The Anarchist

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Between 1894 and 1907, anarchists assassinated the President of France, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, the King of Italy, the Empress of Austria, the Prime Minister of Spain, and the President of the USA.

Anarchists are the terrorists of their day, and unknown to Theo, his best friend Ian is one of them.

Duped into aiding in an attack, Theo has to flee the country before the police can link him to the crime. Until things blow over back home, his parents send him to New York to lay low in his uncle Bert's vaudeville theater in Brooklyn.

But there are worse things than prison. When Bert gives him a job playing the piano for the show's popular singer Adeline, it puts Theo in the crosshairs of her jealous, possessive boyfriend, Montague. Monty has been grooming Adeline to become his trophy bride for years, and he's determined to find some way to get rid of Theo, even if it means having him arrested for a crime he didn't commit. Worse still, Theo learns she has a secret even more disturbing than his own─a secret that puts everyone in the theater in jeopardy when Bert ventures into the emerging silent movie industry.

● sweet and clean
● slow burn
● hurt/comfort
● awkward alpha
● boy next door
● Gilded Age romance