Turning Point - Book TWO of The Cardinal Trilogy:
In the rock-strewn world of the TIF, naivety is a luxury one cannot afford.
Xenia, realizing her outsider status among the organization, makes a daring escape, insisting never to look back - not even her complicated relationship with Romano can sway her resolve.
Starting anew under an alias, with unfamiliar faces and a different job, she believes she's carved out a safe haven, far from Romano's reach. But a desperate pact is about to sinisterly shatter her illusion of safety.
After five months of evading Romano's relentless pursuit, a twist of fate exposes her carefully constructed new life to him, the one person who should never know she still exists.
Romano's return isn't just about reclaiming her; it's a chaotic blend of protection and destruction, adoration and condemnation, solving her problems all the while concocting new ones. He holds the answers to her questions, she hold the ones to his, but at what cost?
As irreversible mistakes pile up and their emotions stagger on the brink, Xenia confronts the dark reality of Romano's world and finds herself wanting no part of it. However, Romano's addiction burns so vigorously that even the taste of her sins is tormenting, yet tempting.
Romano knows they can never exist in a perfect world; duty clashes with desire, pleasure battles with power. Faced with an impossible choice - kill or be killed - his once clear-cut decisions blur into uncertainty.
If he can't have her, no one will. If he can't kill her, no one should. If she's under his wings, no one else could be soaring above her. But when his loyalty to the TIF is pitted against her survival, will he risk everything for love, or submit to the ruthless pursuit of power?
To get through a heartache after the sudden breakup, Arabella moves to New York City to start another chapter of her life.
Driven by the hope to make Adrian Castle, the man who left her broken to pieces with an excuse of protecting her against his world, Arabella suffers a mess and as retribution for her pain, she embarks on a journey of self-destruction by embracing the real her no one knows and accepts the challenge of living in the same world Adrian tried to protect her against.
But hating Adrian is more difficult than loving him, little did Arabella know until she's once again trapped in that dark and intense love, unable to escape its never-ending, vicious cycle. She falls victim to her own desire while drowning deeply in Adrian's dangerous world of killing or getting killed--the world full of lies, secrets, and so much deception that she learns along the way.
In the end, everyone has a secret, and so does Adrian Castle who learns the real meaning of pain when it's time to face the wrath of his past. Some of the lives he took, the hearts he broke, and the families he destroyed--whether willingly or not--come back to haunt him, and eventually demand the one thing he cherishes the most.
The love that feared no danger, the one that overcame excruciating pain will once again be tested by the ugly truth Arabella uncovers about Adrian Castle. Perhaps he's not the man she thought he was, and maybe he's indeed nothing but a cruel, emotionless monster who destroys everything he touches.