Criminal Love

prologue

Bangkok has always belonged to powerful men.

Politicians own the government.

Corporations own the money.

And somewhere beneath them all, in the darkness no one dares to acknowledge, Perth Tanapon owns fear.

At thirty, Perth is the heir who inherited an empire built on blood, silence and obedience. He rarely raises his voice. He doesn't need to.

His name is enough.

But when one of Thailand's most influential political figures is found brutally murdered, the impossible becomes frighteningly simple.

The cameras place Perth near the scene.

His hotel records put him within walking distance.

And almost everyone who knows the Bangkok underworld agrees on one thing-

if anyone could have executed the murder, it was Perth Tanapon.

Perth doesn't run.

And he certainly doesn't explain himself.

Instead, his right-hand man, Nani Hirunkit, walks into Bangkok's most powerful law firm and asks for the one lawyer capable of taking on a case everyone else already considers lost.

The answer is Santa Pongsapak.

Brilliant.

Unshakable.

A lawyer whose courtroom arguments have destroyed careers and sent powerful men running for cover.

Santa has never been afraid of dangerous clients.

Until he meets Perth.

Because Perth isn't what Santa expected.

And Santa isn't what Perth expected either.

One is a man surrounded by enemies.

The other is a man who seems strangely unafraid of him.

As the murder investigation deepens, evidence begins disappearing. Witnesses change their stories. Someone is watching Perth's every move. Someone inside the investigation knows far more than they should.

There are debts that were never repaid.

Names that were never forgotten.

And secrets buried so deeply that even the people carrying them have forgotten how dangerous they are.

Perth believes someone is trying to destroy his empire.

Santa believes someone is trying to destroy his client.

Nani believes he has finally found someone he can trust.

And none of them realize that the same person may be standing beside all three of them.

The closer Santa gets to proving Perth innocent, the more dangerous the case becomes.

The closer Perth gets to Santa, the harder it becomes to understand why the lawyer who fears nothing seems to look at him as though he has known him for years.

Somewhere between bloodshed and courtrooms, loyalty and betrayal, hatred and something far more dangerous, two lives that were never supposed to meet will collide again.

But before Perth discovers the truth-

someone has to survive long enough to tell it.