Alessandra has never believed in safety. Life never gave her a reason to. Pain carved her childhood, silence became her armor, and trust? That was a luxury she could never afford. So when she runs -- bloody, broken, and barely breathing, she doesn't expect saving. She certainly doesn't expect to be taken in by a family dripping in wealth and power and. . . warmth? A mother who refuses to give up on her. A father who watches like he's waiting for her to let him in. And six brothers. Rough. Protective. Complicated. Brothers, who don't know what to do with a sister who won't speak. She doesn't know how to trust. How to believe that maybe not everyone wants to hurt her. Every instinct tells her to run. To shut down. But they don't let her go. Not when she flinches. Not when she hides. Not even when she breaks. Happiness is for other people, or that's what she believes. But when love comes wrapped in gentle patience and fierce protection, when hands reach for her without demand, when hearts break themselves wide open just to hold her... she starts to wonder. Can a girl stitched together with silence and fear ever belong in a family built on love? Can she stand tall when the ghosts of her past refuse to let go? And when danger claws its way back into her life, threatening everything she's come to know... will she find her voice, or will she shatter all over again? Trigger Warnings: Child abuse. Violence. Addiction. Panic attacks. Self-harm. Death, and more.

"Come on Austin. Please delete the video!" "No way." He smirks, "That'll be too easy." "What do you want from me?" "I need you to be my fake girlfriend." "What! No way in hell." "Fine then I'll just send this to everyone in school." "Okay fine I'll do it," I roll my eyes and he smirks, "but there's rules." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Emma Princeton(18 years old) is a normal teenage girl except she's lost a lot and has a shocking past that only a few people know about. She's not a nerd, although she gets good grades, she has a lot of friends but she's not one of the "populars". Austin King(also 18 just a couple months older), the schools bad boy. The top one in the "populars" group. He's known for dating girls for a day or two then breaking their hearts and tossing them to the side. Never thinking about them again. But what happens when Emma finds herself in a situation where Austin has a certain leverage over her and needs a fake girlfriend that's presentable to his mother and not one of his usual flings? What happens when Emma agrees, will they fall in love? Or will he just use her and break her heart like all the other girls that he's dated? There's a thin line between love and hate.