The Seductive Rose is back, and the first thing he wants to do is kill the one thing Bryan loves on this earth;
Inpu.
Of course, he knows he can't win alone against Inpu with the rest of them, he just came back from the dead, after all. So, he made a plan. He would catch Inpu alone, with nobody around for miles. Then, he would attack.
It was foolproof, or so he thought.
However, when the time came, something happened.
After all, The Seductive Rose looks quite a bit like Bryan. The same eye shape, cheekbones, jawline... the main differences are his skin and hair color, but he still looks too much like him for comfort.
Inpu felt his heart shatter once again, and he ran at Rose.
Rose had expected a blow of some kind. A punch, kick, body slam... anything but what happened next.
Inpu enveloped Rose in a tight embrace.
Rose gasped in shock, freezing in place.
A... 𝔥𝐔Ꮆ...
He had never been touched so... gently before.
There was no pain, no hurt...
Where was the pain he was so used to receiving?
He didn't understand....
He... didn't... understand...
H̶͎̖̻̫͎̱͉̿̆Ę̷̯̯̜͕̘̰̯̝͋̈́͂̎̈́̅͝ ̵̡̜͎͖̣̼͐̀̈͘͝D̷͍̦̰̻̳̩͈̃̓̾͠Í̶̧̻̘͓̜̂͝͝D̵̻͖͊̋̈́̒̀̔̚͝Ṋ̶͔͙͓̋́͂'̴̢̖̩̂̌̿̒̔́̆͘͝Ṭ̶̭̑̓́͗ ̸̖̟̩͍͕̤͖́̎́̄̕ͅŲ̵̡̙͔̭̈͊̈́̇́̐́͜Ṅ̵̫͚̪͆͘Ḋ̷̡͔̙͓̠͖̖̗̈́́̂̊̅̂̐̕Ę̵̧͈̥̬̘͚́R̶͇̲̒S̴̢̭͖̆̿̇́̆̈́̂͛͂͋T̵͚͓͔̝͒͐͛̀͋̅̎͛͝A̵̜̟̩̲̽͗̎͒́̈́̾̊͘̚͜ͅǸ̷̨̟̕D̶̨̫̜͉̬̠̉̕̚!̶̲̰͓̪̯̳͍̭̪̑̈̅̈́͋̾̒̄̕͝ͅ!̶͈̭͍̳͉͕̼̯̖͂͑!̸̝̣̘̗̟͈̘̗͖̌
And then it went black...
When Arianna marries billionaire Zach Price to save her family, she doesn't expect to fall in love with a man who'd always consider her a second choice. An unexpected turn of events brings the couple closer together, but can a marriage based on lies and deceit ever survive?
*****
When Arianna's older sister, Olivia, decides to run away on the day of her wedding, Arianna is forced to take her place to save her family from ruin. But her new husband is angry, heartbroken, and seems to hate her guts. The cold, elusive billionaire Zach Price has never quite struck Arianna as the kind of man she'd want to spend her entire life with. She was more than content with her sweet, thoughtful boyfriend Noah, but when circumstances force them together, Zach and Arianna's hearts get entangled in a way she never saw coming. As the couple grows closer, they must battle the demons of their past and of the lives they left behind - especially when Olivia returns and decides she wants Zach all for herself.
Content/Trigger Warning: This story contains scenes of violence and sexual abuse, and mentions abortion and miscarriage.
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]
Cover designed by Ren Tachibana