She forges masterpieces.
He collects people.
Together, they will rewrite history-or die trying.
Isolde Sterling has spent her life perfecting lies.
A forensic art forger known only as The Ghost, she can manufacture centuries of history with a brushstroke, a crack in varnish, a signature that fools the world's most powerful collectors. Her work doesn't hang in museums-it moves silently through private vaults, criminal ledgers, and bloodstained hands.
But when her father's debt is sold like a toxic asset, Isolde becomes part of the transaction.
Her new owner is Cassian Thorne.
A ruthless crime lord with global reach and an obsession with legacy, Cassian doesn't want her money-and he doesn't want her freedom. He wants her skill. Her mind. Her obedience. To him, Isolde is collateral: a living instrument to be used, controlled, and claimed until the balance is settled.
The job he demands is impossible.
In the sinking labyrinth of Venice, Isolde must forge a seventeenth-century lineage document capable of toppling an ancient Italian crime dynasty and crowning Cassian as its rightful heir. Every expert will scrutinize the ink. Every rival will be watching for cracks. And one mistake won't just expose the lie-it will end her life.
Forced to play the role of Cassian's fiancée, Isolde enters a world of masked balls, murderous politics, and inherited violence, where power is currency and love is the most dangerous forgery of all. Cassian is everything she despises: brutal, controlling, intoxicating. A man who takes what he wants and calls it business.
Yet beneath his iron grip, Isolde discovers something far more terrifying than captivity.
She sees his fractures.
And worse-he sees hers.
As enemies close in and the truth buried in her own bloodline begins to surface, Isolde must decide whether survival means escape... or mastery. Because the deeper she sinks into Cassian's world, the harder it becomes to tell where the lie ends and the desire begins.
In a game where every touch is a transaction and every promise comes with a price, one question remains:
Can a woman who forges history reclaim her own-
or will she become the most valuable counterfeit in Cassian Thorne's collection?
The Don's Counterfeit Queen is a dark, seductive mafia romance filled with psychological tension, high-stakes crime, morally gray characters, and a dangerous power imbalance that blurs the line between control and obsession.
Perfect for readers who crave dark romance with intelligence, edge, and consequences.
