Albedo And Sucrose

"This brutally romantic mafia love story will grip you!" ~#1 New York Times bestselling author Helen Hardt Arranged-marriage, age-gap, Mafia/cartel romance Capo to the Luciano Famiglia was my birthright. The cruelty needed to succeed in this life has been beaten into me since I was a young boy. My father, Vincent Luciano, taught by example and with the slap of his hand. My independent streak took me down paths my father would never have gone. With our enemies gaining strength, it is my idea to attempt an alliance with an unlikely bedfellow. The Roríguez Cartel and the Luciano Famiglia are improbable partners, yet even Vincent Luciano can’t deny the possible benefits. The only way to solidify the deal is for me to marry Catalina Ruiz, the eldest daughter of Andres Ruiz, a top lieutenant in the Roríguez Cartel. Catalina is young, beautiful, and thinks she understands the path she is being forced to follow. There is no way for her to know the monster she is about to wed. A man doesn’t become a made man at thirteen if he is capable of love. That emotion is beyond my scope of expertise. Saving the famiglia is my goal. And once this alliance is made, ours will be but the first of the brutal vows exchanged. Have you been Aleatha’d?

Alexa loved him when he was untouchable. Hulio wanted her when it was too late. Now, she’s the woman he never saw coming. Alexa Hills was always the overlooked one, the awkward girl with plain looks and a heart too tender for a world obsessed with appearances. She was rejected by all. But behind her timid eyes burned the legacy of a dynasty, and the will of a queen in waiting. Hulio Ripples, one of the heirs to Ripples Investment Firm, was every woman’s dream, charming, arrogant, and hopelessly smitten with Alexa’s glamorous older sister, Ashley. To him, Alexa was a nobody. To him she was a reject. Until his world crashed, quite literally, and she was the only one who stayed. When tragedy strikes, Alexa gives up everything to care for the man she’s always loved. For a moment, it seems like her devotion will be enough. But when Hulio recovers, he returns to the woman who once broke him—leaving Alexa shattered and pregnant with his child. Now, she’s back. Not the shy girl he once ignored, but a stunning force of power and poise—CEO of Hills Fusion and a woman with nothing left to lose. With the help of his brother, Helia, she rises from heartbreak to empire, crushing Hulio’s pride and reclaiming her throne. But in a tangled web of love, betrayal, and revenge… can a heart once broken ever trust again. A provocative tale of passion, pain, and power, Ripples and Hills is a revenge romance that will leave every reader spell bound and lost in a world of entanglement and revenge and unrequited love.

She was born into power He was hired to protect her But falling in love could get them both killed. After Isabella Morretti, heiress and ruthless Mafia leader takes over from her father, she's drawn into the dangerous world of drugs, threats and lies. When her life is being threatened on different occasions with encrypted letters, she lets her guard down and decides to get a bodyguard, jovial, yet extremely serious, quiet with lingering secrets of his own and little by little her carefully controlled world begins to unravel. Justin Warren, was meant to watch her, not crave her, not want her and definitely not fall for her. But with enemies within her household, old flings, debts surfacing and lies unraveling they both must decide where their loyalty stands, either with their blood soaked families or, the devotion growing between them behind the shadows. In a world of lies, threats, power and betrayal, love may be the most dangerous weapon afterall.

Celine thought her wedding day would be the happiest moment of her life. Instead, betrayal shattered everything—by the man she loved and her sister. When her desperate father sells her to Lucas Rodriguez—the ruthless billionaire who once vowed to destroy her family—Celine’s world burns anew. To him, she isn’t a bride. She’s a pawn. A weapon to break her past and bend her future. But in a world ruled by power, revenge, and forbidden desire, the line between love and hate blurs with every heartbeat. Now Celine must decide: will she rise from the ashes of betrayal… or let revenge consume her?

