DARLING VICE

He buried the only man who ever fathered him and swore a blood oath over the body: protect the daughter, keep her out of the life. Forever. Wanting her was never part of the vow. Serafina Fiore is twenty-two, brilliant, and completely off-limits — the ward Don Dante Corvino promised to keep clean of the blood and the bullets. But her father didn't die in a rival's hit. He died on an order that came from his own table. And the little saint's medal Serafina has worn since she was a child hides the one secret that can put the traitor in the ground. To keep her alive, Dante has to keep her close. Keeping her close is the sin that ruins him. She's the trauma-trained hands that keep his men breathing and the one woman who won't flinch — not from the blood, not from the war, not from him. He is forty, lethal, and unraveling one careful inch at a time. And when the families force him to trade her away to seal a peace he never wanted, the oath, the throne, and the whole city will burn before he lets her go. She was the one name on his list that could never be crossed out. DARLING VICE is a full-length, standalone dark mafia romance with a possessive anti-hero, a heroine who saves herself, and a hard-won happily ever after. Forbidden age gap, guardian's oath, obsession, and a slow burn that detonates. Intended for adult readers (18+); full content warnings are included in the front matter.