The Family Series by Angelique Jones

Family is many things to many people but in one woman’s world family means Respect Honor Loyalty These words are the meaning to life in her world. When these words are not followed there is only one other word that you must know Revenge For Angelica it is the only word that has held any meaning in her life for ten years. Taught at an early age that disloyalty equals death and that blood is to be answered with blood she seeks vengeance for the deaths of those she loved... moreFamily is many things to many people but in one woman’s world family means Respect Honor Loyalty These words are the meaning to life in her world. When these words are not followed there is only one other word that you must know Revenge For Angelica it is the only word that has held any meaning in her life for ten years. Taught at an early age that disloyalty equals death and that blood is to be answered with blood she seeks vengeance for the deaths of those she loved. Always alone she has been careful to stay free of emotional ties until her life takes an unexpected turn. Unfortunately like everything in her life it has consequences. Consequences that can only be answered with blood. As her past and future collide together Angelica must face her past once and for all if she has any chance at a future and happiness that she never dared hope for. She must do it quickly before she sinks further into the darkness and becomes the very thing that she hunts. excerpt: At the age of ten I was my daddy’s little princess and my mommy’s little angel. I was kept in my tower like any other princess. My mommy was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was so beautiful that many people called her Helen of Troy, and though our coloring was different, everyone said I was just as beautiful. When Mommy chose Daddy, the other men she hadn’t chosen were very angry, though they hid it and waited. My parents were worried that someone would steal me, so I lived in my tower, only allowed to be seen by my family. When I was ten my mommy became pregnant with my brother, and we were sent away to be safe. When I was ten my daddy and my mommy died and I was forced to run and hide. When I was eleven he found me. When I was twelve he found me. When I was thirteen he found me. When I was fourteen he found me. When I was fifteen he found me. When I was sixteen he found me and told me that I would be his princess. When I was seventeen he found me and told me that I was to remain a virgin. When I was eighteen he found me and told me that I was to be his virgin princess bride. When I was nineteen he found me. As I escaped again he yelled to me that if I ever allowed any to touch me, he would kill them, and the pain I suffered now would be nothing compared to what I would suffer for the rest of my life. His threats scared me then no more than they had when I was eleven. The hurt he did to me I refused to show. The numbness of my existence let me block it out. The problem was, when I turned twenty I did something I had never done before. I allowed someone to become my friend. less

Sometime blood cannot be trusted. Sometimes family means nothing. Sometimes loyalty is tested. Dominic thought that nothing could come between him and the family until one woman did. As war looms near Dominic must make a choice protect the woman that he was supposed to kill or save the family that he swore to protect. I didn’t think I knew what sorry was. I wasn’t sorry when I said I killed my mother. I wasn’t sorry when I said I killed my stepfather... moreSometime blood cannot be trusted. Sometimes family means nothing. Sometimes loyalty is tested. Dominic thought that nothing could come between him and the family until one woman did. As war looms near Dominic must make a choice protect the woman that he was supposed to kill or save the family that he swore to protect. I didn’t think I knew what sorry was. I wasn’t sorry when I said I killed my mother. I wasn’t sorry when I said I killed my stepfather. I wasn’t sorry when I said I killed the man that raped my baby sister. I wasn’t sorry that I lit the match that burned their bodies. I wasn’t sorry for the things that I did to make sure she survived. I didn’t think anything could make me sorry but I was wrong. One thing could make me sorry. One person could make me sorry and she did. My sister made me sorry that I protected her. My sister made me sorry that I said I killed for her. My sister made me sorry that she survived when my sister left me to die. I was fourteen when I became a murderer. I was fourteen when my sister turned me in. I was eighteen when I was release. Now I’m twenty one and I plan to do the one thing that will bring me peace. excerpt. As I walked into my father’s study, I knew I wasn’t going to like what he said. Life had been too good lately, and I knew the bad had to be coming. Stopping at the door, I put my mask on and knocked. At the sharp “Enter,” I walked in, taking in the room in a glance. My father sat behind his desk. Vincent, his consigliere, sat to his right, and my older brother, Lucca, stood off to the left. Moving to the chair in front of the desk, I sat, waiting to learn the reason for the summons. My father stared at me for a long moment. “I have a job for you, Dominic,” he began, causing me to sit a little straighter. F**k me; this was what I’d been waiting for: a way to prove my worth to the family. “Caterina Genovese, the sister of Enzo Genovese, will be attending college here, and I want you to befriend her,” he said, causing me to blink. I knew damn well who Enzo Genovese was. If Lucca’s wife hadn’t killed him, I would have ripped the f**ker to shreds. Not only for what he had done to my sister Maria, but for what he had done to Lucca’s wife, Angie. Why the f**k would they want me to have anything to do with that family? “Why?” I asked, needing to know. Instead of my father answering, Lucca did. “Some of our informants seem to believe that Enzo might have left her some tapes and damning information about Angie. Things that, if they are found out, will have a lot of families coming after her for revenge.” Looking at me hard, his voice turned to frost. “I won’t have my wife upset or worried about this. I don’t give a f**k what you have to do to the bitch or with her; find out what she knows and get the evidence.” I nodded my head, not at all put off by Lucca’s tone because I knew how protective he was of his wife. Especially now that she was expecting their second child. The truth was, I was just as protective; she was another sister and mother to me wrapped up in one. There was nothing I wouldn’t do for the woman of my family, to make sure they were safe. So if this girl thought she was going to hurt my family, whatever happened to her, she deserved…. less

