Underground Meaning

Beneath the charming harbor town of New Haven lies a world ruled by kingpins—where empires rise and fall, love is a dangerous game, and betrayal exists in every corner.- Tag Cassandra Reed is no stranger to survival. Between being an underground deliveryman, waitress by day, and stripping at The Velvet Mirage by night, her life is a delicate balance of secrets and sacrifices—all for the sake of her mother’s medical bills. But one fateful night, everything changes. A mysterious man ends up dead in her arms, and Cassandra becomes the prime suspect in a murder that pulls her into the dark, dangerous underworld of New Haven’s mafia elite. Alexander Wolfe is cold, calculating, and determined to avenge his family’s downfall. Cassandra might hold the key to uncovering the conspiracy that threatens his empire, but her defiance and vulnerability stir something he thought he’d buried long ago. As the walls between captor and captive crumble, a deadly game of trust, betrayal, and passion begins. Together, they unravel a web of secrets tied to a stolen ledger, corrupt politicians, and a rival mafia boss with a thirst for domination. But as enemies close in, Cassandra must make an impossible choice: sacrifice her freedom to protect the man who’s captured her heart or risk everything to take down the woman who destroyed her life. In this world, love is dangerous, loyalty is deadly, and power comes at a price. Can two fractured hearts survive a war built on vendetta? Or will their love be consumed by the shadows of desire? Perfect for fans of dark romance and thrilling mafia story, His Shadowed Desires delivers unexpected twists, unforgettable characters, and a love story forged in the least likely of places. Prepare to be captivated until the very last page.

She begged him to save her. Now, she belongs to a monster. She should have died with them. That’s what the man who slaughtered her family whispered in her ear as he dragged her away from the blood-soaked floor of her childhood home. But instead of a quick death, he had other plans. A girl as rare and beautiful as her was worth more alive than dead. And so, Evadne Sinclair was thrown into a cage, hidden beneath the filth of the underground, waiting to be sold to the highest bidder. When she was forced onto the auction stage, chains biting into her wrists, she knew begging was useless. The men before her were nothing but predators, circling their prey, hungry to devour. She had no savior. No way out. Until him. Dante Moretti. Cold. Untouchable. The Mafia’s deadliest king. She didn’t know why she begged him—only that she did. > "Than…thank you…" she shuddered, her body tangling as the chains rattled behind her while she walked alongside the mean-looking man she believed had just saved her from a worse fate. He was cold. Mean. She didn’t know why she thought he was the best man to save her. She only found herself begging him to. He raised his amber eyes to her, a slight smirk cutting across his face. "What’s your name?" If she was shaking before, now she was trembling violently at his sudden cold and authoritative voice. "Evadne Sinclair." "Good, Evadne. Don’t thank me." His voice was like ice. Deadly. Final. "Because two hours from now, you will regret ever begging me to buy you." One thing Evadne had no idea of was, Morretti don't save, he owns. Recommended for readers 18+.

After her father's death, art restorer Elena Russo discovers his massive gambling debts to a dangerous crime family. Unable to pay, she's forced into an underground auction where she's purchased by none other than Dante Valenti, now Chicago's most feared mafia boss, and the boy she loved twelve years ago, before suddenly being torn away from him.

Crossing Lines is a dark, seductive romance where power, obsession, and secrets blur the line between love and control. Lana Reyes, a driven NYU law student with a desperate need to stay afloat, takes a job at Vortex, Manhattan’s most exclusive underground club. She never expects to catch the eye of Nathan Cross—ruthless billionaire, Vortex’s elusive owner, and a man who doesn’t do second encounters. But when their worlds collide, the pull is magnetic. What begins as a dangerous game of dominance and desire spirals into something neither of them can control. As Lana falls deeper into Nathan’s world of power, secrets, and seduction, she must decide how far she's willing to go—and what lines she's willing to cross—to survive it. In a world where love is a weapon and trust is a risk, Crossing Lines is a provocative ride that will leave you breathless and begging for more.

After being forced to marry a man she didn’t know to save her father’s business, Cassandra thought her life would change. But it didn’t. The marriage was married on paper that meaning nothing. After she married, she was still allowed to continue living as she wished. A year after her marriage, Cassie applied for a job at a big company that brought many changes to her life. That was when she discovered that her boss was a cold-blooded mafia who killed with his bare hands—the worst man she had ever met. Their first encounter happened when she accidentally walked into her boss’s room and caught him having sex with a woman. And to her shock, her boss turned out to be her husband—the man who hadn’t shown up on their wedding day. *** “Cassandra Ainsley Floyd?” Chris repeated the name, then looked up to see the woman standing in front of his desk. “Yes, Sir." “Are you married?” The question slipped freely from his lips as he waited for an answer. “No, Sir. I’m not married.” Her answer broke the silence between them. “Alright, you’re hired, Miss Floyd. Starting tomorrow, you’ll work as my secretary. Come in tomorrow morning, and my personal assistant will show you what you need to do.” As soon as Cassandra walked out of his office, Chris called his trusted person impatiently. “Yes, Christ?” “Do you still have my wife’s information? I’ve forgotten her name, but as long I remember, her last name is Floyd, isn’t she? I think she just applied for a job at my company without knowing I’m her husband. Interestingly, it seems she has a special relationship with my cousin.”

