The Brawler

Cormac Gallagher doesn't care about anything. Or anyone.
Fights on the ice. Fights off it. Laughs when he's bleeding.

He's the expendable Gallagher brother - too volatile for the business, too reckless for anything that matters. He plays wing for the New York Reapers, collects penalties like trophies, and goes home to an empty apartment in Red Hook that smells like leather and takeout.

When his family tells him he's getting married - an arranged deal with the Mancini crime family to settle a debt - he thinks it's the funniest thing he's ever heard.

He shows up to the wedding hungover. Barely looks at her. Says "I do" like he's ordering a drink. Drops her at the apartment and leaves for the bar.

She doesn't complain. Doesn't cry. Doesn't ask him for anything.

Chiara moves through his apartment like a ghost - silent, careful, invisible. She cooks meals he never thanks her for. She flinches at sounds he doesn't notice. She wears long sleeves in every weather.

Cormac doesn't care. Cormac doesn't notice.

Then one night, he comes home and accidentally sees her skin.

The bruises aren't fresh. They're layered. Old ones fading beneath new ones. Deliberate. Repeated. The kind that come from someone who knows exactly where to hit so clothes will cover it.

And everything inside Cormac Gallagher goes quiet. And then LOUD.

For the first time in his life, the man who never thinks before he acts doesn't move. Doesn't speak. Just steps back, closes the door, and sits in the dark while a cold, patient rage settles into his chest - the kind he didn't know he had.

The kind with a target.

The Brawler is a scorching dark Irish mafia hockey romance featuring an arranged marriage, a possessive protector hero who'll burn it all down for her, and an abuse survivor reclaiming her life on her own terms. Dual POV. Guaranteed happily ever after.

Perfect for readers who love:
• Arranged marriage with a possessive protector
• Hockey sports romance - bruised knuckles and arena fights
• "Touch her and die" energy
• Slow burn that ignites
• A mafia princess heroine who chooses herself first
• Brooklyn grit and Gallagher family chaos