"Your gun, Christian," I whispered breathlessly, the reality of who he was momentarily flashing in my mind. Even in bed, he was a dangerous man. He didn't stop. I felt the vibration of a low, dark smile against my skin before he spoke, his voice grazing my ear. "Gun's under the pillow," he whispered. ౨ৎ Lelani, 20 never asked for chaos. She wanted a quiet life, a clean future, and a chance to finally breathe. Christian, 24 was the kind of man she promised herself she would never get close to dangerous, secretive, and tied to a world she has no business stepping into. But fate doesn't care about warnings. And he's not good at letting go. Something about her pulls him in. Something about him keeps her from walking away. All she knows is this: The boy she shouldn't want is the only one who touches her right.

He holds her heels. She lets her guard down. And in the space between city lights and silence, two people who weren't looking for love start to feel something they can't explain. No drama. No rush. Just raw connection and a spark that won't quit.

"Will it kill you to back the fuck up?" I snapped. "Yes, princess," he whispered sweetly against my ear, voice full of that sick affection. "It would. I would drop dead right here if I couldn't be next to you." "My lucky day," I muttered sarcastically.

Book 1

Deadly assassins Allegra and Ace have been trying in vain to kill each other for years. With a mutual enemy threatening their mafias, they find themselves in an unexpected alliance, and soon discover killing each other isn't the only temptation they need to resist... ****** Allegra Grey is poised to be the next great American mafia leader, and she's more than living up to the name. A skilled assassin, there's only one target who's ever gotten away from her-suave, sinfully handsome Ace De Luca, heir to the Italian mafia and the Greys' biggest rival. When both mafias are faced with a dangerous threat, they're forced to work together to protect their families, and unexpected sparks fly. Allegra definitely isn't one to sleep with the enemy, especially an arrogant womanizer like Ace. But there's an undeniable electricity between them and Allegra's not sure it's all hatred. Ace may be bad news, but Allegra's never been afraid of a little danger. As the fire they're playing with grows to a scorching blaze, one thing is clear: trying to kill each other may have been difficult, but resisting this intense chemistry will be impossible. [[Word count: 100,000 - 150,000]] Cover designed by Regina Dionela Content/trigger warning: Contains mature themes, violence and gore

"𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐢𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐳 𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞"

"You trust me?" he asked, eyes turning soft once they made contact. "Maj, I-I-" "I said do you trust me, Lucky?" he repeated, voice hard. "...yes," she breathed out, and his next words came without hesitation, sending a chill down her spine. "Then shoot."

Alexis Adler has always trusted her eyes. As a forensic sketch artist, she's spent a decade turning fractured witness memories into faces the police can hunt. She's good at it, better than good, until the night she watches her own sister die through a rain-streaked window and can't draw the killer's face at all. Not because she didn't see him. Because what she saw doesn't add up. The detective assigned to the case is convinced Alexis is hiding something. Her therapist thinks grief is distorting her memory. And the sketch she finally produces, three days later, in a trembling, unsteady hand, matches no one on earth. Except it matches someone in her own past, a face she buried the same year she buried her mother. As Alexis digs into the one memory she can't trust, she uncovers a string of unsolved deaths stretching back fifteen years, each one witnessed by someone who saw the impossible and was told they imagined it. Now she has to decide whether to trust her own eyes, or accept that the thing she saw was never meant to be believed. Because in this town, the last thing you see is rarely the truth. It's just all you're allowed to remember. _________________________________________ [Completed] [Mature]