She nodded solemnly. "With my girl charm and my pretty dress. But now I just feel like a hot pile of creamed corn." I dragged a hand over my face. "You need water. And sleep." "I need closure." "Sunshine..." "No," she said, standing straighter and stabbing a finger into my chest. "You don't get to look like that and make me feel feelings and then just go all mysterious and noble and disappear like a sexy hitman Batman." "Sexy hitman Batman?" "I had a lot of wine." "I noticed." ●・○・●・○・● She bakes cookies. He breaks bones. Everyone in the city fears mafia boss Dominic Moretti-everyone except Tessa Bloom, the relentlessly cheerful café owner next door to his front business. She calls him "Mr. Broody," brings him muffins he never asks for, and walks into his office like it's not occupied by a man who could have someone disappeared with a phone call. Dominic doesn't have time for distractions-especially not sweet, sunshine-eyed distractions with flour on their noses. But when Tessa finds herself tangled in the underworld he's spent a lifetime controlling, protecting her becomes more than a duty. It becomes personal. And suddenly, the most dangerous man in the city starts falling for the only woman who isn't afraid of him. ●・○・●・○・● Word count: 23,178 Top Rankings: 10.14.25 - #6 in Mafia

*sequel of Mercy* After the tragic 'break-up' that has taken place between Athena and Vincenzo, she went to college to busy herself and distract her from the heartache he caused. It's now a year and a half later, and Athena has returned home for the holidays. She has matured in many ways and promised herself never to be naïve again, to never let someone in her heart that easily. She swore to never succumb to anyone - especially if that someone is named Vincenzo. But as soon as she lays her eyes back on Vincenzo, all that she has promised herself flies out of her mind. She starts doubting all her promises because she knows that she won't be able to resist his charms. And deep down she wonders if she really has moved on from him.

"You're going to let me fuck you like a good girl?" he asks and leans down, "Because you are, aren't you? A good girl?" . . . Elena Amoretto has always been smitten by the one and only, Ares Aetos. For three years, she's adored him from afar. Admiring the god of war and falling deeper into her obsession. While Ares can't seem to stand her. Where she's infatuated with him, he merely acknowledges her existence. While being the center of the spotlight herself. As the front woman of the rising band Icarus, Elena has to face the world while struggling with anxiety. To make matters worse, Ares is the drummer of the band rivaling hers, Dopamine. And just as fate would have it, his band and hers are touring together. She's supposed to hate him. But how could she? When all she does is drown in the blue of his eyes and willingly dies at the ruthless hands of Ares? The god of war who brings her down on her knees while she blissfully falls into his melancholy.

After Nicole's father died she stopped feeling. She stopped having emotions. Eventually she began to bring the emotions back and felt again. She took over her families mafia and made friends. But that all changes in her 18th birthday when she finds out her father arranged a marriage for her. The man she marries is awful and to make matter worse, he is allied with the mafia that killed her father. Nicole falls back into her endless void of darkness and turns off all her emotions. She becomes feared. She gains power. And she is known to be heartless. When it all becomes to much, how is it that the least expected person pulls her out of that darkness? TW: SH, Depression, abuse, violence/torture, ED *** Book Cover done by @_navyblueee_

Alessia Ferrari is the Don of the Italian Mafia. Whip-smart and dangerous, she is a woman in a man's world, surviving against all odds. Born and raised to become a lethal killer, even the ground she walks on bows at her feet. She has it all, until that is, her father gives her hand away in marriage. Ace Hernandez is the boss of the American Mafia. He's a cold cruel hearted monster. He knows the game all too well and does whatever it takes to win and if that means breaking someone, he could do that with his eyes closed. Fate is vicious when the two are forced to marry. Will two monsters find solace in each other's arms or will they kill each other? ---------------------------- "I don't recall signing up for strip poker." She replied. Her full lips frowned softly but her eyes were filled with amusement. She knew she couldn't beat me, not at this game. "Are you quitting? Are you a quitter?" I mocked getting under her skin. Her lips twitched before she pursed them tightly. The blues of her eyes deepened and she threw me a dangerous smirk. She shuffled and pulled off one of her sandals. Fuck. So we're doing this the long way. She raised it in the air, dangling it off her finger before tossing it aside. She raised a brow at me, she challenged me. I knew I got under her skin. Just as I had anticipated. -------------------------- BE AWARE: Trigger warnings: MATURE CONTENT 18+ (SMUT) SWEARING VIOLENCE/GUN VIOLENCE SELF HARM/SUICIDE (REFERENCES) EXPLICIT LANGUAGE REFERENCES TO RAPE SMOKING/ALCOHOL/DRUGS BLOOD/DEATH/GORE ©️ All rights reserved ™️ The Walnut Tree BOOK ONE OF THE MAFIA SERIES

