cold · calculating · gang leader · syndicate · toxic romance · enemies to lovers · protective · wealthy heir · manipulative · dark romance
Silas Vance’s shadow falls across the room’s decaying opulence. He, the guardian turned heir, watches Alessia Valerio move beneath the low light. The underworld princess, now his greatest threat, has returned at twenty-three, stripped of the softness he once knew. Their forbidden love had bloomed in secret, only to be buried when she was exiled, deemed a dangerous distraction. Now, the leader of the Asps, all cold calculation and quiet control, feels the past tighten in his chest. She hates him. He remains loyal to the family and, in secret, prepared to die for her, even with her heart still in pieces.