He was born to rule, raised to kill, and trained never to love. Lucien Valdez is the most elusive of the four Valdez brothers. The ghost in tailored suits. The shadow behind every blood-soaked deal. With a stare that silences and a voice that commands, Lucien doesn't need noise to bring terror-he is the silence before the massacre. Cold. Calculated. Dangerous. But the most dangerous men are the ones who've loved and lost-and Lucien never recovered from the first and only woman he gave his soul to. Until she comes back. Not as his lover, but as his enemy. Now, she's walking straight into the lion's den. And Lucien? He's no longer the man she left behind. He's darker. Rougher. Deadlier. And this time, he's not letting her go. In the world of the Valdez Syndicate, love is a war, and Lucien has never lost a battle. Not even the one against his own damn heart.

Inside every man is a shadow. Inside Cassian Valdez... there are two. One is Cassian - refined, quiet, and surgical with his words. He disappears behind silence, cleans up syndicate messes with precision, and wears grief like a second skin. The other is "Sian" - wild, dominant, feral. He doesn't follow orders. He breaks them. And when he's out, someone bleeds. But both of them want her. A woman whose job is to understand fractured minds - and whose past is as scarred as his. She shouldn't fall for either of them. But the man with two souls? He makes destruction feel like devotion.

In a world built on chemicals, secrets, and scars, some things are more addictive than drugs. Like desire. Like revenge. Like the kind of love that doesn't heal you, but hurts exactly where you need it. This is not a story of healing. This is a story of dependency. Of souls that never belonged to the light. Of two people who were never meant to fix each other- but did everything to destroy what was already broken. Because sometimes, the cure tastes just like the poison.

BROKEN BALTHAZAR A Valdez Syndicate Novel - Book 1 Tagalog-English | Mafia Romance | Dark, Explicit, Possessive "You don't heal the devil. You survive him." Balthazar Valdez is a man of few words and too many sins. Mafia boss. Silent sadist. A king with bloodied hands and a heart colder than the steel he uses to kill. No one disobeys him. No one questions him. And definitely-no one leaves him. Until Selene Rodriguez, a fearless investigative journalist, digs too deep. Curious. Sharp-tongued. Beautiful. Dangerous. When she crosses the Valdez Syndicate, Balthazar doesn't kill her. He takes her. Locking her in a golden cage of silk sheets, gunmetal chains, and sensual torment, he vows to break her in every way-body, mind, soul. But Selene is fire, and even the devil himself gets burned. As secrets bleed and desire rises, the hunter becomes the hunted. The captive becomes the obsession. And somewhere in the chaos- a broken man starts to fall. ⚠️ WARNING: This story contains graphic scenes, mature themes, cussing, psychological tension, and explicit content not suitable for minors. Read at your own risk.