Being attracted to her isn't wrong…but acting on it would be. As the patriarch of the powerful and wealthy Cavalieri family, my choices come with consequences for everyone around me. The roots of my ancestral, billionaire-dollar winery stretch deep into the rich Italian soil, as does our legacy of ruthlessness and scandal. It isn't the fact she is half my age that makes her off-limits. Nothing is off-limits for me. A wounded bird caught in a trap not of her own making, she poses no risk to me. My obsessive desire to possess her is the real problem—for both of us.

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.

I didn’t know Raphael Amado when he turned up on our doorstep demanding restitution for an old debt. My grandfather knew him well, though, and he quickly conceded. That restitution? Me. Six months later, Raphael came to claim me. He took me from my home, taking me to his Tuscan estate, where from the crumbling chapel to the destroyed vineyard to that dark cellar, the past stalked him like a shadow. Even the walls held secrets here, and I’d need to uncover them all to survive.

Eleven years ago, I met him. A year later, I was betrothed to him. Now he’s come to claim me, slaughtering anyone standing in his way. My husband-to-be is a monster from a family as ruthless and powerful as mine, a man who deals in violence and destruction...a man terrifyingly like my father. For more than a decade, he’s stalked me, shadowing my life. I fear him. I hate him. Worst of all, I want him. My name is Alina Molotova, and Alexei Leonov is a fate I can’t escape.

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.

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.

Charming. Devastatingly handsome. Ridiculously rich. Kristoff Baldwin came without warning. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and before I could even realize the impact he was making, I was too far gone, despite knowing the consequences of falling. A future together was the impossible dream. My past haunted me and even he had ghosts of his own. Then everything changed when his past came after me and my daughters.

Tall, rugged, and focused on destroying my family, Brody O'Connor's the one person I need to avoid. He seduced me on purpose, and now I’m paying the consequences.

Nico Morrelli. My blackmailer. A liar. I stole from him. And when he came to collect, the money was gone. I used it to try and save someone I loved, but it still wasn’t enough.

Running away from home at 17 wasn't easy. Let's face it, though, nothing before or in the ten years since has ever been easy for me. And I'm doing okay—sorta. I just need to keep scraping by, living under the radar. Staying out of people's way, off people's minds. When a man walks through my open patio door, stepping boldly into my home and my life, I should be scared, frightened, terrified. I must be more broken than I realized because I'm none of those things. I'm intrigued—and I'm wondering if the way to take control of my life is by giving in to him.

My father never intended to honor his promise to marry me to the most despised crime lord in Corsica. He thought that handshake would be long forgotten. Until Angelo Russo shows up at my sixteenth birthday party and demands his due when I turn eighteen. A man to whom no one dares say no is determined to take what he considers as his, especially when he’s told he can’t have it.

They say there are three things you should do at least once in your life: Dance like nobody’s watching. Travel the world. And fall hopelessly in love. I aimed to do all three. I went to Italy to find myself. But he found me.

I never wanted a wife. No one is safe with me. No one is good enough for my daughter. But if I want to rule over the wealthiest crime family in New York City, I only have two weeks to find one. When Elsie broke into my home, I saw an opportunity, so I forced her into a marriage she didn't want. No one crosses me, not even someone as beautiful as Elsie. She may fight me with that smart mouth, but she will obey me–or return to the hell she came from. I told her she was mine for a year. Then she'd be free.

When I met him, I didn't realize who he was. I still didn't when I let him take me back to his hotel for the night. I never expected to see him again. Until I found him on my father's couch, revealing he and I are connected in more ways than simply a one-night stand. To make it worse, he was a Saint, part of the ruling mafia family that owned the city of Redhill. I should have stayed away at that point. I had a lot at risk and my own mess to deal with, but it wasn't that easy. Not when he kept showing up, and that one night turned to two, and then three.

I’ve been raised to be the perfect mafia wife, but when my marriage turns into a horrific nightmare, I have no choice but to leave everything behind and start a new life. I find myself alone in Ibiza—a place that swallows innocent girls like me alive. I’m robbed the day I arrive, left with nothing but a few euros and the clothes on my back.

Being attracted to her isn't wrong…but acting on it would be. As the patriarch of the powerful and wealthy Cavalieri family, my choices come with consequences for everyone around me. The roots of my ancestral, billionaire-dollar winery stretch deep into the rich Italian soil, as does our legacy of ruthlessness and scandal. It isn't the fact she is half my age that makes her off-limits. Nothing is off-limits for me. A wounded bird caught in a trap not of her own making, she poses no risk to me. My obsessive desire to possess her is the real problem—for both of us.

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.

I'm locked in a cage in my wedding dress. How did I end up here? Three days ago, I was a normal girl living a normal life. My adoptive parents came over to my apartment for dinner, just like they do every week. But this time, they brought bombshells. They tell me I'm not who they said I was. And all those dance lessons, those etiquette classes? They weren't just for show. They were to groom me. To mold me into what I'm about to become—the forced wife of a don. Then, with my jaw on the floor, they opened the door and let the nightmares in.

