Ruthie

The marriage is only supposed to be for show, but Archer can be very convincing. He's demanded we move in together. That we kiss. That we make it look—and feel—real. He's a man who is obsessed with getting what he wants—and I'm starting to think what he wants is me. The closer we get, and the less we pretend, the more I question if the grudges between our families are too much to overcome for a marriage that was built on pretty rings and broken things. Pretty Rings and Broken Things is a billionaire, arranged marriage romance.

Danger lurks in every corner, and I'm constantly looking over my shoulder to see what will happen next. The villain in our story is supposed to be a protector, a father. But all he does is bring sorrow to his son. He tried to take three important people from our lives. Will the villain succeed in his devious plot? Or will his son make the biggest mistake by leaving Abbs Valley behind to protect us? My guys are fighting like hell to protect me. But who's protecting them?

In this life, you were taught vulnerability would get you killed. Distractions led to mistakes, and mistakes led to your death. What happened when the one that made you vulnerable was also the distraction? Evie captivated us all from the beginning. All it took was one look from those big brown eyes, and we laid down everything to protect her—including our lives. We finally got the family we wanted, and then Evie discovered our secret. A secret she wanted no part of. If I learned anything from my brother, Luca, it was to fight like hell for the ones you love.

The Lords own me, and they are never going to let me go. At least, that’s what they tell me. Lord Alaric Cross. Lord Gideon St. Claire. Lord Sterling Beauchamp. Lord Theodore Wolf. Four brooding men who make my worst nightmares seem tame. To the public, they are titled aristocrats with royal lineage. In secret, they make up the Lords of Darkness—an ancient order that rules the underbelly of England with a lethal, iron fist, leaving skeletons in their wake. And as fate would have it, my father was the fifth Lord of Darkness. His sudden death means I am now a Lady of Darkness.

Penelope is curvy, sassy, and my brother's fiancée's best friend. Totally forbidden fruit. But when she asks for dating lessons, I'm suddenly fumbling like a rookie. I thought love was supposed to hit like a linebacker—fast and hard. Instead, it's a slow burn that's got me breaking all my own rules.

According to the FBI, I was considered a serial murderer after three kills. What do they call me after fifty-two? They call me the Silencer. One final bullet would have been all it took to stop me from taking another soul, and I would have been doing Meridian City a service by pulling that trigger. An angel crying for help stopped me, and that night, I took three lives for her. Then three turned into eight. Then eight turned into twenty. Twenty turned into twenty-one. Twenty-one turned into twenty-three.