When Lauren's mother died, her abusive father looks to her to play the role of house wife and bedmate. Lauren finds a way to escape it all when she meets local barbershop owner and Kingpin Rio.

"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

"𝐈 𝐚𝐢𝐧'𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 '𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮... 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥 '𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞."

Murda got ops in every direction, and Taya gotta adjust to loving a man who might not come home one night. The streets talk fast. One day you're in love, next day you trending for all the wrong reasons.

Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it a memory... You know you're in love when you can say anything to the person and you know they won't laugh at you. When you can see their face when you close your eyes. When you can still feel their arms around you holding you tight after they're gone. When you can still taste their kiss after you have said goodbye. You can tell you're in love when you miss them before they're gone. When their voice lingers in your ears. When their presence eases any pain. When their name sends chills down your spin. When they're the only thing you can think about. You know you're in love when you can see all their hopes and dreams and their soul when you look into their eyes. When they call you at four in the morning to say, "I Love You" and mean it. When your tears stain not only their shirt, but also their heart. When even a simple chore done with them can become a lasting memory. Ultimately, you know you're in love when you can't imagine living without them and can't figure how did you live before you knew them. When they fulfill every need and without them you're incomplete. The love of someone else completes the heart, and sound and mind all at once. 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟓, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎-𝐟𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟏𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏

"You no tell this girl that I said, I want no relations with a darkie?" She spat to me, making my eyes go wide. What? I thought to myself and Gio tried pulling me away but I snatched away from him, knowing I heard right this time. "Wait, what?" I spoke out loud and Gi grabbed me roughly, trying to pull me away again. "Why you saying these things? She's beautiful." I heard his abuelita sticking up for me as she stood to her feet and all the guys began to as well, telling their mom that she was wrong for what she was doing. "That puta heard me." She spat, pointing her finger at me. "You're too dark." She held up a brown paper bag that she was drinking her beer out of. "You no match this bag or lighter, you're too dark." "You look too much like his father. I no want you around me." She shooed me off, instantly breaking my heart into a billion pieces as I looked up at Giovanni who was looking down at me with hurt in his eyes. "Baby, please." He begged and I shook my head at him in disgust before putting my attention back onto her. "Get that darkness out of here, Giovanni. She's a demon." "Only demons have her color." She kept on going and I felt sick to my stomach in this moment as I stood there in complete shock.

There's so many positive 4 letter words: Love Like Hope Care Life Then there's negative: Hate Evil Dead For once in her life Desdemona wanted to hear negative. The word in itself: Negative. Instead she heard positive. Her whole world came tumbling down when she found out she was positive for HIV/AIDS. She just wants to experience that four letter word, that thing called: L O V E

Jersey Coleman has faced many hardships. From being raised in a brothel to becoming a dope-fiend. She finally gets her life on the right path until she is faced with a difficult challenge.

"That's your fucking problem right there, Kai." "You want me to keep chasing you and I'm not doing that shit no more." He spat, looking into my eyes as I looked back into his. "You want to leave without letting me explain, then go ahead and leave, Kai." "I'm not stopping you." "But if you want this shit, Kai.." "Then come get it." He spoke sternly, unbuttoning his button down shirt as I stood there in shock, turning around completely to look up at him. Taking his shirt off, I watched as he stripped himself down as his muscular, tall, fit figure appeared and I can't say this man wasn't drop dead fine. Though I was so mad at him in this moment, my mouth dropped, looking at how good he looked. "I'm done chasing your ass, bruh." "You want me, come get me."