"You no tell this girl that I said, I want no relations with a darkie?" She spat to me, making my eyes go wide. What? I thought to myself and Gio tried pulling me away but I snatched away from him, knowing I heard right this time. "Wait, what?" I spoke out loud and Gi grabbed me roughly, trying to pull me away again. "Why you saying these things? She's beautiful." I heard his abuelita sticking up for me as she stood to her feet and all the guys began to as well, telling their mom that she was wrong for what she was doing. "That puta heard me." She spat, pointing her finger at me. "You're too dark." She held up a brown paper bag that she was drinking her beer out of. "You no match this bag or lighter, you're too dark." "You look too much like his father. I no want you around me." She shooed me off, instantly breaking my heart into a billion pieces as I looked up at Giovanni who was looking down at me with hurt in his eyes. "Baby, please." He begged and I shook my head at him in disgust before putting my attention back onto her. "Get that darkness out of here, Giovanni. She's a demon." "Only demons have her color." She kept on going and I felt sick to my stomach in this moment as I stood there in complete shock.

"Cain, if you can't leave the streets for me and our baby, then me and you, we're done." I pointed between the two of us as tears streamed down my face and he bit his lip, looking down at the floor before he looked back up into my eyes. "Aight." "Shit over then, babygirl."

He prayed for her in the dark. She begged to God for him to let her go. Ky'leigh Ace thought loving a man like Julian "Toro" Cortez was just part of growing up in the Southside. But when he got locked up, she found out the truth: being in love with a gang member was one thing-raising his daughter alone was another. Six years later, he's back. Fresh out. Full of pain, pride, and poison. But Ky has changed. She's colder now. Stronger. Smarter. And she's been keeping Jurnee away from the streets. But Julian doesn't play when it comes to his daughter. Or Ky. In the world they come from, love ain't sweet-it's war. And every night, somebody's out there whispering a Lover's Prayer just to survive it.

Dealing with a criminal worse than expected

𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐲𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐲𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭? Trevante Rhodes || Ari fletcher Read it and you'll love it 🫶🏽 Started January 11th, 2023

A promise. It seems like the simplest thing in the world to keep. But so often, they're broken, empty and hollow. They seem like the easiest thing in the world to believe, but after the words are left out to bleed, after they leave you waiting and wanting, after all the emptiness and hollow words-how are you going to believe the one who actually say what they mean?

𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴.

21 year old Amil is a college student learning that when life detours, sometimes it's for your greater good. These detours bring people and situations into her life that seem to piece everything together.

The night of her twenty-fifth birthday forever altered the trajectory of her life.