Cruel Reverence: A Dark Mafia Captive Stalker Romance (Dark Devotion Book 1)

He was ordered to kill the witness. Instead, he kidnapped her—and made the world believe she was dead.

For six months, violinist Eva Mercer has felt the man in the darkest corner of the hotel watching her.

Declan Kane never approaches. Never smiles. Never looks away.

Then Eva follows a bleeding employee into a restricted corridor—and witnesses Declan execute him.

Declan works for Malachy Byrne, a powerful crime boss who buries witnesses and controls the people meant to protect them. His order is simple: silence Eva before sunrise.

But Declan already knows her schedule, her fears, the route she takes home, and the broken lock on her apartment door. He has watched her for far too long to obey the command that would end her life.

So he takes her instead.

Declared dead and hidden inside Declan’s isolated coastal estate, Eva is trapped with the assassin who stalked her—and the only man standing between her and an entire criminal organization.

Declan calls it protection.

Eva calls it captivity.

She tests every lock, challenges every rule, and refuses to become another possession inside his carefully controlled world. But as Malachy’s men close in, Declan’s obsession becomes even more dangerous. He will betray the organization that created him, expose secrets powerful men have killed to protect, and destroy anyone who tries to take Eva from him.

The monster who stole her freedom may also be the only man willing to help her reclaim it.

And when hatred turns into forbidden desire, Eva must decide whether Declan’s ruthless reverence is another kind of prison—or the most dangerous love she has ever known.

Cruel Reverence is a dark standalone mafia romance featuring an obsessive stalker antihero, a captive heroine who fights back, enemies-to-lovers tension, forced proximity, touch-her-and-die protection, explicit consensual heat, and a complete happily ever after.

For adult readers only. Please check the content warning inside the book.