“There is no instinct like that of the heart.” — Lord Byron He lied. The strongest instinct is survival. I just didn’t know he would become mine.
Sloane Mercer is a genius drowning in a rigged game. To pay off her father’s lethal three-million-dollar mafia debt, the former chess prodigy spends her nights counting cards in a subterranean casino. She calculates every variable, anticipates every threat, and trusts no one.
But she couldn’t calculate him.
Julian Croft doesn’t just play the game; he owns the board. A billionaire ghost who operates in the darkest corners of corporate warfare, Julian doesn’t buy people for charity. He buys them for leverage. When he witnesses Sloane’s brilliant, feral mind at the blackjack table, he clears her father’s debt with a single keystroke.
The price? Her absolute surrender.
Dragged into Julian’s high-altitude glass cage, Sloane is forced to use her intellect as a weapon to dismantle his enemies. But the true danger isn’t the Russian syndicate hunting them, or the billionaires they are destroying. The true danger is the intoxicating, terrifying realization that Julian isn’t just protecting her—he is awakening a monster inside her that matches his own.
He is the architect of her ruin. And she is going to thank him for it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “A masterpiece of dark romance! Julian Croft is the villain we love to hate and hate to crave.” — Dark Romance Reads
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Gilded Malice is visceral, psychological, and breathtakingly intense. Sloane and Julian’s dynamic is pure fire.” — Alpha Thrills Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Forget the sweet billionaires. I want the monster who will burn the world down to keep what is his.” — Romance Addict Blog
Note: GILDED MALICE is a standalone dark romance. It contains mature themes, explicit language, dubious consent, and extreme power dynamics. For the girls who were told to be good, but realized the villains have more fun.