A little over twenty six years after the war with Black Haven, Melody and Teddy have settled into their roles of King and Queen of the American werewolves. But tensions are brewing again as a sinister force is at work in Europe.Lucy, daughter to Melody and Teddy, is having her twenty fifth birthday and has been hard at work learning the ways of royalty to take over for when her mother and father abdicate the throne. During her birthday party, she is kidnapped by someone who was purely after the stone, her capturers deciding to sell her to the highest bidder. A lot of wolves would pay to add the blood of a Goddess to their line.Adam is a rogue with the knack for cat burglary, enjoying collecting rare gems and jewelry. When he hears of a European estate that has just gotten their hands on one of the most precious gems of all, he can’t help but test his luck. What he didn’t expect though was to find his mate chained up and already trying to reject him. He’s not one to give up though as he helps her get away with the stone, their pursuers hot on their trail, especially when the growing threat of the Black Sanctum pack catching wind of who Lucy really is.

One year after getting cast out of the Blackrock pack, I bump into my ex-mate, Alpha Felix Barrington, in the Pack Alliance's headquarters. He's there because he wants to register the identity of his newborn pup. Coincidentally, I'm working at the lobby at that time, so I'm the one dealing with his matters for him. Throughout the process, Felix looks like he wants to talk to me, but something's holding him back. Before he leaves, he finally parts his lips. "Wendy, if you're having a hard time living on your own here, you can always return to the Blackrock pack. I'll convince Faith to let you back in." The sight of Felix's serious expression makes me laugh out loud. After all, he's the one who will be leading a difficult life from now on.

After two years abroad in seclusion as I recovered, I received a selfie from my daughter, Lila Ashford. She was sitting on a bike, dressed in a work uniform. "Mom, you’ll be home soon, right? I miss you so much." My heart softened as I thought about how my girl had grown up. She understood that she needed to start from the bottom and work her way up. I was about to praise her when I noticed her skin seemed tanner, and her fitted shirt was the same one I’d bought her three years ago. It was frayed and worn thin, yet she still hadn’t thrown it away. As a child of the wealthiest family, Lila shouldn’t have to live like this, not even for "life experience". I zoomed in on the picture again. Her shoes were falling apart, the front gaping wide open. The more I looked, the more uneasy I became. The next second, I stumbled across Serena Ashford, my adopted daughter’s posts on social media. She was showing off male models, luxury cars, and on her wrist, the global limited-edition diamond bracelet I had given Lila. What shocked me most was the car that appeared in nearly every photo, the very one I had gifted Lila for her college graduation. How the hell had it ended up with her instead?!

Odessa was once a girl in a small pack with dreams of finding a mate, building her own family life, and becoming a great healer for her people. At just ten years of age, her world is turned upside down from betrayal. She must start life anew as she now fights for vengeance. Levantus has been made king, an incredibly powerful lycan, both feared and respected. Having had a severely dysfunctional family and his heart trampled on by those closest to him, trust never comes easy and love comes even less so. When their worlds collide, how will they learn to navigate it? Can they join together and forge a bond stronger than any other? Or will their pasts drown their love and mate bond?

He’s an omega forced to live as an alpha. His new bodyguard is the one man who sees through the lie. When heat and duty collide, desire becomes dangerous. "I hate that fucking bastard, always judging nothing more.” He kicked the rock into the flowing stream but still, Zeil’s legs trembled every time their eyes met, and his wolf was willing to submit.

Maya Beckham was Oscar Francis's first love. After four long years abroad, she had assumed any feelings he once held for her had turned to dust. Yet when she returned to Elminas, he proposed. Everyone swore Maya was the love of his life—his one true love, his everything. Touched beyond words, she finally gathered the courage to say yes. …Until the day she discovered Oscar secretly marrying her half-sister, Diana Beckham. She stormed toward him like a woman possessed, her voice trembling with rage. "Explain." Oscar met her fury with infuriating calm. "You vanished without a word four years ago. Diana stayed. Now she's dying—this is her last wish. How could I refuse?" Maya's lips curled into a faint, unreadable smile. What Oscar didn't know? She was the one diagnosed with a difficult illness back then. Later, Maya got into an accident and forgot Oscar entirely. Oscar broke down. Day after day, he pounded on her door like a madman, begging her to remember.