In which 34 year old Marco Reus, one of the world's most celebrated footballers, accidentally-on-purpose falls in love with Sahara Tereschenkova, his late lover's mysterious little sister.
The problem? Marco's married with a young daughter, and Sah...
"Anyone can start again—not through love, but through revenge...
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...Through the fire, we're born again; peace by vengeance brings the end."
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TW: there's no sugarcoating it—this story is heavy and for a very mature audience. if you're sensitive to depictions of graphic sex and emotional/physical violence, proceed with caution! recommended for 18+ readers only.
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Few things are appealing anymore to a man as famous and wealthy as the German footballer Marco Reus. When it comes to extravagance and sex, he's far from inexperienced—yet still, the thrill of an illicitly natured affair never gets old; especially not with a woman whose innocence is simply lying untouched.
Marco thought so until the age of 33, at least—it was then that Juliette Tereschenkova-Rose, one of the many lovers he's enjoyed brandishing, committed a violent suicide as a result of his own toxicity. Though hardly anyone knew about their secrets—which two can keep, if one is dead—Juliette's husband, Andreas Rose, is the last to discover the affair. To make matters worse, Andreas is Marco's coach—and in addition to feeling powerless against the famous footballer, he's now legally obligated to look after Juliette's teenage sister, Sahara Tereschenkova.
One of Europe's most beloved footballers, Marco wouldn't care to notice Sahara's constant presence if it wasn't a result of Andreas's dominance over her. Though he keeps her by his side always, on the sidelines of the pitch or at a gala hosted by Vogue Magazine, he rarely ever lets her develop a life of her own—a beautiful teenager like her certainly needs one. While Marco should feel bad for Sahara, a man of his darkness and dirtiness is far more interested in how dutifully she abides by Andreas's control. As they slowly grow more familiar with one another, it becomes apparent why Andreas keeps her on a chain: the teenager didn't has an obscene infatuation with matters of sex and love, violence and pain, that make her a liability for a number of reasons—chief among them being how irresistible that makes her to the worst, albeit most famous, men in their world.
Men like Marco. Who, in the midst of feeling overwhelmingly guilty for the onus of Juliette's tragic death, could really use the relief of Sahara's requited desire towards him. To everyone else, she's a disgraced would-be heiress whose eyes carry a weary frenzy—to Marco, that frenzy is both maddening and alluring. If Juliette's own little sister doesn't hate him for her death, why should he care what anyone else close to the scandal thinks?
But there's a reason Andreas keeps an iron grip on Sahara: the same incident that left Juliette dead is that which rendered her comatose for several months. She's woken up with a litany of psychological trauma, including severe memory loss—hence Andreas's overprotection, and her lack of social cohesion. And yet, as the sight of his arch nemesis and the object of his insatiable desire drives him crazier, all he can bother to think is that a girl so easily molded and controlled is far better off under his own care. Or whatever twisted, obsessive, and inescapably torrid form of love he's capable of—that which has left countless women heartbroken or, in Juliette's case, six feet under.