I finally had my baby girl back home, but she came with a little baggage in the shape of her best friend. I could deal with that for some more time with my daughter. The only problem is Bay's not exactly what I'd expected. I'd been through hell and back with my ex, but even that didn't compare to the turmoil that girl causes me. My stomach aches every time she's in the room with me, and we're drawn like magnets, but she can never be anything to me. Bay is young, vibrant, beautiful, and totally off-limits.

Have you ever loved anyone so much that you’d give them up at the expense of your own happiness? No? Well, I did. Okay, that’s not the first lie I’ve ever told myself. I fought tooth and nail for the only man I’ll ever love, but in the end, I had to concede defeat. Even now, seven years later, the cruel words Ryker uttered the morning after he took my virginity still wield the power to shatter the remains of my heart. Yet fate has a way of shaping our lives. No matter how hard we fight for a different outcome.

Girl meets a handsome stranger, gets swept off her feet, and has the best night of her life. Sounds like a dream, right? If only... When I wake up the next morning in a stunning penthouse overlooking the Seattle waterfront to a note saying, “have a safe flight back to Chicago,” his message is loud and clear: One and done. Famous last words. Guess who’s waiting to greet me on the first day at my new job? It turns out the mega-rich Asher Kingcaid is far from one and done.

Being traded to Dallas was a dream come true. I had everything I wanted, my game had never been better, and my wife was due to have our baby any day now. What could go wrong? Everything. I was now raising our baby on my own. After hockey practice and games, I didn't have time to sleep, let alone make sure my social media was up to par. I never thought I'd get a second chance at love.

I'm the governor's daughter, and he's a mafia boss in the Bratva. It was a no-brainer. I was forbidden to him and him to me. But when we met at his nightclub, I thought he was my prince charming. I couldn't fight my attraction to the tattooed Russian god any more than he could for me. Dante Levitsky is tall, dark, and dangerously handsome with Mediterranean blue eyes you could swim in forever. Our chemistry is the type people read about and wish for their whole lives.

I owe everything to Emilia's father. I'd do anything for the man. When he asked me to marry his daughter, I thought he was insane. I was only going to protect her. That was my job. Yet, one innocent kiss changed everything. Now, it's not about what her father wants. It's all about her. When enemies try to take her and the life we could have away, they will learn why they call me the devil. I'll show them no mercy. Emilia is mine, and God help anyone who tries to come between us.

Trapped in a twisted and dark courtship with a secret woman who needs my strength to survive, I will be wed. Walking the thin line between lunacy and reality, I am now the protector of my future captive bride. So I have no choice but to recite the vows: I take thee. In this arranged matrimony. Until we are parted by death.

I’ll lock her in a gilded cage and throw away the key. The night we met, she thought she was tasting freedom. I devoured her once and left before I even knew her name. Four months later, Bratva business leads me to the house of my enemy with one objective: Burn it down and kill everyone inside. That’s exactly what I plan to do. Until I find her cowering before me.

Our first meeting was at a nightclub, and it was something straight out of my most romantic fantasies. My ovaries exploded at the sight of the Russian God. And by God, I mean he was ripped, tall, dark, and deadly attractive. There were enough sparks between us to light up a city. Then an explosion blasted through the nightclub, and we got trapped together for three hours, sharing our most personal details...everything but our names. Two years later, our second meeting is the complete opposite of the first. It's clear Misha Petrov, a Russian enforcer for the bratva, despises me.

Cruelty is his middle name, and I'm at his mercy. My father has kept me locked away in an ivory tower. I thought he wanted to protect me, but he only wanted to protect his asset. An untouched, sheltered mob princess is worth a lot of money to the right buyer. My father's greed means Sicily is no longer big enough for him. I'm shipped across the Atlantic to Boston to marry a man I've never met, whose reputation for cruelty reaches as far as the shores of Sicily.

I'll show everyone I'm a threat, and they will fear me. For my family. I have to protect them. The second I hear the name Damien Vetrov I know I'm in trouble. He's an arrogant Russian God. I have zero intention of bowing to him. Ever. Attractive and lethal—he's such an intoxicating mixture. Every second we spend together, the pull between us becomes stronger, and my fear grows. While my body wants him, my head knows better. He has the power to kill my family.

Three months ago, I almost got hit by a car. The guy behind the wheel was as gorgeous as they come. We got to talking and… well, things got a little carried away, if you know what I mean. But when it was over, we went our separate ways. Except, not quite. The little plus sign on this pregnancy test tells me our story isn't over. But that's a problem for another day. First, I have to go to my sister's engagement party. When I see who she's marrying, my jaw hits the floor.