Velvet Knife — Book Two
The Starlet's Alibi
She woke up with blood on her gown.
Dante Marx is the only person who knows she didn't do it.
Sienna Cross wakes in a Hollywood producer's mansion with blood on her couture, a dead man downstairs, and an hour she can't remember. Dante is sent to contain the scandal — and her. But the closer they get to the truth, the harder it becomes to tell protection from possession.
SHE WOKE UP WITH BLOOD ON HER GOWN.
The only person who knows she didn't do it is the man sent to contain her.
The studio calls it a tragedy. The press calls it a scandal.
Sienna Cross wakes in a suite she does not remember entering, wearing a gown stained with someone else's blood, while the producer who sent her three texts the night before is found dead three miles away.
Dante Marx is brought in to classify her: witness, target, or suspect.
He has already seen the security footage that clears her, and he is the only person in Los Angeles who knows the truth is the one thing Velvet Knife cannot afford to let her remember.
Sienna Cross
If you read dark romance for…
- Age Gap
- Bodyguard / Fixer
- Witness / Suspect
- Forced Proximity
- Morally Grey Hero
- Protector with an Agenda
- Secrets on Film
- Hollywood Scandal
- Power Imbalance
- Obsessive Devotion
- Dark HEA
This book is
- A psychological cat-and-mouse romance
- Explicit, with consent tested under pressure
- A complete story with a dark HEA
This book is not
- A cozy mystery
- A redemption arc — he stays dangerous
- A light Hollywood romance
Sienna Cross
Famous · Trapped · Fighting
She has spent years becoming the kind of woman the cameras love.
Then one morning the cameras turn on her for the wrong reason.
Sienna knows how to perform innocence. She knows how to perform guilt. What she doesn't know is how to perform the truth when the only person who believes her is the man Velvet Knife sent to make the problem disappear.
Dante Marx
Controlled · Ruthless · Loyal
He is the person Velvet Knife calls when a situation needs to become smaller instead of louder.
Dante does not ask whether his clients are innocent. He asks whether they are useful.
Sienna Cross was supposed to be useful. A statement. A controlled narrative. Instead she becomes the first problem in years he cannot solve without wanting to keep her.
The crime scene
One dead producer.
One missing hour.
One woman who cannot remember.
One man who cannot forget.
The world
Inside Velvet Knife Studios
An elite boutique Hollywood studio with eleven soundstages, a private security force, and a legal department that works nights. On the surface: movies, casting, stars, access. Underneath: controlled access, surveillance, evidence, power.
Main Gate
Wanting inside doesn't mean you're allowed inside.
Stage Four
Where performance stops being performance.
Lower Three
Restricted. Most people working here will never see it.
Building C
The polished corporate floor where careers are decided.
The Bungalows
Talent housing. Convenient for the studio, not for you.
The Starlet's Alibi
Book Two of the Velvet Knife series. A dark Hollywood romance about scandal, survival, and the man sent to make the truth disappear.
Coming soon to Kindle and paperback.
A complete story with a dark HEA. No cliffhanger.
Free series prelude
Not ready to start Book Two?
- One invitation she never received.
- One night that changes everything.
- One man sent to make sure she doesn't leave.
THE UNINVITED STARLET is the exclusive Sienna Cross and Dante Marx prelude. It takes place before the events of The Starlet's Alibi — and reveals the first time Sienna walks through a Velvet Knife door and the first time Dante is ordered to keep someone inside.
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Reading order
One studio. One interconnected world.
Prelude
The Uninvited Starlet
Max Steel
Free. Sienna's first night at Velvet Knife — and Dante's first assignment to keep her there.
Get it free
Book Two
The Starlet's AlibiYou are here
Max Steel
Sienna Cross + Dante Marx. Coming soon.
Velvet Knife — Book Two