The married woman of the manor. The stranger outside. An intoxicating novel of dark temptation and dangerous desire by the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Cat and Mouse Duet.
November 12, 1944. This house holds on to souls for a lifetime. I thought I had given it to my husband when I vowed to love him until the end of time. I lied. Nothing could have prepared me for the day my phantom appeared outside my window. He was terrifying, yet hypnotizing, and I couldn’t deny my intrigue. I never intended to fall into a whirlwind romance with my stalker. Especially because he’s so much more than that. A criminal. A mobster. The man who offers me solace from the monster in Parsons Manor. There are many that haunt these halls, yet it’s only my husband I fear.
Playlist
Theme Song:
Bad Omens—“Bad Decisions”
Ariana and the Rose—“Honesty”
PVRIS—“Old Wounds”
Emmit Fenn—“Painting Greys”
Iris Temple—“Typhoon”
Wolves at the Gate—“Waste”
The Word Alive—“Burning Your World Down”
Benji Lewis—“Fast Forward”
Hailee Steinfeld—“Afterlife”
Bad Omens—“Like a Villain”
Point North (feat. Kellin Quinn)—“Into the Dark”
1940s Playlist
Bing Crosby—“Just One More Chance”
Fedora Mingarelli—“Un’ora sola ti vorrei”
Oscar Carboni—“Tango del mare”
Alfredo Clerici—“T’ho vista piangere”
Glenn Miller—“Elmer’s Tune”
Cesare Andrea Bixio (sung by Beniamino Gigli)—“Mamma son tanto felice”
Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra—“All the Things You Are”
Important Note
This is a dark romance with triggering situations such as stalking, cheating (not between love interests), graphic violence and murder, graphic language, on-page rape and domestic violence (not between love interests), alcohol addiction and codependency with an addict, mentions of infertility and traumatic labor, and explicit sexual situations.
There are also kinks such as degradation, breath play, and fear play.
Please heed these warnings seriously.
Your mental health matters.
Author’s Note
First, please keep in mind that this story takes place during the 1940s. Not only was the language slightly different then but the value of the dollar was also vastly different from what it is now.
While I tried to stay accurate to the time period, some liberties may have been taken for the sake of the story.
Second, if you are reading this after the Cat & Mouse Duet, then you are familiar with Gigi’s diary. Please note that Gigi wrote in her journal every day, so there are hundreds of entries detailing events and information that you may be unaware of.
Happy reading!
Glossary
Belly-up: Bankrupt
Big earner: Someone who makes a lot of money for the family
Bird: A pretty woman
Blabbermouth: Someone who talks too much
Broad: A woman
Bum rap: A false accusation; being blamed for something you didn’t do
Bust your chops: To scold or chastise someone
Cafone: An embarrassment to himself and others; a phony
Capo: Short for capodecina, the family member who leads a crew
Capo di tutti i capi: Boss of bosses
Clock: To keep track of someone’s movements and activities
Come heavy: To arrive carrying a loaded gun
Consigliere: A member of the family who serves as an adviser to the don and resolves disputes within the family
Contract: A murder assignment
Crew: A group of soldiers that takes orders from a capo
Cugine: A young criminal looking to be inducted into the Mafia
Dip: An idiot
Don: Head of the family
Enforcer: A person who threatens, maims, or kills someone
Empty suit: Someone with nothing to offer who tries to hang around with mobsters
Floozy: A common name for a sexually active and oftentimes promiscuous woman
Fuzz, the: A cop
Gobbledygook: Talking nonsense
Godfather: A powerful crime boss in the Mafia
Hoosegow: Jail
Jalopy: An old car
Large: A thousand, a grand, a G
Made man: An indoctrinated member of the family
Mafioso: A member of the family; a mobster
Magazine: An ammunition storage and feeding device for a firearm
Make one’s bones: To gain credibility by killing someone
Numbskull: A dull, stupid or dimwitted person
Omertà: The code of silence and the vow taken when being sworn into the family
Pinched: To get caught by law enforcement
Problem: A liability, likely to be murdered
Rat: A member who violates omertà and snitches on the family
Sauced: The state of being drunk or intoxicated
Section hand: A railroad worker
Singing like a canary: To give someone, usually the authorities, a lot of secret and often illegal information
Sound, the: Puget Sound, the body of water surrounding Seattle
Take a powder: To leave
Tribute: Giving the boss a cut of the deal—violation is often punishable by death
Underboss: The second-in-command to the boss
War-tax stamps: A postage stamp used to raise war revenue
Whack/ice/burn/pop/clip: To murder
