He rested the gun on my lips and stared angrily in my eyes. "Yuh know mi will buss a shot inna yuh throat Kehlani doh ramp wid mi badness likkle girl" him seh and I rolled my eyes. Mi nuh inna the bag a chattings tonight, mi just want him inna mi. Using my tongue I glide it over the top of his gun looking up at him seductively. He hissed "yah guh be the death a mi tpc" Two people from rivalry gang meet up....what could go wrong??

He only offered silence and smooth turns. But somewhere between late-night pickups and quiet glances in the rearview, a young woman with big dreams finds herself falling for the last man anyone would expect.

For six years, Patrice Loving lived inside a marriage that started like a fairytale and turned into a private kind of hell. Mentally, physically, and emotionally abused by the man who swore he loved her, Patrice learned how to survive by going quiet, hiding her pain, and planning her escape in silence. Pregnant and living with MS, she finally runs in the middle of the night with nothing but the money she stashed and the strength Carmari Davis never realized she still had. Then she lands in the life of Hazel "Menace" Knight a ruthless street nigga who never pretends to be anything other than what he is. Menace doesn't sell Patrice pretty lies or polished promises. What he gives her is harder, rougher, and realer: protection, honesty, and a love that shows up every day for her and the baby she carries. But with Carmari still hunting for the woman he thought he broke, Menace is ready to become every bit of the menace they say he is to make sure Patrice and Halo stay his.