A New Empire by Layla Reyne
Series: Fog City #3
Publisher: Layla Reyne (Self-published)
Release Date (Print & Ebook/Audio): November 11 (Ebook & Print); Audio TBD
Length (Print & Ebook/Audio): Approx. 52,000 words
Subgenre: M/M Romantic Suspense
Warnings: Explicit sex; explicit language; violence.
All buy links or pre-order links:
http://getbook.at/ANewEmpire
https://www.amazon.com/New-Empire-Fog-City-Novel-ebook/dp/B07Z6P2944/
Book blurb:
Legacies were made to be rewritten.
Assassin Hawes Madigan wants to do right–by his family, his organization, his city, and the man he’s falling for, ATF agent Christopher Perri. But Hawes’s rules are being challenged by someone willing to kill for the old ways. To save his soul and his empire, Hawes must make an impossible decision: fight from the outside or bend the knee to win back his throne from within.
Chris is used to being the inside man, the one undercover. Now, he’s on the outside marshaling forces in support of the man and the ring of assassins he was supposed to take down. His mission shifted when he found something that’s been missing for ten long years–a home, with Hawes.
As Hawes and Chris make a dangerous play for control, the lines between allies and traitors blur. Trusting the wrong person could destroy the legacy Hawes envisions for the Madigans. But not trusting anyone, or each other, could mean lights out on their love and lives forever.
The King and King Slayer fight together in this thrilling conclusion to the Fog City Trilogy!
Release Blitz Teaser #1:
“Is that enough for you?” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard.
Chris soothed it with his thumb. “You’re enough for me.”
“Even after the hell my family has put you through, is still putting—”
Chris silenced the rest of his words and the self-recriminations bubbling up from the floor of Hawes’s emotions. Showing him instead what this had become about for him. The lips under his, the tongue sliding against his own, the sharp, stubbled jaw beneath his palms, and the tight, hard body between his and the window.
The heart beating in time with his.
Breaking the kiss, Chris rested his forehead against Hawes’s, the other man’s face in his hands. “You made me feel at home for the first time since Ro died.”
“Dante.”
Chris smiled so wide, it hurt his face. “And then there’s that.”
“I don’t understand how, after what I did.”
“You say it like you’re lucky, like you think you still don’t deserve it.” Chris traced his thumbs through the wetness under Hawes’s eyes. Through the evidence of the assassin’s soul. “You do, baby. You make your family better, this city better, me better. And I want to make a home here, with you.”
“You hardly know me. I’ve lied—”
“So have I.” He hadn’t denied it to Hawes’s operatives, and he wouldn’t deny it to the man himself. But it wasn’t the entire story. “We’ve both lied, but the things that mattered were true.”
Release Blitz Teaser #2:
“Listen to me, Madigan.” He gritted through the pain of pulling his arm out of the towel sling, because dammit, he needed two hands for this. He framed Hawes’s face, holding his gaze, his attention, their world, steady. “The organization needs you. Your family needs you. I fucking need you.”
“Why?” Hawes choked out.
“Because I don’t just think I’m falling for you. I fell, baby, the minute I walked into Danko and saw you across the room. Your head held high, like you fucking owned the place. The second you called me Mr. Perry.” He gave him a little shake for emphasis. “I know.”
Hawes closed his eyes, and Chris’s heart skipped a beat, until they opened again, full of resolve. Of that same confidence he’d fallen for. “I fell for you that night I walked into my condo and saw the box of mooncakes. You got it; you got me. I know too.”
“Then we’ll get her,” Chris said, heart racing now. With love, and hope for the future. “And we’ll get justice for Isabella, for our families, and for us.”
“And then?”
“And then we’ll rebuild the empire, by your rules, better and stronger than ever before. Together.”
The king smiled, wicked, deadly, and fucking glorious.
