Love. It cuts like a knife. Elias Vasquez doesn’t believe in love—he believes in leverage. As the Sandoval family’s smooth-talking fixer, Elias keeps the criminal underworld in line with a smile and a whisper. When a cryptic Bratva message lands in his lap, his orders are get close to its source—Natalie Morris, the razor-sharp founder of Crimson Quill Press—and take advantage of the situation for the Sandovals. But Natalie has a past even her enemies don’t see. She walked away from the Bratva years ago and built an empire of her own. Now a “blood oath” drags the Russians to her door. And Elias is the only man standing between the future she wants and the one finally catching up to her. Elias needs control. Natalie wants to give in but can't stop herself from defying him at every turn. Together they’re a matched ice and flame, knife and sheath. Sly Dog is a dark, steamy crime romance set in the Guard Dogs world—packed with cartel intrigue, Bratva politics, and a relationship dynamic that starts as protection…and becomes surrender. Perfect for readers who Bodyguard/warden energyDominant MMC × powerful, secret-heavy FMCHidden identity & found familyNightclub glamour, surveillance, and slow-burn tensionKnife-sharp banter and filthy heat