Hitman

I have been a contract killer since I was a boy. For years I savored the fear caused by my name, the trembling at the sight of my tattoos. If you saw my eyes, it was the last vision you'd have. With her, I am the mark and I am ready to lie down and let her capture me. Opening my small, scarred heart to her brings out my enemies. I will carry out one last hit, but if they hurt her, I will bring the world down around their ears... I've been sheltered from the outside world all my life. Home-schooled and farm-raised, I'm so naive that my best friend calls me Pollyanna. I like to believe the best about people. Nikolai is part of this new life, and he's terrifying to me. Not because his eyes are cold or my friend warns me away from him, but because he's the only man who has ever seen the real me beneath the awkwardness. With him, my heart is at risk . . . and also, my life. Contains mature themes.

Regan: I never really knew what misery was until the day I was kidnapped and sold for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Two months later, I'm at a brothel in Rio when I meet Daniel Hays. He says he's here to save me, but can I trust him? He's the only safe thing in my world, and I know it's wrong to fall in love with him, but I can't seem to help myself. Daniel: For the last eighteen months, one goal has dictated every action I've taken. I've left the Army, turned paid hit man, and befriended criminals all across the globe to find my kidnapped sister. In every brothel I raid and every human trafficking truck I stop, I hope the next face I find is my sister's. In a hidden brothel in Rio, I find Regan Porter. I should leave her behind or send her home, because the last thing either of us needs right now is to get involved. But with every passing minute, I find I'm less able to let her go. Contains mature themes.

When I was kidnapped I thought only of survival. I gave my captors exactly what they wanted, my skill with computers. Making millions for a crime lord who kept me imprisoned in his basement compound kept my family safe. When he was taken out, I thought my ticket to freedom had arrived. Wrong. I traded one keeper for another. This time I'm in the hands of a scarred, dark, demanding Russian who happens to be the head of the Bratva, a Russian crime organization. He wants my brain and my body. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued, but I can't be a prisoner forever . . . no matter how good he makes me feel. At a young age, I was taught that a man without power is a puppet for all. I've clawed-and killed-my way to the top so that it is my heel on their necks. But to unify the fractured organization into an undefeatable machine, I need a technological genius to help me steal one particular artifact. That she is breathtaking, determined, and vulnerable is making her more dangerous than all of my enemies combined. Soon, I must choose between Naomi and Bratva law. But with every day that passes, this becomes a more impossible choice.

Mendoza: I grew up in the slums and lost everything I loved to poverty, illness, and death. I had only one skill to leverage myself out of my circumstances-violence. Being hired out as a mercenary hitman brought me money and built an empire. My next job: steal secret information that could bring down world governments, find my target, and destroy it. But then, I meet her. Ava: When my best friend, Rose, is kidnapped, I have no choice but to take a job as a mule for a pair of criminals intent on selling top secret information to the highest bidder. I should have known that bad luck tends to cling, because the plane I'm on goes down. That I survived a crash-landing was a miracle. And so was being rescued by sexy mercenary Rafe Mendoza. The thing is, he wants the information that I need to free Rose. I can't let him have it, but I need his help. Rose is depending on me, and I won't let her down. Contains mature themes.