Checkmate Series

Kane Bishop is everything women are warned about. He’s a professional enforcer for a dangerous cartel built upon drugs, guns, and violence, and according to the files littering my desk, it’s a sure bet he boasts a body count that has nothing to do with the women who’ve passed through his bed. I should know better than to step into his world. God knows my law degree vouches for the fact I have a brain and a modicum of common sense. And yet, here I am, hiding from my cop brother and half naked in Kane’s apartment while he stitches me up and we both pretend we aren’t desperate for a way out.

When the person you love most is hurt, a man discovers who he truly is—down to the bone. Will he protect her? Can he make it right? Will he go as far as it takes… or prove he’s nothing but talk? Because the truth is simple: if he chooses not to fight for her, he never really loved her at all. A man who loves with his whole heart knows no limits. There’s no line too dark. No such thing as “too far.” There’s only her. And her pain is his to carry—even if she never knows he was the one who bled for her.

Rookie. Baby-face. Junior. Riley Cruz has heard it all. At thirty-one, he’s the youngest recruit on the force, but his quiet nature and boyish looks make him easy to dismiss. What no one realizes is that Riley isn’t as innocent as he seems. Recruited by powerful players in law enforcement, he’s pulled into a covert team of agents who blur the line between justice and corruption. Now Riley is straddling two worlds—cop and agent, right and wrong—and he may be hiding the darkest secrets of them all.

Everything we do, from brushing our teeth in the morning, until we climb into bed at night, is a series of choices. Sometimes we make bad choices, sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re made under duress, and sometimes they’re the lesser of two evils kind. Sometimes there’s no choice at all, but you’re still forced to do something, because the world refuses to slow for you. And sometimes, the one perfect choice stands right in front of you in a cop’s uniform and he asks you to feel what he feels.

Eighteen months ago, my world was tossed upside down amid horrified screams and merciless hellfire. I was thrown into the flames to burn alive, but now I stand on the other side, invincible, untouchable, and un-f*cking-beatable. Today, the ID in my wallet says John D. Hamilton. It’s the name I go by, the name the beautiful brunette sitting alone in Ginnie’s diner knows me as.

Katrina Blair is a single mom to a daredevil teen, which means she has no time for fruitless endeavors such as dating. Why? Because men are all the same: liars, thieves, and unreliable a**holes. Pregnant at fifteen and deserted by the father long before their son was born, Katrina learned her lessons early in life and has built an impenetrable wall that keeps the weak away. But Eric DeWhit isn’t weak, and he’s been lingering on Katrina’s side of the diner an awful lot lately.

Spencer Serrano is seven feet of f*cked up. He’s crude, flirtatious, and far more dangerous than his stupid jokes imply. Abigail Rosa lives her life inside a bubble, placed there by those who love her, kept there by the respect she has for them. She knows they mean well, but the day Spence visits her shop with his filthy mouth and lack of manners, is the day her world is flipped upside down. Abigail isn’t inclined to give the giant jerk a minute of her time, but he’s determined to conquer her in every way. Just as he’s beginning to make progress, Checkmate alarms are raised.

Bishop men are nothing but a plague on this planet, a disease that needs eradication before it spreads. They’re murderers. Liars. Thieves. The day I met Colum Bishop, I thought my life was finally turning around. I was led to believe he would be our savior. He was supposed to be our hero, a long awaited reprieve from the hardships life insisted on throwing at my mom and me. But in reality, he was the beginning of the very end. Instead of accepting us, he destroyed us. Instead of saving us, he had us murdered. But before my final moments, I met a girl.