Pagano Brothers

A NEW MAFIA ROMANCE SERIESAgainst his father's wishes, Trey Pagano made a choice to join the other side of his family and stand with Don Nick Pagano, head of the Pagano Brothers, the most powerful Family in New England. Now he strives to find the balance between these two sides of himself, between the father who raised him and the don who means to lift him up.Seeking the brightest mind to keep his secrets, Don Pagano recruited Lara Dumas, a woman with a brilliant intellect bound up in a damaged mind and frail body. Lara has carefully constructed a small world for herself in a comfortable corner of Providence, building boundaries within her limits.When Lara is hurt by Pagano Brothers' enemies, the safety of her world is destroyed. The don assigns Trey to take her away and protect her-and the things she knows.Hundreds of miles from home, hidden from danger and cut off from everything they know and trust, Trey and Laura grow close. Against his better judgment, Trey falls for the woman whose strength shines through the cracks in her psyche. Despite her trauma, Lara comes to trust the man who's kept her safe.Whether the bond they forge in safety can survive when they return to the world is a matter of faith-in themselves and in each other.Note: Explicit sex and violence.

Twenty years ago, as a young Pagano Brothers soldier, Donnie Goretti was horribly injured on the job. The devastating scars of that attack led him to be known as "The Face."Since then, he's been alone, reminded daily that he's too ugly to look at, much less to love. He devoted himself instead to his work, and he rose through the ranks to become the underboss of the Pagano Brothers family. Now, he is a man of wealth, influence, and respect. In the day, he's a powerful executive and philanthropist. In the night, he's the don's ruthless right hand. When he wants companionship, he has it, there will always be women attracted to his status. But he harbors no delusions that they care about him. How could they, when they can hardly bear to look at him? When he meets Arianna Luciano, a principal dancer with the Rhode Island Ballet, Donnie offers her the same arrangement he's offered many other women. He's armored his heart with cool reserve and an arsenal of iron-clad rules about what he expects, what he'll allow, and what he'll give in exchange. But Ari doesn't like rules, and she wants no part of Donnie's offer. She sees his scars as signs of his pain, markers of his history. They are nothing to be ashamed of. They don't diminish his worth. She wants the chance to fall in love. If only she could make him believe it.

As an enforcer for the Pagano Brothers, Tony Cioccolanti's life is steeped in violence. For the most part, he feels no burden on his soul for the blood he spills or the pain he inflicts. He is a soldier, and blood and pain are the wages of war. Yet one terrible mistake haunts him, in his dreams and in his waking hours. Billy Jones has moved to Quiet Cove, the place of her happiest memories, to start a business and fulfill a dream. Having summered in the Cove through most of her childhood, she understands about the Pagano Brothers and their control of the town. Their interest in her nightclub doesn't surprise her-nor does the "protection" payment they demand. The glowering goombah who visits her club regularly, however-he surprises her plenty. She was not prepared for the attraction between them. As Tony and Billy draw closer, Tony's violent life, and the Pagano Brothers' brutal world, explodes on the streets of the Cove. War has come, and its wages are due.