She thinks she’s playing him. He knows he’s playing her.

Lea Song is fresh out of journalism school, ambitious, and driven by a single goal: destroy Nico Varela, the enigmatic seasoned mafia mediator she blames for her father’s ruin. She’s maneuvering her way into his world, convinced she can expose his secrets while guarding her own.

Nico Varela, Chicago’s ruthless “Diplomat,” operates in shadows she can’t comprehend. He sees through Lea’s attempts at manipulation. Intrigued by the unexpected challenge she represents, he grants her access, pulling her into his orbit as a pawn in a much larger, deadlier game. He demands obedience,...

She thinks she’s playing him. He knows he’s playing her.

Lea Song is fresh out of journalism school, ambitious, and driven by a single goal: destroy Nico Varela, the enigmatic seasoned mafia mediator she blames for her father’s ruin. She’s maneuvering her way into his world, convinced she can expose his secrets while guarding her own.

Nico Varela, Chicago’s ruthless “Diplomat,” operates in shadows she can’t comprehend. He sees through Lea’s attempts at manipulation. Intrigued by the unexpected challenge she represents, he grants her access, pulling her into his orbit as a pawn in a much larger, deadlier game. He demands obedience, a price Lea finds increasingly costly as she witnesses his brutal control firsthand.

She’s seriously out of her league, caught between her quest for vengeance and an undeniable, consuming attraction to the powerful man she should hate.

In this lethal game of smoke and mirrors, who is manipulating whom? And when attraction wars with revenge, will survival mean surrender?