"I don't know how to do this." He was almost embarrassed to admit it. "I ain't been right with you in a long time, but I'm gon' ask anyway. Please don't take her from me." His plea cracked something open inside of his chest. "I know I ain't a good man. I done did some shit that I can't take back and I can't make it right. But she is, she's good. She's the light in so many places I didn't know were dark." "So if there's a price that needs to be paid for all the pain that I have caused in this word and done onto others put it on me. I'll pay it. I swear I will. I'll protect her with my last breath. I'll listen and heed her warnings. I'll slow down and come home more and stop thinking that I'm alone in this world." "Just please let my baby wake up. I love her, I'm in love with her and I can't do this without her. If waking her up means I got to sacrifice letting her go so she can be safe. I'll do that. Just don't take her from this earth." "In Jesus name I pray. Amen."

India learned early how to survive by paying attention. Growing up in a small, rough city taught her when to speak, when to soften, and when to protect herself. She carries those instincts into corporate spaces that were never designed with her in mind. Alex has never needed to adapt. Power comes naturally to him. Raised in legacy and expectation, he leads with quiet authority, keeping his emotions tightly controlled and his personal life even more so. When their worlds collide, attraction becomes something neither can name without consequence. Identity, power, and unspoken desire blur the lines they've spent years maintaining.

When two troubled past collide, you will either get a new beginning or a new world of chaos. Benjiman Cartier Gotti & Layton Iman Westbrooks take the world they once knew & the cards they'd been dealt, and try their hand at creating a new world together. Both with a past full of trauma, trials, and tribulations that they've tried to keep away from the other, will they succeed? The two try their best at growing from their past to make a better life for their futures, but at what cost? Will the two ever just get to be together without constraint? Against every odd, will they get to just live in pure happiness without their dark past getting in the way? Vanessa Wright | Copyright ©️ 2022 | All Rights Reserved Author: Vanessa W. | Cover: _tolerated & Vanessa W. NOT A FAN FICTION. NOT A STAND-ALONE, MUST READ BOOK ONE "Against All Odds" BEFORE PROCEEDING.

"I don't know this man, I don't know his friends, I don't know his type." No amount of love could replace the past. And they had a lot of that for one another-love that is. The two child hood friends had bonded early on, especially over their love of music. Where one lacked, one had. Mariah was the writer, Kentrell the performer. It's only until a high school talent show that Kentrell performs a song written by his beloved best friend, Mariah...that his career takes off. But it happens to take off without Mariah. And he had promised to take her. Promises were meant to be broken I suppose.

Kason "Khotic" Brewster never planned on living long. At seventeen, he buried both of his parents in the same week. His mother died instantly in a car crash. His father held on just long enough to make Kason promise one thing before he passed. Take care of your brother and sister. So that's exactly what he did. Twelve years later Khotic is the man the streets call when things get ugly. Feared. Respected. Untouchable. Everything he does is for the two people depending on him to make it out of the life he's stuck in. He's content with that. Until Beauty Cardwell crashes into his world. Bee is nothing like the women Khotic usually deals with. She's a twenty-five-year-old brain surgeon, a child prodigy who finished school before most people finished learning who they were. She's blunt, literal, and socially awkward in ways people don't always understand. 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐦, Bee doesn't believe in pretending to be something she's not. She says exactly what she means. And for some reason... Khotic likes that. What starts as a chance meeting turns into something neither of them expected. Bee sees the man behind Khotic's reputation. The older brother trying to keep his promise. The boy who never got the chance to grieve. And Khotic sees something in Bee that the world keeps missing. But loving a man like Khotic means stepping into a life Bee was never meant to be part of. Enemies. Loyalty. Violence. The kind of danger that doesn't care how smart you are. And Khotic knows one thing for sure. Good girls like Beauty Cardwell aren't supposed to fall for men like him.

Read to find out :) disclaimer: before reading you might want to read Blessings & Our Blessings but you don't necessarily have to.

"𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙄, 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩.." - 𝘾𝙞𝙖𝙧𝙖

Reentry Case 007: Male, 37, assault with intent to kill, parole conditions strict. Not to be left alone with female staff.

Benjiman Cartier Gotti, "BG" to the streets, "Benji" to those he cared about, which was slim to none. A young thug at the age of twenty one with a hustler's mentality, killer demeanor, and the game that could make any girl fall in love. With a heart made of ice and the big dreams of being one of the richest street hustlers the world had ever seen, he took the streets by storm with ambition. Benji was a go-getter and was determined to do whatever it took to get it, by any means necessary. He strayed to a place that he knew could turn his dirty rags into riches, which is exactly what he did. He knew shit wouldn't be given to him on a silver platter, so he grinded hard for his ticket out until he found himself on top of it all. Just because you started from the bottom, doesn't mean it's where you'll end .. and just because you never had shit, doesn't mean you never will. Benjiman Cartier Gotti was a natural born hustler. Against all odds he came out on top, but at what cost? Vanessa Wright | Copyright ©️ 2019 | All Rights Reserved Author: Vanessa Write | Cover: _tolerated NOT A FAN FICTION.