Release Blitz Teaser #3:
“Where’s Rembra—” Chris didn’t finish his question. Didn’t need to. He’d swung his gaze forward and found the man he’d been searching for. Finally. Only he suspected everyone else had found him too. Dressed in combat boots, dark jeans, and a black tailored suit jacket, no shirt on underneath, Hawes slowly descended the stairs from the mezzanine. Like he wanted every set of eyes on him, like he owned the fucking place. The king in all his glory, no matter what anyone said. Top strands moussed for maximum volume, the sharp lines of his face were accentuated, as was the blue of his eyes, practically glowing in the club lights. Beautiful and dangerous, the picture of control, in his movements, his appearance, and his sway over the room.
Chris nearly choked on the need to shove his way through the crowd and meet Hawes at the bottom of the stairs, to claim the man as his, to give him the release from the control that Chris knew was costing Hawes so much when he had so little left to give. It ached—in his gut, in his chest, in his dick—to be even this far away from him.
“Stay at the bar,” Holt said, as if reading his thoughts. The surprising snap of command in his tone shocked Chris back the step he’d taken toward Hawes. “Get it together.”
Cursing, Chris drowned his instincts with the rest of his beer. “That’s not exactly discreet.”
“He’s not meant to be. He’s the distraction.”
Release Blitz Teaser #4:
“How’s that going to work?” Helena said.
“By taking a page from your favorite movie.” He retrieved two tote bags from under the table and dumped their contents onto the table—brown hair dye and matching wigs. As serious as the matter was, he couldn’t hold back a smile. This had been something he and Helena had talked about as kids. A heist they’d dreamed about pulling one day. He’d never thought it’d be his sister-in-law they were stealing, but Hawes couldn’t deny the rush that came with knowing they were actually going to do this.
Seemed Helena was feeling the same way, one side of her mouth quirking up. “We’re going to Thomas Crown this shit?”
Hawes nodded. “She’s being brought to the courthouse tomorrow morning to be arraigned on additional charges connected to the incident at MCS. We’ll make the switch while she’s in the Federal Building.”
“We have soldiers who look close enough to make the disguises work,” Rose added.
“A couple captains too,” Helena said.
Hawes’s stomach sank, the momentary rush skidding to a halt. If Helena was willing to bring the captains in on this, had Chris failed to get the message to her?
Motion at Helena’s side, the one away from Rose, caught his attention. Five fingers spread, once, twice. Five by five, a saying from Helena’s favorite Buffy character, Faith. A secret code he and Helena had picked up, and which their parents and grandparents had never caught onto. She got the message, loud and clear.
Hawes’s smile returned. “You going to play along?”
And Helena’s grin grew wider. “We’ve waited our whole lives for this. Fuck yeah, I’m in.”
The only one not smiling was Holt. Two steps closer and Hawes knelt beside his brother, hand on his knee. “She’s the mother of your child. We don’t do this without your okay.” Fuck Rose. On this, Hawes would not compromise.
“You promise to protect her?” he asked Hawes. Not Rose or Helena. That trust his twin still had in him was more of a rush than any heist they were planning to pull.
“I promise, Little H. This is all about protecting your family.”
Holt’s big mitt came down on top of his. “Our family.”
Release Blitz Q&A with Layla Reyne:
Q: Secondary Characters: Why they are important to the story?
LR: For Hawes in Fog City, his siblings, Holt and Helena, are the bricks of his foundation, along with love interest, Chris, and friend and ally, Braxton Kane. Hawes, Holt, and Helena run both family businesses with him, he trusts them implicitly, he looks to them for input, and they each contribute differently to the family unit. He wouldn’t want to do this without them.
Q: If you listen to music while writing, share your playlist.
LR: Here’s my Fog City playlist, which alternated frequently with The Revivalists albums. I swear, every one of their songs seems to fit this series!
Q: What would a love letter between the characters look like?
LR: From Hawes to Chris:
Dante, I know. –H
From Chris to Hawes.
Madigan, I know. –Mr. Perry
RITA Finalist Layla Reyne is the author of Dine With Me and the Fog City, Whiskey Verse, and Changing Lanes series. A Carolina Tar Heel who now calls the San Francisco Bay Area home, Layla enjoys weaving her bi-coastal experiences into her stories, along with adrenaline-fueled suspense and heart-pounding romance. She is a RWA® RITA® Finalist in Contemporary Romance (Mid-Length) and Golden Heart® Finalist in Romantic Suspense.
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