"All you have to do is kill this man." He told me, sliding the picture of a man across the table to me. "I just have to kill him? Then you'll let my brother go?" I asked, staring at the picture before looking back up at the man. "You have my word. Kill this man and we'll give you back your brother." The man promised. I glanced down at the picture again, already feeling guilty. "What's his name?" "Stefano Colombo." The last thing Alaya Pierce thought would happen when she moved to New York to live with her brother was get involved with the Italian mafia. Unfortunately for her, her brother owed some money and, unable to pay his debt, got taken. Desperate to save her brother, Alaya made a deal with a mafia boss. She just didn't think it would put her on the radar of a mafia boss more powerful and terrifying than the first. **Updates on Wednesdays.** #1 - toughlove 9/19/2020

Katy Fairchild is an orphan and knows that no respectable man will marry her. But when a storm throws her into the arms of a mysterious stranger, will she fight society's opinion of her low status to pursue a forbidden romance? ***** At the age of nine, Katy Fairchild was brought to the small village of Wilshire to live with her distant relations, the Banes family. Brought up as a companion to their daughter, Eliza, Katy has lived a life according to her low rank and limited opportunities, and without complaint. But one day when she is nineteen, she gets caught in a dangerous storm with a handsome man who is unlike anyone she's met before. The encounter throws Katy into a world she never knew. For the first time, a better life may be just around the corner, but is she prepared to fight for it? [[word count: 70,000 - 80,000]] Cover designed by Cil Ojumo

Eliza Banes, her ambition for adventure and her penchant for trouble, have often been trying on her poor mama's nerves. All her mother desires is for Eliza to be married and settled, but Eliza has other plans. Seizing an opportunity to stow away on a merchant ship to live out her dreams of seeing the world, Eliza has no idea what she is getting herself into. What she thought would be a harmless adventure sees her experience new challenges, rowdy sailors, evil pirates, and it brings her face to face with the surliest sea captain with a heart of pure gold. Eliza is about to discover the true meaning of, "be careful what you wish for."