Petals and Pliers

I buried the monster to give her a perfect life. When she went looking for danger, I decided to show her exactly what I am.

For six years, I have been the perfect suburban husband. I cook her breakfast. I water her hydrangeas. I hide the blood on my hands and the bodies in my past to give Wren the safe, quiet life she begged for. I was the premier enforcer for the city's most brutal syndicate, but I broke my own bones to buy my way out, all to keep her safe.

But safety is boring.

I gave my wife a golden cage, and she suffocated. So, she went looking for a thrill in the shadows of the city. She went looking for a dark, dangerous man.

She didn't know the man she chose was the very monster who took my place in the mafia. She didn't know I cloned her phone. She didn't know I watched her every lie, every stolen touch, and every betrayal.

She wanted a villain. She wanted danger. She is about to find out that the most lethal, unhinged predator in the city was already sleeping in her bed.

I'm not going to confront her. I'm not going to file for divorce. Instead, I'm going to build a soundproof room in the basement of our perfect pastel house. I'm going to drag her lover into the dark. And I am going to force my beautiful, treacherous wife to watch exactly what happens when you betray a man who knows how to make people disappear.

She thought she was playing a dangerous game. She is about to learn that she is entirely, permanently, and terrifyingly mine.

Petals and Pliers is a pitch-black, full-length standalone contemporary dark romance and psychological romantic thriller. It features a morally grey antihero, extreme possessiveness, betrayal, and high-angst romantic suspense.

Reader Expectation Tropes:

• Touch Her and Die Energy


• Secret Identity / Hidden Mafia Past


• Discovered Infidelity & Vengeance


• Unhinged, Obsessive Husband


• Forced Proximity & Trauma Bond


• Morally Black "Villain Gets the Girl" Romance