devotion

environment

People very much become products of their environment. The things that you experience in life greatly impact on the person that you grow up to be. Everyone finds comfort and support in the most unexpected circumstances. You tend to gravitate towards other people who have had similar experiences. In some cases this is a good thing, you finally have people you can relate to and everything feels a little less lonely.

However, sometimes this can backfire. What happens when two extremely broken girls find each other? Surely as they fall in love they will heal and grow. Nothing will go wrong, right?

Amelia Roberts has always been given the short straw in life. She has never had a stable moment, always fighting to not be abandoned. Having an alcoholic mother slowly destroyed any sense of childhood that she had. There have been countless school nights where she had to stay awake all night worrying about taking care of her mother. It was never meant to be that way, why couldn't she be the one being cared for? Mia always resented her mother for this. She just wanted to be loved by her. It was manageable until Mia's dad left, she then had to look after her mother alone. She couldn't keep up with school and she honestly didn't think she was going to live much longer.

That was until her mother met Roger Knight. A very rich and powerful businessman. He strung Mia's mother along but as soon as he met Mia everything changed. He really took a liking to Mia and took her under his wing. He treated her better than anyone ever had. Finally she had someone who seemed to genuinely care for her. Roger paid for Mia's schooling and let her stay in his mansion whenever she wanted. This was how she met Roger's children, Reece and Autumn Knight. Reece was her age and Autumn was a few years younger. They all grew really close and Mia became almost like their older sister. She swore to always protect them when Roger would have his anger outbursts. She never broke that promise. She always came running for them.

Mia spent almost every single day with Autumn, Reece and Roger. She really wanted to be in their family. She didn't understand why she had been given two parents that didn't care about her when she could have an amazing dad like Roger. She made it her mission to ensure they loved her. She did anything possible to make sure they wouldn't leave her like everyone else did. Roger really loved Mia, he treated her better than his own children. Even if it was for his own sick gain, Mia didn't care. She was just so incredibly happy that finally she was seen by someone. Roger helps her because he genuinely cares about her. That's how Mia sees it anyways.

There is a massive secret being kept from Mia though. As soon as she finds out everything will change. Roger isn't as kind and considerate as he paints himself out to be.

Roger pays for Mia's schooling which means she attends Cranford Private School. It is well known for only being for the children of the rich and powerful. Mia stuck out like a sore thumb and received a lot of backlash from the people in her classes. For years they bullied her for being poor and leeching off the Knights. Reece always came to her defence, she appreciated that about him. He never let her suffer alone. Nobody took Mia seriously until she hit puberty. Out of nowhere everyone only saw her for her body. Unfortunately, this included Reece. She saw the way his eyes would linger on her body and it made her feel sick. She wasn't attracted to him in any way, she never had been and never will be.

Mia noticed this attention only growing as she got older. People at school wanted to talk to her because it made them look better having hot friends. She hated this. It broke her heart that she would never be seen as more than a pair of boobs. She did everything she could to lash out at the teachers for allowing this to happen. They saw comments be made to her and just laughed them off. She made it her mission to break every rule she possibly could. This was when Roger started to get mad at her because he was responsible for her. She didn't like him being mad at her, she couldn't bare the thought of him leaving too.

Mia is about to meet someone who will become incredibly important to her.

Janice Valentine recently transferred to Cranford Private School after moving to the area. She used to live in a different part of town with both of her parents but once they got suspicious about her father's illegal activities they had to move. Just like Mia, Janice has had a really hard life. She has never witnessed a healthy relationship. Her environment has always been incredibly toxic. Her father believes in very traditional marital roles and berated her and her mother if they ever disagreed with him. He made money in illegal ways and they all worried constantly about being swarmed by the police.

Janice often was the recipient of her father's emotional outbursts and they destroyed her self confidence. The horrible things he would say to her haunt her every single day. Janice knew her parents' marriage was incredibly unhappy and she made a promise to herself that she would never let that happen to her. She would never let herself fall in love.

These two broken souls are about to collide. Will they be able to help each other heal or is this going to go incredibly wrong?