***TRIGGER WARNING: This is a DARK mafia romance. In addition to several scenes with strong sexual content, there are also scenes involving violence, death, gun play, mention of sexual abuse, and adult language. Due to the nature of this book, it is intended for 18+ audiences only***
They call me Dash.
Sixteen years ago my brother and I were kidnapped. The Scorpeones believed our father, boss of the Vitaliev Bratva, could be pressured into relinquishing his hold on Chicago’s underworld.
They were dead wrong.
Ultimately the Scorpeones made the youngest of their family pay for their sins. I tried not to care. Marco Polo Scorpeone, the hostage whose life was forfeit if his family moved on the Vitalievs, was the enemy. Why should I care if he was tortured worse than a prisoner of war?
Except I did care.
For sixteen years I’ve cared, more than I can say.
They call me Scorpio.
There was no light in my world. Then I saw Dash smile.
No voice could pierce my darkness. Then I heard Dash speak.
I’ve killed to survive. Killed to please my handler. Hell, I’ve killed to please myself. Killing is what I do.
I know I’m not good enough for Dash, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that she’s mine, from now until the end of time. But that time might be nearer than I think, because someone deadlier than me is closing in…
Author’s Note: This is the first half of a two-part story arc. YEAR OF THE SCORPIO: PART ONE ends on a cliffhanger, which will be concluded in YEAR OF THE SCORPIO: PART TWO. You have been warned.
I received a copy for a honest review
Well I have always said everyone deserves love even bad boys and Marco Polo Scorpeone one baaaaaad boy, well maybe not too bad.
For those of you that have read Gail’s House of Payne series you might remember Scorpio, as he likes his enemies to call him Polo to his friend, from Rude and Sass’s book. For those of you who have not them two things: one read that series and two Scorpio works for the head of the Vitaliev Bratva which is the lead Russian mob family.
He was given to the Vitaliev family as a child to stop a war and though he was treated like a son he never forgot why he was there, who sent him there, or that he essentially was a prisoner all his life. He grew up and became the go to guy for the head of the family and lead bodyguard for Dasha Vitaliev. Now he’s free.
Dasha Vitaliev, she is not some pampered princess living in the dark she knows what her father, now her brother, does. She also knows that Polo has been gone for six months following the death of her father and he’s back.
These two are great together. When you read the whole back story of the Vitaliev/Scorrpeone war you’re amazed these two come out of it as well as they have. The darkness of the early years have tainted some, like Dash’s brother, but have made these two strong.
What I love about them is she knows what he has done all these years while employed for her family, but she doesn’t care she sees the man. He thought he needed to be “clean” for her, but he just needed to be him. Shit hits the fan while these two are becoming a couple, Polo vows to do anything to keep her safe as she’s his reason for living. I think he’s surprised when she tells him to do it, she’s knows no matter what he does or who he has to go through, he is still her Polo.
Now I’m gonna warn you, you’ll need tissues as this is a mafia story and people die and it’s not just the bad guys. Oh, and you’ll wanna throw your device but remember this is only Part One of the story so DO NOT DO ITT!!!!
A competitive figure skater from the age of eight, Stacy Gail wrote stories between events to pass the time. By fourteen, she told her parents she was either going to be a skating coach who was also a romance writer, or a romance writer who was also a skating pro. Now with a day job of playing on the ice with her students, and writing everything from PNR and cyberpunk to contemporary romance at night, both dreams have come true.
