I made a vow to protect her when we were just kids. First, from the monsters hiding under the bed and then the ones roaming the world freely. My obsession with Dove wasn’t normal. It toed the line on psychotic, but my love for her overshadowed that. I’d killed, destroyed, and hurt those who had done her wrong. I’d watched her for years wanting to claim her but refusing to. I was both her guardian angel and a demon lurking in the shadows. She was mine, even though she didn’t know it yet.

Deranged and violent. Gorgeous but frightening. I’m a businessman, so when one of my debtors offers me his fiancé in exchange for a debt settled, I figure why not? The woman will be a quick sell. Repayment comes in the form of a beautiful but haunted young woman. The light in her tempts the darkness inside of me. Teases it, tortures it. I want to hurt her. I want to break her. I want to keep her. Luckily for Celia, she fails to see that there is no goodness in me.

Two years ago, she ruined my family’s life. Maybe, she thought it was only a little lie. That she did the right thing, that the worst was behind her, that no one had gotten hurt. Oh, how naive the black haired beauty was! Fate has finally brought her back to me...to Blackthorn Academy. Once upon a time, I was obsessed, consumed with the need to make her mine. Now, I just want revenge, and I’ll do whatever I can to get it.

I should’ve trusted him, believed him when he told me he was only trying to keep my safe. I thought the worst was behind me. Little did I know the worst was yet to come. Kidnapped by a man capable of the worst kind of evil, I am thrust into a dark and dangerous world where blood and wealth are the only things that matter. I’m a pawn in the war for power. The man I was desperate to escape from is now the only one that can save me. I’ll do anything to be back in his arms. He saved me once; he’ll do it again.

Welcome to Corium University, where the most dangerous criminals in the world send their offspring.

Working as Ruslan Oryolov’s personal assistant is the job from hell. After a long day spent tending to the billionaire’s every whim, I need some stress relief. So when I get home that night, that’s exactly what I do. Problem is, my thoughts are still stuck on the bosshole, who’s ruining my life. That’s fine—because of all Ruslan’s many sins, being gorgeous might be the most dangerous.

I hate Dante Moretti. He is cold, calculating, and vicious. It’s no secret that he wiped out his former fiancée and her entire family on the eve of their wedding. He’s the kind of evil that makes even devils cry. But that’s not why I hate him.

Grace was his first love, his forever, and then he lost her. He’d spent years watching from afar, knowing he could never have her again. The violence, the hate, and pain owned him. It took all the good away. It took her away. The mafia was the only thing that could curb his violent tendencies. Choosing to let her go was the hardest thing in his life, but he wanted her to be happy, safe, protected. Then everything changed. The moment someone tried to hurt her he knew he had to step in. Grace might not have been his, but she would always be under his protection.

I’m not supposed to fall in love with my husband. It’s not part of my plan. Forgive me. Those were the first words Santos Augustine spoke to me before we sealed an unbreakable oath. A contract signed in blood binding me to him as payment for my father’s sins.

Sold to the mob. Four words I never thought I'd utter. Worse, it was my father who did the unthinkable. When the creditors come to collect, I'm handed over to the most ruthless man in New York City—Luca Valentino. The head of the notorious Kings is as gorgeous as he is lethal. Dark, possessive, and violent. Nothing like the boy I grew up with, my dead brother's best friend.

He wasn’t the one I was supposed to marry. He’s cold. Brutal. Calculating. To his family, I’m a strategic move in their war. To mine, an alliance offers protection against our enemies. Still, there’s something about him that calls to me. A dark edge threatens to revive me. His gaze steals my breath. Even if my heart thinks this could work, my brain knows better.

When Cristiano Grigori came for me, he didn’t come alone. He brought his army to kill the soldiers at my door and took me for himself. He put his ring on my finger and marked me as mafia property. His property. Cristiano is my enemy. He’s also the only man with whom I’ve ever felt safe. Protected. But I have to remember that he married me with one purpose in mind—revenge. I would be the bridge to his real enemies. I can’t let myself forget that he isn’t the hero of this story. His hands are covered in blood. I saw that with my own eyes.

Mikhail Dmitriyev is a beautiful devil with a villainous heart and a thirst for revenge. The choices he gave me when he stole me away from my home with an army of men were very clear—marry me or die. I chose to marry him and live. But there’s one small problem with his grand plan to rain Armageddon on the Mexican Cartel. I’m not the woman he thinks I am. I’m not the cartel princess he thinks he took to make his enemies bow to him. When my captor finds out my secret and realizes he married the wrong woman, love won’t be enough to save me. And neither will his obsession.

Stefan Sabbioni showed up uninvited in my bedroom on my 16th birthday. He stood in the shadows smelling of whiskey and death and wrapped a broken, blood-crusted necklace around my neck. I thought he'd strangle me with it. That night, he left a message for my father. He said he'd be back to take something precious. I never delivered that message, though. I wonder if things would be different if I had because now, two years later, he's back. And he's not hiding in any shadows.

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Deranged and violent. Gorgeous but frightening. I’m a businessman, so when one of my debtors offers me his fiancé in exchange for a debt settled, I figure why not? The woman will be a quick sell. Repayment comes in the form of a beautiful but haunted young woman. The light in her tempts the darkness inside of me. Teases it, tortures it. I want to hurt her. I want to break her. I want to keep her. Luckily for Celia, she fails to see that there is no goodness in me.

I made a mistake. At sixteen years old I fell for the wrong man. Callum Torrio. Ruthless billionaire. Dangerous villain. My best friend's father. At twenty one, I gave up hope that he would ever notice me. He’s twenty years older than me and an arms dealer for the mob. The smart choice would be to forget he ever existed. But that’s not possible. His icy blue gaze, sculpted physique, and huge rough hands play a vivid part in my dreams.

