Book Review: The Skull Crusher

Title: The Skull Crusher
Author: Penelope Sky
Genre: Romance, Dark Romance, Fiction

What It’s About:

Cassini and Balto return to his apartment in the city, and she refuses to have sex with him, because he tells her that she is now his prisoner. Over time, however, it becomes clear that Cassini still feels for him as she continually waits up for him by sleeping on the couch, and then returning to bed once he is back home safely. He takes Cassini to the doctor to have them both checked out but to also put a tracker in her ankle. Eventually, they end up having a lot of sex and make their way back towards each other, and Cassini tells Balto that she feels safer with him at home, but Balto keeps her at a distance.

After three weeks, Cassini manages to convince Balto to take her to see her brothers, and Case is so happy to see her alive. Case and Dirk had been worried about her because she hasn’t checked in during this whole time and their attempts to reach Lucian have gone unanswered. While Cassini searches for Dirk in the pasta factory, Case and Balto talk with Case offering Balto everything of the drug business in exchange for Cassini’s freedom. Balto tells him that he’s still going to run into the same problem: Lucian will try to get her and they won’t be able to stop him. He tells Case that the best chance for Cassini is if she stays with him as he is the only one who can protect her. Cassini and Balto return home and as punishment for getting her way with him earlier, Balto leaves her alone for four days without him while he goes to the Skull King’s hideout. Case and Dirk arrive at the hideout and try to speak with Balto about Cassini again, but once again Balto declines their offer; however, he admires the lengths they will go to try to free her, so he agrees to bring her over to dinner once a week. Balto also deals with a supplier who has been skimming off the top by catching him unawares, and when the supplier lies to him about how much money he is bringing in or how much product he is shipping, Balto crushes his skull under his boot.

While Balto is out for the four days, Cassini gets bored, and she sends him a semi-nude picture of herself in lingerie. She’s sitting at home, when the elevator arrives, and Balto steps off, but the way that he talks to her makes her realize that it’s not Balto. She incapacitates him, and has his gun trained on him, when Balto arrives and sees the scene. He’s impressed that Cassini had done this, and introduces Heath to her. Heath later tells him that if he had introduced them earlier, they wouldn’t have found themselves in that situation. He also tells Balto that he clearly cares for Cassini a lot.

Balto surprises Cassini by taking her to her brother’s house for dinner, and Case is not happy with him being in his house, so Balto goes to sit outside in his car. Cassini talks to Case and tells him that she cares for Balto and that he treats her better than Lucian ever had, so Case goes out to talk to him. Balto tells Case to tell Cassini the truth about their business, and asks Balto about Evan’s last name just so that he can go deal with him. Case asks Balto to not kill Evan, but to make him pay for what he did to Cassini. At another dinner, it eventually comes out that Case and Dirk know Balto because they are dealing in drugs and the business is making a ton of money—they will not stop it. Cassini storms out of the house in anger, and is angry with Balto for not telling her. He asks her if she would like him to tell her brothers that she was having an affair with him prior to him stealing her, and that it’s really not his secret to tell. After another visit to her brothers, Balto and Cassini take his car into empty fields behind the house and have sex in the car.

Balto and Heath stalk Evan and make an appointment to see him at the financial institution where he is a loan officer. He is excited to speak with them at first, until they are in his office and Balto stares at him intently before telling him that he’s here to speak about Cassini Cardello. Evan tries to call security or the police, but once he tells them Balto’s name, they hang up on him, and Evan has to face the two. Evan reveals that Lucian had paid him a 100,000 euros to set the whole thing up with Cassini just so that Lucian could have her, as Lucian was obsessed with her. Evan did love her a bit but it was all a plot to get her to be Lucian’s wife. Balto tells Evan that he will not kill him but that he will not escape justice, and returns after Evan gets off of work to beat him up and leave him to figure his way back to the city and home. Evan ends up in the hospital.

Eventually Cassini is asked by Balto to hang out with his brother, as he wants to make amends, and at first Cassini is distant and cold with Heath, but while Balto is out in the restroom, she and Heath hash their differences and issues out. When Balto comes back, Heath tells him that he likes her.

At some point, Lucian calls Balto to tell him that he will not be working with him, but that he will get Cassini back by any means necessary. Balto does not tell Cassini anything about that, and eventually Cassini convinces Balto to take her out on a date. They go to a restaurant, where they flirt and they start eating their meal, when Balto sees SUVs arrive with men. He has Cassini out the back emergency door exit and tells her to run, while he goes back inside. Cassini is worried because she’s not sure if Balto is going to make it out alive, but she runs, only to get caught between two cars. Two men step up to her and grab her, even with her fighting them off. They tell her that Lucian said that they could have a go at her, which freaks her out, and she realizes that she has no way to fight them off, but she hopes that Balto will come. He does show up and kills one of the men, fights off the other man, and then he calls Lucian on a video call to show him that he’s crushing the other man’s skull. He tells Lucian that seventeen men was not enough to stop him, and then he carries Cassini back home, where she stays in shock for a bit before coming out; though he does leave her alone with her shock.

Eventually Lucian calls him back and offers Balto the skull ring back along with 100 bombs that he makes per Balto’s specifications in exchange for Cassini. He also tells Balto that he will have Cassini killed and buried next to the pool. Cassini overhears this and she is upset about it, but also Balto and Cassini had been arguing because he keeps pushing her away and telling her that he is not the type of man that she needs or wants; that she is a means to an end. As a result, when they go to meet with Lucian to do an exchange, Cassini is deflated and despondent. Along the way, Balto decides not to go through with it, as his conscience will not allow him to let her go back to deal with this shitty hand she’s been dealt—she deserves better. So he turns the car around, and she is elated—he tells her that they will kill Lucian and after that their relationship is done. Lucian calls him back eventually and demands to know why he’s not meeting, to which Balto tells him he’s changed his mind. Lucian then tells him that he has Case and that he wants Cassini in exchange for Case. He adds that if she’s not with him, he will kill Case, and that if he doesn’t tell her, then Dirk will know what has happened and will tell her anyways. As much as Balto doesn’t want to tell Cassini anything, knowing that she will willingly sacrifice herself, he goes and tells her about it. Cassini decides that she wants to do the exchange as she loves her brother, and it’s not his place to be involved in this. So Cassini, Balto and Heath head over to the meeting point with their men. At the exchange, instead of handing Cassini over to Lucian, Balto tells Lucian to take him instead showing that he had been the only one who bested the Skull King. After thinking about it, Lucian lets Case go, and punches Balto to the ground, has him cuffed, all the while Cassini watches as she’s being dragged by Heath back to the car. She doesn’t want to let Balto go in her stead.

My Thoughts:

I am enjoying this back and forth between Balto and Cassini, as well as how he’s slowly giving up things that are part of his character or the facade that he has been wearing while being the Skull King. Their romance is definitely heating up and everyone can see it but them, which is charming though I do find it a bit annoying that the guys can never admit to loving someone beyond their siblings or admitting to why they are emotionally stunted like that. Still enjoyed the book, and cannot wait to read the remaining book in the series to see how it turns out.