She was the neighborhood's little princess—dressed in silk, photographed for Instagram, handed a future on a silver platter. He was the streetwise foster boy who collected bottles for pennies and hid his bruises under oversized sleeves. When Kataleya Bradford calls Zion Chavez "beautiful brother" as a joke, a dangerous little orbit begins that neither of them understands. She gives him a half-mango, a handmade fan, a laugh that lights his night. He gives her blunt honesty, quiet protection, and a stubborn refusal to be bought. Between them, neighbors gossip, schoolkids slander, and a mother with money decides the fastest way to fix a problem is to pay someone to make him disappear. This is not a slow-burn romance. It's a riff on loyalty: the sweet, the scandalous, and the small, brutal victories that make ordinary people dangerous to cross. Kataleya will fight an upscale world that thinks feelings are a commodity. Zion will fight a past that keeps trying to claim him. When money, lies, and power collide, who will get to say what the truth was all along? Who will betray whom first—and which confession will change everything?
14 Chapters
