What inspired you to write a story about a crime dynasty?

I needed to establish not only a strong heroine for my story but a dangerous one. And since I wasn’t writing a paranormal, I had to rule out vampires, monsters and werewolves. A crime dynasty was an obvious choice. It was just a matter of which one. I chose the Yakuza because I am very familiar with the Japanese culture.

Aside from that, I adore stories with dangerous heroes and heroines-human or not.  I rarely chance upon a story with a truly dangerous human character. Most of the contemporary romances I’ve encountered involve billionaire heroes/heroines who are fearsome and have tyrannical tendencies. I love these stories too, but I was searching for something more. Since I couldn’t find any, I wrote one myself, and it took on a life of its own.

When I conceived the idea, I knew from the start that I wanted the female to have the dangerous role for a change, and that she would be the undoing to any billionaire tyrant or bully-be it male or female. I placed her in the middle of a society that was full of them, and she would put them all in their place, because she was that dangerous, they just didn’t know it yet. The scene is similar to a well-fed lion napping in the savannah in a field of gazelles. These arrogant gazelles don’t know the true danger that lies before them, and they try to taunt it to show it that it’s outnumbered and doesn’t belong. But when the lion awakens, it will show its true nature.