Working as Ruslan Oryolov’s personal assistant is the job from hell. After a long day spent tending to the billionaire’s every whim, I need some stress relief. So when I get home that night, that’s exactly what I do. Problem is, my thoughts are still stuck on the bosshole, who’s ruining my life. That’s fine—because of all Ruslan’s many sins, being gorgeous might be the most dangerous.

I thought it was just a hookup on an airplane. Let’s be cute and call it a “one-flight-stand.” Or we could be more accurate and call it what it really was: the day that ruined my life.

What would you do if you walked in on your husband cheating? I'll tell you what I did: Ran out the door with nothing but the clothes on my back. A month later, I'm broke, jobless, almost homeless. But then, while filling in as a waitress at a fancy restaurant, I trip and land in the lap of a gorgeous stranger.

I walked in on my fiancé sleeping with my maid of honor on the day of our wedding. I did what anyone would do: threw my ring in his face and found somewhere quiet to cry.

I’ve got debt—yeah, I know, so does everyone else on Planet Earth. But the bills I’m paying keep my dad and my grandma alive. So it’s pretty messed-up for Timofey Viktorov to use them as a threat to keep me under control.

One wardrobe malfunction. Two people who don’t belong together. Three awful words: “Be my wife."

I'm locked in a cage in my wedding dress. How did I end up here? Three days ago, I was a normal girl living a normal life. My adoptive parents came over to my apartment for dinner, just like they do every week. But this time, they brought bombshells. They tell me I'm not who they said I was. And all those dance lessons, those etiquette classes? They weren't just for show. They were to groom me. To mold me into what I'm about to become—the forced wife of a don. Then, with my jaw on the floor, they opened the door and let the nightmares in.

I got pregnant from a one-night stand. I wasn’t going to tell the father...until I walked into the office and found out he’s my new boss. Here’s some advice: Don’t sleep with your boss. Here’s some more: Don’t sleep with your married boss. And while I’m at it: Don’t sleep with your married, dangerous, billionaire, completely incapable-of-feeling boss because all he’s going to do is break your heart and your body and leave you to cry in the ashes. But I’ve never been good at taking my own advice.

A chance meeting turns into a once-in-a-lifetime offer. The billionaire don needs a blank slate to turn into his perfect politician’s wife. I’m homeless and desperate—what do I have to lose?

How did I end up playing fake fiancée to a runaway criminal? Well, I was supposed to get married today—but that’s a whole other story.The part that matters is that I took the car and ran, still in my wedding dress. I promptly crash said car into a bridge, and when I get out to check the damage… I'm disoriented and fall right into the river below. That should’ve been it for little old me. Goodnight. Close the curtains. Roll the credits. Drowned by my own wedding dress—how morbidly appropriate. But then someone saves me.

I can buy my secretary’s submission—or I can take it the hard way. My ex-wife’s fatal car crash left me with a cruel gift: A daughter I never knew I had. I am a billionaire. A mob boss. A titan. Not a babysitter. I need a woman’s touch to help raise my daughter. My secretary doesn’t know it yet, but her life is about to change. Charlotte is gorgeous. Feisty. And best of all…desperate. So from now on, we’re going to do things my way. It starts with five little words: “Let me own you, kitten.” 

We met at my older brother’s house and instantly I knew that he was trouble. He kissed me, right there in the bathroom without a care in the world. And from that moment on, I was his. We were young, brave and naïve when we met. Sneaking around and falling in love. Giuliano Ferrara was perfection. A beautiful, crazy mistake. With his big brown eyes and his boyish charm.

He’s my ex’s brother. A terrifying mob boss with a past too dark to share. And when he finds out I’m pregnant, he becomes something else, too: the husband I never asked for. Kolya Uvarov crashed into my life at a funeral and saved me from a mega-creep Classic meet-cute, right? Not exactly, because it was his brother we were burying. AKA my ex-boyfriend. AKA the man who hit me, stormed out the door, then died in a car crash before I could ever tell him about our baby. But Kolya knows the secrets I’m hiding.

You know the story where the hero comes in and saves the day, rescuing the heroine right in the nick of time? This isn't that story. Instead of a knight in shining armor, he's a sexy, tatted-up Bratva boss with a reputation for being brutal and fierce. Vasily finds me after I've already been brought to my lowest—broken by cruel men until I barely recognize myself. He doesn't offer me salvation. He offers me protection and revenge. And I gladly take it. Because I don't need a knight in shining armor. I need a villain who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty.

What happened was this: My family made me marry a monster. I ran from my wedding... Into the arms of another man. I thought he was my savior. But I was wrong. He was just the beginning of the real nightmare.