Mature
Length7h 7m
About this audiobook
His father's ring sits heavy on Dante's pinky, the onyx scarred by the bullet that went through the old man's hand before it killed him. Marco Vitale was shot in the back of the head and left in the Gowanus Canal, and the debt he was owed is six months overdue.
Domenico Lombardi will not pay it. He slides fifty thousand across a bar table and calls it a gift for Dante's trouble, and then he makes the mistake of mentioning his daughter's inheritance.
The agreement was signed by both fathers: pay in full, or surrender the collateral.
So Dante sends a car to Brooklyn Heights for a twenty-year-old who works at a bakery on Montague Street. He had seen Chiara Lombardi exactly once, three years earlier at her mother's funeral, seventeen and standing beside her father's pew wearing a face he recognised from his own mirror.
When they take the bag off her head he is expecting tears. What he gets is a girl with eyes like river stones who does not blink, and who throws a cup of coffee in his face, and who later sings a Sicilian lullaby through the basement door until he has to tell her to stop, because it is the one his mother used to sing.
Chiara is not passive. She gets to a phone and asks dispatch to pass a message to Agent Reeves.
At the same time, Dante's uncle Enzo has been taking calls from Lombardi without him, and proposing terms about a captive who is not his to trade: forty Czech rifles and a hundred thousand in cash for a handover at a bakery on Mulberry, done by midnight. Enzo calls Chiara a rat. Enzo's father tried the same thing on Marco Vitale twenty years ago.
At home there is Rosa, who is six, has a missing front tooth and a stuffed rabbit she will not let him throw away, and who studies a burnt pancake the way her father studies a man across a negotiating table.
This is a dark mafia romance about a man collecting a debt he never expected to collect, a woman who refuses to be anyone's bargaining chip, a family meeting where the chair at the head of the table has been set deliberately too low, and a traitor whose name arrives late. The romance is closed-door, and it ends in a dark kitchen before dawn with a lease crinkled in her hand and a terrible menu written out in his.
Audiobook details
GenreRomance
Length7 hrs 7 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateSep 15, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Dedication
2Chapter 1 - The Debt I Never Meant to Collect
3Chapter 2 - The Cage They Built for Me
4Chapter 3 - The First Crack
5Chapter 4 - The Ghost Who Sings
Mostrar todos os capítulosVer menos
6Chapter 5 - A Wall of Kindling
7Chapter 6 - The Shape of the Enemy’s Hands
8Chapter 7 - The Daughter He Keeps
9Chapter 8 - The Princess Who Refused
10Chapter 9 - The Reckoning Bargain
11Chapter 10 - The Shot That Missed
12Chapter 11 - The First Time I Thanked Him
13Chapter 12 - The Lie We Told Ourselves
14Chapter 13 - The Story of the Lockbox
15Chapter 14 - The Snow Tastes Like Her
16Chapter 15 - The Traitor’s Name
17Chapter 16 - The Second Time She Chose Him
18Chapter 17 - The Vow of the Undertow
19Chapter 18 - The Vulture Circles
20Chapter 19 - The First True Fight
21Chapter 20 - The Warehouse of Lies
