Flames and Flowers

DANTE

My city is living in fear, terrorized by a man who isn’t me.  When he takes my father’s life, enacting revenge will make taking him down that much sweeter.

I wasn’t ready to ascend to the head of my family, but it is beyond my control now.  The vultures will circle, but they will not find a meek, vulnerable man.  They will find me, a king with blood on my hands and darkness in my soul.

New Orleans is preparing for Mardi Gras, but my focus is the ashes around us and the man responsible.  When I find a rare flower, the woman meant to be mine, and save her from the same fate as my father, I know what I have to do.

I will encase Jasmine in glass, a cage so pretty she’ll never know she is trapped.  I will show her that her place is at my side, a queen no one can touch.  I will have my revenge, born from fire and doused in blood.  Then I will return to my flower to bask in her light as well as her darkness which matches my own.

JASMINE

The fairy tales tell you to be on the lookout for a knight on a white horse riding in to save the damsel in distress.  I didn’t get a knight.  I got the devil walking through the smoke and flames to save me.

Dante Giudice rules New Orleans, but I never thought I would come face to face with him.  What would a king, dangerous and powerful, want with me?  Then he saves me from a fire set by the same man who killed his father and makes the city live in fear of the flames.

He says I’m his.  His queen to stand by his side.  His to own.

He offers me a life I don’t want, a role I can’t fill.  I try and fight it, but the longer I spend in his arms the more I own him.  He brings out my darkness; he craves it.  Maybe I can be queen.

**18+.  This story has dark themes and a morally gray mafia hero.  You’ll still find an insta-love story that is spicy and isn’t necessarily simple, but with darker themes, situations, rough spicy times and depictions of violence (not between the MMC and MFC).  No cheating with a guaranteed HEA.  It is a companion to Beads on a Bombshell (World’s Biggest Party Series), which is related to my Denver Family series, but can be read as a standalone.*