Valentin Petrov saw Inaya Singh once and never recovered from it. One year ago, he walked into a tiny flower shop trying to buy flowers for his mother in silence away from the chaos of his life. Instead, he found her. A girl with stained fingertips from arranging roses, soft music playing in the background and a smile so gentle it made something dangerous inside him go completely still. And ever since that day, Valentin has been obsessed and not the fleeting kind of obsession, the terrifying kind. The kind that has him memorizing her routine without meaning to, sitting in a blacked-out car across the street at midnight just to make sure she locked the shop safely, the kind that has him collecting pieces of her life like secrets. Her favorite tea order, the books she reads during slow afternoons, the fact she hums quietly when she's nervous. He keeps telling himself he's protecting her but deep down, Valentin knows the truth. He's a man starving for something he can never have. Because Inaya exists in warmth and light while Valentin was raised in violence. His surname is feared across entire countries, bodies follow his family's footsteps and if Inaya ever discovered who he truly was, what he's done or what the Petrov name actually means, she would look at him with fear instead of the softness he's gotten so used to. So what happens when the bratva pakhan falls for the girl who owns a little flower shop not knowing how bad the world could really get?

He was the boy who left to save her and the man who came back ruined. Cold when he shouldn't be, silent when all she wants is for him to talk to her, Dominico Cruz learned young that loving someone means losing them. So he left first. He always leaves first. But her? Katerina Petrov was never someone you could leave behind. She was fire and fury and loyalty sharp enough to cut throats, she loved like a war and hated like a storm, and he was the only man who ever survived both. "You don't get to leave me again and call it love, Dominico. That's not love. That's cowardice." He would burn cities for her, kill kings for her, destroy himself for her, but the one thing he can't do is stay, because he believes loving him is a death sentence. She thinks he abandoned her. He thinks he's protecting her. And neither of them realizes they're destroying each other in the process. In whatever is between the world they've been born in, love isn't gentle. It's possession, sacrifice, blood and worst of all...Brutal. And the most dangerous thing in Dominico Cruz's life was never his enemies. It was always her.

Sophia Honey never expected college to mean sharing an apartment with her childhood nemesis. ~~~ Freshman Sophia Honey never imagined her brother would stick her with Theo Gray-his best friend and her childhood nemesis-as her roommate. But things get complicated fast. Theo, with his shirtless mornings, flirty remarks, and those intense stares, pushes all of her buttons. Just when Sophia thinks she can handle their awkward living arrangement, she discovers he's not just popular-he's one of the hottest seniors on campus. And as the star of the hockey team, his status skyrockets, forcing her to tread carefully around him to avoid drama. But drama comes knocking When Sophia lands a side gig with the seniors in her photography department to make some extra cash, she doesn't expect her first assignment to be Theo Gray shirtless in front of her camera. She definitely doesn't expect him to say yes with that smug grin-and one condition. What he wants in return? Not money. Something else. Something dangerous. As the photo sessions begin, so does the unraveling. Their banter becomes charged. His touches linger a little too long. Her defenses are violently slipping. ​Then comes the night the mask shatters. When Theo stumbles home drunk, his eyes glassy and his defenses down, he confesses a truth that breaks every version of him Sophia thought she knew. ​Gone is the boy who teased her growing up. This Theo is raw, complex, and beautifully broken in places she never noticed before. ​Suddenly, Sophia wants things she never dared to dream of. His kisses. His hands on her skin. His body-yes-but also his secrets, his pain... him. What started as a paycheck has become a dangerous line they can't stop crossing, forcing her to realize the most terrifying truth of all: ​What if falling for Theo Gray was the real assignment all along?

"For you? I'd hold the skies on my shoulders, if it came down to it." ***** He didn't think she'd ever look his way. Let alone, stumble into him- and into his life. But all things happen for a reason, and sometimes- when you love someone from afar, you never realise how much more you can love them up close. [ #1 in Cello | #2 in Theatre ] [ Cover images do not belong to me, all rights reserved by original owners ]