The Lighthouse Syndicate Series by Ava Love

Chicago, 1922. In a city that drinks in secret and kills for less, The Lighthouse is the one room where rival crews sit under the same low lights and pretend neutrality is real. Lucia Caruso keeps that lie alive. She runs the floor with timing, seating charts, and a stare that can freeze a rumor before it grows teeth. The club is her power, and her protection, until someone engineers a near killing in full view of the room, then waits to see if she flinches... moreChicago, 1922. In a city that drinks in secret and kills for less, The Lighthouse is the one room where rival crews sit under the same low lights and pretend neutrality is real. Lucia Caruso keeps that lie alive. She runs the floor with timing, seating charts, and a stare that can freeze a rumor before it grows teeth. The club is her power, and her protection, until someone engineers a near killing in full view of the room, then waits to see if she flinches. Nico Santori is sent in to enforce the rules and contain the fallout. He is quiet authority, a man who makes outcomes inevitable without ever raising his voice. He believes love is leverage, and leverage gets people buried. Lucia believes she will never be collateral, not for a man, not for a family, not for “peace. ”. Then the pressure turns political. Inspections stack up. A broker starts trading invitations and whispers, fishing for proof of a second ledger copy, baiting the Vitales into a public mistake. The cleanest solution is also the ugliest, sacrifice Lucia’s reputation to calm the heat. Nico refuses. And when the next move comes, louder and crueler, he has to decide what neutral ground is worth, and whether he is willing to make his choice visible. Beneath the Lighthouse is a spicy, cinematic Prohibition era mafia romance full of power games, forced proximity, public restraint and private fire, with a hard won happily ever after. less

In a city built on secrets, choosing each other is the most dangerous move of all. New York, 1926. The courts are watching. The papers are circling. And power is no longer decided in back rooms alone. Lucia Vitale arrives from Chicago with one mandate: keep the alliance alive long enough to survive public scrutiny. She knows how reputations are traded, how silence is sold, and how exposure can be turned into leverage. What she does not expect is Alessandro DeLuca... moreIn a city built on secrets, choosing each other is the most dangerous move of all. New York, 1926. The courts are watching. The papers are circling. And power is no longer decided in back rooms alone. Lucia Vitale arrives from Chicago with one mandate: keep the alliance alive long enough to survive public scrutiny. She knows how reputations are traded, how silence is sold, and how exposure can be turned into leverage. What she does not expect is Alessandro DeLuca. Alessandro rules New York through discipline, restraint, and control. He does not bow to pressure and he does not share power lightly. But when federal eyes turn toward his empire, he is forced into an alliance that cannot remain theoretical. Together, Lucia and Alessandro step into visibility, choosing strategy over safety and alignment over escape. Every appearance is measured. Every absence is noted. And every attempt to fracture them only tightens the line they have drawn. As the courts escalate and reputations begin to bleed, desire becomes a liability and trust becomes a weapon. The question is no longer whether they can survive the scrutiny, but what they are willing to sacrifice to stand together in it. Because in a world where paper can ruin a man as surely as a gun, the most dangerous oath is not sworn in private. It is chosen in public. Rival’s Oath is a slow burn Prohibition era mafia romance featuring controlled power, strategic intimacy, and a partnership forged under pressure. No easy choices. No safe exits. Only loyalty that costs something real. less

In Atlantic City, the money moves faster than the truth, and Valentina Russo survives by staying invisible. As the Vitale network’s ledger keeper, Valentina is a financial ghost, indispensable, unheard, and safe because no one notices her. Until a federal banking auditor starts tracing casino payout patterns tied to shell companies, and one mistake made in Chicago threatens to trigger seizures across multiple cities... moreIn Atlantic City, the money moves faster than the truth, and Valentina Russo survives by staying invisible. As the Vitale network’s ledger keeper, Valentina is a financial ghost, indispensable, unheard, and safe because no one notices her. Until a federal banking auditor starts tracing casino payout patterns tied to shell companies, and one mistake made in Chicago threatens to trigger seizures across multiple cities. Valentina is sent in to find the leak in the numbers, fix the pattern, and leave without anyone remembering her name. Dominic Calderone is the perfect Atlantic City host, a polished hotel operator with the right friends, the right smile, and shadow books he swears no one will ever see. He is supposed to contain Valentina, steer her away from the rooms that matter, and keep his own secrets buried. Instead, he finds himself listening when she speaks, clearing rooms so she can work, and watching her rewrite the rules of a city built on illusion. But the deeper Valentina digs, the more she realizes the numbers are not just numbers. They are names, payoffs, and timing marks that connect directly to the Noose, the federal pressure tightening around the family. And when Valentina uncovers proof that a missing ledger page implicates a beloved ally, she faces an impossible choice: expose the truth and fracture the Vitals from within, or carry the secret until the timing is right, even if it costs her everything. He believes everything has a price. She knows the truth is power. Neither of them is prepared for what it will cost to choose each other anyway. The Ledger Keeper is a Prohibition era mafia romance set in 1929 Atlantic City, featuring slow burn tension, forced proximity, dangerous secrets, and a heroine whose quiet competence becomes the most lethal weapon in the room, with a charming, controlled hero who learns partnership is the only winning bet. less