In these streets you either thought 2 steps ahead or got left behind in a body bag. Love was filled with nothing but false hopes and dreams. I could never have that. I could never let myself experience that. It's a rough world we live in, filled with hunger and survival. I am willing to survive, no matter the cost, no matter the outcome. Next in line to run the streets, Chance.. A cold lethal killer who made the world bleed, who didn't believe in love.. That's until he met her. But The Streets claimed him first.

Don't think that my life is so typical because I once thought that and then everything changed for me. Don't ask me how either because I don't know. I mean.. you could see for yourself. And then you could give me an answer because I obviously don't have one. BOOK ONE COPYRIGHT | I DO NOT OWN ANY PICTURES.

Asha Camari Hill has already lost enough to drugs-her past, her sense of self, nearly her life. Now sober and fighting for stability, she keeps her world small and controlled. Recovery is fragile, and she knows better than to tempt the darkness she barely escaped. She keeps her head down, clinging to routine, convincing herself the past can't find her if she doesn't look back. But the past never forgets. Before rehab, Asha made a mistake that left her in debt to a man who doesn't believe in mercy or clean slates. He remembers everything-especially what's owed. When he learns she's resurfaced, he doesn't collect right away. He watches from the edges of her new life, drawn to the woman she's becoming and the one she used to be. He is danger wrapped in control. She is healing held together by sheer will. What grows between them is unwanted and unspoken, a slow-burning tension neither of them is willing to name. He is the kind of man she should run from. She is the kind of woman he never meant to care about. And the closer the past presses in, the harder it becomes to tell whether walking away will save her-or cost her everything she's fought to rebuild.

Solani is the type of woman who lights up any room she walks into. She's single, fun, got her own job, her own place, and her weekends stay booked and busy. She's not pressed about finding love-if it happens, it happens. When her best friend and her fiancé plan a pre-wedding trip to Hawaii with the whole wedding party, Solani is all in. She's just there to have fun and maybe sip a few margaritas. But once she meets Demetri, the best man's best friend, all that "I'm just here to chill" talk goes out the window. He's fine, laid-back, and got that confidence that makes her nervous in the best way. What starts as playful flirting turns into something deeper. The two start spending every day together on the trip-late-night talks, laughing, and vibes that feel too good to be temporary. But once the plane lands back home, real life hits. Suddenly, those vacation feelings start to clash with the reality waiting for them both.

She grew up in a broken home- a mother grinding a 9-5 just to survive, and a father who gave her the world... before prison took him away. As an only child, she learned two things early: from her dad: how to want more from her mom: how to get it herself. But when she refused college, her mother slammed the door in her face, leaving her homeless at eighteen. With nothing but a duffel bag and stubborn pride, she crossed state lines and rebuilt her life from the ground up, earning every dollar under the neon lights of The Velvet Whisper. Comfort. Independence. Control. She thought she finally had it all- until Grim, the silent, dangerous owner of the club set his sights on her. And when Grim wants something? He always takes it.