Bloodied Hands


Adelaide Forrest - 2020
    When the masked man takes one look at my face and mutters my name in shock, my world stops. And then he follows it with a plea for forgiveness from the devil himself. Matteo uses the opportunity to invade my life, reclaiming me as if the past twelve years never happened. The boy I loved is gone, replaced by hardened cruelty and a dangerous reputation. But Matteo isn’t the only one who wants to make me a pawn in a game I never agreed to play, and freedom comes at a cost.Matteo Ivory comes strutting back into my life and making demands like she’s in charge. She doesn’t understand the games I played to keep her safe during our time apart. The sacrifice I made for her. She’s an innocent, caught up in the games of men and unprepared to deal with the consequences of her actions. She should have stayed away, but fate brings her back to me. I won’t let her go again. After suffering in the cruelty of my world for too long, I’m ready to feel the light of my Angel in my life once more. No matter what she has to say about it. Bloodied Hands is a full-length standalone novel with an HEA, but the series presents a better reading experience when following the suggested order. This series contains dark elements, including an over-the-top antihero who does as he pleases. Please read at your own discretion.

Nico


Sarah Castille - 2016
    But when he meets his match in the gorgeous, headstrong Mia Cordano, the daughter of a rival crime lord, all bets are off . . . Sexy computer hacker Mia struggles to break free of her ruthless father's Mafia ties . . . but she can't resist the powerful and seductive Nico, who will stop at nothing to possess her. With their families locked in a brutal war for control of the city, Mia and Nico enter into a forbidden game. Will they surrender to the passion that burns between them and risk tearing apart their families? Or will Nico be forced to betray the only woman who sets his blood on fire? Contains mature themes.

Canary


Tijan - 2021
    Names didn’t exist.I joined anyway. I had no other choice because they took my sister.Join. Find her. Try and make it out alive.Then he won me in a poker game.I hated him instantly, thinking he was like my other bosses before him.He wasn’t. He was worse.He wasn’t just cold. He was dead inside.It didn’t matter that he was gorgeous.He was the most lethal thing I’d ever met.He was also the only person who could keep me alive, if he didn’t kill me himself.A/N This is a 102k mafia/cartel standalone.This is the most violent book Tijan has ever written.Trigger warning: references to sexual violence“Canaries sing to save lives. I sing and people die.”

Nero


Sarah Brianne - 2014
    I just want to be a fu**ing made man.I’m just a fu**ing waitress.

The Gift


S.R. Jones - 2019
    King of the murky world in which I live.A Bratva hitman with no mercy.Then she comes along, courtesy of a mob boss with no morals. She’s given to me.A gift...mine.To own, to keep. To do with as I please.With blonde hair, and violet eyes, and an innocence begging to be tarnished, she torments me.But she's so much more than a temptation sent to ruin me.More than I ever imagined.As our secrets unravel, I vow to get to the bottom of this...This beautiful, mysterious, and broken gift.Because now she belongs to me.VIOLETI was taken, the innocent waitress they thought nobody would miss.Then I was given to him...a cold-blooded, unforgiving hitman.With sexy eyes and an irresistible body.But he doesn't know who I am.He doesn't know what secrets I hide.Getting involved with him could be deadly, but can I resist?Reading order of the Bratva Vows series:The Trap: Free PrequelThe Gift: Book OneThe Hit: Book TwoPlease note this is a dark romantic suspense and therefore trigger warnings apply!

Transcending Darkness


Airicka Phoenix - 2015
    But it was the only way to keep her family safe and all she had to do was sell her body and soul to the devil.Killian McClary wasn’t called the Scarlet Wolf for nothing. He’d been the head of the McClary Organization since he was fifteen and had built a reputation for being a ruthless son of a bitch when it came to running the city’s underbelly, not to mention merciless when it came to punishing those who betray him. He didn’t believe in weaknesses. Only results. Juliette, with her shy smiles and hot little body was a weakness unlike any other and yet he was powerless to resist one more taste of her sweet flesh.Two: Become his for a year.When given the choice between her life or her body, what could Juliette possibly do, but submit to a man whose very name invoked fear in the hearts of others? She just never anticipated falling for his dark, hungry eyes and clever hands, or the way the beast in him made her feel oddly safe and cherished.But what will happen when Killian’s dark past finally catches up to him and threatens the woman he can no longer imagine himself without? What will happen when both sides find themselves caught in a web of passion, lies and broken promises? Can Juliette tame the wolf or will her love for him devour them both?Three: Don’t fall in love.Boundaries will be crossed, loyalties will be tested and lives will be changed forever.

Crow


A. Zavarelli - 2016
    A missing friend. Two loyalties, ripping me apart. I had a plan. Get in, get my information, and get out. Easy, right?Turns out, infiltrating the Irish mafia isn’t exactly what I thought it would be. I just wanted a soldier. Someone I could flirt with to get me in the door. That’s when Lachlan Crow noticed me. Problem was, he wasn’t a soldier. No, he was next in line for the throne of the Irish underworld. And he was determined to hate me from the outset. My sob story about needing a job? Yeah, he wasn’t buying that either. Too bad for him, I won’t let anyone get in the way of my mission. Who cares if we have some kind of crazy chemistry? He’s the worst kind of wrong- and I would never in a million years be with a guy like him. Because they took her from me, and I’m going to make them pay.

Art of Seduction


Monique Orgeron - 2017
    Fallon’s life has been a road paved in misery and loneliness.Then one day, she’s propositioned with a way to change it all.From that day forward, Fallon planned on never looking back.Until, she met her target, the man who could destroy everything.Fallon’s a survivor, but can she survive him? Gabriel is independent and brutal.He learned early on about his mother’s games.For years his mother has tried to control every aspect of his life.He was born to be her successor, but he refused to be her chess piece.When a mysterious woman shows up, Gabriel’s life is turned upside down.Is she his mother’s pawn?Soon they will learn that the games Gabriel’s mother, Catherine Stern plays are for keeps.Secrets and deception always find a way of being revealed.

