The Lotus Flower

At twenty-seven, Janai is drowning in the reality of survival. Balancing the demanding workload of sonography school with the non-stop energy of her two-year-old son, Jonah, leaves her with no room for error and no money to spare. When regular jobs fail to cover the rising stack of past-due bills, she makes a choice she never thought she'd have to: dancing for cash. It's supposed to be temporary. A means to an end. Just a way to keep a roof over her son's head until she can trade the flashing club lights for the sterile halls of a clinic.Then walks in Micah. To the world, he goes by Fazo. At twenty-nine, he is a man forged by the pavement, a shadow over the city whose name carries a lethal weight. The streets and the drug trade are the only life he has ever known, and his ruthless reputation precedes him. In his world, respect is bought with fear, and people know exactly what happens to anyone foolish enough to cross him. He is dangerous, detached, and completely off-limits.
But when their two different worlds collide, the friction is undeniable. Janai is trying to build a clean future from the ground up, while Fazo is deeply rooted in a dark past he can't escape. As an intense connection sparks between the hustler and the student, Janai must decide if falling for a man from the streets will lift her out of the mud or drag her and her son straight into the crossfire.