A steamy one-night stand with Paris's most dangerous crime lord turns one woman's life upside down . . . but is it for the better? The first book in the steamy Fifth Republic series.

I found out my husband of three years had cheated on me, and his mistress is the one who told me-because he didn't have the balls to do it himself.

I move out and get a new apartment, a job as a bartender, and try to carry on with a broken heart. I wonder where it all went wrong. If I hadn't been enough for him. If I'd been stupid for marrying him in the first place.

I'm at work one night when he walks inside-the most beautiful man I've ever seen. He sits at the bar, and a forest fire burns between us. I was depressed the moment before he entered, but the second I look at his blue eyes, I forget the dumpster fire that my life has become. I invite him back to my place, and it's the most passionate night of my life. I expect to never see him again.

I just want him as an anti-depressant-but he wants me all to himself. I just got my heart ripped out of my chest so I want something easy and no-strings-attached, but he wants all the strings because he's hooked.

I don't get much of a say in the matter, and that's not surprising when I learn why-because he's the Butcher. The crime lord of all crime lords, the boss that overshadows all of Paris, that makes everyone abide by his rules-or pay.

And now I'm his.

Don't miss any of Penelope Sky's sizzling Fifth Republic series!
THE BUTCHER • THE CARVER • THE SAINT