It is a well-established fact amongst those who lurk the criminal underworld that love is nothing more than a weakness. It is a weakness that those who want to destroy you will take advantage of in order to bring you down to your knees in the dirt at their feet, with the barrels of their guns pressed against the skin of your temple, ready to end your life with one meaningless flick of their finger. However, Vittorio Lucente, the Don of the most influential and notorious crime family the underworld has ever known, quickly learns that love is an emotion beyond his vast control, and that the moment he starts to fall for the broken beauty behind the bar, it is impossible for him to just stop. Rose feels as though she is a shell of who she could be, having had to live a life where violence and pain was thrust upon her the moment she was born, but that doesn't stop her from falling deeper and deeper into a world where brutality is almost as normal as needing oxygen to live. Rose has her thorns, and yet Vittorio is still all too willing to take a firm grip on her and risk his very own blood being drawn, just so long as he can keep her safe away from those wanting to hurt her. They both have their enemies and they not only threaten to tear the two of them apart, but they also threaten to completely shatter both of their worlds. - A/N - I started this book in 2015, and I'm continuing it in 2020. This is also likely to be the first out of a two book series. Warning: There will be violence and mention of abuse, sexual abuse, drugs, alcohol and sex. Author's Note: This is my first original story and these are my own characters.

His body was as powerful and sexual as I remembered it, he had gotten another tattoo on his shoulder since the last time, a few more scars then I remembered on his chest. His back rippled with muscles as he pulled on a fresh white shirt, my eyes transfixed as he took his time buttoning it up. Somehow it was almost more of a turn on watching him put on his clothes than him taking them off, almost. He wiped the blood off his hands with a kitchen apron in a slow steady motion and I pressed myself back against the wall when his eyes focused on me. My eyes flittered to the back door and I battled with myself on whether or not I could make it before he caught me, I couldn't. He tossed the apron over an empty sink and stalked towards me slowly, a predator in every sense of the word and my eyes drifted to the bloody mess of a man on the kitchen floor, was that going to be me in a second? He stopped just in front of me and reached out to stroke my cheek and I closed my eyes, leaning into his touch despite knowing better. My eyes snapped open when he grabbed my chin tightly and forced me to look at him, was this it, was he going to snap my neck and dispose of my body now? "Touch another man again, and I will kill you" his voice was low and promising and I swallowed as he let go of my chin, pressing a rough kiss to my lips before grabbing my elbow and dragging me out of the kitchen. So much for that arrangement...

Isabel Marant is childhood best friends with Aaron Fox. He just happens to be the hottest movie star since Brad Pitt and Hollywood's new Golden Boy. Now after eight months filming abroad he's back and Isabel's life is about to get a whole lot more complicated....

Lena Lenkov was born into the world of organized crime. The daughter of a high ranking captain of the Russian mob, all her life she's been surrounded by blood and violence. Her father always did his best to shield her from the harsh truths of his world, but it all becomes far too real the day she discovers her parents butchered bodies in their summerhome. Feeling lost and despaired, Lena can't seem to move on with her life until she finds the person responsible for her parents murder. The life she had been building for herself outside of the organization, is far from the world she steps into when she turns to the one man she trusts to help her seek justice, Dmitri Volkov, the most feared man in the Russian mob.