Nero

This dark mafia romance, the first novel in The Alliance series, follows Payton Vawdrey, a 27-year-old café worker living alone in a shabby Minneapolis apartment, and Nero, the feared leader of a criminal empire called The Alliance. On a stormy night, Payton is watching The Wizard of Oz with her patio door open when a man in a suit climbs through her second-story balcony. Police sirens pass as the stranger settles onto her couch, eats her popcorn, and watches the movie. Though he carries a gun, he promises he will not hurt her. Payton freezes rather than fleeing, her internal monologue revealing trauma that has dulled her survival instincts.

After Payton falls asleep, the man, revealed through his own narration to be Nero, explores her apartment. He reads her name from her mail, unlocks her phone using her sleeping face, and takes her rose-scented body wash, leaving a hundred-dollar bill in its place. When Payton wakes from a nightmare about her abusive stepfather, Arthur, who used to choke her, Nero comforts her, asks for Arthur's name, and implies he will deal with him. He leaves through the front door, stealing a pair of her underwear and warning her to keep her doors closed.

Payton discovers the money the next morning and chooses not to call the police. Nero calls King, his partner and co-leader of The Alliance. The two are equals who built their organization after violently overthrowing the Russian and Irish mafia families they once served. Nero requests a background check on Payton and calls Arthur "a dead man."

Over the following weeks, Nero watches Payton obsessively from an unoccupied apartment across the street. One evening, after a difficult day ending with a rent increase notice, Payton leaves her patio door open, hoping Nero will come. He enters and waits in her dark bedroom. When she finds him on her bed, he tells her this is her one chance to say no. She steps closer. During sex, Nero discovers Payton is a virgin and becomes fiercely possessive, telling her she belongs to him.

Before dawn, Nero flies to Fargo, North Dakota, with King to kill Arthur. King's research confirmed years of abuse, including ER visits and a fractured arm. Nero rips off Arthur's pinky finger to claim his gold class ring, the same ring Payton clawed at during her nightmare, then kills him. They set the house on fire. Nero keeps the ring.

Days later, Nero visits Twin's Café, Payton's workplace, but encounters Mayor Oscar Devon and treats Payton as a stranger, though he slips her a hundred-dollar bill and murmurs, "I'm real, Sweet Girl." When Carlton, a friendly regular and aspiring musician, asks Payton for her number to send a concert ticket, Nero sends furious texts forbidding her from going. Jean, one of the café owners, mutters "Damn mobster" after Nero leaves, planting the word in Payton's mind.

Payton defies Nero and attends the concert. He follows and initiates a sexual encounter in the crowd. At her apartment afterward, he admits he is a mobster whose enemies would kill her to hurt him, explaining why he cannot acknowledge her publicly. Payton shares why she remained a virgin: at nearly 18, she overheard Arthur negotiating to sell her virginity to a friend for 600 dollars and fled that night, never returning.

The next morning, Payton finds a gold-embossed invitation to Nero's 40th birthday party on her apartment floor. She buys a sequined dress and attends alone. At the event, she spots Nero with Nikki, a paid escort he uses as arm candy at public events, in a red dress pressed against his side. Nero sees Payton but deliberately touches Nikki, knowing the sight will drive Payton away before anyone identifies her as his weakness. Heartbroken, Payton flees into the rain.

Nero arrives at Payton's apartment later that night, finding her asleep with a packed duffel bag. A volatile confrontation follows: She accuses him of cheating; he insists Nikki was a paid escort used to distract the crowd. Then he produces Arthur's gold ring. Payton recognizes it instantly. "He's gone, baby," Nero tells her. "I killed him." Overwhelmed with relief, she thanks him through tears. They exchange declarations of love for the first time, and Nero tells her she is moving into his house.

When Payton shows him the invitation envelope, Nero's demeanor shifts: He did not send it. He pulls a gun and rushes her from the building. King reviews hallway camera footage and identifies Nikki as the culprit, motivated by jealousy after learning about Payton from the mayor. Nero and Aspen, King's sister, confront Nikki. Aspen cuts off all of Nikki's hair while Nero banishes her with a permanent warning.

Nero gives Payton a stray terrier mix he found, naming him Toto after The Wizard of Oz. He tells her The Alliance's history: Nero was an orphan who became a runner for the Russian Bratva, the Russian mafia, at about eight years old. King came from wealth but joined the Irish mob out of restlessness. They discovered both organizations were trafficking women, recruited loyal men, and slaughtered the leadership in a single night. They spared Mikhail, the young son of the Russian leader Nero killed, but that mercy now haunts them as Mikhail has grown into a dangerous threat.

Nero leaves for Chicago to investigate the deaths of two Alliance men, giving Payton a gold necklace containing a hidden GPS tracker forged from Arthur's melted ring. He assigns bodyguard Robert to protect her at the mansion. Restless and isolated, Payton convinces Robert to take her out. Their convoy is ambushed by Mikhail's men: An explosive destroys the lead vehicle, and gunfire kills the driver of the second. Mikhail's men drag Payton from the wreckage and choke her unconscious. Robert, badly injured, answers her ringing phone. Nero hears her screams, then silence.

Nero tracks the necklace and lands a commandeered plane outside Mikhail's estate. King arrives with a rocket launcher and blows open the gate as Alliance soldiers storm the property. Inside, Payton regains consciousness alongside Nikki, who has allied with Mikhail after her banishment. Mikhail shoots Nikki dead when she tries to flee. Nero appears in the doorway, tosses his weapons aside, and charges. Mikhail fires, grazing Nero's arm and hitting his bulletproof vest. Payton grabs one of Nero's discarded guns and shoots Mikhail in the neck. Nero takes the weapon, empties the clip into Mikhail, and claims the kill so Payton does not have to carry it. He carries her out as the mansion burns.

At home, a doctor confirms Payton has a concussion and bruising but no fractures. Robert appears at the door, alive. Payton blames herself; Nero insists the fault is his for letting Mikhail live 15 years ago. She tells him what she needs: "I want a big wedding," with a puffy dress, flowers, and Toto as ring bearer. Nero proposes, and she replies, "It was always going to be you."

Six months later, they marry in their garden. Robert walks Payton down the aisle, and Toto serves as ring bearer. An epilogue at the Grand Canyon shows the couple on their honeymoon. The novel closes with King calling Nero late at night, a woman's screams audible in the background, setting up the next installment in the series.