

Tracy Brown moves through the world as the daughter of Ben Brown, one of Ariston continent's most feared crime lords. The truth is darker. She is his captive, kept close and controlled, her life never fully her own. When she watches her mother die at his hands, something in her hardens into purpose. She wants revenge, and she intends to use her assigned bodyguard to get it. What Tracy doesn't know is that her bodyguard isn't who he says he is. Henry Jones is undercover, working to build an airtight case against Ben from the inside. Two people with hidden agendas, orbiting the same dangerous man, each using the other to get what they came for. Somewhere in the middle of the deception,the lines begin to blur. When Henry finally reveals the truth, it doesn't end them. It frees them. Together they dismantle Ben's empire, settle debts older than their partnership, and pull each other out of the darkness they both came in carrying.

On our seventh wedding anniversary, I was straddling my Mafia husband, Lucian, kissing him deeply. My fingers fumbled in the pocket of my expensive silk dress, searching for the pregnancy test I'd hidden there. I wanted to save the news of my unexpected pregnancy for the end of the evening. Lucian's right-hand man, Marco, asked with a suggestive smile in Italian: "Don, your new little canary, Sophia. How does she taste?" Lucian's mocking laughter vibrated through my chest, sending a chill down my spine. He replied, also in Italian: "Like an unripe peach. Fresh and tender." His hand was still caressing my waist, but his gaze was distant. "Just keep this between us. If my Donna finds out, I'm a dead man." His men chuckled knowingly, raising their glasses and swearing their silence. The warmth in my blood turned to ice, inch by inch. The one thing they didn’t know was that my grandmother was from Sicily, so I understood every word. I forced myself to remain calm, keeping the perfect smile of a Donna fixed in place, but the hand holding my champagne flute trembled. Instead of making a scene, I opened my phone, found the invitation I had received a few days ago for a private international medical research project, and tapped "Accept." In three days, I would disappear from Lucian's world completely.