Twisted Pawn

Tierney Callaghan has a bullet with her name on it, and the man sent to deliver it is Achilles Ferrante, a Camorra prince and assassin. She has wronged him twice: she broke his heart, then sold him to the Feds. He has sworn to make her death a public spectacle if he catches her, and she has sworn to keep running.

The hunt is personal on both sides. Achilles has loved Tierney for far too long, and he regards that love as his single fatal weakness, even as he insists he cannot be beaten. Tierney once glimpsed the human being beneath his reputation. Now she is about to meet the monster everyone else already knows.

This is a dark romance built on a chase between a villainous heroine and the criminal hero hunting her. Expect menace and intensity rather than a gentle read.

L.J. Shen's Society of Villains series continues here: Twisted Pawn is book two, and it follows Bad Bishop. Bloom Books released it in 2026. A deluxe edition also carries designed edges, art inside the cover and a colored illustration of the couple.