In an effort to strengthen the weakening mafia empire, the Hernandez and Lopez decide to unite their families against the growing threat of prison through an advantageous marriage. A union between them meant access to more resources, which strengthened them further. A solid plan, one finalized with a meeting . . . but one with a slight thorn. The last thing Juan Lopez wants to do was part with his bachelor life. Drinking, dancing, and women are the only components of his life that he cares about, and he doesn't want to be shackled to a wife at the age of twenty three. Spoiled and lazy, he'd never worked a day in his life, and he certainly had no plans to start now. Why should he, when he had his father's money to inherit? There was hardly a point in working when he had access to that kind of wealth. Rest assured, he'd been making full use of his resources, and he did not want to stop now. Or ever. Valeria Hernandez, on the other hand, has no qualms with the marriage. Not that she's looking forward to it anymore than Juan, but it may grant her freedom of the sort which she has never experienced before. Her mother, a cold, cruel vulture, has been obsessed with her daughter's looks, behaviour, and basically every single aspect of her life ever since Valeria was born. Her only reason? She must make an acceptable bride. Valeria had learned early on that her mother would sink to any level, do anything and stop at nothing to get her daughter under her control. Perhaps now that she was finally married, it might grant her freedom. And, as they soon found, they made a pretty good team. Working together to quell the looming threat that was the new chief of police (and achieving the goal of this marriage in the process - along with much more), the late nights, early mornings, and seemingly endless planning seemed to bring to light who they truly were. This marriage could work out. But would it work out in the way they thought it would? (No smut, some fade to black)

I read the Grishaverse duologies and don't know how to deal with it so this a piece of self service about Kaz finally telling his friends about his backstory. All rights and characters belong to the wonderful Leigh Bardugo. Takes place right after Rule of Wolves, so, spoiler alert. *also, I know the end of RoW was rather open ended but in this fanfic Hanne is trans and goes by he/him.*