Dante Romano, the most powerful Italian mafia leader is forced to pick a bride by his cruel father in a week. When a man betrays his trust and steals from him, Dante is about to kill him before the man mentions he has a daughter around his age and will sell her to him to marry her. But this guy and girl never believed in love because of something to do with their cruel fathers. What will happen when these two broken souls meet each other? Will they help each other in finding their true selves again? Will they actually fall in love? Keep reading to find out...

Nandini Varma owns the only bookstore in town and is content with hiding her awkward self behind bestsellers. What she doesn't know is that her favorite author has moved near her, and that perhaps she could finally have a love story of her own, even if it's an awkward one. ***** Ryan Callahan wants to move on from his writing career and just work for the police. It's hard though, when the town's book lady happens to be a huge fan of his. She's smart, funny, beautiful, and kind - a lethal combination. He wants to get to know her more, but something seems to be holding her back. Who is this mysterious woman that Ryan can't stop thinking about? Content/trigger warning: This story contains themes of sexism and verbal abuse. [[word count: 70,000 - 80,000]] Cover designed by Joe Resch