Sinister Bargain: a Morally Gray Mafia Arranged Marriage Romance

A bargain sealed in blood. A love forged in darkness.Elara Thorne is twenty-six years old with a quiet life as an art curator, until her father’s desperate gamble changes everything. Drowning in debt to the Russian underworld, he makes an impossible choice: he offers his daughter as collateral to the most powerful crime lord on the East Coast.Kaelan Orsini is ruthless, calculating, and entirely without mercy. A man who has built an empire on vengeance and violence, he sees the marriage as a transaction—a way to consolidate power and secure his position. He doesn’t expect the fire in her eyes. He doesn’t anticipate the challenge she represents.Locked away in his penthouse fortress high above the glittering city, Elara discovers that her new husband is far more complex than the monster she believed him to be. Behind the cold fury and brutal control lives a man wounded by loss, driven by a promise made to a dying mother, and haunted by a past that refuses to stay buried.As the walls between them crumble, as stolen kisses become desperate confessions, and as Elara learns the true cost of the bargain her father made, both must decide: Is this a cage, or is it a sanctuary? Is Kaelan her enemy, or is he the only man who can save her from a world determined to destroy her?Because in the criminal underworld, love is never simple. It is possessive. It is obsessive. It is absolutely, devastatingly lethal. And when the war Kaelan has been waging finally comes for them, Elara will have to choose between the freedom she was promised and the man she was never supposed to love.This is a dark romance about redemption through love, the dangerous intersection of business and passion, and the transformative power of choosing someone despite—or perhaps because of—who they are.Perfect for readers who love: ✓ Morally grey anti-heroes and complex villains✓ Arranged marriage and forced proximity dynamics✓ Dark, possessive love interests✓ Organized crime and mafia romance✓ Redemption arcs and character transformation✓ Tension-filled slow burns that explode✓ Enemies to lovers with emotional depth