Showing results by author "Zoe Blake" in All Categories

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.

Had she crashed into any other man's car, she could have walked away—but she hit mine. Upon seeing the bruises on her wrist, I struggled to contain my rage. Despite her objections, I refused to allow her to leave. Whoever hurt this innocent beauty would pay dearly. As a Russian Mafia crime boss who owns Chicago's most elite gambling club, I have very creative and painful methods of exacting revenge.

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.

With a single gunshot, she brings the violent secrets of my buried past into the present. She may not have pulled the trigger, but she still has blood on her hands. And I know some very creative ways to make her pay for it. I am as ruthless as my Cavalieri ancestors, who forged our powerful family legacy. But no fortune is built without spilling blood. I've earned a reputation as a dangerous man to cross and made enemies along the way. So, to protect those I love, I handed over the mantle of patriarch to my brother and moved to northern Italy.

The more she fights me, the more I want her. That beautiful, sassy mouth of hers makes me want to push her to her knees and dominate her. I'm a Russian arms dealer and she's an innocent college student who doesn't even know she belongs to me yet, but that will change when I yank those skimpy shorts down and spank her bright red. I will teach her not to show off what is mine. Then I will make her scream my name. I had no right to take her, but I dare you to try to take her from me.

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.

I'm not interested in love. It's the chase that intrigues me. I saw her in the park, my pretty little prey. I intend to make her mine, and the closer I get, the more she will lose. Her friends. Her family. Her freedom. Each move will bring her further under my control until she has nothing left... but me. Am I playing a cruel game? Of course. But I warned you: It's not love that I want.

It was an innocent mistake; she knocked on the wrong door. It was mine. If I were a better man, I would've just let her go. But I'm not. I'm a cruel bastard. I ruthlessly claimed her virtue for my own. It should've been enough but it wasn't. I needed more...I craved it. She became my obsession. Her sweetness and purity taunted my dark soul. The need to possess her nearly drove me mad. A Russian arms dealer had no business pursuing a naive librarian student. She didn't belong in my world. I would bring her only pain. But it was too late...she was mine and I was keeping her.

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.

I've started a new game, this one more sinister than the last. Every time she tries to fight what we have, I just pull her deeper into my deception. The slightest disobedience to my rules brings swift punishment. I've pushed her to the edge. She wants to kill me. The only problem is...she loves me.

Her innocence was going to get her killed. That was if I didn't get to her first. She's the protected little sister of the powerful Ivanov Russian mafia family–the very definition of forbidden. It’s always been my job, as their Head of Security, to watch over her but never to touch. That ends today. She disobeyed me and put herself in danger. It was time to take her in hand. I’m the only one who can save her and I will fight anyone who tries to stop me, including her brothers. Honor and loyalty be damned. She’s mine now.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I didn't come to her apartment planning to tie her to her bed and ravage her. A Russian arms dealer has no need for an innocent schoolteacher. I would have done what I came to do and left, but when she opened those gorgeous red lips and threatened to scream I knew she would be screaming long before I was finished with her.

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.