King of Envy

King of Envy (2025) is a romance novel by Ana Huang, part of the Kings of Sin series. The novel details the forbidden love between billionaire CEO Vuk Markovic and famous supermodel Ayana Kidane. For years, Vuk has secretly harbored a fierce longing for Ayana but kept it quiet when she became engaged to his best friend, Jordan Ford. Unbeknownst to Vuk, however, the wedding is a sham intended to provide Jordan with his inheritance and Ayana with enough money to finally escape her villainous modeling agency. As the truth is revealed, Vuk dares to hope, but when his past resurfaces, he risks losing all the people he loves.

King of Envy is the fifth novel in Huang’s series, comprising King of Wrath, King of Pride, King of Greed, and King of Sloth to date, with King of Gluttony and King of Lust set to be published in 2026 and 2027, respectively.

This guide is based on the 2025 Bloom Books e-book edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of torture, sexual harassment and assault, sex trafficking, graphic violence, and death.

Plot Summary

Six months before their wedding, famous model Ayana Kidane and her fiancé, Jordan Ford, host a cocktail party. Ayana and Jordan are not the loving couple everyone thinks they are: Their wedding plans are a scheme in which Ayana pretends to marry Jordan for five years for five million dollars to ensure that Jordan retains his inheritance. During the party, Ayana notices Jordan’s grandmother’s ill health.

Later in the week, they meet with Jordan’s best man, billionaire CEO Vuk Markovic. Ayana has always believed Vuk dislikes her, despite her best efforts. When Jordan receives a phone call about his grandmother, Jordan asks Vuk to fly Ayana in his private jet to their cake-tasting in San Francisco. They reluctantly agree. After their short flight, they drive to the appointment, and Ayana receives a phone call from her modeling agent, Hank. While Ayana has been successful with the Beaumont modeling agency, she’s faced extortion and threats, specifically from Hank himself. Hank mentions her trip with Vuk, and Ayana wonders if he’s stalking her.

Vuk accompanies Ayana to the cake testing, and they banter. When they arrive at the hotel, they find that Ayana never changed her reservation, and they must share a room. While Ayana is busy, Vuk directs his team to investigate the fire that nearly killed him in the Vault club some time ago. He is miserable because he’s had a secret crush on Ayana longer than she and Jordan have known each other. Out of loyalty to Jordan, however, Vuk has hidden his feelings. He leaves the hotel room and stays in the hotel gym.

When they return to New York, Vuk learns the perpetrator who set the fire at the Vault is a member of the underground criminal group “the Brotherhood.” He directs his security to find this man. That night at a party, he witnesses Hank pressuring Ayana into working with Wentworth Holt, a famous photographer and known sexual predator. Vuk scares him away, and he and Ayana once again flirt. Jordan finds them and says that because of his grandmother’s health, the wedding has to happen in two months rather than six.

After a harsh meeting with her agency’s boss, Emmanuelle Beaumont, Ayana runs into Vuk, who asks if she’s in love with Jordan. Before she can answer, Vuk sees a man fitting the profile of the perpetrator and chases after him. Though the man is innocent, he was instructed to give Vuk a message: find the real perpetrator before others do. Days later, as Vuk plans Jordan’s bachelor party, he once again sees Ayana. They get caught in the rain and he offers to drive her home. Ayana invites him to her apartment. While there, Hank comes by unannounced to pressure Ayana once again. Vuk scares him off again and has his security team find the listening devices Hank left on Ayana. When he leaves her, Vuk goes to find Hank and nearly pierces his hand with a knife as a warning to stay away from Ayana.

