Thing is, I wasn't supposed to want Elena Russo. She'd been my boss's woman. Untouchable, off-limits, the kind of respect you don't break even after the man's six feet under. I never looked at her twice.

Not until I walked into her apartment and found her in a position that changed everything.

Elena's different. She looks at me like she can see every sin I've committed, every soul I've sent to hell, and she's not running. When I touch her, when I watch her come apart in my arms, something wild breaks free inside me. She's stronger than her dead ex ever gave her credit for, fierce enough to stand toe-to-toe with a killer and make him want to be better.

Then there's her daughter Sophia, who has the same blue Romano eyes as her father, but hers hold innocence where his held violence. She lets me teach her to fish, reminds me what it feels like to believe in something good.

But wanting your dead boss's woman? His family? That's the kind of betrayal that gets you killed in my world.

Elena doesn't know the truth yet. That I was supposed to protect him that night. That I failed him. That I'm not sorry.

When a killer falls for the family he swore to protect, some sins can't be forgiven.

Book 2 in the Protected Heart series. Can be read as a standalone. No cliffhangers. Guaranteed HEA.