He paid off her debt in secret. She never asked him to. Kirin Draganov doesn't do things by half measures - not business, not loyalty, not love. When he discovers Odessa Marsh is quietly drowning under a debt her late father left behind, he clears it in one payment and says nothing. He tells himself it's protection. She calls it exactly what it is: control, dressed up as care. Odessa isn't looking for a man who manages her life from the shadows. She's spent a year falling for Kirin slowly, on her own terms - and finding out he's been steering things behind her back the whole time nearly costs them everything, right as one reckless, healing night leaves her pregnant with his child. His reaction is the worst thing he's ever said to anyone. What follows is a slower, harder story than either of them wanted - jealousy, danger, an old wound from his first marriage that nearly poisons his second chance, and the long, patient work of proving that protecting someone and controlling them aren't the same thing at all. When the past finally lets go of him, and when he chooses her - publicly, completely, at real cost - the two of them discover something worth considerably more than either would have settled for. BOUND BY DEBT is Book 2 of The Draganov Reckoning, a dark, emotionally grounded mafia romance featuring an accidental pregnancy, a hero who has to unlearn a lifetime of control, jealousy and possessiveness on both sides, and a heroine who refuses to accept anything less than complete honesty. Contains mature content and themes of emotional conflict, controlling behavior (examined and challenged, not endorsed), and organized crime. Intended for adult readers.
