Erin Strauss Criminal Minds

Twenty-year-old Lyra Moreno appears to be nothing more than a cold, sleepy noble girl porcelain-doll beautiful, always wrapped in blankets, and seemingly uninterested in anything beyond her next nap. To her father, stepmother, and scheming stepsister, she's a burden. But beneath her drowsy charm lies a dangerous secret. Lyra is the anonymous founder of GALAXY, a covert hacker syndicate responsible for dismantling criminal empires from behind glowing screens. Living quietly under the doting care of her powerful grandparents, Lyra is named heir to their fortune but on one condition....she must marry Elias Vale, the ruthless, cold CEO of Vale Corp, who just so happens to be investigating Virgo.exe, her old hacker alias. Seven years older, Elias is brilliant, powerful, and emotionally walled off until fate throws him into the path of the sleepy girl he's been unknowingly watching. When her scheming stepmother and stepsister pay a criminal to ruin her, the two are dragged into a public relationship... and a private war they can't avoid. And even, secretly..... marriage. As they work together to uncover a traitor within Vale Corp, Elias begins to see the fierce strategist behind Lyra's sleepy façade. And Lyra, used to keeping the world at a distance, starts to wonder if she's finally found someone who sees all of her and wants her anyway. But with enemies in her own home and shadows from her past returning, Lyra must decide: can she let someone into her world, or is silence the only way to survive?

Nora Ainsley didn’t sign up to play hero. As a rogue-born tracker for hire, she works solo, stays broke, and minds her business. But when a missing pendant leads her into the heart of a conspiracy tied to the murder of the Silver Ash Pack’s Luna, she gets dragged into something way bigger than she ever wanted. Now she’s a suspect, a target, and holding a magical artifact every side wants to kill for. Worse, the only person offering help is Roman Vale—a masked stranger who’s got his own twisted ties to the very pack that wants Nora dead. She didn’t ask for this war, but if she doesn’t fight back, she won’t survive it.

Investigative journalist Justine Sky will go to great lengths to find out the truth. Even if it means rubbing elbows with the city's most feared billionaire. As a prime time crime solver, she’s tackled a great deal of scandals during her career, but nothing could prepare her for a life with Bentley Thomas. Because of his criminal past and merciless ambition to get to the top, Bentley has been the scapegoat for the people of Westlake, Texas. With all fingers pointing to him as Ivy Smith’s slayer, Justine becomes hellbent on exposing him. After pulling strings to get an invite into his mysterious world of luxury, Justine enters, thinking she'll be met by a cold and vicious mobster. Instead, he reels her in with soft charm and a passion that catches her off guard. Their chemistry is automatic, and Bentley is more of a hopeless romantic than she ever thought he could be. However, even though he's quite the charmer, Bentley does harbor secrets of his own. When Justine learns that he might have been the last person to see Ivy alive, her doubt settles in once again. It's her relentless fight for the truth and growing love for Bentley that makes her dig deeper. Only to find out that the killer is someone she knows very well. As the danger of the investigation sneaks closer, Justine is caught in a deadly game of ransom, and Bentley doesn’t hesitate to risk everything he has to save her. In a world full of lies, secrets, and betrayal, she has to trust someone. But is Bentley her most dangerous enemy, or the only one who has been telling the truth?

"So my one-night stand is now my boss, the father of my three-year-old, and literally called 'The Executioner'?" Lora rebuilt her life as a fierce single mom after one night of rebellion left her pregnant. Her mysterious stranger? Ancient history. Until Lord Erin Marrock—werewolf nobility and part-time executioner—walks into her design firm. Their first meeting involves her calling his demands "corporate peacocking." Their second involves her son casually shifting into a wolf pup during a tantrum at the playground. Now they're locked in the custody battle from hell, complete with his supermodel girlfriends and her nice human boyfriend. But when enemies target their son, mutual hatred becomes irrelevant. Because the only thing more dangerous than a werewolf protecting his heir is a mama protecting her son. Enemies-to-lovers paranormal romance featuring a sharp-tongued single mom and a werewolf with serious control issues.

Shantali Jackson awakens from cryostasis to discover she's been asleep for over 600 years. A working-class woman from the pre-collapse era, she finds herself in a sterile medical facility, where staff address her as royalty and claim she's the beloved of Prince Costa—a man she barely remembers meeting at Le Glow Club one fateful night. As fragmented memories surface, Shantali learns the devastating truth: she and Costa were never willing participants in the preservation program. After publicly defying their arranged marriages to choose each other, they were declared enemies of the state and forcibly preserved by the Emergency Preservation Committee. They've been awakened seventeen times for six centuries, only to have their memories wiped when they refused to comply with the Council's genetic breeding program. This time is different—the memory suppression technology is failing, and ghostly echowisps (manifestations of psychic trauma) guide them through their escape. With the help of Marcus, a resistance member, they flee to the underground networks where Shantali discovers shocking truths: her half-brother Elliot became a resistance leader, Costa's parents have been working to undermine the Council for centuries, and the outside world has been habitable for generations. The couple escapes to Haven's Gate, one of seven thriving Eastern Sanctuaries where humanity has rebuilt naturally. But freedom is short-lived when they learn Dr. Thorne and other preservation specialists are using extracted consciousness data to create a new form of control—artificial minds programmed for obedience. Refusing to remain passive victims, Shantali and Costa make a bold choice: they'll pose as desperate refugees seeking re-preservation, walking willingly into Dr. Thorne's trap to stop his plans once and for all. Their love story becomes humanity's last hope against a system that would sacrifice free will for genetic perfection. A tale of choice, resistance, and the power of love.

