Crowned by Betrayal

Jayla Bennett believed her best friend was offering the escape of a lifetime—a luxury trip, first-class treatment, and enough money to save her struggling custom-sneaker business.

She should have known nothing that perfect came without a price.

Kenzie has been secretly paid to watch Jayla, and the shoes she commissioned contain encrypted evidence tied to one of New York’s most powerful families. When armed men attack Jayla’s studio, the only person standing between her and death is Malachi “Crown” Devereaux.

Cold, controlling, and dangerously powerful, Crown has spent his life protecting his siblings and investigating the murder of his father. He believes Jayla’s late grandmother left behind the key to exposing decades of corruption, betrayal, and bloodshed within his family.

To protect Jayla from the enemies hunting her, Crown announces that she is his fiancée—without asking her first.

Their engagement may be fake, but the danger surrounding them is painfully real. As buried secrets rise and betrayal reaches into both their families, Jayla must decide whether Crown is another powerful man trying to control her—or the first man who has ever made her feel truly safe.

Crown has built an empire through fear. Jayla refuses to belong to anyone but herself.

If they want to survive, he must learn that protection without choice is another kind of prison—and she must decide whether the man known as Crown is worthy of her trust, her heart, and a love neither of them expected.