Sometimes blood means nothing. Sometimes family is the enemy. Sometimes the truth is more complicated than a lie. After surviving the darkness of his youth Nero thought that the worst was over but he was wrong. In the wake of tragedy and betrayal Nero is forced to fight his own blood to save what is left of his family... moreSometimes blood means nothing. Sometimes family is the enemy. Sometimes the truth is more complicated than a lie. After surviving the darkness of his youth Nero thought that the worst was over but he was wrong. In the wake of tragedy and betrayal Nero is forced to fight his own blood to save what is left of his family. As each battle brings Nero closer to ensuring his place as the head of the family can he live with the price that must be paid? excerpt: Nero age 5 “Mommy, mommy get up. Mommy please get up.” Nero whispered urgently pushing at the blood covered body on the floor. Staring at her he wanted to cry but he knew that if his father came back in and saw tears in his eyes he’d beat her again for making him soft. His father would beat her again before starting on him. As the babies cries grew louder from the crib a few feet away. Nero got up and rushed over begging them to be quiet. Racing over to a fridge his mommy kept in the room he grabbed two bottle and hurried back. There was no time to heat them if the babies didn’t quiet soon his father would come back and kill them. Pressing the bottles to their mouths he could tell that they weren’t happy but they took them. Turning back to his mommy Nero heard a little moan and shuddered in relief. She wasn’t dead. Falling to his knees next to her he pushed back the blood matted hair that covered her face. “Mommy you have to get up.” “I’m here little man. Mommies here.” She got out. Each word racking her broken body in pain. Barely their fingers touched his hand before she removed them to push herself up. Tears fell freely from her eyes unchecked at each movement. Knowing that his touch would just make it worse he stared at her uselessly. He was always useless. He was too small to stop his father. His father forced him and his older brother Enzo to watch when he hurt mommy sometimes. He called them lessons to teach them a woman’s place. At first Nero tried to stop his father. He would throw his body on his fathers but when his father turned his anger on him it forced his mommy to throw her already damaged body over his to protect him. She made him promise not to try and help her but he kept braking that promise unable to watch his father hurt his mommy until the last time. His father had been so angry at his interference that he held a gun to his mommies head and told him that if he ever did it again he’d make sure that she’d never get up. Terrified that his father would take away the only thing he had Nero stood like a coward now blankly watching when his father hurt her. Going to the bathroom Nero sat outside the door with his knees drawn to his chest. Mommy had dragged herself in to clean away the blood of his father’s latest rage. Unseeing Nero looked ahead. Why did his father hurt them? Why did he hate them? Well him and Mommy, Enzo his father adored. Even at age eight Enzo was just like their father. Enzo enjoyed causing pain in others. It wasn’t just mommy his father beat, he had others. Sometimes his father would bring home woman and do very bad things to them while they were forced to watch. Each time Nero felt sick and looked away while Enzo would egg their father on yelling out ways to hurt her. Mommy told him that Enzo was sick like his father and that he was never to trust him. Mommy said that Enzo would always betray them because he wasn’t her son though she had given him life. No Enzo was his father’s son, sick and twisted in the head. Trusting mommy Nero tried to stay away from Enzo but he would always seek him out. Sometime just to tease him or hit him but other times he thought that Enzo wanted to kill him. Nero had been lucky those times because either mommy or one of the men that were constantly in the house would interrupt Enzo before he could finish him. Nero knew that Enzo did it because mommy saw through the act that he put on when no one else did. Everyone that met Enzo was charmed by him. Only him and mommy knew the truth. Only they knew that Enzo was just a sick as his father. Nero thought that Enzo did it because mommy loved him and he wanted to hurt her. It was one of the reasons that Nero was never too far from the babies. Enzo hated the babies because mommy loved them. Nero had found him near the crib holding a pillow over there little faces. Enzo laughed at their struggling little fists that tried to fight him. Knocking him from the crib Nero fought him even knowing that he was too small to beat him. Their father had walked in just as Enzo was breaking his nose and laughed telling Enzo to toughen him up. Nero took the beating knowing that if he told his father that he was stopping Enzo from hurting the babies he wouldn’t care. Mommy had gotten one of the worse beating ever for giving him girls instead of boys. Finally after it felt like there wasn’t spot on him that hadn’t been hit Enzo got up and joined their father. Smacking Enzo on the back his father and Enzo left laughing as Nero lay of the floor bleeding. less