In high school, Lila was the awkward, introverted girl who dared to ask the school's golden boy, Jay, for help with dating. What started as innocent practice "dates" led to somewhat of a friendship-at least for Lila, who accidentally developed a crush. But Jay, oblivious to her feelings, saw their bond as purely platonic. On prom night, when Lila catches Jay kissing someone else, she resolves to bury her crush and focus on herself. After graduation, their lives take different paths, and they lose touch. Now in their early twenties, Jay has returned to the city as a confident young professional, while Lila is in her final year of college, juggling school and her career. When their worlds collide again, the simple friendship they once had feels distant, replaced by tension, nostalgia, and a spark neither of them can ignore.

𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐄 is pretty sure her new neighbor is a serial killer. What else could explain his antisocial behavior, creepily minimalistic apartment, and that inhumanly emotionless demeanor? Not to mention the bloody body parts that have started showing up. It's too bad she's not scared of him. Or his unveiled threats on her life. But an emotionally scarred gangster on the run -- riding the brink of insanity and followed by a host of trouble -- is a lot more than she could've bargained for. 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐌𝐎 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐎 is beyond redemption. Capo of the Romano crime family, the sociopathic Prince of Chicago, hell wrapped in a designer suit. He exemplifies cold precision and perfect control. His job has always come easily to him for the very same reason that his name is feared widely: he's incapable of emotion. But something horrifying and sinister is beginning to happen to him. And it turns out that pesky slipping sanity is the least of his concerns. Because his new neighbor is a ray-of-sunshine wildcard dipped in beauty like he's never seen, and she won't leave him alone. Worse, he can't decide if he should kill or protect her. Massimo doesn't count on Vivienne being the first person to look at him like he's human. Or demons from his past coming back to haunt him. Much less a new threat looming on the horizon. Or love. Especially not that. ♛ Deviant Prince is a slow burn, enemies to lovers, dark mafia romance. WARNING: this story gets very dark. You must check the CW in the intro. [ Book 2 in the Romano Brotherhood Series | COMPLETED ✔ ]

She feared him more than anything-until he became the only place she felt safe. After escaping years of abuse, Lina found a fragile kind of peace scrubbing floors in a mercenary's mansion. Quiet, invisible, and broken, she kept her head down and her voice lower. Especially around him. Killian. He kills for a living. He is a powerful, cold-blooded mercenary, a wealthy man who built his empire off blood, fear. He owns a powerful private military company that operates in the shadows, answering only to the highest bidders. He commands killers, closes deals, and never makes mistakes. Until her. A glance. A flinch. A wound she tried to hide. And suddenly, he was watching her closely. Quietly. Like she was a puzzle he didn't mean to touch... but couldn't stop obsessing over. Killian: "You blush like that again, and I swear I'll pin you against this wall just to see how deep it goes." He didn't know how to be soft. She didn't know how to be wanted. But in a house full of violence, he saw her. And he started to change. And soon, she was everywhere in his mind.

Arabella never meant to get close to someone like him. Warren is reckless, unreadable, and surrounded by rumors that make people run. But the more she's warned to stay away, the more she wants to know why he hides behind those walls...and why he can't seem to stay away from her either. ────୨ৎ──── Warren Reid is a name everyone in town knows, and not for good reasons. He left a student unconscious before disappearing into juvie, and now that he's back, the rumors are worse than ever. With a past that whispers warnings and a reputation that silences rooms, Warren is used to being feared, not understood. Emotions are weaknesses in his world, and vulnerability has never been an option. Until her. Arabella Winters is the picture of perfection and the last girl anyone would expect to cross paths with someone like Warren. Smart, sweet, and sheltered, she follows every rule her parents set, never once stepping out of line. But one knock on Warren's door throws her into his world, and nothing is the same after that. Everyone says he's trouble, but Arabella doesn't see the monster they all fear. She sees someone broken, someone hiding wounds no one else bothers to look for. What starts as innocent curiosity turns into something neither of them can ignore. She's drawn to the shadows he hides in, and he can't stay away from the light she doesn't even know she carries. Now Arabella has to ask herself: is she helping Warren escape the darkness...or is she just letting it swallow her too? (EXPECT CRINGE AND CLICHES!!)