Showing results by author "Charmaine Pauls" in All Categories

I got myself in a predicament. Powerful people on both sides of the law want me dead. A killer needs me alive for his own selfish reasons, reasons I never could’ve imagined in my wildest dreams. I’m not safe in the bed of a cold–blooded murderer, but I don’t have a choice. On the one hand, he offers me protection, and on the other, he tightens the noose.

I stumbled across something I wasn’t supposed to discover. I saw something I wasn’t meant to see, and now I’m an alibi for a killer. He’s the most feared and powerful man in the New York underworld. I don’t have a choice but to do as he says. But he commands so much more than just my testimony.

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.

Angelo Russo came like a storm into my life and left destruction in his trail. The man who hates me beyond measure is the man who put a ring on my finger and gave me his name. My husband is my worst enemy. There’s nothing left to salvage from the wreckage of our lives. He married me to destroy me, and he did an outstanding job. He took my innocence and my virtue.

A deal sealed with a handshake promised she’d be mine. A broken vow ripped her from my future. I made unspeakable sacrifices to claim what rightfully belongs to me. After all the blood I shed in her name, the bond that ties us is hatred. The war cost us both dearly, but the price we paid won’t be in vain. I’ll never let her go.

Once upon a cold, dark night, a Russian killer stole me from an alley. I’m dangerous, but he is lethal. I escaped once. He won’t let me do it twice. The revenge is his. The betrayal is mine. But so are the lies to protect the ones I love. We’re cut from the same twisted cloth. Both merciless. Both damaged. In his embrace, I find hell and heaven, his cruelly tender touch destroying and uplifting me at once. They say a cat has nine lives, but an assassin has just one. And Yan Ivanov now owns mine.

Men like us, we see things. We do things, things that make us unfeeling. That's the price of power and money, of living la belle vie and running the French mafia. Then she came along like a pretty wildflower pushing through the cracks on a dirty pavement - fragile yet resilient, a breath of beauty among the filth.

I'm a loan shark. Breaking people is in my blood. The Haynes were supposed to be a straightforward job. Go in and pull the trigger twice. One bullet for Charlie, one for his sister. But when I saw Valentina, I wanted her. Only, in our world, those who owe us don't get second chances. No way in hell will my mother let her live. So I devised a plan to keep her. It's depraved. It's immoral. It's dubious. It's perfect. Just like her.

Zavir is a guardian. He's the best the Krinar has. His assigned vocation is to uncover the Resistance movements popping up around the earth and eliminate them. New information about a fast-growing Resistance camp sends him to Costa Rica, home of the largest Krinar Center. His informant is a human girl. She wants to make a deal - her traitorous family's lives in exchange for information - but Zavir doesn't make deals, and he takes no prisoners.

I tried hard to remain invisible, particularly here. In my circles, it’s dangerous to be noticed, especially by men like Leon Hart. He’s different than the other men who work for my stepfather. Quiet. Intense. He’s not a brain or a muscle. He’s both. And more.

Ian Hart is the most wanted fugitive in the country. His gang is linked to the riskiest and biggest heists in the history of the continent. His identity is an enigma to everyone except me. Because, the night he robbed the casino, he set his sights on a different target.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t escape him. No one can keep me safe. Every year on my birthday, he brings me a gift, each one having a detrimental effect on my life with unimaginable consequences. With every gift he offers, he claims another one of my firsts. Before I know it, he’s taken control of my existence, turning me into a nervous wreck, because when I turn 18, I know what first he’ll come for next.

Of all the hospitals in New York City, he walks into mine. I know from the moment I see him that Alex Volkov is dangerous. He’s the kind of trouble from which every woman should run. The bullet his bodyguard took for him proves that. My attraction to him is not rational, not logical...but it’s too strong to resist. I tell myself it will be just one night. One night to step away from the stress of work, to give into temptation. But before I know it, he’s pulling me deeper into his world of excess and violence, invading not only my life but my heart.

My instincts warned me that Alex Volkov is a dangerous man. My mind told me to run when he set his sights on me with unfaltering determination. It’s not that I didn’t try to resist, but Alex had a game plan. He was always one step ahead of me, skillfully drawing me deeper into his web. Even when he gave me freedom, it was only an illusion.

One of the wealthiest Russian oligarchs, Alex Volkov is as ruthless as he is magnetic. He always gets what he wants, and what he wants is me, in his bed. He’s the kind of trouble every woman should run from. The bullet his bodyguard took for him proves that. I should stay far away, but for one night, I give in to temptation. Before I know it, he’s pulling me deeper into his world of excess and violence, invading not only my life but my heart. How much trust can I place in a man so dangerous? How much do I dare risk for his love?

Six years ago, Harold Dalton framed me for theft and sent me to jail to steal my diamond discovery. He gave his daughter to Jack Clarke in exchange for the excavation rights. Today, I’m walking free, and I’m coming for him with a vengeance. Six years of cruelty make beasts out of men. I’m going to take back what he stole from me, and more. I’m not interested in his properties or shares. I don’t want his small change. I want his biggest asset. Beautiful, mentally unstable, Angelina Dalton-Clarke.

When Gabriel broke down my door, he took over my body and life. Never with force, but always with clever manipulation. He stripped me of my independence, my defenses, and my clothes and turned me into an addict. My addiction is him. Once, I had dreams and a future. Now, I have fears, scars, and insatiable needs. I’m damaged beyond repair, but if I’m to survive the most dangerous man in Johannesburg, I can’t allow him to break me, because broken toys are destined for the garbage dump.

In my line of business, every day dawns with the smell of death in the air. But it’s not a bullet that’s going to slay me. It’s Sabella, the woman who was promised to me—the woman who betrayed me. We’re heading down a path of destruction, but there’s no turning back. At the first chance she gets, she’ll stab me in the back again. She’s a dangerous risk and a threat to my family. If I were wise, I’d eliminate that risk and leave her funeral to the sharks. I must be an idiot, because I’m going to finish what I started, no matter the cost.

Ian Hart is the most notorious criminal in the country. Like the thief he is, he came in the dark and stole a night of my life. He left me with souvenirs. Disaster and fear are my new realities. I’ll forever look over my shoulder, terrified he’d return, because when he took me, he stole more than just a few hours of my time. His crime has consequences neither of us could’ve imagined. If I’m to escape the nightmare of my life, I have to outsmart him.

My life depends on playing the role convincingly. I’ve been trained for that role since the age of 15. For 10 long years, I’ve been taught to be someone else, to respond to a different name, and to live in another woman’s shadow. Evie Warren is the most coveted mafia princess in the country, and I’m her double. I’m the decoy, her stunt girl, so to speak.