Betrayal Books in Order

The Betrayal series is a six-book set of dark romances built around a simple promise that keeps getting broken: trust someone powerful, and you’ll pay for it. It’s split into two connected arcs, each with its own couple and its own kind of fallout, but both live in the same dangerous underworld where relationships are leverage.

The first arc begins in It Kills Me with a heroine who’s been chosen to succeed her father in the family business. The rules are strict—especially the one about not mixing business with pleasure—but she can’t stay away from Axel, the man who runs distribution. Their secret relationship isn’t just risky; it’s combustible, because in this world, sleeping with the wrong person can get you replaced, punished, or killed.

In It Breaks Me and It Ruins Me, the consequences hit. Power shifts inside the business, betrayal becomes a weapon, and the romance turns into a forced partnership where love and resentment sit in the same room. The arc leans into the question of intent: who actually betrayed whom, and what happens when you realize you were being played by someone you thought you knew.

Then the series pivots to a second arc starting with It Hurts Me. Astrid is married to Bolton, an assassin who decides he wants an open marriage—a request that sounds like freedom until you realize it’s also control. When Astrid meets a mysterious man with a skull ring, the temptation isn’t just sexual. It’s the temptation of a different life, a different kind of danger, and a connection that doesn’t feel like a contract.

This is where the Skull Kings orbit the story, and the stakes turn even darker.

By It Pains Me and It Destroys Me, the series becomes a tangle of desire, guilt, and survival. Astrid is forced to choose between men who want her in very different ways, while violence and loyalty keep closing doors around her. The tone stays intense and explicit, and the “romance” is always tied to real consequences in the plot.

If you like dark romance that moves fast and doesn’t shy away from messy choices, Betrayal is best read in order. Each arc is one continuous story, not a set of standalones, and the emotional payoff comes from watching characters make the wrong call, live with it, and decide what they’re willing to destroy to make things right. Because the themes run dark, checking content notes first can help.