At the stroke of midnight on my twentieth birthday, he comes in darkness and in blood. Elio Titone, underboss of Toronto's most brutal Cosa Nostra famiglia.

Turns out my father is massively in debt to the Sicilian mafia. Elio has come for one thing and one thing only ? to claim what he is owed.

And what he's owed is me.

My captor is dangerous and demanding. Tortured, possessive, and wealthy beyond belief. He traps me in his gilded, violent world and offers me no hope of escape. But the longer I spend with him, with his dark eyes and scarred hands, the less I want to claw my way out of his cage.

When new enemies threaten me, I see a side of Elio I didn't know existed ? a ruthlessly protective side. He forces me to do the one thing that guarantees my safety, even if it means I'll forever be his prisoner.

I'll no longer be shackled by debt, but by marriage vows.

Because he'll make me his bride.

Ideal for fans of Neva Altaj, Gabrielle Sands, and Rina Kent, A Debt So Ruthless is a steamy age-gap mafia romance featuring a morally grey mafia boss hero who becomes obsessed with the innocent, inexperienced heroine. Themes include captivity and forced proximity, hate to love, older hero younger heroine age gap, enemies to lovers, forced marriage, and other dark romance tropes. It is part one of a complete duet.