During Jordan’s bachelor party, a pub brawl occurs. Ayana, meanwhile, has a tame bachelorette party where her friend Indira makes disparaging comments on Vuk’s scars. The women come across Vuk, Jordan, and his friends. They decide to play laser tag together, and, in the darkness, Ayana and Vuk have a sexually charged moment. Eventually, Jordan and the rest of the two parties leave, and Ayana tries to kiss Vuk. He refuses, telling her he will only have her when she is not wearing another man’s ring. At home, Vuk finds Roman Davenport, the perpetrator of the fire at the Vault. He offers Vuk a deal to take down the Brotherhood’s leadership so they will never again bother him, which Vuk eventually accepts.

Days go by. Ayana works the photoshoot with Wentworth Holt. Distracted by thoughts of Vuk, she doesn’t realize she is alone with Wentworth, who sexually assaults her. When she escapes, Ayana cries in the alley and resolves to learn how to defend herself. She goes to Vuk’s home, where she tells him what happened and asks for shooting lessons. Vuk comforts her. When she leaves, he storms into her agency’s office and threatens her boss to cut all contracts with Wentworth. He also plants a listening device, as he suspects Emmanuelle of having nefarious dealings. He then orders his men to find Wentworth and bring him to his abandoned warehouse, where he shatters his hand with a hammer.

Later, Ayana attends a party at the Valhalla club, where Vuk is in attendance. Vuk follows her into the secluded library. Ayana says that she and Jordan are not in love with each other, but won’t explain the details of their arrangement. She and Vuk have a heated moment of passion. While Ayana feels no guilt for their tryst, Vuk feels torn between his desire for her and his loyalty to Jordan. When he receives a text from Ayana inviting him to a hotel room, however, he rushes over and has sex with her. Ayana, however, still won’t call off the wedding.

At the wedding weeks later, Vuk asks Jordan to call it off and reveals his true feelings. The two of them fight. Jordan explains his contract with Ayana, and insists on marrying her. The Brotherhood chooses the wedding as the perfect venue to try and kill Vuk. In the aftermath, Jordan is in critical condition.

As Jordan receives treatment, Vuk finds Ayana and explains how he had once been part of the Brotherhood to save his twin brother, who’d seen one of their murders. He offered himself in exchange and created poisons for them until he finally found leverage strong enough to blackmail them for his freedom. The Brotherhood took revenge for the blackmail by torturing him, killing his brother, and setting their house on fire. Vuk has hunted every person involved and maintained an uneasy truce until now. Their leadership is changing, and the two warring factions are using him as a test to see which leader is most capable.

Though Ayana is shocked, she accepts his offer to accompany and protect her on her trip to DC to visit her family. While there, they spend the day together for his birthday and confess their feelings. Vuk receives a message from his men that they’ve captured the last remaining Brotherhood member who participated in the wedding shooting. He goes to them, tortures the man to find out when the next hit is planned, and kills him. Ayana, meanwhile, visits Jordan, who is now awake from his coma. They both agree to call off the wedding. When Vuk visits him later, both men reconcile. That night, Vuk, his men, and Roman launch a coordinated attack and kill Shepherd, the leader of one Brotherhood faction.

Ayana and Vuk deepen their relationship. At a party, Ayana is cornered by Emmanuelle, who terminates her contracts and notifies her of an oncoming lawsuit against her. To distract her, Vuk takes her out on a date, but when she comes back to her apartment, Ayana finds an envelope with pictures of the man Vuk tortured. When she confronts him about it, Vuk is unrepentant, as he believes in protecting his loved ones no matter the means. Shaken, Ayana leaves him to think. She is then kidnapped. Vuk searches for her everywhere. Roman calls, and Vuk realizes the second leader of the Brotherhood is Emmanuelle.

While Ayana tries to free herself, Vuk and his men arrive and have a shootout with the Brotherhood. Under the guise of double-crossing Vuk, Roman brings him to Emmanuelle, and their encounter quickly devolves into a bloody fight. As Emmanuelle is about to kill Vuk, Ayana kills him. As they heal from their injuries, Vuk dismantles Emmanuelle’s illegal empire, and Ayana comes to understand his views on personal justice. A year later, Vuk proposes to her in Finland, and she accepts.