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Merciless Hunter (Dark Syndicate #4) by Faith Summers

May 12, 2021November 11, 2022 by Sharon Clayton

ABOUT THE BOOK

I was on a mission of retribution and vengeance: find my son then make my enemies pay for kidnapping him and killing my wife.

Then I met her.

Olivia made a big mistake when she tried to trick me.

I’m the leader of a blood-thirsty brotherhood. In the Bratva the rules are simple:

An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Enemies will always be enemies.

Try to fool me, and you pay with your life. Except this beautiful angel managed to enchant me.

So I make her my prisoner. A captive at the mercy of my desire. One taste and I don’t want to let her go. One taste and I want to make her mine.

When danger comes knocking, our fates crash together. Locked in a web of deceit and betrayal. Tangled in secrets and lies. I thought I had nothing left to lose. Until my enemies take her.

Love has no place for a dark soul like me. But I’ll walk through the fires of hell to get her back.

MY REVIEW

I was first introduced to Faith Summers with Tease Me which is a mafia romance that is part of another series, so I jumped at the chance to read another of her books and it did not disappoint.

The book starts out with an unforgettable and devastating fire that destroys Aiden Romanov’s life and turns him into a ruthless killer on a mission determined to find out who murdered his family and which one of his men betrayed him.

Olivia Markov is desperate to find her brother she had originally thought dead for the last five years. However, she and her wheelchair-bound mother are being held captive by an evil and twisted man, Jude Kuzmin, who she knows is responsible for her brother’s disappearance and is determined to marry her to get control of her father’s company. With no choice, she hatches a plan to get help from the very dangerous Aiden Romanov, Bratva Pakhan (boss) of the L.A. Brotherhood, part of the new Syndicate, and former enforcer of the Order. Little did she know she was stepping into a minefield of betrayal, fear, and possession of yet another man set on taking what he wants with no remorse. But it’s different with Aiden. She is surprised that she wants him as much as he wants her, but her family comes first and she will do anything to find her brother.

Aiden Romanov has lost everything and has nothing to lose. When the beautiful Olivia shows up at his club to manipulate him into helping her, he is angry and intrigued. When her story starts to intertwine with his mission for revenge, he plans to use her as leverage to get what he wants. But his need for her is distracting and must be second to finding the one person he has sacrificed everything for.

Olivia and Aiden’s stories are tragic and heartbreaking. It’s understandable they find it hard to trust anyone. But the growing sexual attraction between them is real and gives them solace in a dangerous war between two lethal factions. Olivia’s story is very sad as she is an illegitimate child of a powerful man who didn’t recognize her as his, and she is a woman with no freedoms who is destined to marry a disgusting man who treats her like an animal no one wants. When she meets Aiden she thinks it will be the same until their passion turns into something that fills the hole in their lives. Aiden feels the shame and responsibility of his family’s death and has no time for anything else. Until he meets Olivia. He becomes possessive and protective of her as her story is revealed. She is his new addiction, but his conflicting emotions say she cannot stay with him because it’s too dangerous. It’s a long road, but they do have a HEA.

I recommend this fast-paced, action-packed, and unpredictable dark mafia romance to those who love intrigue and powerful characters.

Thank you to Ms. Summers for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

BUY THE BOOK

Merciless Hunter

EXCERPT

“Where do we go from here? Where do we even start?”

That is the real problem. What do we do with this information?

“My best guess is that our next move should be to go to L.A. and find a way to see what Aiden Romanov knows,” Amy replies.

“But who can go?” Mom rasps. It’s another good question.

“I was thinking I could—” Amy begins but I cut her off by raising my hand.

“No. If your next words were to go to L.A. then it’s a no,” I answer and Mom nods.

“We are not putting you in any more danger,” Mom agrees.

“I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you,” I say. “Please tell me Jude won’t know you helped us.”

“No, he won’t. My contact works outside the realms of everything, and that’s why I didn’t use any of my devices at work or at home. He will never know.”

“Good. I think that’s it. You should stop helping now.”

“I can’t just stop helping. What are you going to do?” Her brows pinch and the worry I saw earlier in her bright green eyes intensifies.

What am I going to do?

That’s such a good question.

Eric’s in captivity, and if I marry Jude, the same fate awaits me. Marrying him will be the anchor to my hell.

I will be in captivity, and what do I think is going to happen to Mom?

If Jude can threaten my life so easily and tell me fucked up shit about not wanting something to happen to me after the wedding, what do I really think he’ll do to my mother?

If he can make my brother disappear for five years, can I be foolish enough to think worse won’t happen to me?

This is just the tip of the shit and…I have a really bad idea.

An idea which takes residence in my soul with each passing second. “I’ll go,”I say and they both look at me as if I’ve just lost my mind.

It’s laughable because I wonder the same.

Have I gone crazy?

Do I really think I can save Eric and change things?

Stop Jude?

Find Aiden and do what?

I have no plan and I’m just me.

Olivia Markov.

There’s nothing special about me.

But I’d sure as fuck prefer to walk in the valley of the shadow of death, in the lair of beasts, than sign my life away to Jude Kuzmin.

“No,” Mom blurts. “Olivia no.”

“Then what? What should we do? Leave things as they are? Leave Eric to die in captivity? You want me to marry Jude so he can accidentally kill me, then kill you?”

“Olivia it’s dangerous.”

“Don’t you think I know that.”

“Olivia, I have to agree with your mother,” Amy says. “Aiden Romanov is a very dangerous man, and we have no idea what the newly found Syndicate members are like.”

“You’re telling me this, and you were offering to go?”

“Eric is my friend. I just want to help.”

“You have babies.”

“I know, and I… I just feel bad I can’t do more.”

“You’ve helped enough.”

“But we’re stuck. How are you even going to escape? There are guards everywhere, and they’re with you twenty-four seven.”

And if I escape Mom’s dead. There must be a way around this.

When I think about yesterday when I saw Jude and the way he treated me I shudder inwardly.

He wants us to focus on that fucking wedding, and every time the word is mentioned I feel like I want to die.

I close my eyes and the thought of the wedding stirs an idea in my mind. An idea that just might work. My eyes snap open and I look at Amy and then at Mom.

“I think I might have come up with something. Something that will get me to Aiden Romanov.”