BLOOD AND BINDING
"You came to me first."
"Of course."
Something moved in his expression. There and gone.
"I need you to do one more thing," he said.
"What?"
"Go back to the ledger. Find the Vasquez connection's full structure—every company, every account, every person whose name appears in relation to E.V. I need the whole network before I move."
She nodded.
"Give me two days."
"You'll have whatever you need."
She turned toward the door.
"Ava."
She looked back.
He stood by the window with the city spread out behind him, a man carrying the weight of truths that could no longer be ignored.
"Thank you," he said. "For telling me directly."
She held his gaze.
"I'm glad you know," she said quietly. "I didn't want to carry it alone."
For a moment, neither of them looked away.
"No," Dante said. "Neither did I."
Ava Hart is a librarian who believes every mystery can be solved if enough pieces are gathered. Her life changes when she witnesses a murder in the quiet aisles of her library and finds herself caught in the world of Dante Ricci, the powerful and enigmatic head of a criminal empire.
To keep her alive—and silent—Dante offers her an unusual solution: marriage.
What begins as a calculated arrangement soon becomes something neither of them expected. As Ava uses her talent for uncovering hidden patterns to investigate a conspiracy buried deep within the Ricci organization, she discovers that the greatest threat isn't outside the family, it's already inside. Surrounded by secrets, betrayals, and ghosts that refuse to stay buried, Ava and Dante must decide whether trust is worth the risk when every answer leads to a more dangerous question.