They say two wrongs don't make a right. But what if they did?

Maria

It was always only a matter of time before my past would catch up with me. I knew it the second I lied on my job application, I was taking a huge risk. But anything was better than the crime family I was born into.

I knew I needed help, and I set my cap on the king only to be turned down. It was inevitable that someone from my old life was going to find me at the Vipers' Den.

I was ready for it, but I didn't expect him to step in. Luc Batiste, the Vipers' Council, was my savior. He wasn't loud and showy like the others. But it was always the quiet ones you had to watch out for.

Now, I owed him my life. But he wanted the truth, and that was more than I could give.

***

Luc

There was something about her that never seemed to fit. Maria didn't belong behind a bar slinging beers and booze.

She was too good for that. Too good for me. So, I kept my distance.

But I was there when that customer got a little too familiar, and there was no way I was going to let it go.

In my world, there are rules, and once a Viper claimed a woman, she was his. I just claimed Maria in the loudest way possible. She thought she could hide from me. That her secrets are safe. But they weren't.

Maria was mine now. That meant I owned every inch of her, including her past.

There was no getting away from it. No getting away from me. Sooner or later, Maria was going to have to accept it because I wasn't letting her go.

Devious Lies is the second in the contemporary romance series of connected standalones, Jersey Bad Boys. This series features familiar tropes such as enemies to lovers, forced proximity, arranged marriages, secret babies, and contains some violence and explicit scenes.