Desperate games, p.1
Desperate Games, page 1
part #1 of Mergers & Acquisitions Series
Desperate Games
Mergers & Acquisitions
C.D. Gorri
Desperate Games
Desperate Crimes
Mergers & Acquisitions
No. 7
By C.D. Gorri
Copyright 2025 C.D. Gorri, NJ
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This book is dedicated to the readers who love an FMC who goes after what she wants—even when he’s nothing but a bad boy she thinks will break her heart. Keep reaching for the stars, Angel, and who knows? Maybe someday one will reach back for you.
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CW: This book contains mentions of human trafficking and related crimes. Foul language, murder, violence, coerced marriage, explicit sex scenes, light breeding kink, pregnancy, obsession, manipulations, mentions of drugs/alcohol and måore. Expect over-the-top behavior.
This is a fiction book.
This is not a dating manual or a how to of any kind. This is meant for entertainment purposes only.
Your physical & mental health are important, please seek help if you need it.
*If you or someone you know is in danger and you have information call the National Human Trafficking Hotline 888-373-7888 or text Info to 233733. If you are in a mental health crisis and need care call 800-273-8255.
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, places, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either part of the author’s imagination and/or used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights are reserved. No part of this book is to be reproduced, scanned, downloaded, printed, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of any materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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P.S. I am super excited to be able to offer you exclusive bundles available only on CDGORRI.COM for readers using my BUY DIRECT option.
Right now, I have several bundles available at a whopping 30% off the listed prices and there are several series bundles to choose from.
Orders will be delivered via BookFunnel email. Just download to your favorite app and READ!
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xoxo,
C.D.
Contents
Mergers & Acquisitions
Desperate Games
Prologue One-Andrea
Prologue Two-Remy
Chapter One-Andrea
Chapter Two-Andrea
Chapter Three-Remy
Chapter Four-Andrea
Chapter Five-Andrea
Chapter Six-Andrea
Chapter Seven-Remy
Chapter Eight-Andrea
Chapter Nine-Remy
Chapter Ten-Andrea
Chapter Eleven-Remy
Chapter Twelve-Remy
Chapter Thirteen-Remy
Chapter Fourteen-Andrea
Chapter Fifteen-Andrea
Chapter Sixteen-Remy
Chapter Seventeen-Andrea
Chapter Eighteen-Remy
Chapter Nineteen-Remy
Chapter Twenty-Andrea
Chapter Twenty-One-Andrea
Chapter Twenty-Two-Remy
Chapter Twenty-Three-Andrea
Chapter Twenty-Four-Remy
Chapter Twenty-Five-Andrea
Chapter Twenty-Six-Remy
Chapter Twenty-Seven-Andrea
Chapter Twenty-Eight-Andrea
Chapter Twenty-Nine-Remy
Chapter Thirty-Andrea
Chapter Thirty-One-Remy
Chapter Thirty-Two-Andrea
Chapter Thirty-Three-Remy
Chapter Thirty-Four-Andrea
Chapter Thirty-Five-Remy
Chapter Thirty-Six-Andrea
Chapter Thirty-Seven-Andrea
Chapter Thirty-Eight-Remy
Chapter Thirty-Nine Andrea
Chapter Forty-Remy
Chapter Forty-One-Andrea
Chapter Forty-Two-Remy
Chapter Forty-Three-Andrea
Chapter Forty-Four-Remy
Chapter Forty-Five-Andrea
Chapter Forty-Six-Remy
Epilogue One-Andrea
Epilogue Two-Remy
Epilogue Three-Atlas
Family Tree
A Caroline Rugby Romance Glossary
Also by C.D. Gorri
About the Author
Mergers & Acquisitions
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Sometimes that means acquiring the one thing you never thought you’d need…love.
With histories that haunt them, each of our heroes is forced to confront his destiny with grit and determination. He can’t afford to look desperate. But all it takes is the love of a good woman to bring him to his knees.
Do our possessive alpha males have what it takes to make these mergers last?
Meet our over-the-top MMCs:
Liam O'Doyle
Connor Callahan
Ono Bottarelli
Sammy Ramirez
Balor Cruz
Nico Fury Jr.
Remy Falco
Atlas James Stavros
Mergers & Acquisitions is a contemporary romance series of connected standalones. Some stories feature the offspring of main characters from the Wild Billionaire Romance and Jersey Bad Boys series. Prepare to see familiar tropes such as enemies to lovers, forced proximity, arranged marriages, secret babies, with some violence, stalking, romantic obsessions, foul language, and explicit scenes.
