Showing results by author "Zoe Blake" in All Categories

Being attracted to her isn't wrong…but acting on it would be. As the patriarch of the powerful and wealthy Cavalieri family, my choices come with consequences for everyone around me. The roots of my ancestral, billionaire-dollar winery stretch deep into the rich Italian soil, as does our legacy of ruthlessness and scandal. It isn't the fact she is half my age that makes her off-limits. Nothing is off-limits for me. A wounded bird caught in a trap not of her own making, she poses no risk to me. My obsessive desire to possess her is the real problem—for both of us.

I took her innocence as payment. She was far too young and naïve to be betrothed to a monster like me. I would bring only pain and darkness into her sheltered world. That's why she ran. I should've just let her go. She never asked to marry into a powerful Russian mafia family. Unfortunately for her, I don't care. I own her, and after three years of searching, I've found her. My runaway bride was about to learn disobedience has consequences...punishing ones. Nothing was going to keep me from claiming her before the eyes of God and man. She's mine now, and I'm never letting her go.

For weeks, I've been watching her. Stalking her. Now, it's time to start playing with my beautiful little pawn. From the moment I first saw her from afar, I knew she would become my prized possession. I will gaslight her into thinking she is my obedient ward, trapped in the Victorian era. She is my unwilling captive, forced to play my sadistic game for her own survival. She will have no choice but to bow to my rules and discipline. In time, her memories of a modern life will fade. If not, she will pay a painful price.

I came for my money. I took her instead. She's not the one who stole from me. She's a pawn caught up in her family's deadly game. It doesn't matter. Her innocence won't save her from me. I could just let her return the money, but as I stare down at the beautiful creature stretched out before me like a virgin sacrifice, I thank God for every sin that has blackened my cold heart. Because I'm going to make her beg, scream, and suffer for me. Then I'm going to make her mine.

When you are a son and one of the heirs to the legacy of the Cavalieri name, you need to be more vicious than your enemies. Sometimes, the lines get blurred. Years ago, they tried to use her as a pawn in a revenge scheme against me. Even though I cared about her, I let them treat her as if she were nothing. I was too arrogant and self-involved to protect her then. But I'm here now. Ready to risk my life tracking down every single one of them. They'll pay for what they've done as surely as I'll pay for my sins against her.

We were not meant to be together…then a dark twist of fate stepped in, and we're the ones who will pay for it. As the eldest son and heir of the Cavalieri name, I will inherit a great deal more than a billion-dollar empire. I will receive a legacy of secrets, lies, and scandal. After enduring a childhood filled with malicious rumors about my father, I have fallen prey to his very same sin. I married a woman I didn't love out of a false sense of family honor. Now she has died under mysterious circumstances, and I am left to play the widowed groom.

When I give an order, I expect it to be obeyed. She's too smart for her own good, and it's going to get her killed. Against my better judgement, I put her under the protection of my powerful Russian mafia family. So imagine my anger when the little minx ran. For three long years I've been on her trail, always one step behind. Finding and claiming her had become an obsession. It was getting harder to rein in my driving need to possess her... to own her. But now the chase is over. I've found her. Soon she will be mine.

She was supposed to be a problem—one I would deal with, forget, erase. Instead, she became my obsession. A hotel maid drowning in her father's debts, working among killers and Bratva bosses, believing silence would keep her safe. Then she saw something she shouldn't. She should have run. Should have screamed. Should have begged. Instead, she held my gaze, defiant and unbroken. Now, I can't let her go. The only way to keep her alive is to make her mine—a marriage that will satisfy Bratva law and place her firmly under my control. What I offer isn't protection. It's possession.

She couldn't have known the danger she faced when she dared to steal from me. She was too young for a man my age, barely in her twenties. Far too pure and untouched. Unfortunately for her, that wasn't going to stop me. The moment I laid eyes on her, I claimed her. Determined to make her mine… by any means necessary. I owned Chicago's most elite gambling club, a front for my role as a Russian Mafia crime boss. She was a fragile little bird who had just flown straight into my open jaws. Naïve and sweet, she was a temptation I couldn't resist biting.

She's finally under my complete control, yet it's not enough. I hold her body captive but not her heart. She has no money. Nowhere to go. No one to turn to for help. She knows I took everything from her to make her mine, so she fights me at every turn. This began as a game, but she needs to understand that I will do anything to win. Anything. She is my possession. Nothing, and no one, not even her, will keep us apart. One way or another, I'll get what I want. And I want her...all of her.

She broke the rules of our game—she ran. Now she will pay. When will my pretty pawn learn that I am the master of this game? Only I will be the victor. She thinks she can hide from me. She thinks she can escape my wrath. She's wrong. This time when I catch her, there will be no escape. I no longer want her as just my beautiful captive. She will now become my wife, even if I have to drag her down the aisle. I want her under my complete control. I want her every breath, her every movement, her every thought to be only of me. This is no longer a game. She changed the rules, but I will still win.

Keeping her safe was my job. Keeping her for myself became my obsession. She is a Russian mafia princess, kidnapped to be used as a pawn in a deadly turf war. I was hired to bring her home, but the moment I saw her I knew I must have her for myself. She can run, but I will always be watching from the shadows. Like a feral beast stalking his prey, waiting for the right moment to take what is mine. I am her protector, but no one can protect her from me.

Tearing off the gilded veneer of elite privilege exposes the sordid scandals, dark secrets, and taboo desires of New York's jaded high society in this dark romance series from best friends and USAT bestselling authors Zoe Blake and Alta Hensley, writing under their new pen name, Blake Hensley.

I never thought a simple walk in New York City would lead me into the shadows of a sinister game. One moment, I'm fighting off attackers in a dark alley, and the next, I'm saved by a mysterious stranger. He drags me into a darkened building, his grip both protective and possessive. I should feel safe, but I can't shake the feeling that there's something dangerous lurking beneath his surface. Imagine my shock when I discover my rescuer is none other than Thomas Manwarring, the notorious prodigal son of the Manwarring dynasty, returned from Rome under a shroud of scandal.

The true legacy of the Cavalieri family, my birthright, ties me to a woman I despise: the daughter of the mafia boss who nearly ended my family. Making her both my enemy... and my future wife. The hatred is mutual; she has no desire for me to be her groom. A prisoner to her family's ambitions, she's desperate for a way out. My duty is to guard her, to ensure she doesn't escape her gilded cage. But every moment spent with her, every spark of anger, adds fuel to the growing fire of desire between us. We're trapped in a volatile duel of passion and fury.

As the youngest daughter in a wealthy, powerful family, everyone assumes I'm just an innocent, sheltered heiress. Especially Reid Taylor, my overbearing bodyguard, who's made it his mission to keep me in line and under his watchful eye. He's a former Army sergeant, now head of security for my family, and he's determined to keep me in check, enforcing his strict rules with an iron will and expecting nothing less than total obedience. But I'm not some meek little girl.

I never asked for an assistant, and if I had, I sure as hell wouldn't have chosen her. With her sharp tongue and lack of discipline, what she needs is a firm hand, not a job. The more she tests my limits, the more tempted I am to bend her over my knee. As a Russian Mafia boss, I can't afford distractions... or secrets. I suspect my innocent new assistant is hiding something, and I know just how to get to the truth.