Control is an illusion. Especially when the person across the table knows your secrets.
Candice Davenport has spent years proving she belongs in every room she enters. As the accomplished CEO of Davenport Group, she has built a reputation for sharp strategy, unwavering professionalism, and never allowing personal matters to interfere with business. Her past is exactly where she intends to keep it.
Adrian Steele, CEO of Steele International Holdings, has earned his reputation the same way. Decisive, disciplined, and always several moves ahead, he understands that every negotiation has leverage and every opponent eventually reveals a weakness.
Their connection is immediate, unexpected, and impossible to ignore.
As attraction grows into something far more significant, Candice finds herself lowering walls she spent years building, while Adrian discovers there is one thing more important than closing the next deal: protecting the woman who has quietly become the center of his world.
When Candice's ex-husband resurfaces with a legal challenge designed to disrupt a landmark acquisition, what begins as a corporate dispute quickly exposes years of deception, hidden assets, financial fraud, and a secret life that calls everything Candice believed about her marriage into question. Suddenly, the greatest threat isn't losing the deal. It's surviving the truth.
While the courtroom becomes another battlefield, Adrian refuses to watch from the sidelines. As the evidence mounts and the lies begin to unravel, Candice must decide whether she'll continue carrying the weight of a past built on betrayal or finally embrace a future built on honesty, trust, and a love she never expected.
Set against the backdrop of high-stakes business, luxury, Black excellence, and enduring family bonds, The Steele Effect is a contemporary romance about resilience, healing, and discovering that the strongest partnerships are built not on control, but on showing up when it matters most.
*Available for FREE with Kindle Unlimited through December 2026
