To the world, she was the kind of woman mothers prayed their sons would marry. Poised. Devoted. Revered. She led worship with grace and served with quiet strength - the picture of purpose and purity. But behind the flawless image was a woman unraveling beneath the weight of her own perfection. And on the other side of it stood Tate - older, unavailable, and the one person she should never feel drawn to. A guilty desire. A quiet undoing. And a question that lingers: What happens when who you are begins to betray who you've always tried to be?

Janeisha "Neisha" Bambi has always survived by keeping a low profile. She don't get caught up in the kind of business that comes with bodies, secrets, and street names that echo. But all it takes is one night-one favor for her best friend-to slide her straight into the orbit of Seven "Saint" Carter. Saint is discipline wrapped in menace. A man the streets don't just respect,they fear. The type Neisha promised herself she'd never look at twice. He doesn't chase, beg, or explain. Yet somehow, he does all of this for her. And when that calm, unreadable gaze settles on Neisha, her careful world starts to crack. Now Saint's patience is running out, Neisha's defenses are falling apart and the pull between them is starting to feel less like a choice and more like fate. He's trying to shield her from the life he lives. She's trying to decide if loving him is salvation or self-destruction.

He stared at her, "Wow." "Yeah." She lifted her chin in the air. "Wow. Because every time you talk about marriage and kids, it feels like the end of me. Of my freedom. My career. My identity." "And every time you avoid it? It feels like the end of us." He fired back. Silence slammed between them. "Well." She broke it first, her voice quieter but crueler. "Maybe you just picked the wrong woman." He rubbed his jaw in thought, "Shit, maybe I did." • • • • • • 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚊 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚕𝚎? 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝? 🥀👻 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝟺 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚅𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 (𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚗-𝚘𝚏𝚏)

three years but it feels like forever. ** This fictional book features MATURE THEMES such as violence, sexual content, strong language, etc. Please read at your own discretion. **