Of two things I'm certain: When something sounds too good to be true, it is; and when Alexius Del Rossa makes you a deal, you run far away and never look back. Me? I didn't run. I stayed. I opened that envelope, and I accepted his offer. Why? Because my life was a mess and on a downward spiral to a big, fat nothing. And he just offered me everything in exchange for six months of my life. It was supposed to be a simple arrangement, but I learned the hard way that nothing is simple when it comes to Alexius.

He's a killer. A monster. A thief. He stole me; ripped me from a life I thought was mine, and forced me into his. There was no negotiating. No choice to be made. No way out. He says once I give him what he wants, he'll let me go. But I don't believe him. Taunting me, humiliating me, hunting me...it thrills him. He's addicted to my tears, and amused by my suffering. I know he won't stop until he breaks me. But I won't go down without a fight.

I was never a beloved daughter. Only a prized possession to be kept in a gilded cage until my father was ready to trade. It was my duty, carved in stone and written in my blood that one day my virtue would be exchanged for an alliance. And now, that day has come. Gian Silvestro, heir to the Silvestro empire, will accept me as his wife. He will seal my fate with a kiss that holds a thousand promises. But to him, our vows only mean one thing: I am bound to him...and shackled to his hate.

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.

Drowning in the murky waters of the mafia, I’m determined to find a way out. I have my sights set on becoming a film producer and won’t let anything or anyone stand in my way. Then my mother marries a retired Godfather, and I get the head of the Greek mafia as a stepbrother. Nikolas Stathoulis is set on ruining my well-laid plans. His ruthless reputation has me running for the safety of my apartment. But he’s always there. On campus. In my apartment. Expecting me to play by his rules.

One wardrobe malfunction. Two people who don’t belong together. Three awful words: “Be my wife."

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.

Konstantin wasn’t the type to be ignored. He commanded his criminal empire with an iron fist but he had secrets of his own. But I was Tatiana Nikolaev. I’d never bend to a man’s will or be used as a pawn. Not again. The moment I tempted the fates and played with fire, life spiraled out of control. My only way of survival was to trust again. But could I?

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.

Belles and Mobsters were never meant to be together. And I still fell in love with him, only to be torn apart. Lesson learned.

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.

An ancient curse. Two families bound. A forbidden love. When the Wildbloods presented their daughters to me on the night of the Tithing, they knew what was to come for the chosen girl. The crescent moon that marked Willow made her mine. I had no choice but to take her. Destiny determined our fates long before we were born, laying our roles out for us. A Sacrifice would be made. A Tithe paid. Only then would our families be free, at least until the next payment came due. I would have done my duty as Penitent. I tried.

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.

To be fair, I didn’t know he was my boss when I slept with him. I thought he was just the kind stranger offering me a place to stay. But one night in Misha Orlov’s hotel room got me way more than I bargained for.

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.

Of two things I'm certain: When something sounds too good to be true, it is; and when Alexius Del Rossa makes you a deal, you run far away and never look back. Me? I didn't run. I stayed. I opened that envelope, and I accepted his offer. Why? Because my life was a mess and on a downward spiral to a big, fat nothing. And he just offered me everything in exchange for six months of my life. It was supposed to be a simple arrangement, but I learned the hard way that nothing is simple when it comes to Alexius.

He's a killer. A monster. A thief. He stole me; ripped me from a life I thought was mine, and forced me into his. There was no negotiating. No choice to be made. No way out. He says once I give him what he wants, he'll let me go. But I don't believe him. Taunting me, humiliating me, hunting me...it thrills him. He's addicted to my tears, and amused by my suffering. I know he won't stop until he breaks me. But I won't go down without a fight.

No one knows the real me. The ruined girl. The scarred woman. Not even Sebastian knows how many broken pieces I have to keep together. But he does. The stranger who doesn't pry or care about my past. The masked man who helps me escape my troubled mind by taking me down a forbidden path. A dark path. Just when I think my life can't get any more complicated, I meet Gabriel King. My future father-in-law. That's when a truly twisted journey begins, and the consequences are darker than I ever imagined.

