Synopsis

You know that guy you fell for at sixteen—the one who vanished without explanation, leaving behind enough damage to last years? Now imagine being forced into an engagement with him because your parents decided you’re more useful as leverage than as a daughter.

And the part he forgot to mention? He’s heir to a Bratva empire with blood on its hands.

That’s Emilia’s life. Her future is not her own, and her fiancé, Nikolai Volkov, is a man whose silence is more dangerous than his words. Their past is a wound. Their engagement is a threat. And what grows between them is something neither of them should let happen.

The Arrangement is a dark, slow-burn story of buried truths, political corruption, and a connection that pulls two damaged people toward a collision neither may survive unscathed.

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Guest Post

10 Things You Might Not Know About S.D. Lettie, Author of ‘The Arrangement’

1. I spent a decade in B2B Marketing.

2. Music plays a huge role in my writing – I have a playlist specifically for The Arrangement on Spotify.

3. I live in lounge wear/athletic wear year-round.

4. I’m not a fan of decorating for the holidays – I’d rather have year-round decor.

5. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me at the soccer fields. I take my role as soccer mom to the extreme.

6. My go-to comfort food is chicken and dumplings.

7. I secretly wish I had lived in the 1980s – I love the music, movies, and culture. I’m an old soul at heart.

8. I’m an only child.

9. Sarcasm is my second language.

10. My dream is to open up my own book store/dirty soda shop that resembles the 1950s.

Excerpt

My phone buzzes in my shorts pocket. I ignore it, thinking it’s a text, but then it buzzes again. I look down and see my father’s name lighting up the screen. Groaning, I answer.

“Emilia.” His voice is calm, clipped. Not cold, just clean, like everything else he controls. He says my name like punctuation.

“Yes, sir.”

“Your mother asked me to check on the brunch.”

She didn’t want to ask herself. She never does. She strategically delegates through him, like always. “It’s done,” I say. “Final headcount is confirmed. Catering’s squared. My remarks are short and already vetted.” There’s a pause, the sound of him moving paper in the background, or maybe pouring a drink. I can’t tell. He’s always multitasking, even when he speaks like everything is a priority.

“She wants it to go smoothly.”

It will. He knows that. He wouldn’t have called if he didn’t already trust it was handled.

“There’s something else,” my father says right as I think we’re done, his voice flat and clipped in the way he reserves for things that aren’t up for discussion. “I’ve arranged a meeting with Nikolai and his father next week at the Four Seasons. I’d like you to be there. We have some important things to discuss.”

– Excerpted from The Arrangement by S.D. Lettie, Independent, 2025. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

Before she ever had “author” next to her name, S.D. Lettie was—and still is—an avid reader first; the kind who would finish a book in a day and beg her parents to take her back to the bookstore. Reading started as a hobby and, as she got older, became her source of entertainment, escape, and comfort. Over the years, she found herself wanting to write the kind of worlds readers could get excited about—a world that could grow into a fandom of its own.

Today, Lettie writes slow-burn romances—stories about characters who are imperfectly perfect, the hard moments that shape them, and the plot twists that leave readers reeling. Outside her writing life, she’s a wife and mom of two, roles that influence both her time and perspective. She’s also a dedicated soccer fan, the kind who will plan her day around a match and openly admit she’ll yell at the TV when things get heated.

Through all of it, her goal as an author is simple: she wants her characters to stay with readers long after the book ends.

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