Marlin has spent her whole life fighting to survive. In the shadowed corners of the city, where hunger bites harder than the cold, she learns to endure each day with nothing but grit and a fierce will to keep going. But desperation pushes her too far-one stolen loaf of bread, one moment of weakness, and everything changes. When Dan, the quiet young man behind the counter, catches her red-handed, Marlin expects anger... maybe even punishment. Instead, she finds something she's never known: kindness. Drawn together by circumstance, bound by compassion, the two discover a fragile connection that blooms into something neither of them expected. As Dan helps Marlin find hope in a life that has shown her little mercy, she begins to see a future painted with warmth, trust, and a love she never believed she deserved. A heartwarming tale of resilience, redemption, and the power of unexpected love, this story reminds us that sometimes the smallest acts of kindness can change everything.

Born into a house where cruelty was routine and obedience was demanded, **Amane** has spent her entire life under the iron rule of her tyrannical father. To him, she was not a daughter, but a tool-someone to command, to control, to break. Her world is small, suffocating, and carved from silence and fear. That world changes the day **General Akira**, a decorated yet enigmatic officer of the Japanese army, steps across her father's threshold. Behind his measured gaze, he sees what others ignore-the bruises concealed, the spirit restrained, the life quietly collapsing. In one decisive moment, he claims her freedom... but freedom with Akira is not simple. Drawn into his shadowed orbit, Amane enters a life filled with dangerous secrets, unspoken desires, and a man whose kindness is as unsettling as his darkness. As she moves from captivity into a new, unfamiliar kind of possession, Amane must confront the most terrifying question of all: **Has she escaped a monster... or walked into the arms of another?** A story of trauma, power, and the razor-thin line between salvation and obsession, this dark romance thriller explores how love can bloom in the unlikeliest-and most perilous-places.