Locked Down with My Ex's Brother: A Forbidden Billionaire Romance

by Gia Hartley

I built walls to protect my empire … she shattered them before morning.

My world runs on discipline — every rule, every line, perfectly in place.
Then she crashed into it—barefoot, braless, and completely off-limits.
Now we’re trapped together, and control isn’t the only thing I’m losing.

Lena Carter is chaos in zebra print leggings —sunshine, sarcasm, and zero boundaries. And thanks to a citywide lockdown, she’s living in my penthouse, undoing every rule I’ve built to keep people out.

She laughs too loud. Touches too much.
And every time I tell myself to stay away, I end up closer.

Then I find out who she really is.
My brother’s ex. The woman he still calls his.

Now I can’t tell if I’m protecting her… or breaking every code I’ve ever lived by.

And if my brother comes after her again, it won’t just destroy my company—it’ll destroy me too.

76 pages, Paperback

Published November 10, 2025

Reviews

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

MC: Roman and Lena 2.5/5
Short story. Not too bad. At times it seemed like different people were writing the story. For example something serious would happen ex. Lena getting a threatening text from her ex, and the next scene is Roman cleaning and listening to her humming. Not only that I got a little confused because their first encounter made it sound like they had never met before but later on it’s like they’ve known each other for a long time. This book was all over the place. Initially we think she’s at Roman’s house because of her best friend and sister Maya. But then Sam enters the picture (Lena’s ex and Roman’s brother) and Maya is kind of completely forgotten about. Until the end when her name gets thrown in there. I don’t understand how they fell so madly in love in 2 days when they didn’t have that much contact or conversation.
Overall, this could have been more fleshed out, but I received a free copy so it is possible that this was a first draft.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is 3.5 stars, and spice level 1-2 chili peppers.
This is a classic tale where the FMC falls for her ex’s brother…who happens to be rich. This book was a quick, nice easy read. Light hearted in nature, with some spice written on the page. Since this book is shorter in length there is not a huge amount of backstory or in depth character development occurring. The author gives us readers just enough to make the story complete though. Overall this was a pleasant read and one I would recommend if falling for the ex’s brother is a trope you typically enjoy. No cliffhangers and everything sums up with a HEA in the end. Happy reading!

I was gifted an ARC of Locked Down with My Ex's Brother: A Forbidden Billionaire Romance, and this is my honest review of the novel. Thank you to author Gia Hartley for letting me be a part of your ARC team.

[Ashh C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute quick read … definitely left out some missing pieces and information I would have liked to have filled in but overall it was good.
MMC is all about control and strict order in his life while MFC is definitely not hahaha but hey you know what they say about opposites 😉 quickly the MMC figures out he would do anything to protect a girl that would cause absolute chaos in his life… including falling in love with her and risking everything for her.

⭐️⭐️
1/2🌶️

Reviewed by ashh

[Maryjane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roman wants to protect Lena, Sam wants her back. Oh boy! If you like a quick read this is a good one. Two people, Lena and Roman, meet by accident, fall in love, and have to deal with a nasty, vindictive, and jealous brother. I give it four stars

[Cass Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the fast paced, close proximity story. I felt some of my sass in the MFC, which made me smile a bit.

[Caroline Dalrymple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short story, jumps about a little bit. Good time filler