RingoTrust in luck. Bet on death. Lose my heart to a liar? Always.Ringo Devlin is a man of many secrets and even more regrets. He played the role of the charming stranger to track his quarry, but he never expected to fall for the woman he used. Now that Ellie knows that he's a hitman for the Manca family, she's the one person resistant to his charms. But Ringo isn't just in Chicago to win her back; he's there to claim a legacy that could change his life and finish a job that started in Las Vegas.EllieTell the lie. Break the rules. Fall for a hitman? Inevitable.Ellie Jacobs returned to Chicago with a broken heart and a bar to run. She thought leaving Ringo behind would end the nightmare of her failed wedding. But the ghosts of Italy followed her home. Between the FBI agent stalking her every move at The Blarney Zone and the realization that her murderous ex-fiancé is still a threat, Ellie is drowning in the very chaos she tried to outrun.When Ringo sits down at her bar, he's a far cry from the happy-go-lucky traveler who lies better than she does. He's a suave protector she doesn't want to need and a wildcard in a game where the FBI and the Mob are both playing for keeps. Ellie knows Ringo is a bad bet. But her life is on the line, and he might be the only luck she has left.Fortune favors the bold. Death favors the lucky. Calia Wilde believes the hero isn't always the good guy. She believes some heroes and heroines cannot play by the rules to get their happily ever after.She is a writer of misfits, anti-heroes, villains, underdogs, fringe elements, and other tropes that will likely get her barred from polite society.As a feral Gen-Xer, she spent numerous hours roaming the woods in search of elves, fairies, dragons, or anything that would take her away from the dreaded curse of doing dishes. She once fell off a wardrobe, but instead of landing in Narnia, a very emphatic order of "Don't tell Mom," was decreed. In case you are wondering, yes, she did land on her head.One time in Sturgis, she was offered twenty bucks to climb a ladder. She declined as there was some fine print regarding the quest that went beyond conquering a fear of heights. But it was there... in that magical realm of bikers, booze, and foul language, that she came into the possession of her very first item of armor... aka, black clothing. The forbidden was in her grasp and became an life-long obsession to avoid anything pastel.As she searched for a career that would indulge this penchant for wearing black, she stumbled upon the world of special effects and excitedly pursued the art of sleeping in strange hotels, working ungodly hours, and handling anything
