The Shadow Syndicate

She was never meant to inherit the empire.
He was never meant to want the heir.
But fate doesn’t care about rules—or blood.

When Zara Santoro returns home with nothing more on her mind than sharing good news with her father, she walks straight into a nightmare instead. Victor Santoro—the ruthless head of The Shadow Syndicate—is dead. Murdered. Betrayed. And the princess he spent decades hiding from the underworld has just become its most valuable weapon… and its most tempting target.

Vince Romano, Victor’s most loyal soldier and the man trusted to protect Zara at all costs, knows exactly what her father’s death means. Chaos is coming. Rivals are circling. Blood is in the water. And Zara—stubborn, fiery, off-limits Zara—is stepping straight into the darkness she was never meant to touch.

She is innocence wrapped in defiance.
He is loyalty twisted into obsession.
And the deeper she falls into this world, the harder it becomes for Vince to keep his vow:

Protect her.
Never touch her.
Never want her.
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But Zara is no longer the girl he was forbidden to want. She is the woman who now owns the empire he bleeds for. And when a night out spirals into danger, when another man puts his hands on her, Vince stops being a protector…

…and becomes something far more lethal.

With enemies tightening in, secrets clawing to the surface, and desire burning between them like a lit fuse—Zara and Vince must face a truth darker than the Syndicate itself:

Some kingdoms are built on blood.
Some bonds are sealed with it.
And some loves are dangerous enough to start a war.