Enzo de Medici was born to carve hearts, not inherit empires.
Son of a pharma dynasty and surgical royalty, he should've been a spoiled heir. Instead, he chose the scalpel. Hungry to prove himself, he walks into UCLA Medical Center as just another intern-mask on, demons buried, legacy denied.
One body, two minds. He craved to be whole. The Devil remade him in his image.
Brian Rush has no need for masks. Chief cardiothoracic surgeon by day, Irish mafia enforcer by blood, and the Devil night, he's built a life out of cutting things open-bodies, secrets, men who beg for redemption.
He wanted to master the human heart. He gave his to the Emperor instead.
They meet in a club. One in silk. One in scars.
A touch. A dare. A beginning neither of them can undo.
What starts as a game of dominance becomes something far more dangerous-obsession, control, and a love so brutal it defies anatomy.
Because in this world, love isn't tender.
It's a litany of flesh-cut, stitched, and sacrificed.
When August moves in next door-quiet, beautiful, and strange-sixteen-year-old Eli doesn't expect him to notice someone like him. Eli's used to being invisible: a soft-spoken boy with sandy blonde hair, too shy to speak, and too lonely to admit it.
But August sees things no one else does. He draws birds with impossible precision. He watches the world like it's a puzzle. And somehow, he sees Eli too.
What starts as a quiet friendship slowly deepens into something tender, uncertain, and new. But August has secrets he's not ready to share-pieces of a past he's still trying to outrun.
The Quiet Between Us is a gentle, romantic coming-of-age story about two boys finding safety in each other and the quiet kind of love that doesn't need to shout to be real.