The Dark Ties Series by Micala McCrayer

Giulia thought she had escaped the shadows of her past—until Matteo Bianchi walked in. Ruthless, magnetic, and bound to a world ruled by blood, he is everything she should run from. Yet every instinct pulls her closer. What begins as a dangerous attraction soon becomes a test of trust, loyalty, and survival. When love and control blur into obsession, the cost of passion may be more than either of them can afford….

He survived Valentina. Now he has to survive coming home. After being kidnapped by Valentina, Luca Bianchi returns with wounds no one can see. Sleep comes in fragments. Noise feels like danger. Control is the only thing that keeps him upright. Matteo and Giulia need him steady. The family needs him useful. Every room in the villa asks him to act like the man he was before. Then Luca stumbles into something he was not looking for. A quiet, unexpected love that does not demand a performance... moreHe survived Valentina. Now he has to survive coming home. After being kidnapped by Valentina, Luca Bianchi returns with wounds no one can see. Sleep comes in fragments. Noise feels like danger. Control is the only thing that keeps him upright. Matteo and Giulia need him steady. The family needs him useful. Every room in the villa asks him to act like the man he was before. Then Luca stumbles into something he was not looking for. A quiet, unexpected love that does not demand a performance. It asks him to breathe. Holding it costs him. The past does not stop reaching for him. The pressure of the life he was built for presses in from all sides. Loyalty, duty, and the weight of his name collide with a future he never imagined he could have. To keep the people he loves safe, Luca has to choose the kind of man he will be now. Discipline kept him alive. Healing might be the only thing that sets him free. less

When the ground shifts beneath the empire, someone has to stand. Spain was supposed to mean expansion and clean, new alliances. Instead, a calculated strike leaves Matteo alive but changed, his past cut away. Rivals scent weakness. Every agreement the Bianchis forged starts to wobble. Giulia refuses to let the house fall. With Matteo’s memory in pieces, she steps forward, learns the rooms he once ruled, and holds the line while the world watches for a crack... moreWhen the ground shifts beneath the empire, someone has to stand. Spain was supposed to mean expansion and clean, new alliances. Instead, a calculated strike leaves Matteo alive but changed, his past cut away. Rivals scent weakness. Every agreement the Bianchis forged starts to wobble. Giulia refuses to let the house fall. With Matteo’s memory in pieces, she steps forward, learns the rooms he once ruled, and holds the line while the world watches for a crack. New enemies press from the coast and the courts. Old debts wake. Every decision carries a cost—and every cost lands on her shoulders. To keep the empire breathing, she must choose who to trust, what truths to bury, and how far she will go to protect the man who no longer remembers the fire they built together. Spain is a new horizon—but also a battlefield. Will she expand to a new horizon and keep the ground from crumbling beneath what Matteo built—or will she die trying to hold the empire together? less