Cruel Protector: A Dark Mafia Arranged Marriage Romance (Ivanov Crime Family #8)

He came to D.C. to clean up a mess—not to claim a bride.

Darius Ivanov believes the American branch of the Ivanov crime family has grown soft.

Too many weddings. Too many feelings.

Men who forget that love is a liability.

He’s there to set them right.



Darius Ivanov is the man no one dares cross.

The most disciplined—and most dangerous—of the Ivanovs.

He doesn’t raise his voice.

He doesn’t leave a trace.

And he never, ever loses control.

Until her.



To secure a multibillion-dollar arms deal, Darius crosses a line even the Ivanovs won’t excuse—

he kidnaps the daughter of a U.S. Senator and locks a diamond bomb collar around her neck.

His demand is

Obey…or your daughter dies.



Cruel. Calculating. Always in control—Darius tells himself it’s business.

Leverage. Strategy. Necessary force.



Anna is sweet chaos.

Messy. Soft. Broken.

Exactly the kind of woman Darius can’t stand—yet can’t stop touching.


Forced to wear his collar, Anna claws at every cage bar he builds.

She refuses to bend. Refuses to break.

And Darius responds with colder rules, harder hands…and the intoxicating promise of punishment.

For a man who calculates everything, obsession was never part of the equation.

Neither was the possessive, violent need to protect what he owns.



Even the other Ivanov men know he’s crossed a line.

He refuses to step back.

Because Darius no longer knows if he’s holding her for the family’s future or because he can’t let her go.



She was supposed to be leverage.

Now she’s the only thing he’ll kill to keep.

As enemies circle in the shadows, one wrong move will cost Darius the empire he built in silence—

and the only woman he’ll burn that empire to the ground to protect.



This dark mafia romance is perfect for fans of Michelle Heard, Neva Altaj, and Ava Harrison.

Enter the dangerous, seductive world of the Ivanov men in this enemies-to-lovers romance filled with obsession, control, and irresistible danger.