A Debt of Roses

Marina Sokolov's father put her up as collateral on a three-million-dollar loan to the Zarkov Bratva. Twenty-four years later, Dmitri Zarkov comes to collect. He doesn't want the money back — he wants her married to a man who will hand him a shipping empire. She refuses. He gives her thirty days. She spends them learning everything about his organization, his enemies, and the daughter he hides in Switzerland. On day twenty-nine, she makes him a different offer: she'll marry him instead, and in return he'll spare her father and owe her one favor, later. He accepts. The marriage is a war of attrition until Dmitri's uncle tries to kill him and Marina puts a bullet in the man's leg. That's when Dmitri finally understands what he bought. The favor she claims has nothing to do with him, and that may be the most intimate thing she's ever done. He signs it without a word. She understands.