"Tell me you don't feel it. Tell me I'm imagining this, and I'll never bring it up again." He looked at her for a long moment, and she could see him fighting himself. "I can't tell you that," he said finally. "Why not?" "Because it would be a lie." -- Naomi "Nay" Shields is a 24-year-old lifestyle YouTuber with over a million followers, known for her beauty, travel vlogs, and "perfect" relationship with longtime boyfriend Messiah "Si" Banks. On camera, they're couple goals. Off camera, she's just surviving him. Messiah is a flashy, manipulative drug dealer in Atlanta-respected in the streets, but emotionally abusive behind closed doors. After cheating multiple times, he traps Nay further with a viral public proposal in Tulum. Now, she feels stuck-scared to leave the brand they built and scared of him. But everything shifts when Messiah's older half-brother, Zyair "Zy" Banks, returns home from a four-year federal bid. He's the opposite of Messiah-quiet, gritty, observant. And he sees right through Nay's pain. When Messiah gets shot in a setup and ends up bedridden, Zy moves in to "keep things in order." As tension brews and the house grows quiet, stolen glances turn into whispers... into touches... into something neither of them planned. What happens when love grows in the shadow of abuse? When the one man who sees you is the one you should never want? And what happens when Messiah finds out? 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝- 06.28.25 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝- 07.09.25 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝- 08.20.25

When Kiki visits Chicago for her cousin's wedding, she never expects to get piped down by a man who talks with his hands and growls her name like he own it. Messiah ain't like these New York dudes she's used to-he move different. Ain't loud, ain't flashy, but got that hood alpha energy that make her melt. She was supposed to be there for five days max... not fall in love with a Chi-Town gangsta who flips bricks and lifts her like she weightless. But when her past follows her to Chicago and his street life bleeds into their sex-fueled situationship, the line between love and lust starts to blur. He never chased women-especially not loud, sex-crazy, no-nonsense New York ones. But Kiki? She got him talkin' about "what we is" and pressin' her spot like he tryna build a future. But love between two people who been hurt don't come easy. And in a city full of secrets, money, and murder? Somebody always gotta pay.

"𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯"

"𝘾'𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨" 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬 "𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙢𝙖"

Janeisha "Neisha" Bambi has always survived by keeping a low profile. She don't get caught up in the kind of business that comes with bodies, secrets, and street names that echo. But all it takes is one night-one favor for her best friend-to slide her straight into the orbit of Seven "Saint" Carter. Saint is discipline wrapped in menace. A man the streets don't just respect,they fear. The type Neisha promised herself she'd never look at twice. He doesn't chase, beg, or explain. Yet somehow, he does all of this for her. And when that calm, unreadable gaze settles on Neisha, her careful world starts to crack. Now Saint's patience is running out, Neisha's defenses are falling apart and the pull between them is starting to feel less like a choice and more like fate. He's trying to shield her from the life he lives. She's trying to decide if loving him is salvation or self-destruction.

"How are you supposed to keep your man with your hair in that mess, Tamia?" "And has your hair been looking like that all week?" She went on talking about my hair now, considering it was blown-out instead of well kept, hot combed and straightened the way that she liked. "No, mama." I dragged, annoyed completely now with all of my peace gone in this moment. "I just got out of the shower and I just finished washing and blow-drying my hair." "I'm going to hot comb it and then flat iron it when I'm finished doing my skincare." "Yasin's not going to be home until tomorrow probably anyway." I threw in there but of course she wouldn't chastise him about why and where.

"Montana, come here." He nodded his head toward the door, leaving out of the room. Staying silent as Ms. Carol looked at me, I kissed the back of Josiah's hand before leaving out of the room. As I walked out, Messiah stood there looking at me in disgust while I closed the door. "What are you doing that shit for?" "Huh?" I said since I had nothing else to say, just trying to stall time to get my words together. "Why are you stripping, Monty?" Sighing, I decided that I wasn't going to lie like I'd originally planned to do after listening to Chocolate's stupid advice. "Money." I spoke simply and he scoffed as I looked down. "Why not just ask Josiah for money instead doing hoe shit?" "First of all, It's not doing hoe shit. I don't have sex with anyone. I just dance. And I don't want to ask him for any money. It's not his job to take care of me." "So stripping..." He trailed off with a laugh. "..stripping was the last resort? Instead of putting your pride aside?" Saying nothing, I just looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please don't tell him, Messiah." I could already tell by the look on his face that he was going to tell him. "I ain't gon' tell him.." Thank God. I thought. "..you are." "What?!" I shrieked. "No. I'm not." "You are." He spoke in a demanding tone. "Please. You know how he is." I expressed "And you know how he is too but you made that bed." "Messiah, he's going to kill me." I begged. "I know." He shook his head, walking away from me. "Better figure it out. You got until the end of the day to tell him or I will." He mumbled before walking back into the room.

Jahaira Maddox is a quiet librarian who prefers a life free of drama, but her world is turned upside down when she learns that her father took out a shark loan from the infamous mafia family, the Sinclairs. Landon Sinclair is dangerous, and the only way she can get him off her back is to... accept his invitation to dinner?

'So he wanted to have sex with me. My professor knows I'm an escort. And he wants to have sex with me.' Kyser "Desire" Moore was never supposed to be more than a statistic. With both parents gone and raised by her grandmother, she struggled not to fall victim to circumstance. She now finds herself in her second year of college, doing whatever she needs to succeed. Insert a professor who seems hellbent on failing her, and they enter an ill-advised relationship destined to fail from the start -started 5/3/19 -completed 6/18/19

•Completed with incoming edits• "Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies." - Aristotle They say everything happens for a reason, and the universe makes no mistakes. This is a different take on a black love story because we are not a monolith. Warning: This story does include mature content including adult scenes and situations. Please be advised.