I’m not beautiful or skinny. I’m hated. Always second best. I was given to Slavik Ivanov, a deadly, fearsome man in the Volkov Bratva. Married into the world of the Bratva, I have to learn to survive. My husband doesn’t pay me attention, but the longer he ignores me, the longer I’ll live. Trouble is brewing in the Volkov Bratva. It’s dangerous, and I know it’s only a matter of time before I’m killed because I’m the stranger. The enemy. Slavik doesn’t love me. I’m nothing more than a duty to him. I’m an obligation, but when he finally notices me, his touches set me on fire. Does he know I’m loyal to him? Or will he believe the orchestrated lies and finally get rid of the wife he never wanted? My life is in his hands, and I fear I will never be the same again.

I was the mistake. A piece of trash. No one wanted me. All of my life I’d been told this. I meant nothing. I was nothing. The Volkov Bratva made a mistake. They kidnapped me and it should have been my sister. My father wanted me dead. I expected Ivan Volkov to kill me. Instead, they killed my father, and now I’m to marry Ive Yahantov, a brigadier. I’m to be his wife. The man hates me. He doesn’t want me. I don’t know what changes, but I go from being ignored, to being with Ive all the time. We share everything. The life I thought was only ever going to be that of a dream, becomes my reality. I’m falling for the man I thought I would hate. But nothing is ever certain. Ivan Volkov faked his death, and the repercussions of that is far and wide. My husband has enemies, and those enemies, they’ve come to collect. I knew I was going to die young, but I had no idea life could be so cruel. I knew peace. I knew love. I knew happiness, and now, it was all going to be taken away.

All I wanted was to be free, to not be scared anymore. Was that too much to ask? I was the unwanted bastard daughter of Finn Byrne. Many feared him and women loved him. My mother didn’t want me, but my birth kept Finn coming around. After being used as a punching bag for most of my life, I decided to run. The first mistake I made was staying in a small town. The second mistake was falling in love with a guy I barely knew. Peter lied to me. He manipulated me. Ivan Volkov gave him a job to do, and that was to make me fall in love with him, and get me pregnant. Well, he did all of those things, and I hate him for it, and I love him for it. I also discovered I’m a wealthy woman. It would seem my grandmother didn’t like her son, nor any of his offspring, but she did like me. I’m the one who has control over the Byrne empire. And I have a choice to make. When the time comes, I can choose to leave the Volkov Bratva forever and have my freedom, or I can remain Peter’s wife. I love him, but he doesn’t know how to love me. What choice do I have?