Digital Love

They called him the Red Death but all Anatoly Ivanof ever wanted was his freedom and his family. Kidnapped at the age of 12, Toly was a child prodigy whose childhood was stolen by the KGB and the Russian Mafia. Held by ruthless monsters for twelve years, Toly is a one-man weapon of mass destruction and his reign of cyber terror has made him a legend and a terrorist. Forced to commit unspeakable crimes and haunted by his atrocities, Toly offered his skin as penance and dedicated his body to his obsession and his dependence on technology for survival. Now, determined to set himself and his family free, Toly is ready to risk everything, including his life, to steal the last traces of his identity and stop an auction that will leave him in the hands of a new master. But first, he must survive the night. On the run, starving, sick and alone, Toly sends out an S.O.S. from the worst place any sane person would hide: The West Side of Chicago.

They call Wilder Martinez a tank because of his size and his strength. But he’s been through too many battles and he can’t see the end of the war. Wilder’s story began in a heartbroken, hopeless moment; found as a baby in a stolen basket of laundry on Wilder Avenue. After a successful, but brutal, career as an undercover cop and rescuer of at-risk LGBTQ teens in Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods, Wilder has seen too much heartbreak and lost hope. Now, he’s ready to retire and distance himself from the violence and regret of his past and start over. But first, Wilder must handle one more errand for Sage Bradley. A quick mission to find a lost Russian hacker leads Wilder from West Garfield Park to Lake Cliff and into danger, redemption and possibly a little cyber temptation.

Beauty is only skin-deep, so you should never judge a man’s character by the color of his skin. But, what about the stories we tell with our skin? One of our heroes used tattoos to erase his humanity, the other to disguise himself as a monster. Can a love story begin with two men who have painted themselves as outcasts and freaks? Can a lost digital boy with digital skin find safety and strength in a battle-scarred tank with a marshmallow center? Can two orphans from hard, dark, painful pasts find something safe, delicate and sensual in each other? Do they have the courage and strength to take on the world together?

Digital Love is a spin-off from the Boys of Lake Cliff series but may be read as a stand-alone despite featuring characters from Lake Cliff.