A Job He Couldn't Finish

He had one job: kill Elena Vitela.

He didn't pull the trigger.

Now Salvatore Costa wants to know why-and the only answer that keeps Elena alive may be the one Dante never planned on giving: marry her himself.

Elena doesn't know the man offering her his name is the same man who was sent to end her life. She only knows her father's debts have followed her into a world of dangerous men, frozen assets, and threats she can't outrun.

So she agrees to Dante's protection-but on her own terms.

The shop stays hers. Her choices stay hers. And whatever this marriage is, it will not become a cage.

Dante expects a transaction. A name for protection. A ring for safety. Separate rooms. Separate lives.

It doesn't stay simple.

Forced proximity turns guarded conversations into dangerous attraction. The protective mafia hero Elena never expected begins to become the man she trusts most-and the last man she should trust.

Because Dante is keeping secrets. He isn't just a morally grey mafia assassin with a past Elena doesn't understand. He's carrying a truth that could destroy the fragile life they've built together.

And when Elena finally discovers what her husband has been hiding, the marriage that was supposed to save her may be the very thing that breaks her heart.

Now Dante must face the one thing he has spent his entire life avoiding: not killing for love. Choosing it.

The Job He Couldn't Finish is a dark, slow-burn mafia marriage-of-convenience romance featuring forced marriage, forced proximity, a dangerous assassin hero, high-stakes secrets, betrayal, redemption, and a heroine who refuses to surrender her agency.

Standalone • HEA • No cliffhanger