When former convict, Eli, is released from prison after being wrongly accused of murdering her classmate, she's left with a dark past shunned by society for her tainted reputation. Unable to find a steady work or acceptance due to her criminal record, Eli's life is a constant struggle. But then like a phoenix rising from the ashes, she finds a glimmer of hope in the world of high-end escorting, but it's not without its secrets. As Eli navigates this new reality and the dark alleys of her profession, she crosses paths with a mysterious billionaire, unknowingly unleashing a storm of revenge and redemption. For Ryder, convinced that Eli was his father's mistress, he was hell-bent on seeking revenge, but little did he know, he would soon find himself entangled in a web of deceit and desire. As they navigate the treacherous landscape of their complicated pasts, Eli and Ryder must confront the truth about their identities and the secrets that bind them, all while succumbing to the intoxicating allure of their forbidden romance.

Dante Santoro is a ruthless Mafia lord, feared and revered in equal measure. His empire stretches far and wide, and his control is absolute. But behind his cold, commanding exterior lies a man who will stop at nothing to protect what is his. Ethan John, an undercover agent and former doctor, has been assigned to infiltrate Dante's inner circle. Posing as Dante's personal physician, Ethan’s mission is simple: gather intel and bring down the Mafia kingpin before his criminal empire can expand further. But as the weeks pass, Ethan is torn between duty and desire. The cold, calculating mob boss he was sent to destroy begins to pull at his heart in ways he never anticipated. As passion ignites between them, Ethan finds himself in a perilous game of lies, deception, and betrayal. With the government breathing down his neck and Dante's trust tightening like a noose, Ethan must decide where his true loyalties lie, before it’s too late. Can love bloom in the most dangerous of places? Or will the Mafia lord’s grip be too strong to escape?

Her father put him in prison, and she let him out. Italy’s most notorious criminal, Emilio Vitale, has criminal charges that are enough to put him in prison for life. That all changes when Chiara is given an assignment to interview him three years after her father puts him in jail. Things go south, and Emilio escapes from custody. Chiara thinks she will never see him again, but she can’t be more wrong. Emilio has other plans, and he is far from done with rocking Chiara’s boat and punishing her father by using her as a pawn. Somewhere along the way, they forget they are supposed to hate one another, and they break the laws of attraction. Their attraction is magnetic and impossible to ignore. Can these two weather storms find happiness where there isn’t any? In a world where it’s impossible for them to find love, they find each other. *** He backed me into a wall, putting his hand above my head to cage me in. “This isn’t original, Vitale. Stay away from me, or I will call the cops on you.” I threatened, ignoring how wildly my heart was beating against my chest. His scent was intoxicating and I hated how my body reacted to him. He used his free hand to brush a strand of my hair out of my face and leaned in like he was about to kiss me. Embarrassingly enough, I closed my eyes in anticipation. “Does that little boyfriend of yours get your body in a frenzy like I do? I bet he doesn’t let you cum.” He asked as he traced his fingers down my waist to my hips. “I bet I would have you screaming my name in seconds. Will you let me?”

In a cruel world where survival is a daily fight, Alyssa’s life changes after losing her parents. Her abusive uncle takes her in, but his cruelty pushes her to the edge. One day, his actions lead to his own death, leaving Alyssa homeless and alone. Desperate, she crosses paths with Lucas, Theo, and Armani Blackwood, powerful leaders of a dangerous criminal group. They are hunting down the daughter of Maxwell, wanting to destroy the Maxwell family completely. But what they don’t know is that Alyssa is the very person they are looking for—and she also wants revenge. Forced to join their gang as a “wild cat,” Alyssa quickly learns their ways. She becomes stronger and smarter, earning their respect. But Serial, the gang’s second-in-command, sees her as a threat and starts to turn against her. As time passes, Lucas begins to fall for Alyssa. His feelings put her in danger as Theo and Armani grow suspicious of her true intentions. When Serial tries to get rid of her, Alyssa knows she must act fast. Should she stay and fight alongside the triplets, or escape and take revenge on her own? But the triplets won’t let her go so easily. In a world full of enemies and betrayal, Alyssa must outsmart them all—because in the end, only one will win.

Neera Miller is a sharp-tongued criminal lawyer with one rule: never defend the monsters who tore her world apart. But when a mysterious client drags her into the orbit of Keiran Renzaro—the most feared mafia lord in the city and the very symbol of the life that ruined hers—she finds herself bound to him by a case that runs deeper than the law. As desire clashes with vengeance, and truths are revealed layer by painful layer, Neera must decide if she can be with the man who might be responsible for everything she’s tried to forget. In a game where the lines between justice and crime blur, can she survive falling for the devil himself?