A past he wanted to deny...until he met her.Can be read as a standalone. HEA.

With the newspaper industry tanking, Iris Avena wonders about her future as an investigative journalist. In the paper's back parking lot one night after surviving another round of layoffs, Iris witnesses a drug exchange.

For months, undercover narcotics officer Joey Landau has struggled to figure out how black tar heroin is flooding the streets of Santa Ana, California. When he tracks the source to the newspaper, questions are answered, except for one. Who's the brown-haired beauty sniffing around?

Iris wonders about Joey, too. The magnetic mystery man appears to be involved in a local Mexican gang. She should stay away, but the two soon find themselves enmeshed in a dangerous Italian Mafia drug cartel cover-up that takes them to Italy.

As Joey's feelings for Iris deepen, he avoids revealing his past mistakes. Yet he knows it's only a matter of time before she discovers the truth.