Ruthless Protector by Clara Dunn

I was sent to watch her. Now I’m sleeping down the hall… and daring anyone to touch what’s mine.

The Kozlov Pakhan doesn’t give assignments. He gives verdicts.

Mine is simple: move into Daria Kozlov’s apartment, track her movements, and prove she’s the leak before the feds freeze our accounts.

If she’s guilty, she disappears. Even if she’s family.

I expect designer clothes and a fake smile.

I find a piano teacher in a threadbare cardigan, a fridge that’s almost empty, and a five-year-old who drags me into a tea party like I’m not built for violence.

That first night, I clear the apartment.

A hidden camera is wedged in her daughter’s bedroom.

At that point, I stop watching Daria—and start hunting the man who put it there.

Daria flinches at blocked numbers. She lies like it keeps her alive. And when I catch the bruises she hides under sleeves, something in me goes cold and final.

I came here to catch a traitor.

Instead I’m standing between a mother, her little girl… and the man who’s been terrorizing them for years.

If he comes for either of them, there won’t be negotiations.

There will be a cold body.

This is Book Four in a series of interconnected characters within the same mafia world. Each novel can be read as a STANDALONE and ends with an HEA. Each one ends on a soft cliffhanger, setting up the next in series.