Desperate Games
A desperate game. A dangerous obsession. Lies, lust, and longing never end quietly.
Remy Falco
I’ve been orbiting the Volkov Clan for as long as I can remember. Not bad for the son of a muscle-for-hire who bounced at the Den and a stripper from the wrong side of town. I’ve carved out my own path, running elite security for Sigma International. I’ve protected kings, queens, and A-list celebrities.
But nothing prepared me for this assignment.
It sounded simple enough. Keep an eye on the heiress I’ve known for years. No big deal, right?
Except she isn’t looking for a bodyguard. She’s looking for a baby daddy.
And when a woman like her sets the rules and turns up the heat, who am I to say no?
She thinks this is some kind of game. That she can run off, claim it didn’t mean anything, and I’ll just walk away. But I’m not built like that. I’m not satisfied with silence, and definitely not with lies.
Three months later, I find her. In a baby store. Shopping for our future.
Now that I’ve found her again, I’m not letting her go. Not now. Maybe not ever.
Andrea Ramirez
Okay, hear me out. I’ve always wanted to be a mom. Like always. But relationships? Yeah, those never seem to work out for me. Is it my overbearing family—full of over-the-top alpha males who can’t stop meddling in their daughters’, sisters’, and cousins’ lives?
Maybe.
Or maybe I’m just not willing to risk my heart anymore. Either way, I can hear my biological clock ticking like a damn time bomb.
So I make a decision. I call my uncle’s security firm and request a bodyguard. I spin a story. I lie. And I spend one unforgettable night with one of my honorary cousin’s insanely hot friends—Remy Falco.
And let me tell you, the man is built like a god, tatted like a sinner, and every inch the star of my dirtiest dreams. The perfect choice for a no-strings sperm donor.
Only problem? I caught feelings. And I know a guy like him isn’t sticking around for messy, complicated me.
But this isn’t a game anymore. This is my life. And I’m keeping my baby.
Not my family, not Remy, not even the world is going to change that.
Prologue One-Andrea
Volkov-Fury Wedding, Private Island
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.
Whoever came up with that line?
Deserves to be slapped.
With a stiletto.
Repeatedly.
I knock back another shot of ouzo and scan the reception like I’m searching for a reason not to start sobbing into my slice of wedding cake.
It’s a sun-kissed nightmare out here.
Everyone is glowing.
Gleaming.
Pregnant.
Lee-Lee’s radiant in that floaty ivory gown, literally sparkling with sapphires and fairy-tale magic.
Aella’s got the new-mom glow, her arms protectively wrapped around her newborn son, my nephew, Samuel Angel Ramirez.
Little cutie.
Clementine’s juggling two toddlers while growing a third.
Shelly can’t stop cooing over her first.
Michaela’s probably halfway to baby number four.
And Lucy? Lucy looks ready to pop. Her man’s practically worshipping her belly like it’s holy.
And then there’s me.
No man.
No baby.
No diamond. No game plan. Not one fucking clue.
Just a ticking time bomb in my uterus and the vague, unhelpful memory of Marisa Tomei yelling my biological clock is ticking like this in My Cousin Vinny.
I should’ve listened harder.
I nstead, I’m here—drunk, dateless, and dangerously close to crying at a wedding full of happily-ever-afters.
The music shifts, the lights twinkle, and I take a deep breath of ocean air, letting it sting the back of my throat.
That’s when I hear him.
“Why do you look so sad, Andy?”
Andy? No one calls me that.
The voice is deep. Velvet wrapped around danger. I glance up—and holy shit.
Dark eyes. Suntanned skin. A smirk like he knows exactly what he’s doing.
I know that face. I’ve seen it in passing—at parties, in corridors, beside Junior.
Always in the background, watching, waiting.
“I know you. What’s your name again?” I ask, blinking through the haze of good wine and worse decisions.
“I’m wounded you forgot my name, Pretty Girl.”
“Remy!” I shout, suddenly remembering him.
“Remy Falco,” he adds with a hot boy wink. “That’s right. I’m Junior’s friend.”
Junior’s friend.
Perfect.
I bite my lip.
This man is dangerous territory. The kind I like best.
Because see, I’m done waiting for fate.
I don’t want a soulmate. Don’t need one. Nope.
I want a legacy.
A baby.
My baby.
And Remy? He looks like a guy who can get the job done.
“How tall are you?” I ask, gazing up at him.
The man is big. And built.
He’s got short dark hair, a buzz cut that would look weird on most guys but seems right on him.
Green eyes glitter down at me, and his full lips pull up in a smirk that makes my panties wet.
