He didn't just buy my brother's debt. He bought my soul.
Lyra Thorne has spent her entire life surviving the rusted, rotting streets of the Narrows. She is a master of keeping her head down and her pride intact. But when her brother defaults on a two-million-dollar debt to the city's most ruthless crime syndicate, Lyra's carefully constructed survival plan shatters.
To pay for her brother's life, she offers the only thing she has left: herself.
Enter Kaelen Vance.
He is the untouchable King of Corentin City. Cold, calculating, and entirely devoid of mercy, Kaelen is a monster wrapped in bespoke suits and terrifying power. He takes Lyra as his collateral, locking her inside his sprawling, slate-grey estate. She expects to be treated like a prisoner. She expects cruelty.
What she doesn't expect is the dark, consuming obsession burning beneath the Ice King's frozen exterior.
Kaelen strips away her defenses, offering her the keys to his empire and a terrifying truth: he doesn't want to break her. He wants to crown her. But in a world forged by blood money and brutal rival cartels, loyalty is a liability. When the ghosts of Lyra's past orchestrate a deadly betrayal, she must make a choice.
Does she escape the gilded cage? Or does she stand beside the monster and burn the city to the ground?
Ruthless Crown is a dark, high-heat mafia romance. It features a morally grey, possessive alpha who will burn the world for his queen, intense forced proximity, and enemies-to-lovers tension.