I made a vow to protect her when we were just kids. First, from the monsters hiding under the bed and then the ones roaming the world freely. My obsession with Dove wasn’t normal. It toed the line on psychotic, but my love for her overshadowed that. I’d killed, destroyed, and hurt those who had done her wrong. I’d watched her for years wanting to claim her but refusing to. I was both her guardian angel and a demon lurking in the shadows. She was mine, even though she didn’t know it yet.

They call me a monster. Murderous and hateful. Beautiful but broken. Nothing can calm the ever raging storm inside of me. As the ruthless leader of the Doubeck family, there is a certain standard of brutality, I have to uphold. Then I meet her. Beautiful, innocent, and so very afraid. Valentina is a rival family's daughter, and the little temptress has purposely tangled herself in my dark web. She seeks me out, needing my help, but the price for what she wants will be steep.

Money. It’s the root of all evil and I need it bad. You could call it the wrong place, wrong time. To me the day I met Enzo was the day the old me died. When he kidnaps me thinking I’m the daughter of his enemy, the only thing I can do is pretend to be something I’m not. But the more I pretend, the deeper I fall. Enzo is dark, cruel, and menacing, but he’s protective, fierce, and determined. Soon he wants to forge a contract between our families, making me his bride, but he has no idea I’m not whom he thinks I am and when he finds out … well, I know I’m as good as dead.

The moment I saw Natasha Page standing at the altar, waiting for a fiancé whose lies had already cost him his life and put hers in danger, I knew she would be speaking her vows today after all. To me. I could have claimed her that night, ravaging her quivering virgin body as brutally as my lust demanded. But I made her beg before I tore off that beautiful dress and took what belonged to me. Because I don't just want her vows. I want her heart.

Mikhail Dmitriyev is a beautiful devil with a villainous heart and a thirst for revenge. The choices he gave me when he stole me away from my home with an army of men were very clear—marry me or die. I chose to marry him and live. But there’s one small problem with his grand plan to rain Armageddon on the Mexican Cartel. I’m not the woman he thinks I am. I’m not the cartel princess he thinks he took to make his enemies bow to him. When my captor finds out my secret and realizes he married the wrong woman, love won’t be enough to save me. And neither will his obsession.

The second our eyes connected, I felt the shift in the air. The crackle of fire igniting between us. He was dark, dangerous, and secretive. He came into my life like a storm, ripping apart everything I believed in, everything I thought I knew. With his mischievous smirk, stunning looks, and alluring behavior, I should’ve ran as far away from him as I could. But I was stupid. I trapped myself in his web.

I went to a sex club to lose my virginity, but all I got was the attention of a man I should’ve stayed far away from. Nicholas is dark, dangerous, and charming. When he fails to sweep me off my feet, he finds another way to claim me. Now, locked away in his secluded mansion, I either give him what he wants or risk facing his wrath. This is a dark game, and if I’m not careful I could end up dead—if I don’t lose my soul to him first.

The plan was simple: Destroy the girl. Ruin her life. Make her and her mother leave. Only…she’s not as easy a target as I thought she’d be. She’s nothing but a pawn, a tool for my father to use against her mother. But pawns don’t fight back the way she does. They don’t violate my sanity the way she does. She put herself in the mouth of the beast. I wanted her out of the way, but now…I can’t let her go.

Savva is a filthy bratva beast, as cruel as he is charming and as brutal as he is gorgeous. When I took over my late father's biker bar, I also took over the payments he was making to Savva, the leader of a powerful mafia family operating on the edge of Las Vegas. But Savva couldn't be satisfied with money alone. He wanted more. He spilled into my life like a dark, inescapable shadow, stealing my dignity and drowning me in his sin. But his twisted promises and dark desires aren't enough to convince me to fall for him. Neither are his whiskey kisses and his iron abs.

He’s been watching me for months. And when his chance comes…he forces me into marriage. I’ve been trying so hard to prove myself to my Irish mafia dad, but it all falls apart. When my mission collapses, a much older Bratva guy shows up to save me. But he’s no hero. He’s a cold, callous Russian who uses this opportunity to make me his Brava bride… He calls me his Irish Princess, but it’s not meant to be romantic. He’s been observing me, watching me from the shadows like a stalker. When he finally has me at his mercy, he handcuffs me and subjects me to a medical exam. And when...

Grace was his first love, his forever, and then he lost her. He’d spent years watching from afar, knowing he could never have her again. The violence, the hate, and pain owned him. It took all the good away. It took her away. The mafia was the only thing that could curb his violent tendencies. Choosing to let her go was the hardest thing in his life, but he wanted her to be happy, safe, protected. Then everything changed. The moment someone tried to hurt her he knew he had to step in. Grace might not have been his, but she would always be under his protection.

Tearing off the gilded veneer of elite privilege exposes the sordid scandals, dark secrets, and taboo desires of New York's jaded high society in this dark romance series from best friends and USAT bestselling authors Zoe Blake and Alta Hensley, writing under their new pen name, Blake Hensley.

Rivals since before birth, there has never been a time when my family hasn't hated the Lockwoods and their daughter Harlow. But she made it personal, no longer just a rivalry between our parents. Now she's here, at Bayshore University, without her family's protection. There's nothing to stop us from getting our revenge on her, no one to tell us enough is enough. And so my brothers and I have devised a plan. We'll break her, have her falling at her knees for us in no time, and then we'll send her back to her family with a warning: Cross the Bishops again and you'll pay.