Black Hearts


Karina Halle - 2017
    The son of an infamous drug lord, Vicente was born to help run the family business, which means he’s been raised on a throne of sordid pasts and dirty laundry, violence and pride. But when Vicente stumbles across someone he’s not supposed to know about – a woman from his father’s checkered past – he sets out to California to find her behind his father’s back.What Vicente doesn’t expect to find in San Francisco is Violet McQueen, the woman’s twenty-year old daughter. Beautiful and edgy with a vulnerability he can’t resist, Violet tempts Vicente from afar and though he promised himself he’d stay away from her, curiosity and lust are powerful forces. Besides, Vicente has always gotten everything he wants – why shouldn’t he have Violet too?Soon his wants turn into an obsession, one that sweeps Violet into his games as they fall madly, deeply in love with each other, the type of first love that can drive a person mad.But it’s a love with tragic consequences.Both the truth – and the lies – not only threaten to tear them apart, but threaten their very lives.Someone has to pay for the sins of the fathers.And they’ll be paying the price with their souls.

Nikolai: A Mafia Prince Romance


Shandi Boyes - 2018
    It is the women determined to tame the bad boys.By tame, we mean stake our claim.

Blood and Secrets 1


Rose Harper - 2018
    Lovers of Meghan March's Mount series, Amo Jones' Devils Own Series and The Elite Kings Club, and Tillie Cole's Scared Souls series will lose themselves in this story of all-consuming passion, vengence, and dark dealings.Don't miss the first installment in a deliciously, seductive new series from author Rose Harper.I'm dangerous. Calculated. Bloodthirsty.The perfect motherfucking trifecta of crazy.The name's Mateo Calvetti, and Brooklyn belongs to me.My reach knows no bounds, and I always get what I want.Including the little gem currently twisting my insides.She's been promised to me since birth.Nothing anyone says will change that.She will be mine, whether she wants it or not.I'm going to own her. Consume her. Fuck, I may even keep her.Yet, something comes to light I never expected in my wildest dreams.Blood, secrets, and lies all fall around my feet.Carina Ricci isn’t what she claims to be.It appears she’s just as fucked up as me.Come on, baby, let’s make them scream.Let’s show them what happens when you anger a King and his Queen.This is volume 1 in Blood and Secrets, and is not suitable for anyone under 18. Some portions of this will be hard to read, so be warned before continuing onward. If you do decide to read, Blood and Secrets #1, just remember: The author is not responsible for any kindle's being set ablaze from the raw passion and heated moments between a king and his queen.

Queen of Diamonds


Natalie Bennett - 2018
    His partner. His whore.His mind games. Her morals.The road to hell...Well, there is no road to hell.I already live there.I was forced to partake in a rigged game of seduction, manipulation, and murder.Mateo Remmington is my formidable opponent.He makes the devil look like a saint.He’s immoral.He's ruthless.He's a goddamn king. King of a clandestine empire who sits on a throne covered in innocents’ blood.I’ve become his obsession.He’s becoming my deadly addiction.And if I make one wrong move he’ll end my life.

Bad Saint


Monica James - 2019
    But they didn’t realize I wasn’t a victim…not anymore.The open sea was my backdrop for nine torturous days. During that time, glimmers of my fate were revealed by a man with the mysterious chartreuse-colored eyes. He should have scared me, but he didn’t.He intrigued me. And I intrigued him.He punished me when I didn’t listen, which was every single day. But beneath his cruelty, I sensed he was guarding a grave secret.I was sold. And in a game of poker, no less. My buyer? A Russian mobster who likes to collect pretty things. Now that I know the truth, I only have one choice.Sink or swim.And when one fateful night presents me the opportunity, I take it. I just never anticipated my actions would leave me shipwrecked with my kidnapper.He needs me alive. I want him dead.But as days turn into weeks, one thing becomes clear—I should hate him…but I don’t.My name is Willow.His name is Saint.Ironic, isn’t it? He bears a name that denotes nothing but holiness yet delivers nothing but hell. However, if this is hell on earth…God, save my soul.

Heartless


Jade West - 2020
    That’s my plan until I see her, the woman in gold with the sinful curves and the blonde curls. My will to dominate her runs as deep as the hate I have for her last name. No matter how beautifully she bends beneath my hands, I'll leave her shattered, a broken toy for her cruel family.I'm a sadist, and she's the object of my obsession."I'm speechless... My limits were tested and I even found a few hard limits of my own. I still hear that divinely, sexy man demanding those sinfully sweet words." - USA Today bestselling author B.B. Reid on DIRTY BAD WRONG

Blurred Red Lines


Cora Kenborn - 2017
    A word whispered in fear and respect. A name to avoid at all costs. Until I see something I shouldn't and come face-to-face with it.Abducted. Held against my will. A prisoner of a war I know nothing about.But my kidnapping is more than a case of mistaken identity, and my captor is more than a stranger.He's the heir to the devil.A ruthless cartel prince who takes everything and promises nothing. I should hate him, but the deeper Valentin Carrera drags me into his corrupt world, the harder it becomes to resist either one.He's determined to take more than my freedom.He wants to own my soul.I'm at his mercy. A plea that means nothing to a man whose hands are stained with blood.Until that stain?That blood?It becomes mine.And I'm no longer a prisoner of war.I am the war.*The Carrera Cartel books are all standalones and can be read out of sequence. However, if you prefer to avoid spoilers, it's highly recommended that you read them in order.