Sometimes hope is lost. Sometimes memories cannot be forgotten. Sometimes you must endure. Family was everything to Maria. Family meant protection, love and safety. Family was Maria’s shield against the harsh world but like all shields it has been shattered. Lost in a sea of anger and despair Maria has forsaken her family and gone out into the world alone. Now Marie must face the truth. She must accept that no matter how far she runs neither her past nor her family will be forgotten... moreSometimes hope is lost. Sometimes memories cannot be forgotten. Sometimes you must endure. Family was everything to Maria. Family meant protection, love and safety. Family was Maria’s shield against the harsh world but like all shields it has been shattered. Lost in a sea of anger and despair Maria has forsaken her family and gone out into the world alone. Now Marie must face the truth. She must accept that no matter how far she runs neither her past nor her family will be forgotten. She must accept that both will have to be faced. less

Sometimes the past will not be forgotten Sometime the truth cannot be ignored Sometimes the future cannot be seen Michael’s world was right where it was supposed to be until one woman stepped out of his past. Now choices must be made. Choices that will not only change Michael’s life but his family’s future forever.

I have long feared that my sins would haunt me I have long feared that I would receive the judgement of man instead of my creator I have long known that the true darkness that I held within had yet to be released Family is many things to many people but in one woman’s world family means Respect Honor Loyalty These words are the meaning to life in her world. When these words are not followed there is only one other word that you must know Revenge Angelica thought it was over... moreI have long feared that my sins would haunt me I have long feared that I would receive the judgement of man instead of my creator I have long known that the true darkness that I held within had yet to be released Family is many things to many people but in one woman’s world family means Respect Honor Loyalty These words are the meaning to life in her world. When these words are not followed there is only one other word that you must know Revenge Angelica thought it was over. After years of death and struggle she thought that she had slain all of her demons but she was wrong. The life that had once been within her grasp is gone. Now the puppeteer that she had missed must prepare to meet the monster that had been created because above anyone they should have known that disloyalty equals death and that blood is to be answered with blood. less