Fake Dating The Hockey Star.

She was his safe haven. He was the ticking time bomb.

To the world, Ethan Vance is the golden-boy hockey star living a clean, glamorous life in New York. To the Italian mafia underworld, he is the ruthless heir locked in a silent war with his own blood.

Katherine "Kat" Pierce thought she knew the man sharing her bed. She knew his touch, his warmth, and the secret dreams they whispered in the dark. But when a terrifying shadow from Ethan's past touches down in the city, the man who once held her like she was his entire universe suddenly turns into an impenetrable wall of ice.

Locked in a cruel seven-day countdown by a syndicate that demands obedience-and threatens the lives of everyone she loves-Ethan is forced to play the villain. He has to shatter her heart, push her away, and make her hate him. Because the only way to keep Kat safe from the monsters in his world is to become one himself.

With ticking clocks, impossible choices, and a love so deep it defies blood and bullets, how far will a man go to destroy the woman he loves, just to keep her breathing?

A high-stakes mafia romance filled with dark secrets, forced proximity, devastating emotional agony, and an unbreakable bond