the sunshine effect

Aurora Valenz wears silk like armor and rules the underworld with a calm that terrifies even seasoned killers. At twenty-three, she is a self-made mafia queen-ruthless, precise, and untouchable. She didn't inherit power. She stole it, bled for it, and reshaped it in her image. In a world where loyalty is currency and fear is law, Aurora has mastered both.

But power is lonely.

Behind closed doors, her empire echoes with silence. The family she secretly craves-a husband, children, warmth-remains a fantasy she dismisses as weakness. Love, after all, has always been a lie sold to women to cage them. Men are liabilities. And Aurora Valenz refuses to be owned.

Then there is Xavier Hawthorne.

The largest syndicate head in the world, Xavier doesn't rule cities-he controls systems. Borders, ports, money, information. His power is invisible, absolute, and unchallenged. Cold-hearted and merciless, he eliminates threats without spectacle and absorbs empires without resistance. He has never met an equal.

Until Aurora refuses to kneel.

Their collision is inevitable. What begins as a strategic meeting on neutral ground turns into a war of minds-calculated conversations, unspoken threats, and a dangerous recognition neither can ignore. They are not enemies. They are not allies.

They are storms.