Nico De Kysa. Cold. Detached. Ruthless. And my new husband. I didn't want to marry the despicable mafia don. But my father made a deal with the devil, and lucky me, I'm the currency. If I leave… He'll destroy my father's fortune. But if I stay… He'll obliterate my heart. In this union, the lines between love and hate are blurred. So blurred. He's a cold-blooded monster with ice in his veins and frost in his heart. But in bed, Nico De Kysa burns like wildfire. And in the heat of the night, I begin to forget why I hate the mobster.

We were always told as children that monsters are the things that go bump in the night, but they were wrong. Monsters are often the ones that warm your bed, poison dripping from their teeth and claws, embedding in your skin. I hunt them. I end them. Without hesitation. But…then I hesitated. I stumbled straight into the monster’s den, the biggest and baddest of them all. The king of New York. Roman Antonov. I fell in love with him, and his demons. And I hate him for it.

You know the story where the hero comes in and saves the day, rescuing the heroine right in the nick of time? This isn't that story. Instead of a knight in shining armor, he's a sexy, tatted-up Bratva boss with a reputation for being brutal and fierce. Vasily finds me after I've already been brought to my lowest—broken by cruel men until I barely recognize myself. He doesn't offer me salvation. He offers me protection and revenge. And I gladly take it. Because I don't need a knight in shining armor. I need a villain who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty.

When Natalie Tyler arrives in Chicago to attend her cousin's wedding, she is just hoping to survive the week with her estranged family...and her ex-fiancé. One week. One uneventful week at the beautiful Hotel Jefferson is all she has to endure before she can return to her quiet life in Miami. However, fate has other plans.

Living alone in New York, I never felt safe, but I couldn't leave. I was here to find the man I'd lost seven years ago. I had no idea that he'd already found me. I had no idea that he was watching me, controlling my every movement. He's no longer the rebel kid from across the tracks. Now, he's heir to the most brutal bratva the city has ever known. I'm in love with a monster, and he's watching my every move.

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.

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.

I fell in love with Beckett when I was 7. He broke my heart when I was 15. When I was 18, I promised myself I’d forget about him. And I did. For a dozen years. But now he’s back home. Here. In Darling Lake. And I don’t know if I should give in to the temptation swirling between us or run the other way.

He came into my life like a raging storm. The man I despised. The killer with no conscience. I fell as hard as a woman like me can fall. When he bleeds, I feel his pain. When we kiss, I taste his tragedy. When he kills, my heart is stained with all the colors of his vengeance.

What would you do if you walked in on your husband cheating? I'll tell you what I did: Ran out the door with nothing but the clothes on my back. A month later, I'm broke, jobless, almost homeless. But then, while filling in as a waitress at a fancy restaurant, I trip and land in the lap of a gorgeous stranger.

My reputation at Fairview University preceded me. I was the projected number-one pick in the NHL draft and the fan favorite at the rink. People wanted to be me or be with me. Except for Lyla James Marichal.

I was born with noble blood in my veins. Heir to a powerful dynasty. Wealth. Power. Aristocracy. Temptations too dangerous to resist. Until someone tried to steal it all. Scarred and broken, I emerged from the flames. Now I’ve returned to take what’s mine. Revenge. The first item on my agenda? Make Ivy Moreno my wife. Second? Bend her until she breaks.

It was supposed to be a harmless kiss at a lavish debutante ball. A clandestine moment with a handsome stranger. But unlike his namesake, my Romeo isn’t driven by love. He’s fueled by revenge. To him, I’m a chess piece. Leverage. His rival’s betrothed. To me, he is a man deserving of poison. A dark prince I refuse to marry. He thinks I’ll accept my fate. Well, I plan to rewrite it. And in my story, Juliet doesn’t die. But Romeo? He perishes.

I can’t remember anymore if my grandfather’s eyes were blue or green, but I’ll never forget the way they wrinkled at the corners when he laughed at one of his own jokes. Or the way they sparkled with mischief when he told me tales about the magical creatures that dwelled in the forest behind his humble Irish sheep farm. As a child, I believed every fantastical word. But when he warned me about the mute boy who also lurked in those woods, the one the priest had declared to be the spawn of Satan himself, I refused to listen.

I’m out for revenge. He’s out to rule the world. Kirill and I are as different as day and night. We shouldn’t have been in the same frame or universe. But we meet under the strangest circumstances. He’s my superior in the military and the man who’ll introduce me to carnage.