LeAnn Hale

Charming, captivating, seductive—and a cold-blooded killer. I married the Pakhan of the Russian Bratva anyway. I had to, it was part of the deal. Now, I’m faking marital bliss as I tremble with fear, and I cannot wait to be out of the clutches of this ruthless man.

We're not free to give into this. She's 19, and I'm 38. And I'm her boyfriend's father. Unfortunately, they both just moved into my house.

After watching my mother succumb to a mysterious illness, I promised myself two things. I'd find the cure for what ravaged her and leave the godforsaken city where she abandoned me. Four years later, I received an acceptance letter from Dracadia University, one of the oldest most prestigious schools in the country. Nestled on a secluded island off the coast of Maine, it's rumored to be haunted by the souls of the mental patients exiled there centuries before, those whose bones are said to make up the island's white sandy shores. And restless ghosts aren't even its most daunting peculiarity.

My new stepbrother is insufferable. You'd think it wouldn't matter since I won't be here for long, but this guy gets under my skin like no one ever has. All-American, baby-faced, blue-eyed band dork and star soccer player. Everything about him is the picture of perfection—unlike me. I don't think Do Gooder knows I'm starting senior year late. And he definitely doesn't know why. I've got secrets I'm taking with me to the grave.

Stone was my best friend. My protector. My everything. Until he wasn’t. Kids like us didn’t have the best life, riddled with trauma, bounced around in a system that didn’t want us and couldn’t handle us. In our darkest hours, we had each other. Until we didn’t. We tried to hold on to what little we had. Maneuvering the rough waters of our circumstance. Until I couldn’t.

He'll never let me go. I'll never stop running. I’m unbreakable. So, when the bratva try to get me to throw my championship fight, I flip them one middle finger. Then two. After I’ve decimated their opponent and pummeled him into the ground. I’m surrounded, outmanned, outgunned. My only option is to fight my way out. I think I’m all alone until a familiar voice says, “Play fair now. The lady gets to beat you, one at a time."

Protecting him is my duty, but falling for him could be my undoing. I’ve spent five years burying my past, leaving behind the violence and bloodshed of my former life as a Bratva enforcer. Now, I’m just Luca—the quiet guy who keeps his head down, working security for a professional hockey team. I don’t get close to anyone, and I definitely don’t let anyone get close to me. But then I’m assigned to protect Max Ryan, the team’s star defenseman, and everything changes. He's my obsession. My crush.

After finding out the baby his fiancée is carrying is not biologically his, Theo Reeves leaves town and vows to never come back. That is until, 22 years later he returns to handle his late mother’s estate. The hatred of being back in his hometown drives him to a dive bar just outside city limits. A night he planned on spending alone and drinking away the memories, is interrupted by a blonde half his age he can't help but be drawn to. Something about her green eyes and the way she despises this town nearly as much as he does, has him wanting to make some reckless decisions.

The Irish Mafia used the Four Art Gallery to launder money. What's good enough for the mob was good enough for us. My organization has sworn to take down the criminal underground. The Greens reigned supreme over my beloved city, and it was time to burn them down. My job is to launder money for our operations, and gather intel. I was never supposed to be noticed. But then I marveled at a painting on the wall... a painting made by a true artist. A master of his craft. It made me gasp, "Who did this?"

Trauma nurse Aly Cappellucci doesn’t need any more kinks. She likes the one she’s landed on just fine. To her, nothing could top the masked men she follows online. Unless one of those men was shirtless, heavily tattooed, and waiting for her in her bedroom. She dreams about being hunted by one in particular, of him chasing her down and doing deliciously dark things to her willing body. She never could have guessed that by sending one drunken text, those dreams would become her new reality.