Kate is daughter to one of the most powerful mafiosos this side of Georgia, yet she has no idea of the rites and rituals of The Syndicate- or of the role she will be forced to play. A chance encounter with a kurdi changes everything, and Kate must decide between being the dutiful daughter or risking her life as wife to a man she doesn't know. Nikolai has been raised for the last twelve years to be in this moment. While being his father's successor wasn't his original dream, he had no choice but to step up as heir to the Tediashvili name when his older brother, Mikheil, was murdered in a gang war. Marrying Kate has never been a choice; it's been a duty and obligation. Still, Nikolai can't fight the need to protect her that overshadows even his common sense. He will risk everything to save her- even if it means never seeing her again. In a tale of love and loss set against the backdrop of the Georgian mafia that traverses the United States and the Republic of Georgia, Tempered strikes at the heart to ask: what would you give up if it meant the sheer possibility of gaining everything?