Brooklyn A Novel

Bonnie Walton had a crush on Jude Ashford since the first time she saw him when she was twelve and he was twenty-two. Jude is her brother’s best friend. He was always indifferent towards Bonnie until the summer she turned fifteen and he caught her reading a smut book and promised it was their little secret. Over the years, her feelings for Jude developed from a crush into a burning, heart-wrenching desire.  After years of not seeing each other, she can no longer hide her feelings for him on her eighteenth birthday, and their attraction ignites. They have the most lustful and sinful that leads to Bonnie losing her vCard to Jude.  Jude Ashford is the synonym of perfection, CEO of Ashford Publishing. He never steps out of line, being the most respectful man on the face of the earth. Jude always tries to be away from the spotlight his name brings.  What will happen when the woman that broke his heart ten years ago reappears in his life engaged? Will Jude be able to fight the jealousy he feels and allow her to find happiness with another, or will he fight to be with her?  Now that Bonnie is back in New York and living with her brother, Will Jude, and Bonnie be able to keep their hands to themselves? Or will their red-hot scorching desire for each other to get them to be together and reveal their attraction? Even if it means losing their best friend and brother’s support?

Luciano Everyone thought my wife was dead, but I never stopped searching for her. When I finally found her, the timid young woman I forced to marry me was all gone. In her place was a fiercely independent woman who hated my guts. I might have deserved it. But did it stop me from dragging her, her secret child and her best friend back to New York City with me? Absolutely not. My wife belonged with me and it was time I proved it to her. Grace Life on the run had some benefits. Your mobster husband could no longer use you. Nor could your rotten family who wanted you dead. Instead, I was living my best life ever in a tiny Sicilian village with my son and best friend. Until we were found. My husband dragged us all back, but this time I was determined to fight him. I wouldn’t fall for his charms and hot kisses again because I had so much more to lose this time around. If only my heart would get on board with my plans.

He was raised by blood and fire. She was born from loss and buried memories. Lorenzo is a ruthless mafia king—cold, calculating, and feared across Chicago and New York. Groomed to inherit an empire soaked in violence, he has spent his life clawing his way toward one goal: freedom. Three more years, and he plans to walk away from the underworld forever, leaving the bloodstained crown behind. But fate has other plans. Mel lives a quiet life defined by art, guilt, and responsibility. Haunted by dreams of a boy with mismatched eyes and surrounded by roses, she believes they are nothing more than fragments of her imagination—until those dreams begin to feel dangerously real. When their worlds collide, buried truths resurface. The boy Lorenzo once was. The girl he once saved. A promise neither of them remembers making—but never truly broke. As enemies close in and the past claws its way back to the surface, Lorenzo must choose between the empire he was born to rule and the woman who could destroy it. Loving her means risking everything—his power, his future, and the carefully controlled monster he’s become. Because some roses don’t bloom to be protected. They bloom to bring kings to their knees. And in a world of thorns, love may be the deadliest weapon of all.

Isabella was born in the mafia, but she wasn’t born of royalty. All she knew was pain and ran away from a life of chaos and destruction before it could kill her. Now, she’s older and a defense attorney living in New York City. All was going well until she received a letter from the one person who has always looked out for her. She was getting married and wanted Isabella to come home and witness her union. Isabella wanted to refuse, but she knew she had to do it. Now that she’s back home, she’s thrusted back into the flames of Mafia life. A certain man has his eyes on her and won’t let her leave. What will happen when Isabella learns that the very man who sets her body ablaze, is a man who runs the same Mafia she’s running from? This is a story about finding love in all the wrong places, and how forgiving the past can open you up to a beautiful future.

Valentina Moretti has survived by her wits, her beauty, and her lies. A conwoman with no family and no loyalties, she trusts only herself—until a scheme gone wrong puts her in the hands of Dante Romano, heir to one of the most feared crime families in New York. Dante should have ended her. Instead, he gives her a choice: work for him… or be destroyed. What begins as a dangerous game of control and defiance soon twists into something neither of them can resist. Dante is ruthless, magnetic, impossible to escape—and Valentina discovers that the closer she gets to him, the more she craves the very danger he embodies. But the city is a kingdom of liars, and Valentina is about to uncover a secret buried in blood and shadows—one that will shatter everything she thought she knew about herself. Love and betrayal collide as Dante and Valentina are drawn into a war that could destroy them both. And in a world ruled by wolves, crowns are forged not in gold… but in lies.

Manhattan was doing that thing again twinkling like it had all the answers, when really it just had expensive lighting. Alexander Knight leaned against the glass wall of his penthouse, seventy-five floors up, watching the city hum below him. Bourbon in one hand (mostly untouched), phone in the other. The merger docs stared back at him from the screen, but the part that actually kept him up at night wasn’t the billions on the line. It was the fine print from the Japanese investors: “Family stability preferred.” Translation: get a wife, look settled, or watch the whole deal slip away. He exhaled, fogging the window for a second before it cleared. His assistant had already sent over a neat little list of “suitable” women—discreet, polished, zero drama. Women who understood arrangements. He hadn’t even opened the attachments. Because something about the whole thing felt… hollow. His gaze drifted down, past the grid of lights, to the tiny café on the corner. Golden glow spilling onto the sidewalk, handwritten sign in the window: Local Artist Pop-Up – One Night Only. A woman stood in front of a canvas, head tilted, paint-smudged shirt slipping off one shoulder. She was talking to someone out of view, laughing softly, then stepped back to study her work like it had personally offended her. She glanced up—straight toward his building, straight at him somehow, even though there was no way she could see him up here. But for a split second, their eyes locked across the impossible distance. But right then, with the whole damn city glittering between them, he had this ridiculous, unshakable thought: She’s the one I’m going to ask. And hell help them both when she says yes.