𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐓𝐖𝐎 ⌖ 𝙨𝙖𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙚 𝙭 𝙘𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣. ❦ | 𝐔𝐑𝐁𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 . ᶜʰʳⁱᵃᵐᵒⁿᵗᵉ ʳᵉᵃˡ ᵍʰᵉᵗᵗᵒ Five years ago, Iris walked away from the wreckage with blood on her hands & survival on her mind. Loving Jasiah had been like standing too close to a fire-warm at first, until the flames started to reach for her throat. When the law finally took him, she mourned him like someone dead, convinced that whatever they once shared was too dangerous to ever be resurrected. To save herself, she didn't just leave him behind-she buried the love entirely, believing some things had to be killed before they killed you. In the years that followed, Iris rebuilt. She built a life that was quiet, more structured, & way more safe with her husband & two growing children. A life where Jasiah Syncere Brown existed only in court records & steel bars. Prison was supposed to be a long sentence, guaranteed that the past would stay where it belonged. But the past didn't stay buried. Jasiah returned home years earlier than anyone expected, his arrival shattering the order Iris painstakingly built. But he didn't come back kind-he came back ruthless, upending everything in his path. Old wounds ripped open, & the man she once loved, the man she hated, the man she never truly escaped, was suddenly real again, standing back in the same city, back breathing the same air.

Kendrick has never been the man that onlookers routed for. They just watch, judge, and whisper... shouting for his success but praying on his downfall. Now in the spotlight of the NFL, his name carries weight, money and a clingy girlfriend he can't outrun. Macie has spent years learning how to exist in a world that never made her feel soft enough, pretty enough, or chosen first. She's done fighting to fit in with the societies expectations. When the two collide tension is thick and neither of them are ready for it. Kendrick made her feel unwanted and she could never forget the way it affected her. Once lines blur, their loyalty is tested , and they have to figure out if their disloyal actions are worth the chaos it created. This story isn't to repaint Kendrick in the light of redemption, but to give clear insight on why he is the man he is today, and unapologetically. STARTED; March 3rd, 2026 PUBLISHED; March 21st, 2026 FINISHED;