Eight-year-old Athena Dimitriou has never known safety. Raised by a mother who loved her but resented her, and a man who hid his violence behind closed doors, she learned early how to stay small, quiet, and invisible. Until the night everything shattered. When her mother is found dead and her stepfather vanishes, DNA results reveal an impossible truth-Athena is the illegitimate daughter of one of America's most powerful Mafia dons. Whisked away to New York, she finds herself in a palace of cold steel and burning loyalty, under the protection of five ruthless brothers who rule a criminal empire. She was born in silence. They raise her in steel. But beneath the violence lies something unexpected-soft hands, warm arms, a family that will kill for her, die for her... and teach her, at last, how to live. Book 1

Aurelia and Elara - the youngest twins and the only daughters of the De Santis family - were once the heart of their household. Inseparable, gentle, adored. Where one went, the other followed. Their parents cherished them. Their brothers protected them. But everything shattered the night eight-year-old Elara was found bleeding on the floor... and Aurelia stood over her, a knife in her hand. Blamed for a crime she didn't commit, Aurelia was sent away to a strict boarding school for "troubled children." Her parents believed discipline would straighten her out. What they never imagined was the truth - the cruelty hidden behind the school's walls, the sadistic methods used to "teach," and the horrors Aurelia was forced to endure. Now sixteen, after a devastating incident inside that school, Aurelia is brought back to the De Santis mansion. But it's not a homecoming. It's an obligation. A reminder that she is unwanted, distrusted, and viewed as a threat by the very family she once loved. Follow Aurelia as she relearns how to exist in a home that no longer feels like hers. Uncover the truth of what happened that night, what really happened to her within the school, and whether the De Santis family will ever face the truth of what Aurelia had to endure and do to survive. ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─── "What should I ache for? The childhood that slipped away? The silence that became my companion? Or the pieces of myself that I will never get back? Maybe pain isn't a phase-- it's just who I am." ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─── "How many graves will I need, to bury everything that died inside of me?" ❁Naya Aknis❁

He thought he was saving her. He was handing her to the wolves. Ten years ago, the eldest Sokolov brother made a desperate choice to protect his baby sister from the bloodbath of a mafia war. He paid her mother a fortune to take her far away and keep her safe, believing that a mother would do everything for their child. It was a secret he kept from his five brothers-a promise of protection that was supposed to be her salvation. But the money wasn't enough to buy a mother's love. Instead of safety, their sister was sold to the highest bidder-discarded into an abusive household where she spent a decade surviving a nightmare her brothers never knew existed. Now, ten years later, the truth has surfaced, and the girl they traded away has been found. She isn't the innocent child they remember. She is a hollowed-out survivor who looks at her brothers not as heroes, but as the men who paid for her disappearance. The Sokolov circle is finally whole again, but as the six brothers move to burn the world down for what was done to her, they must face the most brutal truth of all: The seventh scar was carved by their own hands.

𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 /ˈ𝘭ɪ𝘮ɪ𝘯ə𝘭/ adjective existing in the quiet interval before change, where nothing has ended, but everything feels about to. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴, 𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸. Brothers/Family

"You are mine!" He roars. "I will do whatever it takes to make you know that. Whether it means I lock you up in a prison and throw away the key." Footsteps come rushing into the dining room, and I turn to see multiple men--guards I suppose, flanking one another. Each of their hands rest on things within their jackets. Which i can only guess are guns. What else would they be? He waves them off and stalks towards me, standing behind my chair. I try to turn my head to look behind me, at him, but his hands move to the sides of my face, stopping me. "I can give you the world Mia. I am no fool. I know that love takes time, and I will give you as much as it takes. But you are mine." He says so calmly. -------------------------- When Mia Jones, a College student from Australia with a mysterious past is offered the opportunity to work as a translator for a man she had never heard of in New York City, she had assumed it would be a normal job, little did she know it would be the end of her freedom. Matteo Giovanni is the most feared Mafia leader in New York, and the whole country, heir to the Italian Mafia, he is used to getting what he wants. And when he sees Mia walk into his office for a job interview, he knows he wants her. She is his light, and he is her darkness. Will Mia ever be able to escape Matteo and the Mafia, or will she fall in love before she can stop herself? WARNING: Within this story there is coarse language, themes and violence. ______________________ #1 in Romance 29/10/2020 ----------------------------------- Began: 21/08/2020 Completed: 13/01/2021

E·phem·er·al (adj.) Lasting for a very short time ִֶָ 𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆★⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ Aurora has spent her past thirteen years surviving, not living. Trapped in a broken home filled with cruelty and violence, every day has been a battle against the monsters she was forced to call family. Stained by her striking appearance--skin, hair, and eyes devoid of pigment--Aurora has always stood out. But one night, when flashing lights and sirens tear through the darkness of her world, everything changes for her. Her nightmares have been taken away in handcuffs, and for the first time, Aurora is free. Or so she believes. Swept away to a sprawling residence in New York, she's thrown into a new life with six mysterious older brothers she's never met, secrets buried in every corner, and danger that feels strangely familiar. As Aurora tries to rebuild, she begins to worry if the past is truly behind her, or if something even darker has been waiting all along. Wanting a future built upon more than merely scraping by, Aurora knows its time she fights for what was previously impossible. She's ready to live and claim her new life as more than Ephemeral. Even if it kills her. ִֶָ 𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆★⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ ⏾ The first couple chapters are short but get longer as you go. NO AI HAS GONE INTO EPHEMERAL.

A heart murmur is the secret sound beneath the steady rhythm - the quiet confession the heart makes when it can no longer beat in silence. Not loud enough to alarm, but impossible to ignore once heard.

16 year old Chasity Armando lives a totally different life than her peers. She lives at home with an abusive mother and stepfather, being treated as a slave. While also taking care of her son. Although she has trouble at home, in school she's an excellent student. She makes sure to study hard and keep her grades up. She prays for a well paying career to give her son the life she never had. But that better life was coming sooner than expected. Her mother and stepfather tragically pass away . She's left by herself with her son. But little does she know she's about to meet her biological dad and her 6 brothers. Started: August 20th, 2023 Ended:

Ten years ago, the youngest heir of the Vale empire vanished. The war ended. The enemies fell. But he never came back. Now a new student walks into Blackwood Academy. Quiet. Observant. Untouchable. Two of the Vale brothers can't explain why he feels familiar. Why his silence feels like something they lost. He doesn't flinch when they threaten him. Doesn't bow when they command him. Doesn't care who they are. But he knows things. Too many things. And every time danger gets close- It disappears. The Vale brothers have a feeling. The enemy has a plan. And the truth? The truth might destroy them all. But who is the boy watching them from the shadows? Why does he look at them like strangers... and like home at the same time? And when the past finally comes for them- will blood be enough to bring him back?

"𝗔𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗶𝗿, 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿." After being through a lifetime of trauma Milana Alyona Vasiliev finally feels like she can breath as relief envelopes her into its sweet embrace. But like everything, it is short lived as a new piece of information changes everything she thought she knew. All the sweet lies she had been told finally unfold to present a bittersweet truth, one that she could never expect in all the years she has lived. It could be a chance to move on and to finally have something she craved so much, a family. But the longer she stares at those who hold her future in their grasps, she realizes that even though her future wasn't the brightest, it was a known evil. Now she dives into the unknown and can only hope she can survive. And if you throw trauma, secrets, utter chaos, friendship and love into a perfect mix, there's no way of knowing if it'll turn out well. For once Milana has no idea if she'll be able to face what awaits her.