Alessandra has never believed in safety. Life never gave her a reason to. Pain carved her childhood, silence became her armor, and trust? That was a luxury she could never afford. So when she runs -- bloody, broken, and barely breathing, she doesn't expect saving. She certainly doesn't expect to be taken in by a family dripping in wealth and power and. . . warmth? A mother who refuses to give up on her. A father who watches like he's waiting for her to let him in. And six brothers. Rough. Protective. Complicated. Brothers, who don't know what to do with a sister who won't speak. She doesn't know how to trust. How to believe that maybe not everyone wants to hurt her. Every instinct tells her to run. To shut down. But they don't let her go. Not when she flinches. Not when she hides. Not even when she breaks. Happiness is for other people, or that's what she believes. But when love comes wrapped in gentle patience and fierce protection, when hands reach for her without demand, when hearts break themselves wide open just to hold her... she starts to wonder. Can a girl stitched together with silence and fear ever belong in a family built on love? Can she stand tall when the ghosts of her past refuse to let go? And when danger claws its way back into her life, threatening everything she's come to know... will she find her voice, or will she shatter all over again? Trigger Warnings: Child abuse. Violence. Addiction. Panic attacks. Self-harm. Death, and more.

❝𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙞 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬𝙨... 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨, 𝙞 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 ❞ 𝐄𝐒𝐓. 𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

"𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧."

"i don't regret, just pretend shit never happened"

𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. . . . . . . . . . . We've all heard the tales of good and bad, the tales of innocent deceit and her hero, the tales that despite their nature, show us the beauty in contrast. But it's the tales of pure evil that get swept under the rug. The tales of deception, where cruelty is rewarded. The tales that have you questioning who the real villain of the story is. There's a simple philosophy to most thing in life; two wrongs 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 make a right. So what ensues when you put two of the worst kinds of people together? Loyalties transfer, lines blur, and hatred ignites complete chaos. She's cunning. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴. She's dangerous. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴. She's evil. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦. Or so that's what we're told. The devil is always worse. But maybe, just maybe, she's the devil in disguise, playing his advocate... . . . . . . . . . . - 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 - 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 - 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. - 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧. - 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞.

𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐈'𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮

"Strength isn't about how much you can handle before you break; it's about how much you can endure after you've been broken" *** Astria Belle Crawford hasn't had the best of childhood. The separation from her brothers and father had affected her in ways even she couldn't understand. Her mother's manipulative nature wasn't exactly the comfort she needed but she worked with it and went on with life. But when her mother decides that she needs a break from everything, including her daughter, Astria is sent off to live with her elder brothers whom she hadn't met in at least nine years. With understandable reluctance, she agrees to live with them. But dark truth comes forward as Astria realizes that her whole life was just a web of lies and she may never be the same again. On top of this, it just turns out that life with her brothers may not be as easy as she had assumed, it might as well be worse than one with her mother. And when her brothers persuade her to live with them, unknown to what's happening with their little sister, life just gets ten times worse for Astria. *** #1 in brothers - 19/11/2021 #1 in support - 1/10/2021 #1 in annoying - 31/10/2021 #1 in studies -1/2/2022 #1 in abused -13/3/2022 #1 in siblings -15/3/2022 #1 in manipulation -24/4/2022

"𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚍 𝚝𝚘𝚘." - - most impressive ranking📌 #10 in hood - - #3 in hood romance #3 in urban romance #4 in black love #12 in urban

col·lide /kəˈlīd/ verb past tense: collided; past participle: collided come into conflict or opposition. "in his work, politics and metaphysics collide" Similar: conflict , be in conflict Opposite: coalesce