Rumor There are moments in life when you make a decision. Accept who you are. What you have become. This was one of those times…The fairytale I thought I’d found had become a nightmare so quickly after I said, “I do.” Which was the reason I ran when I had the chance. Not thinking about the consequences. Just knowing I had to get free before it was my life that was taken. I never expected to end up finding a haven. A place where people were willing to help me hide. It was as if I had walked into my own perfect daydream. King “Don’t believe every pretty face you meet, sweets. You should know by now that’s a terrible f——g idea.” She was my job. I was to make her feel safe and do whatever I had to in order to make sure she didn’t run. Underneath the abused and broken exterior, there was a fighter. It was in her eyes. I lived for the moments when she let me see that spark. I had been headed straight to Hell years before I met Rumor, but letting her fall in love with me was going to reserve me a room in the darkest pit available. One day soon, she was going to find out I was the monster she was running from and the family she had come to trust was the mafia that had killed her husband. \*Please be advised that this is book one in a duet and is a standalone in the Georgia Smoke Series.

“This world I live in isn’t one that builds strong relationships. It rips them apart.” Perhaps that was true, but nonetheless, I had fallen in love with him anyway. The man who had lied to me, the man I couldn’t trust, the man who would never love me back, yet even knowing all that, I loved him still. His smile could make me forget all the reasons why I shouldn’t. I was so easily blinded by the charm that was King Salazar. He used it like a weapon, and I was one of the many who fell under his spell. Accepting that I had nowhere else to go and running from the southern mafia was impossible, I gave in to my feelings for him. All the while knowing he would eventually break me in a way that my abusive husband he had killed had not. While he kept me locked away, safe from the gang bent on finding me, I had to sit back and watch him live out a fake relationship with the next Governor of Georgia’s only daughter. We all know how that story goes. I’d read enough of those tropes in books to prepare myself for the end. When he would fall for her and, I would, once again, be left alone. Shattered beyond repair. This is the second book in the Slay duet in the Georgia Smoke Series.

Briar Running. It seems that’s all I ever do. I’ve been running since I was fifteen. Some days I wonder if I’ll ever be able to stop. Would I even know how to live a normal life if I could? Doubt it. No reason to waste good time thinking on it either. Sitting around wishing for something never did anyone a favor. If you want it, then you go and get it. By any means necessary. And I was an expert at using my strengths. I’d been born with beauty, and it had been a curse that haunted me until, one day, I grabbed it and used it to my advantage. Don’t judge. You have no idea the demons I’ve fought… and the ones I still do. Storm Sure, I was raised to kill when needed and to protect the family. However, my momma also taught me to open doors for women and respect them unless they prove they’re not ladies. It was a damn shame the sweet little piece I’d been unable to get out of my head had never been a lady a day in her life. That gorgeous face and mouthwatering body were real nice wrapping paper to distract men. Briar Landry was a liar, a thief, a cheat, and a very talented gold digger. She disgusted me. The more I was forced to be around her, the more I hated her. I knew the evil inside her and I had enough twisted darkness of my own. Treating her with cruelty, I hadn’t known I possessed, was the only way to keep from letting her pull me inside her web.

This is the conclusion of Storm and Briar's story.

The evil of the world was pretty cut and dry. I did my best to do good, be good, and make a positive mark on the world. The emotions that Thatcher stirred inside me couldn’t be labeled good. Now that I knew how exciting, tempting, and addicting the darkness could be, I wasn’t sure I would have the strength to stay away. Thatcher There wasn’t a moment in my life that I didn’t feel detached. My earliest memory is that of my mother looking at me as if I was something to fear. I’d never had a relationship with her. The ones I did have were forged from loyalty. Love was a concept that was used to explain a broad range of emotions that one felt. I had very few of those, so I didn’t require labels. When a situation presented itself that required a reaction, I thought it out—made my decision. Even if those closest to me believed my actions weren’t something I could control. I let them think it because their misconception gave me power. I was the master of my impulse. Except once- when wide, terrified gray eyes locked on mine. She’d been in trouble, and my questionable sanity snapped. That day, I realized my twisted soul wasn’t the only thing buried deep inside me. Perhaps it was what my mother had seen in my eyes as a child that kept her from caring for me like she did my brother. The evil that seemed to dwell but not stir had been provoked. The sweet little minister’s daughter had no idea the demons she’d awaken. Capri Just when I get a chance of a lifetime to ride for Shepherd Ranch and make a mark in the horse racing world, everything else in my life seems to take a downward spiral. I’m terrible with flirting, and I can’t seem to keep a guy interested long enough for any real relationship. I spend most nights alone, and my imagination is starting to get the best of me. I’ve almost convinced myself there is something in the shadows watching me. I shouldn’t have stopped praying. Now, my list of sins has gotten out of hand in God’s tally book. I doubted he had enough saving grace to wipe all I’d done clean. What to Mafia Romance Revenge He's been watching her Unhinged/Man Obsessed Morally Grey Hero Will burn the world down for her

I had one job. Charm the girl, win her trust, and use her to get the information I needed. The problem with that was that she ended up being more than a pretty face. The more time I spent with her, the less I cared about what I was supposed to be doing. She had awakened something in me that had a dangerous edge, and only she had the power to sate it. When the truth comes out, and the threat that she will be taken from me rears its head, I do what I have to in order to keep my sanity. I take her and run.

From the moment those grey eyes the color of the water just before sunrise met mine, I’d acted without thought to the consequences to protect her. I had been her vengeance on any and all who would cause her pain without her even realizing it. If only it had stayed that way. The things I’d done because the demons inside me couldn’t stand the thought of her being wronged even the slightest were meant to be kept secret. She was too pure for the evil I was capable of unleashing. Our story began with my immediate infatuation. Lies, deception, obsession, and undying devotion made it as complex as a Shakespearean tale. Unlike the characters in William’s story, not even death could have kept me from her. And it would end with her by my side, in my bed, no matter what lengths I had to go to in order to keep her. My reason for being had begun rotating around my little doll long before I even realized the power she held over me.