Anaya, an eighteen-year-old girl, is the silent pillar of a broken household. The eldest daughter of a family teetering on the edge of collapse, she lives in the shadow of her father's violent rage and her mother's quiet endurance. Her father, once full of ambition, now drowns in bitterness and unemployment. His fists often speak louder than his words, leaving bruises not just on skin, but on souls.
Her mother, worn and weary, works long hours to keep the family afloat. She bears her husband's fury without protest, trying to shield her daughters from a storm that never ends. But Anaya sees everything. She learns early that no one is coming to save her.
So she saves herself-bit by bit.
She wakes before dawn to prepare for school, studies harder than anyone else in her class, and then comes home to cook, clean, and protect Meera, her fifteen-year-old sister. She never cries in front of them. Her tears belong only to the silence of the night, muffled by her pillow.
All she's ever wanted is love that doesn't hurt. A voice that doesn't yell. Hands that don't bruise. A home where she's not afraid to breathe.
And then she meets Aryan - a calm, composed naval officer who sees through the mask she wears. With every gentle word, every respectful glance, Aryan offers a world Anaya never believed existed. But her heart, so used to scars, trembles at the thought of trust. What if love turns cruel again? What if Aryan, too, becomes her father?
Anaya stands at a crossroads - between the trauma of the past and the terrifying hope of a better future. Will she bury her heart to protect it, or will she finally let it bloom in the light it always deserved?
Verity was a quiet 16 year old girl who had a tough life. She never meant for things to go so bad- so why did they? Abandoned at the ripe age of 3, she was adopted by a narcissistic asshole who abused her for 13 years straight. Her only escape was her best friends, who she saw as her older brothers and his dad- who she called her dad. He fed her and kept her safe, helping her when things got bad at home. She introduced herself as Verity Volkov, which wasn't her last name but the last name she wishes she had. Her father figure, Mikael Volkov, was the leader of the Russian mafia.
Verity attended NLA, New Life Academy. One day, when she is at school, the unspeakable happens- her adoptive father commits. With nowhere to legally go, she sits in the sheriffs office, awaiting her DNA test. To her surprise, she has a family- in fact, she had a mom, a dad, and 6 older brothers. Six!
What was she to do as she moves to Italy to live with her biological family, who appeared to be the Russians rivals- the Italian mafia. Her father was the don of the goddamn Italian mafia. She stays quiet and emotionless during her time in Italy, trying to cope before she meets Nicolas Ricci- the man her family despises yet the man who took interest in her. The man she falls in love with without realizing. As her story unfolds and secrets reveal, Verity goes through an emotional rollercoaster.
And through this all Verity has one question only: Why did her biological family abandon her? What will she do to cope through all of this?
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