I can't love

Genre: Romance • Smut • Emotional Damage with a Soft Core

Alejandro had learned about cruelty long before he learned about kindness. Life had hardened him early, forcing him to grow up in a world where mercy was seen as weakness and survival meant becoming something colder than the pain around him. By the time he was twenty-eight, people no longer saw the boy he once was-they only saw the man he had become. Dangerous. Ruthless. A man who killed without hesitation, without the weight of guilt slowing his hand. In everyone's eyes, Alejandro was the villain, the monster you whispered about and avoided at all costs. No one ever stopped to wonder what kind of suffering could turn someone into that.

Valentina was only eighteen, yet she carried wounds far older than her years. Her childhood had been shattered by a darkness no child should ever face. She had been violated, her innocence stolen in a moment that left scars far deeper than anyone could see. But Valentina had learned to hide it well. She smiled when people looked at her, spoke gently, laughed when she was supposed to. To the outside world, she seemed strong, as if she had moved on.

But the nights told the truth.

When darkness came and the world grew quiet, the memories returned. The nightmares gripped her like shadows she couldn't escape, making her believe they would haunt her forever.

Until him.

Somehow, the cruel man everyone feared and the broken girl everyone believed was fine found each other. And in the strange, fragile space between their pain, they began to discover something neither of them thought they deserved-understanding, protection, and a kind of love strong enough to challenge the ghosts of their pasts