One wild night gave me more than just regrets. Six years ago, I walked away from Igor Sokolov—New York’s most dangerous Bratva prince—and vowed never to look back. Or so I thought. Now, he’s found me. And worse, he’s discovered my biggest secret: our daughter. Igor doesn’t ask. He takes. With ruthless determination, he drags us back to New York, claiming it’s the only way to keep us safe. Safe from his enemies, maybe. But not from him. He’s possessive, demanding, and dangerously irresistible. And he’s made one thing crystal clear: I’m his.

I was never a beloved daughter. Only a prized possession to be kept in a gilded cage until my father was ready to trade. It was my duty, carved in stone and written in my blood that one day my virtue would be exchanged for an alliance. And now, that day has come. Gian Silvestro, heir to the Silvestro empire, will accept me as his wife. He will seal my fate with a kiss that holds a thousand promises. But to him, our vows only mean one thing: I am bound to him...and shackled to his hate.

Roman Melnikov is a deadly man in an expensive suit. I know what lies beneath the façade—the scars and tattoos that hint at the man he really is. He came here to find his sister, and his search led him to my dad and his friends. We both want to take them down, and the only way to do that is together. I had no idea how dangerous it would be, or that by the end of it, we'd all be covered in blood. Loving Roman is dangerous, but I can't let him go. His path is leading him straight to hell, and it looks like I'm coming along for the ride.

The first time I saw him, I knew I'd never want another man the way I wanted him. The second time, I drank a bottle of his most expensive cognac, which I'd never be able to afford on my own. And the third time… well, he caught me stealing from him. Stealing from the head of the Irish Mafia wasn't smart. But then I never claimed to be. Now I owed him a debt… a big one. And it couldn't be settled with money, or favors.

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’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.

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.

In a den of vipers, revenge is the deadliest venom. They shattered my world; now, I’ll bring down theirs. The problem? I have virtually no way to trace the puppet master. My only lead: The Vipers. An elite college hockey team that rules the ice—and the shadows beyond it. To infiltrate their secret society, I set my sights on their weakest link. Kane Davenport. The charismatic captain and the lone green flag in a nest of serpents. But too late, I realize I’ve enticed the most venomous snake.

I curate art for a living. This big show was supposed to pay my bills for the next year. Oh, and did I mention the star artist is my unfaithful ex? So I try to put on a brave face—after all, the clientele are worth billions. But my ex is doing everything in his power to rub it in. Holding his new girl a little too tight. Hanging around me a little too close. What I did next was a teensy bit impulsive. I grabbed the closest revenge hookup I could find... who just happened to be the billionaire dropping five mil at the auction.

In the mafia world, women don’t reign. I’m the exception of that rule. I didn’t choose this life. It chose me. I have a legacy to protect, a power to snatch, and no one will stop me. If an arranged marriage is what it’ll take to lead, then so be it. What I don’t count on is that my chosen husband happens to be a ghost from my past. Kyle Hunter. He was once my guard, my protector. Now, he’s after my kingdom. The road to the throne is paved with thorns, blood, and casualties. To win, I’ll risk it all. My heart included.

In Manhattan, tensions are rising. In a play for power, the Rossetti family has made a decisive blow, crippling their rivals—an act that has forced the Fiores to make a desperate move to maintain their supremacy. Many miles away, Luca Davis, a young medical student, has no idea his life is about to change. No idea that everything he's been told about his life has been a lie.

Eriu Quinn is off-limits. Too young. Too innocent. And far too forbidden. Her father is the head of the Irish Mob. And I'm just her bodyguard tasked to keep her safe. She's my job, but she's also a maddening temptation. One I need to stay away from. But I underestimate that feisty little spitfire. She creeps under my skin. Pushes all of my buttons. Until I unravel...