Ruthless & Radiant: The Hydes Syndicate #2

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Hayley Thomson Adams, Jul 1, 2025 - Fiction

Gabrielle Colt has spent her life protected, raised by a powerful mafia father who kept her far from the bloodshed of his empire. A gentle hearted veterinarian with a quiet strength, Gabby never expected to be used as a pawn in a high stakes alliance. But when an arranged marriage is brokered to stop a brewing war, she’s thrust into the arms of a man who has no intention of making her feel welcome.

Lucas Hydes is the Hydes family's second son, a ruthless underboss. To him, marriage is just another transaction. But Gabrielle Colt is nothing like he expected. Sweet, stubborn, and full of sparks, she doesn’t flinch in the face of his coldness. Instead, she challenges him, at the dinner table, in the quiet of their shared home, and within the guarded parts of his heart.

As tension turns to heat, and heat becomes something neither of them can deny, lines blur between duty and desire. But in a world where loyalty is everything and betrayal is fatal, falling in love could cost them both their lives.

Ruthless & Radiant is an arranged-marriage mafia romance with morally grey characters, slow-burning emotional heat, and a heroine who refuses to be underestimated.

 

Selected pages

Contents

PROLOGUE
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38

CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
EPILOGUE
Copyright

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About the author (2025)

Hi,

I’m H.T. Adams a Cape Town-based contemporary romance author who writes stories that are raw, emotional, and sometimes a little messy... just like real life.


I started writing during a time when I was going through a lot, and creating fictional worlds gave me something reality couldn’t—a place to breathe, to feel, to escape. Writing saved me, and now I write for the readers who need that escape too.


I’m a part-time writer. I believe in intense love stories, flawed characters, and the kind of romance that hurts a little before it heals. If you like your stories dark, obsessive, and deeply emotional, you’ll feel right at home here.


Thanks for being here. It means more than you know.



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