently, twice was enough.

Ugh, I hated him so much.

He grinned at me, shirtless because he knew how good he looked, tan from the summer, ready to graduate this year, muscles everywhere and his Family crest splashed in red and black across his chest with Nicolasi written beneath it.

He was a fallen De Lange and a reborn Nicolasi.

Gross.

His white shorts were hanging on for dear life, I mean, what if they just fell past that annoyingly deep V by his hips, what then?

Public indecency in my backyard?

He rolled his eyes. “Sorry, princess, the licking schedule’s full for the day, so put the disgusting tongue back into your mouth before I puke into mine.”

I crossed my arms. “Wow, charming. The way I’m dying to suddenly kiss you is alarming, should I just make a jump for it?”

He took a step back.

I took a step forward. “Aw, you gonna run?”

He tilted his head, crossing his bulky arms across his chest. “Not if you’re chasing, might give you the wrong idea and I’m afraid if you actually get near my dick, it might fall off from all the trauma of being so close to your body. Question, did you even wash your hair today or is greasy the

new thing?”

I didn’t, but I’d been busy laying out in the hot sun, enjoying my last full day of summer before going back to hell to start my junior year. “I don’t know charity case, at least I have hair.”

My grin was pure evil while laughter sounded from the house. It was our last night together as a family, all the dads and uncles were leaving for the fall like they had been for the last three years when Ash, my cousin, took over along with my sister and her husband Junior, followed by my other cousins Valerian, Maksim and King. They were all young and married, angry, brilliant, and loved being in charge. They also somehow managed to get away with mixing more of the Family bloodlines without getting killed… so total win for them since it just made all of our Families stronger. And the old bosses?

They were there as mentors, but decided after a near bloodbath that it would be better for the second generation of leaders to prove themselves.

The Families had been at peace ever since… and apparently three years was a lot.

Ivan touched his head and glared. “That was cruel even for you, who just sneaks into a guy’s dorm room and shaves down the middle of his skull! I had to shave my entire head, and you knew that my girlfriend would dump me!”

“Her accent was fake. Brits don’t talk like that.”

“This again…” He ran his hands through his jet-black hair. “Oh shit, King’s looking outside, quick, laugh!”

“He’ll be even more suspicious!” I hissed, slapping him on the arm. “Better that we just fight and get it over with. He’s scary as shit these days now that he’s the new Capo.”

“I prefer calling him Godfather, he gets that weird twitch in his eye. Also, what was weirder he’s only four years older than me and he looks like he eats squirrel raw just because they grabbed a nut from his yard, or his nuts, meh same thing, why does he hate squirrels so much again?”

I frowned. “That’s what you’re focusing on? Hurry, hit me!”

“I have zero death wishes, just kick me in the leg and I’ll fall or something, but if you hit

 anywhere in between both legs, all bets are off.”

I smiled. “Like you’d even feel it.”

“Ha, ha. Hurry his eyes keep narrowing. I can see it from the window. Man needs a hobby other than killing and having loud enough sex that everyone can hear. I still can’t stare at bread baskets without a moment of silence.”

“Yeah, what’s his thing with bread? It’s weird.”

“Or your uncle’s thing with bagels?” He snorted. “Maybe they’ve lost their sanity, too much screaming and death, go, go, go!”

I hurried and kicked him in the shin, then did a quick takedown while he rolled me to my back. “Still there?”

Ivan exhaled, his hands gripping my shoulders. “He’s still looking, head butt me, he needs to see blood.”

“It’s your turn this time!”

“I know, but every time I do, Junior looks like he’s going to kill me even though it’s normal in this world, hurry the hell up and make me bleed, bitch!”

That did it. I punched him in the mouth, hurting my knuckles in the process, while blood spurted from his lower lip. “Hurt?”

He nodded. “I can at least respect you’ve been hitting the gym. It didn’t tickle. Congrats, you’re a woman now, maybe one day you’ll know what it’s like to buy tampons and lose your virginity?”

I didn’t give him time, I just rolled him onto his back and punched him again.

Fake fighting turned into real fighting, until we returned to family dinner, and awkwardly cleared our throats at the same time.

I had grass in my hair.

He had blood running down his chin.

The skin on my knuckles bled a bit. I smiled over at Ivan. “Dearest Ivan, can you please pass the rolls?”

