“Fixing a broken picture,” I mutter, opening the fridge door to cool the heat from my face and grab a bottle of wine as an excuse.
When I turn around, Viper just smirks at me and leaves me to wallow in my embarrassment for a full minute before asking me when my new dance studio is opening.
“Next month. After we come back from Sicily and Kenya.”
For Bambi’s belated birthday present, we’re all flying out to the Masai Mara for a week-long safari. She’s already made a countdown chart and stuck it to the fridge door. She’s marking off each day with a big, black cross.
Hanging up his call, Frankie walks over to us and pours me a large glass of white. Planting a kiss on my cheek, his fingertips brush against my side zip, inching it up to respectable levels again. “I’ll see you later, Mrs. Lastra,” he says in that low husky voice of his that only makes me want him more. “You better wait up, or else.”
“Or else, what?” I tease, forgoing the wine to wrap my arms around his waist instead.
“Or else that five hours of sleep I was planning to let you have becomes no sleep for either of us.”
I glance over at Viper who’s whispering something to Bambi, and before long they’re both grinning in our direction.
“Viper just told me that love isn’t like falling into a bearpit anymore,” she announces proudly. “Well, it is still a bearpit,” she corrects with a frown. “But he says that there’s this secret trapdoor that not many people know about. But if you search and search for it and you manage to find it, then you’re one of the rare, lucky ones.”
“What happens, then?” I ask, as Frankie starts laughing.
She shrugs, as if she hasn’t really thought about that part yet.
“I guess you come out of it alive.”
THE END
BLACK SKIES RIVIERA
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An arranged marriage mafia romance where love is a debt no sinner can pay...
(Aiden Knight’s story)
Issa Dubova is the queen of cloudy diamonds:
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My reluctant new wife.
A pretty bargain in exchange for the names of the men who killed my father.
I'm a black suit of spades:
Determined to bury both her and my demons.
I never asked to see the shape of her heart.
I never asked for her to fill the blank spaces of mine.
But the mafia wants her secrets.
I'm not the first she betrayed.
And Issa? Sweet, not-so-innocent Issa?
She's now a debt no sinner can pay.
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THE SANTIAGO TRILOGY
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(Dante Santiago’s story)
He came into my life like a raging storm.
The man I despised.
The killer with no conscience.
I fell as hard as a woman like me can fall.
When he bleeds, I feel his pain. When we kiss, I taste his tragedy. When he kills, my heart is stained with all the colors of his vengeance.
★★★★★
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RUSH & RUIN
Edier Grayson & Ella Santiago's story is coming soon...
(Standalone / HEA)
At sixteen, he was a stolen moment in the darkness.
An illicit touch.
Breath-stealing kisses…
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To my husband who endured a Peaky Blinders marathon for, ahem, research purposes for this book… We navigate so much together, more than our fair share, but your constant love and encouragement is what keeps me fighting every single day.
To my two beautiful girls who hate my deadlines almost as much as I do. Thank you for your endless patience with me and your inspiration for Bambi.
Sammy, Siobhan and Joanne. Thank you for cheering me on from the sidelines! A special thank you to Greta for answering all my Italian translation requests again, no matter what time of the day. And to my amazing ARC Team, and Street Team! I would be hopelessly lost without you. Thank you so much for all you do for me.
And finally, to all the readers, reviewers, bookstagrammers and booktokers... You make every invasive cancer scan, test and operation worth it. I’ll be writing these stories for you until they prise my laptop away from my lifeless fingers. Thank you for making all my dreams come true!
Catherine x
Catherine Wiltcher is a USA Today and Amazon Top 15 bestselling romance author. A stage 4 cancer thriver and a former TV Producer, she writes flawed characters who always fall hard and deep for one another, whatever the cost.
She lives in the UK with her husband, their two young daughters, and their delinquent cocker spaniel.
To keep up to date with all things in the Santiago World, sign up to her newsletter for giveaways and exclusives!
www.catherinewiltcher.com/newsletter
The Santiago World
(Dark Mafia Romance)
Trilogy Boxset
Hearts of Darkness
Hearts Divine
Hearts on Fire
Shadow Man
Reckless Woman
Devils & Dust
Lovers & Liars (coming soon)
Cristo Sinners World
(Dark Mafia Romance)
Black Skies Riviera
A London Villain
Viper (coming soon)
Corrupt Gods World
(Dark Mafia Romance)
Born Sinner
Bad Blood
Tainted Blood
City of Thieves
Rush & Ruin (coming soon)
Standalones
(Contemporary)
Hot Nights in Morocco
Unwrapping the Billionaire
Cast Stones
Anthologies
Men of Valor
Stalk-ers
Possessed by Passion
Desire After Dark
Darkly Ever After