Louis Trevor, a shy and fragile college student, never imagined his life would change the day he was saved from bullies by Andrea Ryder—an underground fighter who kept her distance from emotional entanglements. But Louis, persistent and unexpectedly alluring, managed to slip under her skin. What began as a simple act of repayment spiraled into a night of steamy passion—yet it wouldn't end there. Could his piercing green eyes be enough to make her stay, when their worlds were so vastly different? From strangers to bedmates, Andrea made it clear she didn’t want a relationship. Her life was too dark, too focused on vengeance to make room for love. She had lost both of her parents, and she believed her uncle had a hand in it. Revenge was the only thing that kept her going—until she met Louis. Someone she wanted to live for. Someone she could die for. He shivered as her fingers toyed with the buttons on his shirt. "You’re pretty nasty for someone so fragile," she whispered. His eyes never left her face. His breath quickened. His cheeks flushed. "Kiss me, Louis," she said, leaning closer. "Huh..." he breathed, instinctively leaning in. "Kiss me, Louis." A shudder tore through him as he pressed his lips to hers. But all that glitters isn’t gold. Her first betrayal will come from the one she’s come to love most. Will Andrea be able to forgive him when she discovers that the eyes she fell for belong to the same bloodline as the man responsible for her parents’ deaths? And will Louis be able to melt her icy heart… twice? Join Louis and Andrea on a thrilling, emotional rollercoaster of passion, pain, and redemption.

“The Rossellinis are to the Mahonnas what the Montagues are to the Capulets, sworn enemies bound by years of feud that fuels hatred and bitter rivalry. In summary, the man standing beside me, the man who I just said my vows to, is my father’s archenemy.” *** When Marco Rossellini, a ruthless Mafia boss, feared and respected in the underground world kidnaps Vienna’s husband-to-be on her wedding day, and forces her to marry him as an act of revenge against her father, she is trapped under the painful existence of being married to a man as cold as ice. As they navigate through the stormy waters of hate and the treacherous landscape of mafia politics, Vienna is torn between loyalty to her father and the growing feelings for the man who married her as an act of revenge. But can she trust Marco, or will his vendetta against her family shatter her into a thousand broken pieces beyond repair? *** All his life, Marco has only wanted one thing - vengeance against the man who wronged his family. What better way to get back at Daniello Mahonnas than taking away his most prized treasure, right underneath his nose in one calculated move? Marriage to the beautiful Vienna was supposed to be an act of revenge, a genius move that will bring the Mahonnas down on their knees, pleading for his mercy. But with every banter, with every smile she sends his way, every heated kiss and stolen passion, she chips away at his icy exterior, leaving him bare, vulnerable and worst – in love. Will he be able to move past his vendetta and love her the way his heart wants or will those eyes staring back at him remind him more of his past than he ever wanted?

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.

There’s a thin line between desperation and destiny ****** Sophia Jenkins has lived her life in the shadows of hardship. At 23, she juggles multiple jobs, trying to lift her family out of debt while caring for her terminally ill mother. Her only dream is to escape the weight of her broken home and rewrite her family’s fate. But fate had other plans. On her birthday, when relentless debt collectors humiliate her and her father, Sophia’s world shatters—until a mysterious man steps out of a sleek black car, commanding the chaos with nothing but his presence. Leonard Morano. At 40, Leonard is the ruthless head of the Morano mafia empire, a billionaire controlling over a hundred businesses and underground casinos. What no one knows is that he was once Martin Jenkins’ best friend—and the man who silently watched Sophia grow from afar before vanishing when she was fifteen. Now, he’s back. And he’s not offering help. He’s demanding marriage. With the chilling words, “Marry me, and I will smash every obstacle in your way,” Leo pulls her into a world of luxury, power, and deadly secrets. But can Sophia survive the dark underworld Leo rules? Can love truly bloom in the cracks of fear, obligation, and a past that refuses to stay buried?

Mia hasn’t had an easy life growing up in a trailer park with an abusive father. But after her father is arrested, she’s finally free. She moves in with her older brother who officially takes custody of her and for a moment she finally believes everything will be okay. That’s until she discovers her brother has a dark secret he has been keeping from her. Him and his friends are part of an illicit underground fighting ring. As Mia is accidentally thrust into this world, she soon catches the eyes of the infamous and ruthless fighter Kaden Scott, who is known for his undefeated record. Even though Mia wants no part of this life, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to Kaden and his mysterious, fast paced life. And against her brother’s wishes, she can’t seem to get enough of him and the danger that lurks around him.