“I would love nothing more, bestie.”

It was business as usual.

To outsiders it may have seemed weird, but everyone just kept eating and talking,

pouring wine, while I shot him glares the entire time. I chewed another bite of steak.

I kicked him under the table, causing him to choke on his bite. “Sorry, my foot was cramping.”

“My. Ass.” He rolled his eyes, and all was right within our world, the mafia world, the second generation of the most powerful Families in the US.

Welcome to the world of Eagle Elite.

Blood in, no out.

As burns this saint, burns my soul, I will get into this life alive, and get out dead.

Amen.

CHAPTER TWO

“Family dinners are kind of like war, blood will always be spilled, and the spoils will always go to the victors.” —King Campisi

Ivan

Bella and I had just finished bleeding on the table, eating our meal, and everyone was already getting their assignments and going their separate ways so why was I the one person who was getting lectured less than twenty-four hours before I had to start senior year? I had shit to do, but if I showed my temper even more than I already had, I’d get sent downstairs.

And you did not want to meet anyone in that boxing ring, women included, hell, even the dog with the missing eye petrified me, and he was adopted from the pound, though it was disconcerting how many milk cow bones it looked like he was eating. I brought it up once.

And all I heard was silence and slicing through meat as knives scratched against porcelain plates.

Everything was tense until two years ago when the Five Families gave the De Lange Family—hi, that’s me, orphan spawn of them—a treaty and money to rebuild what had been taken from them. Junior De Lange was the acting boss, but in one week they would vote to either stay as part of the Five Families officially, branch off, or betray everyone again. Junior had rebuilt them from the ground up and also put the fear of God in them by way of blood accidentally getting spilled, but he was good for the job—a job I would rather be buried alive than have.

So, to say things were extremely tense during family dinner when the parents and second gen bosses were present… well, to be a fly on the wall would honestly be the most interesting thing if you could avoid getting murdered by one of the many people sitting around eating and staring at their plates like the world could potentially burn down.

I cleared my throat and chose the calmest voice I could muster in response to the previous argument with Phoenix, technically my closest relative in the group and the boss of the Nicolasi Family. “For the last time, since I wasn’t making myself clear, no I do not want to major in philosophy because it’s too hard, I want to major in Poli Sci, come out the other end not wanting to kill myself for thinking so many thoughts and I want to follow in the Families’ footsteps!” Shit, I’m yelling at Phoenix Nicolasi, I heard a guy once got his finger cut off for raising his eyebrows. Should I be petrified?

Absolutely. Shit, he’s going to feed me to Serena’s toddler Bam-Bam (His nickname for reasons I’m sure everyone thought but never said out loud). As if on cue, Bam-Bam half-walked half-crawled up to me and sat. Had he been wearing a kerchief, glasses, and a bow tie around his scraggly neck while holding a knife in each hand, I don’t think I would have even blinked. The bosses started moving away from me. Ash, the Abandonato boss, suddenly found something interesting on the floor to stare at, Junior was staring at his dad as if to say, don’t kill him. And don’t even get me started on King; not a good sign when even he gulps down some wine and pours more.

Terrifying, to be correct

I sighed. “Listen, Phoenix, I get that you feel a certain responsibility toward me because you and Chase killed my parents—” I held up my hands while Ash cursed under his breath.

“And here we go again…” Ash handed Junior a twenty. What the hell?

Serena walked into the living room and sighed, then scooted Bam-Bam’s chair closer to the table and to me before putting him in his seat. Great. “Is he arguing again?”

“Yes,” they all said in unison, Phoenix included.

He was only supposed to sit down with me after dinner, go over the dos and don’ts of my final year of school and then go over my training schedule while the guys made me into an assassin, see? Normal discussions with your adopted parent.

I lived with Phoenix and Bee, they took me in and protected me years ago, but that did not, however, make them my parents.

My dad was a horrible human being that deserved to be stabbed all those times in the back for what he did to my mom, to my little sister, to my dog—he even killed my pet fish, so there was no sentiment there.

But the whole concept that the same Family I swore my fealty to was actually in charge of killing half of my relatives kind of made me want to throw up—because we’d still had some good people left, and now they were cleansed, gone. I got that my relatives were part of the cursed line, ...