Running from hell isnʼt easy. Especially when someoneʼs dragging you back down into it. Belligerent, brash and always in shades of black, Freya is hardly a lady. Hidden away by her father, sheʼs lived a normal life despite being born into the dark waters of New Yorkʼs underworld. Heʼs cold, cruel and calculating, with a proclivity for destruction. Feared by even Made Men, Torren is the boss of the stateʼs most leachorous crime syndicate. Freya hates his crudity and possessiveness, but she canʼt deny the way her breath hitches at his rough touch, the deep timbre of his voice, and his dark, heated gaze. Torren hates her disobedience, her recklessness, and her chaos. To him, sheʼs only something to be tamed. And after he slips a ring on her hand, snatching away her future, she makes only one vow---to become his biggest torment.

[01/07/2021] - [13/04/2023] "You can't keep going around like a fucking maniac and treating me like shit. That isn't how relationships work," Sophia's voice was havoc as she verbalized her emotions. "That isn't how we work..." Tired, vulnerable and agitated at not only him, but herself. How could she let herself get this far, in such little time? He looked down, ashamed, not wanting to respond. His heart felt like it was beating faster than it should've. "I forgot how it felt to love you." As soon as those words were uttered from Sophia's lips, his world broke apart. Gone, in just a matter of seconds. - - - When Sophia Adam moves to a new town, she wishes nothing more than a boring, new life, to separate herself from her past. Moving meant completing university and getting a clerkship with a judge. Moving meant making refreshing new friends, and meeting a mysterious guy that seems hell-bent on getting to know her. To Sophia, moving to a new town was everything she imagined and more. She just didn't expect her past to follow.

Revenge. I'm familiar with it. You have to be when you're the firstborn son of a notorious mafia leader. Death and vengeance have been the very foundations of my life. So who in their fucking mind would be stupid enough to cross me? My brother and I have been wrongfully convicted of a crime we didn't commit. We know who is behind this. We bid our time behind bars, planned and prepared for the day we got out. Now we're free and hungry for redemption. I know what must be done. I know whose blood will be spilled. But before I go after him, I'll go after his daughter. I never said I play fair. *Book one in the Marino Brothers Duet. Rated 18+ due to explicit language, sex, and violence.*