Only Exception (UNDER REVISION)
For Maria Jessi, love isn't a fairy tale-it's a foreign language she never learned to speak. Growing up in a "perfect" family held together by the cold glue of duty and a perfectionist grandmother's iron will, Jessi learned early on that marriage is a transaction and affection is conditional. With a mother who stayed silent and a father who simply vanished, she carries a past marked by mistakes and the heavy label of an "ungrateful child." To her, the idea of a soulmate is a myth sold to people who haven't seen the ugly truth behind closed doors.
Then there's Elijah. As the best friend of her uncle, he should have been just another face in her family's curated social circle, but one look changed the script. Elijah is the man who sees the cracks in Jessi's armor and chooses to love the jagged edges instead of trying to sand them down. But Elijah carries his own twisting shadows, a past that makes him as dangerous as he is devoted. In a world where love has always been a duty to fulfill, Jessi has to wonder: is Elijah truly the "Only Exception" to her family's cycle of misery? Or will the cost of their survival be the one price even he can't afford to pay?