Thick ropes of muscle cord around his enormous frame and dark tattoos peek out from his shirtsleeves and collar.
He looks like he breaks things—hearts—just for fun.
But not this girl’s heart. I won’t give him the chance for all that.
But maybe he can help me.
Hang on, though. It’s not like I don’t believe in love.
I do. God, I do.
I grew up watching it every day—hell, I lived in the shadow of it. Of Andrés and Ellie Ramirez and their great love for one another.
Truly, I mean, my parents? They’re the stuff of legend.
Ride-or-die. Epic love affair. And it is still going on.
The kind of love that writes songs and breaks curses.
The kind of love that builds an empire and still makes out in the kitchen like no one’s watching.
It’s beautiful.
And kind of impossible to live up to.
Every cousin of mine is out here falling in love like it’s a damn team sport. One by one, they’re pairing off, glowing up, popping out babies like confetti—and I’m just here.
Simply existing. Trying not to look bitter about my single ass sipping champagne alone at every family wedding like it’s a choice.
I know I’m supposed to say things like I’m focusing on my career or I love my independence.
And I do. I love my life. My work. My own space. But I want more.
So what if it’s not trendy or modern or girlboss-approved to say it out loud?
I want the fairytale.
No, not even that.
I want home.
A family. A baby. Laughter in the morning and sleepy kisses at night. Sticky fingers, cartoons, lullabies, and someone who calls me Mom with juice on their chin.
And if I can’t find a man who gets me—who sees past the sarcastic mouth and the chubby thighs and all my chaos—then I’ll just have to do it myself.
I’ll make my own damn family.
Sure, I need a sperm donor. But walking into a sterile clinic and picking a name off a clipboard? That feels so impersonal.
So clinical.
So not me.
At least this way—if I go through with it—I can tell my baby one day, yeah, I knew your father. He was real. And beautiful. And maybe I loved him for a little while. Just one night, really.
Looking at Remy now?
All that smooth skin and glittering green eyes and the kind of mouth that makes you forget your last name—I don’t think I’ll have to pretend to feel something for him.
Not at all.
Because when he looks at me with that crooked smirk and that slow, sure confidence, something in my chest flares.
Something warm.
Something hungry.
Maybe I’m not making a mistake.
Maybe I’m just making a beginning.
My way.
“So, Remy,” I say after a few more drinks and way too many stolen glances.
“Wanna see my room?”
His grin is pure trouble.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
And just like that, the story changes.
Not a fairytale.
Not a romance.
But maybe? It’s the beginning of something I can have for the rest of my life.
Prologue Two-Remy
Volkov-Fury Wedding, Private Island Same Night
Creeping on Andy Ramirez isn’t something I planned.
But, fuck me—I can’t not.
The braces? Gone.
Freckles? Faded.
That awkward little girl I remember tagging along behind Sammy and Junior like a pint-sized hurricane?
Nonexistent.
What’s in her place is dangerous.
Gorgeous.
She’s a fucking vision.
Curvy and confident.
Wearing that rose-colored bridesmaid dress like sin was sewn into every stitch.
Swathed in silk, hips swaying, a wicked little smile tugging at her glossy mouth as she tosses back another shot and flirts with the chaos around her.
If Junior knew what I was thinking right now, he’d slit my throat and toss me into the sea.
No hesitation.
Good thing he’s too busy being stupid in love with his new wife to notice me watching his wife’s cousin like a starving man watches a feast.
Because that’s what she is.
A feast.
And I’m fucking ravenous.
I didn’t come to this wedding expecting anything. Just a few days off-grid.
Sunshine. Booze. Crystal clear waters.
Some familiar faces. Maybe some networking.
Nothing like this. Nothing like her.
Andy turns her head, laughs at something one of her cousins says, and those dark eyes catch the light just right—deep brown with rivers of gold and green, sparkling, bright, and so sharp they cut right through me.
It’s a lightning strike to the chest.
Instant. Blinding.
I’m across the make-shift floor before I even think it through.
I flirt. Nothing overt.
Just enough to see if the heat I’m feeling is mirrored back.
And, holy hell is it.
She thinks I’m just some guy.
Junior’s friend.
A harmless plus-one with a nice face and a decent jawline.
She doesn’t know what I’ve done. Who I’ve trained with. What I’ve survived.
She doesn’t know I’ve watched men die, killed with my bare hands, bled in jungles and deserts for causes I barely believed in.
And somehow—somehow—this woman?
This curvy, sharp-tongued, unapologetic goddess with the softest fucking lips I’ve ever seen?
She scares me more than any of that ever did.
