~ Nirah Avani Grey She's a skilled assassin who works under the name Ava. She is on the hunt for the person who murdered her parents. She gets a call from Black Blade, an assassin company offering her a massive sum of money to locate and kill a mystery target. But good always has to come with bad for her... she has to work with the man she hates. ~ Lucien Aresius Valentino He's also an assassin and he's known for being cold and ruthless. He works under the name Ares. What happens when Nirah finds out everything that's happening in her life is connected, and Lucien is in the middle of it? ♤ ♡ ◇ ♧ • COMPLETED • EDITED/in editing July 2025: so sadly some of your... lovely... comments will be deleted but I'll try to keep as many original paragraphs as possible 🤍 (book will remain published through editing so it won't effect current readers) Please read the info + warnings at the beginning of the book <3

'"Who the fuck do you think you are?" I yell, tears bubbling around my waterline. The masked man stops, his body freezes, his back to me and his hand hovering above the door. My feet are planted firmly on the ground, numb legs full of icy cold blood and stiff bones. I stand thirty feet from him, close enough for him to hear my shaking voice, close enough for him to feel my nerves, all the feelings flooding my body, but far enough as to keep a distance between us, a gap of time for me to run. The man turns, his emotionless mask facing me. That cold, taught face. I hate this, the fact he has that factor to his advantage. To him, I am Sofia. I'm a twenty year old who goes to university and lives in New York. I'm Italian and American, I have dark brown eyes and curly hair. He knows my voice and my face, my body, my style. He knows my friends, my address. He knows all there is to know about me from the surface level. And I? I know not a single thing about him. He has no name nor face. I can't see the shape of his body besides his height. He is no one, there is nothing I can say about him. He has the upper ground, he is winning.' Nineteen year old Sofia Bianchi's life long bodyguard retires from his position, meaning one thing for the girl- a replacement. The new pain in Sofia's ass takes its form in a tall, hot headed Russian- Nikolai, who has only one objective in mind: protect his boss' daughter. Feelings get lost within professionalism, and with the rapidly growing threat of an obsessive stalker hot on Sofia's tail, it's only a matter of time before something goes terribly wrong.