The Hidden Note: A College Mafia Romance

by Nelia Alarcon

Who wouldn’t die for a night with The Kings?
Beautiful.
Cold.
Dangerous.
And Finn Cross is the most dangerous of them all. I want his secrets even more than I want him.
And Finn?
He wants to be the reason my failing heart beats for the last time.
But I know too much.
The Kings aren’t satisfied with ruling Redwood Prep alone. They’re expanding to a dark, shady underworld, facing threats more cruel than they are.
So when Finn comes to my hospital room demanding my help, I’m ready.
He thinks he knows who I am.
But this isn’t Finn’s game. It’s mine.
And I want him.
Kissing me.
Touching me.
Getting closer…
… toward the edge of a cliff he won’t see coming.
Even if he’s more protective of me than anyone else, I can’t give him the upper hand.
Because with a heart condition like mine--one night with The Kings would kill me.

Authors The Hidden Note is a one-couple romance between a blonde heart patient and the son of the mafia. It is NOT a standalone. It is the first book in the Redwood Secrets series. This means that some questions may be left unanswered at the end of a book, but will be addressed in the book that follows. This couple does receive an HEA.

Genres: Enemies To Lovers

454 pages, Paperback

Published December 16, 2025

Reviews

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

what the shart?!?! im so flabbergasted i had to reread that last page a few times, so i need book 2 now.

[Azet · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOLY SPIRIT OF THE SKIES AND EARTH!!

Finn Cross book!!! After waiting over one full year! With his beloved J!♥️♥️♥️

( J is not Serena, after all, I guessed wrong on that one)

The twists in The Hidden Note is deliriously insane, and I ate up every word of it like a snack!! Finn is more dangerous and badass as ever and the way he totally falls for J, totally envelopes her with his badassness and sexiness, I mean!!! To much for even my heart to handle!

[Noémie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am writing this review for anyone who read the other 5 books and lost a bit of interest, cause I was one of you!

I devoured and loved the first three books following Cadence and Dutch, so when I got to the fourth book with Zane and Grace, I was a bit disappointed and I did not get into their story as much as I did with the first couple.

But thank god I kept going!! This book just redeemed the series in my eyes! The plot twists, the intrigue, the slow burn between Finn and his love interest (no spoilers here 🤭).

Highly recommend!! And I can’t wait to read the next one!! That cliff hanger should be illegal 😩

[Jennipher Oliviera · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no fucking way it ended like that. WHAT TYPE OF PLOT TWIST IS THAT?! Not to mention we still have SO MANY unanswered questions. Like what the heck am I suppose to do while waiting the next part of this book? Like I’m not okay. IM STILL CONFUSED ON THE FLIPPING ENDING. My poor boys, dutch & Zane, are utterly broken because they still cannot find their pregnant wives. Finn’s love interest and infamous person since book one jinx may be dying actively and been using pills to keep her heart going when she needs a heart transplant if anything. The amount of downs is crazy, there isn’t many ups and they’re all short lived and pretty sure are going to come back to bite me in the ass. What deal?! What could she have possibly wanted from them? A cure? I don’t that exists for dying parts of the hearts, I would know–I’m a literally Certified Clinical Medical Assistant soon to be a Patient Care Technician as well. I lowkey need everything to be cured and happy. In reality, this book is apart of a different series but it continues directly from the Redwood King series last book, but since it’s a whole new series, this means that there will at least be 1-2 more books after this and I don’t think I can ever mentally prepare the plot twists of this book, much less any book after it. LIKE PLEASE I JUST WANTED A UNION WITH DUTCH & CADEY ALONGSIDE ZANE & GREY! Not to mention for the romance to blossom semi-smoothly for Finn and Jinx, but no. That couldn’t happen. INstead we almost had Jinx DIE ON US, they’re back to square one of their relationship, especially with her finally finding out Finn is in the Japanese Mafia, and we still no closer to finding Cadence and Grey than we were 25% into the damn book. I’m heartbroken. I don’t wanna wait fucking 1-2 years for the next book to come out, I need this series(plural) pumped into my VEINS. I miss when things were simpler like Darkest note till the first book of Zane’s story.

[Melyssa Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

FYI this review is solely for myself when I look back on recs. Contains spoilers.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🫑

FMC J has a failing heart and has been in the hospital. She is a genius computer hacker/programmer and we are lead to believe that she is "Jinx", the online social gossip app. Jinx has been extorting and spying on the King boys for a while now, taking their money and stealing their secrets for blackmail.

MMC Finn is the son of the head of the Japanese mafia and is being trained to take his place/step into power. His adoptive brothers are Zane and Dutch and Sol. Zane and Dutch wives are stollen In the beginning for the book and Finn believes J can help them find her with her tracking/hacking abilities.

They work together to try and find them but they discover their mom took them to keep them safe from an AI algorithm they were working on that went rouge. In the end someone tried to kill J but Finn was there to save her with the doctor and when she woke up she had a text from Jinx saying deal off-- end book.

So who is jinx? Maybe the algorithm? Who is J? Ready for the next book to come out. I really liked this one. No real spice, but it was a fun and easy read.

[Spike M Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nooooooo!!!! I hate cliffhangers! 6 books and still more god damn cliffhangers!!!!!
So much dancing around between finns and jinxes feelings and her in and out of hospital but no where near enough on him and his “new” family or the search for grey and cadence!!
Finn and jinx arnt even fully together yet… now have to wait for god damn part 2 to be released!! Urgh

ALSO WHY THE HELL… do the boys call cadeys and vi’s brother ryan???? His name is rick!! His friend was called hunter and yet neither of them or vi are in the book atall! I get its finns story but with the girls missing youd think theyd be mentioned more.. and how can an author mistake their own characters name?! Makes no sense!

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm Here Again

Nelia, you've done it again. I read the books in this series, and I am left not just wanting more, but craving it. I have more questions. I am left with my mouth open. Like Finn, I am yearning for the unravelling that will give me everything I want. What a ride. Enjoy.

[Maya Plettner · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️

[rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Killing me

I'm so Hooked on this series!!!!!! I've been pulling hair out waiting for this book! Feels like forever!! Loved it! When's the next one??!!?

[Emilie N · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of the series!!!

I can't wait until the next one comes out!!!

I think I might die waiting!!!

⚠️fair warning this does end in a cliff hanger⚠️

[a. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I NEED THE SECOND BOOK LIKE RIGHT NOW😭😭 i love finn and j so much

[Nalini Patel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wtf was the last page mannn

[shahodi k · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 STARSSSSSS!!!

What is that endinnggg wwwhhhaaaatttttttttt?!!???!!???!!?