After the tragic death of Valentina Russo's mother, she is shipped of from her home in Australia to California to live with her newly discovered brothers. From the outside, Valentina looks like a normal surfer girl but that statement couldn't be more false, yes she surfs but she also learnt to drive at the age of 12 because her neighbors needed help harvesting their orchards, speaks more than 5 languages, can hold alcohol better than anyone, works at the local mechanics shop and has the mouth of a sailor. Her brothers are the typical badboy, player type, with the addition of running the biggest mafia there is.
At the age of 13, Valentina was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. After a year of treatments, the tumor had visibly shrunk, but wouldn't disappear, so they stopped treatments and noticed that the cancer hadn't spread. But anything could trigger a relapse and cause the cancer to spread again. Will she stay healthy or will she become bed ridden again...
The Russo brothers have known about Valentina's existence all their lives, the older ones remember playing with her for hours on end and the younger ones have heard countless stories about her. The Russo Brothers all fit the badboy stereotype, the smoke, drink, drive amazing cars and get into fights. Having Valentina with them will definitely change them, but for better or for worse?
WATTYS WINNER
When her fiancé ends up in a coma and his secret mistress, Halley, shows up, Mary feels like her world is falling apart. What she doesn't realize is she's actually falling in love...with Halley.
*****
Eight years after a traumatizing accident that killed one of her loved ones, Mary Kincaid is about to marry her childhood sweetheart when the universe yanks the rug out from under her yet again, leaving her fiancé badly injured and in a coma. Of course this is when his secret mistress shows up, a beautiful person whom Mary should by all rights hate - so why does she find herself inviting her to stay in the spare bedroom? She soon learns that sometimes the person you're looking for comes when you're not looking at all.
Content and/or trigger warning: This story mentions violence, addiction, and childhood trauma, which may be triggering for some readers.
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