Mafia Royals

A mafia romance about best friends turned enemies by Rachel Van Dyken, the number one New York Times bestselling author of the Eagle Elite series. The enemy of my enemy is my friend ... I never thought my father would ask this of me, to become the second generation at Eagle Elite University, to rule with an iron fist, and to take care of anyone who gets in our way. But ever since the incident. Ever since Him. There's been a war in our little clique. After all, a house divided cannot stand. He's the problem, not me. He used to kiss me like I was his oxygen. Now he looks at me like I'm his poison. But we both drank it, again and again, never believing there would be a day when our love would start a war. And our friendship would shatter into a million pieces. Then again, the worst thing you could do in the mafia is hang on to hope that your life will be normal. The second worst thing? Fall in love with your best friend. Enemy. And heir to the Nicolasi throne. Contains mature themes.

I was born under fire and swore to protect her until my dying day, I just never knew that one day, I'd be the very monster I was protecting her from. She didn't know it was me. She didn't know that I had no choice and would do it again and again to save her. I may as well have given her the mark on her finger. The one that shows where her loyalty must lie. Because we don't sin in silence. And eventually, you have to pay up what you owe. My need to protect her turned into a lie to save her. And when she found out-I turned in to the very monster I was trying to protect her from. Watching Violet Abandonato walk out of my life was like a knife to the chest, a wound that refused to heal. The bosses sent me to protect her, to watch over her even though I was the demon she fled. We both carry scars. But if all I can have is her hate for as long as I breathe. I'll take it. Because at the end of the day, I should burn in Hell forever thinking Chase Abandonato's perfect angel would pick me-over her perfect life. "I broke you," I confessed. "The worst part . . . is that you liked it," she snapped right back. Contains mature themes.

"I'm sorry for your loss." I would rather be tortured for an eternity than hear those damn words from one more person, as if Claire, my dead fiance, was a cell phone or car keys. How about, I'm sorry your life is over. I'm sorry you want to die too. I'm sorry you see her in your dreams and wake up only to relive the nightmare. I'm supposed to be the strongest of them all. Ash Abandonato, ruler, assassin, made man, brother, friend-instead, I hurt everyone I touch in hopes that they'll feel even a sliver of the pain that bears down on my shoulders. And it's all her fault, Annie Smith. I daydream about her death. And then I close my eyes, and I see her soft smile. I feel her touch, her kiss-it was a mistake what we did that night, but I can't take it back, and now she's under my father's protection-my protection. I can't decide if I want to strangle her or kiss her, and now that she's stuck in my life, my only goal is to make her feel the same loss I do and destroy her in the process. I'll trick her with my touch. Seduce her with my kiss. And in the end, when my enemy is at her most vulnerable-I'll bring down an entire Empire and continue my reign as King. Contains mature themes.

I grew up knowing it would happen one day. Believing that I would fall into my father's footsteps and become a monster of my own making. So I fought it. I lived. I loved. I teased. And then one day... I destroyed. And realized I loved the pain. Obsessed over the feeling. So I cut again and again and again. She saw my rage, my madness, and tried to stop me from destroying myself, and I hated her for it, pushing her away past the point of no return. Izzy Abandonato was supposed to be mine. But there are some things people can never come back from. I hurt her, she hurt me, and now I'm living a lie. Telling the ones I love that I'm on one side when for years I've been forced to play both. I'm no angel. I've fallen. And I may single-handedly bring down the Cosa Nostra-by default. I, Maksim Sinacore, will have my vengeance. I will win her back. Even if it means I have to kill everyone in my path. The pain masks the betrayal. I never realized that one day-I'd be the very rat that I hated. That I was sent to kill. But once you're deep in a lie-you'll do anything to hide the truth. She fell for the bad one. She fell for the sinner. So why does that make me smile? Contains mature themes.

Unrequited Love. Arranged Marriage. A love triangle for the ages. A contemporary mafia retelling of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. I will do anything for my family, and as the heir to the Campisi Mafia throne, I fall on my sword and do what's expected of me-it wasn't an accident that I was given the name King. I marry the girl I love-who's already in love with someone else, and because I'm a masochist, I make him her personal bodyguard. After all, who better to protect the woman I love than the man she loves? I have seven days after our wedding to own her-body and soul. Seven days to show her everything I feel. But tragedy strikes, and I'm forced to take the weight of the mafia crown on my head. Now I need my Queen by my side. I don't know who's with me or against me, but I will rule them all with an iron fist and make everyone proud. As our seven days come to an end, I wonder how I will ever be able to let her go. "Until it ends," I whisper. A tear slides down her cheek. "Until it ends." Amen. Contains mature themes.