After the police cover up their friend's murder, an unlikely trio must descend into a rotten criminal underworld to forge a dangerous alliance with the very people they were taught to fear. [Full summary inside] Featured by @StoriesUndiscovered - April 2023 Featured by @mystery - May 2023 Featured by @crime - June 2023 Total word count: 180K words THIS IS A FIRST DRAFT - IT IS UNDERGOING EDITING.

Dreams of an island under a gleaming summer sun, a city built on the ocean, encompassed by a vast cerulean sea. A city of islanders whose skin embodied the sun, smiles incarnated the moon, and eyes embraced the stars. Their tinkling laughter and rambunctious shrieks resonated through the city of white, and red, and shining gold. Their happiness so palpable it seemed to buzz, bringing the island itself alive with their energy. Akami continuously dreams of a beautiful place, of memories that aren't his, and he ignores them....until he doesn't.

Forced into marriage by duty and obligation, The Duke and Duchess of Rothbury parted ways a week after saying their vows under the explicit understanding that theirs was a marriage in name only. There would be no expectations of love, fidelity, or romance. The Duke hates the American Heiress who married him only for his title, completely unaffected by the senseless tragedy that had made their marriage necessary in the first place. When an illness forces him to retire to the country, he makes sure to choose the property where his wife wouldn't be. Except that she is, and she is still as insufferable as ever. The Duchess resents the man who killed her youthful dreams of love and abandoned her to live his bachelor life unencumbered. When she is jilted by her lover, and faced with inevitable ridicule, she decides to retire to her beloved estate in Cornwall, where she runs an orphanage. Never once does she expect to run into her cold, selfish, insufferable arse of a husband! Forced into each other's company by circumstance, the couple begin to unravel their individual prejudices. Resentment turns into respect and friendship. Respect and friendship soon turn into attraction and affection. Was love closer than either one of them could ever have imagined? And that begged the question; can the Duke win his wife's favor, or is it far too late to make their marriage a love match? Cover by MuniWilliams.

goodbye, my love.