Cupcake_Quirk
At just twenty-four, Malika Aaliyah El-Amin is already the most celebrated OB-GYN on the continent. Brilliant, stunning, and unapologetically sassy, she's a woman who commands respect in every room she enters. The press calls her a prodigy. Her colleagues whisper about her meteoric rise. Men chase her, only to be cut down with a sharp smile. But behind her flawless confidence is a past she's never forgiven herself for.
Because once, Malika gave everything-her heart, her trust, her body-to a man who was never truly hers. In the end, he didn't choose her. Zane Ainsworth's family had chosen another. That rejection carved deep scars that success alone can't erase, and she swore she would never again let love make her weak.
Enter Xavier Alfonso De La Vega-the dark, magnetic owner of the De La Vega empire. Dangerous, impossibly charismatic, and relentless, Xavier has lived his entire life getting exactly what he wants. And what he wants now is Malika. Not for her beauty, not for her brilliance, not even for the fire in her-though he worships all of it. Xavier wants her because she is his match, the only woman who has ever made him ache, burn, and bleed.
To the world, Xavier is ruthless. To Malika, he is infuriating, impossible to ignore, and far too determined for her carefully constructed walls to withstand. He doesn't just love her-he is obsessed. And Xavier De La Vega doesn't lose. Ever.
But enemies gather in the shadows. Old ghosts claw their way back into Xavier's life. And when the past collides with the dangerous empire Xavier rules, Malika realizes the risk isn't just her heart anymore. Loving him could cost her everything-her career, her freedom, even her life.
Still... when Xavier is near, when his devotion blazes hotter than the threats closing in, Malika has to ask herself the one question she's always run from:
Is it better to live safe behind walls of steel-
Or to fall, recklessly and completely, into the arms of Xavier Alfonso De La Vega?