All she wants is someone to choose her. Rosalie Carmichael has spent most of her life doing as she's told. She is the perfect wife, a loving mother, and the aunt everyone calls on when they need a favor. Her life is peaceful until her happy family is torn apart and she finds herself at the mercy of the Coalition once again. Scared and alone for the first time since she was sixteen, Rosalie seeks comfort in the arms of her much younger bodyguard. Together they dream of a future where they're free to love each other out in the open without fear of recriminations or bloody repercussions. And for six short months it seems as if escape might be possible. Then the Coalition requests an urgent meeting, and Rosalie is left with an impossible choice. Choose the bloodless—and loveless—option or follow her heart down the violent path to freedom? The Optional Aunt is a dark and erotic romantic suspense novel set in a world where deception is the norm and the truth can't be trusted. It is the second book in the Coalition collection, a series of interconnected standalones featuring the Ingram-Greaves, Averell, Zidane, and Du Croix crime families. *Full-length 95,000-word novel, complete with a HEA, and can be read as a standalone* mafia, new world order, bratva, clan, rich, millionaire, royalty, aristocrat, espionage, stalker, abduction, gripping, dangerous, fast-paced, thriller, alpha, antihero, wealthy, nobility, new adult, politician, billionaire, kidnap, international, interracial, dark, baby, pregnancy, amnesia, trauma, therapy, outlaw, biker, MC, motorcycle club, contemporary, family, drama, assassin, teacher, the new holy trinity, religious themes, wedding, childhood abuse survivor, workplace, music, musician, mute hero, hero with touch phobia, hero who can't be touched, heroine with pain and force kink, kickass heroine, disabled hero, sunshine and grumpy, engagement, casino, doctor, hospital, sick child, Secret Billionaire, Friends to Lovers, Stuck Together, group therapy, Forbidden Love, Second Chance, Soul Mates, Fake Relationship, love triangle, menage, older woman, younger man