Bloodletter. Everyone knows the name, but few know the man behind it. He's the most ruthless fighter in a local underground fight club, nicknamed for how often he makes his opponents bleed. When Zara Clark, an ambitious writer for her college newspaper, gets assigned the fighter as her next featured piece-nothing will stop her from getting her story. Especially not the cold, arrogant, closed-off man himself. The unexpected connection she feels to him when they finally meet throws her for a loop and she embarks on the wildest ride of her life, as she begins to uncover and unravel the man beneath the legend-Harry Styles. **This story contains strong sexual content and mature themes throughout. Reader's discretion is advised.** Started: March 2020 Finished: July 2021

** Violet Bennett lives under the weight of a name she barely understands. Surrounded by secrets and lies, she's trained to survive. But when the lines between real and fake blur, Violet begins to realize that nothing in her world is as it seems. Every truth is layered in deception, and protection always comes at a cost. Sometimes that cost is your voice. Sometimes it's your freedom. And sometimes it's your heart. Always nearby is Harry Styles, mysterious, sharp, cold and a constant reminder that danger is closer than she thinks. Covered in tattoos and silence, he watches like he knows something she doesn't. Maybe he does. There's something between them. She feels it in the silence, in the way his anger feels personal, in the quiet moments that say more than words ever could. But love, if that's what this is, has no place in a world built on secrets. in a life ruled by lies and shadows, love doesn't arrive without a cost. And falling for someone like him might mean losing everything else. Because in this world, love isn't soft. It's a weapon. And Violet is already in the crossfire. *** "You shouldn't smoke." The voice cut through me before I even processed it. I spun around instinctively, heart racing. And there he was. I blinked. "Holy shit. You scared me." He didn't move. Didn't even flinch. "Didn't know I had to announce myself." "How long have you been up here?" He looked away, back out over the skyline. "A while." "You're always hiding," I muttered. "And you always follow." ** 04/05/25 -

// "Y'know, you're just like your name." "What do you mean?" "You crept into my life and now I'm covered in you, wrapped up in Ivy in every aspect of my life, m'surrounded by you." // In which sometimes work is more than capitalist labour and sometimes you just have to wait a few years for your soulmate.