Sara Bruno signed up to be invisible. As the only child of a fallen narcotics detective, she volunteered for a dangerous undercover assignment: get close to Barrett Martinez, the quiet heir of a violent L.A. drug syndicate. One staged rescue in a greasy neighborhood diner, one awkward bandage-and-butterfly-knot, and Barrett’s steel-cold world starts to crack. What she never planned: falling in, falling hard, and getting pregnant with the man whose family she’s sworn to bring down. When a federal takedown destroys the Martinez empire, Barrett disappears—after leaving a note and a single bowl of chicken noodle soup on her kitchen table. Did he save her life, or trade her for power? A Bowl for Barrett is a fast, sharp romance-thriller: undercover deception, moral lines that blur, a dangerous mother (Angela Martinez) with knives and influence, and a love that refuses to die. It’s messy, messy in the best way—loyalty versus justice, hunger for power versus hunger for a simple bowl of soup. Who survives? Who pays? Who loves purely?

10 Chapters