22Chapter 21 - The Cost of Her Truth
23Chapter 22 - The Snake Strikes First
24Chapter 23 - The Iron Tide
25Chapter 24 - The Hospital Room Vigil
26Chapter 25 - The Rose of the Undertow
27Chapter 26 - The Den of Vipers
28Chapter 27 - The Door She Opened
29The End
30About the Author
31Also by Jax Holloway
32Acknowledgements
33A Note from the Author
More from Jax Holloway
Sinners MCJax Holloway8h 30m$5
Property of the RenegadesJax Holloway7h 23m$5
The Outlaw's ClaimJax Holloway9h 28m$5
The Outlaw's VowJax Holloway8h 41m$5
The Outlaw's QueenJax Holloway8h 7m$5
The Outlaw's ObsessionJax Holloway7h 35m$5
The Renegade's ObsessionJax Holloway8h 56m$5
The Outlaw's Old LadyJax Holloway8h 39m$5
The Renegade's Old LadyJax Holloway8h 31m$5
The Renegade's QueenJax Holloway7h 22m$5
The Renegade's PropertyJax Holloway8h 32m4.2 (1.6K)$5
The Renegade's VowJax Holloway7h 41m$5
The Renegade's CaptiveJax Holloway8h 3m$5
The Renegade's ClaimJax Holloway4h 52m$5
The Outlaw's PropertyJax Holloway7h 51m$5
Outlaw's ObsessionJax Holloway7h 53m$5
Kutte and CrownJax Holloway8h 31m$5
Following the TrailLynette Eason6h 35m4.6 (2.3K)$12 · $0.00
Her Duty Bound DefenderSharee Stover6h 30m4.6 (559)$12 · $0.00
Defending from DangerJodie Bailey5h 46m4.6 (588)$24 · $0.00
White HotIlona Andrews13h 18m4.5 (136.9K)$5 · $0.00
Explosive RevengeMaggie K. Black6h 18m4.6 (545)$12 · $0.00
Her Brand of JusticeB.J. Daniels6h 48m4.6 (1.3K)$12 · $0.00
Search And DetectTerri Reed5h 51m4.6 (706)$24 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
Danger in the WildernessDarlene L. Turner6h 54m4.7 (299)$12 · $0.00
Yukon JusticeDana Mentink6h 15m4.6 (751)$12 · $0.00
The Rogue WarriorCindy Roland Anderson5h 44m4.6 (410)$17 · $0.00
Trail Of ThreatsJessica R. Patch5h 47m4.6 (425)$24 · $0.00
Ironwood, a Fae Universe SeriesAlessa Thorn26h 57m4.6 (835)$30 · $0.00
Ready to ProtectValerie Hansen5h 38m4.6 (981)$24 · $0.00
Searching For EvidenceCarol J. Post6h 21m4.6 (552)$24 · $0.00
New Beginnings at Lullbury BayGeorgia Hill6h 59m4.6 (423)$13 · $0.00
Hiding in MontanaLaura Scott6h 18m4.6 (1K)$12 · $0.00
Christmas K-9 Unit HeroesLenora Worth, Katy Lee5h 51m4.6 (507)$24 · $0.00
Three ComradesErich Maria Remarque15h 50m4.5 (47.3K)$2 · $0.00
Craft BrewLayla Reyne7h 50m4.5 (986)$26 · $0.00
You may also like
ElicitRachel Van Dyken10h 3m4.3 (12.2K)$23
CocaineLarry Jeram-Croft8h 18m4.4 (399)$23
The Last DonMario Puzo18h 53m3.8 (20.4K)$32
Pride, Prejudice, and Other FlavorsSonali Dev15h 8m3.8 (26.5K)$33 · $0.00
The Perfect StormVera Cross9h 43m$5
The Cartel Heir's Reluctant BrideNora Salcedo10h 16m$5
No Mercy, No EscapeV. R. Calloway8h 14m$5
No Ring, No VowsCara Delgado10h 1m$5
SnowmeltBishop LaRue10h 49m$5
The Don's WeaknessQuinn Mercer7h 25m$5
Shattered WingsIvy Black11h 58m3.7 (297) Only with Ultra
No Truce, No TemptationNadia Volkov9h 3m$5
The CEO's RevengeAdrienne Cole7h 59m$5
The Capo's VowElena Moretti7h 30m$5
The UnderbossNadia Volkov11h 35m$5
The Don He BetrayedMirella Constanzo12h 14m$5
The Bratva CaptiveSabina Cross8h 49m4.3 (136)$5
The President Who Would Burn The World For HerEvren Ashvale35h 4m$6.50 · $0.00
The Kingpin's EmpireNadia Vance8h 32m$5
He Promised Me RuinDelphine Rourke12h 34m$5