There are two kinds of scars on a man. The ones you can see, etched into skin by the Texas sun, and the ones you can't; the kind carved into a twelve-year-old boy watching his legacy get stolen at the barrel of a smile. For AZAD MARTINEZ, the memory is a film reel that never stops playing. The day his father was laid in the ground, his uncle, MALIK MARTINEZ, arrived to deliver his first lesson in family: it's a weakness. He threw Azad and his grieving mother out of their own home, the only home they'd ever known, the very dirt his father had sworn was a sacred trust. But Malik didn't just take the land. As a final, calculated act of cruelty, he took Azad's older brother, ZAYAN, dragging him away to be remade in his own corrupted image. Now, years later, the echoes of that day have become a relentless soundtrack. Azad has built a new empire from nothing, a legitimate agricultural powerhouse, but every success is shadowed by the ghost of what was stolen and the sound of his mother crying in the next room, her tears a silent prayer for the son she couldn't protect, begging for a forgiveness only God and his return can grant. But Malik isn't finished teaching lessons. He's back with a contract, wielding a forgotten debt from Azad's father like a holy writ. He offers a choice that is no choice at all, a move designed to break Azad's spirit completely and claim his hard-won empire. This is where the real war begins. This is a halal romance, a journey deep into the heart of what it means to love under the weight of duty, to seek revenge without losing your soul, and to find the impossible path to forgiveness when the wound is the only thing that reminds you you're still alive. This is a story of one man standing on the land he built, forced to choose between the vengeance that fuels him and the faith that could save him, all while the ghost of his brother and the cries of his mother threaten to pull his world apart at the seams.

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.

*Story Contains Mature and Explicit Content* [COMPLETED] "Strangers in the dark can change your life in the light." "As I reach the front door I can't help the same question swimming around in my mind, what could possibly be on all of those tapes?" ----- Preview: "You wanna try and be my medicine Abby?" he asks with a deep testing tone, keeping his voice quiet. "I can try" I breathe out as I gulp when his grip tightens "Try me" His hand slides up my throat, his long fingers wrapping tight around my jaw "That's what you really want?" I nod, as I sigh out a shallow yes, and I see every muscle in his body tense, as he wets his lips; hoarsely murmuring his next sentence like its his last try at making me change my mind. "I'm dangerous Abby, this is your last chance, tried to warn you" My stomach twists and knots, as I use every ounce of bravery I have. "Prove it then" ----- Book Started : DEC 2018 - COMPLETED MAY 2019

Devil's Due: To acknowledge the positive qualities of a person who is unpleasant or disliked. Harry Styles, the brooding and intolerable tattoo parlour owner, meets River, a stubborn and somewhat oblivious girl, who just doesn't understand the reasoning behind his nefarious ways but is determined to find out. River comes to realize that Harry's hiding something much deeper than expected... only once those secrets come to the surface, it's too late to turn back. -- *18+ // Story Contains Mature and Explicit Content*

"You're nothing but a con man." "I prefer con artist, sweetheart." ➳ Winner of Season 3 1D Watty Awards for Best Smut

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.*