Morgan and Messiah share many things. Love, hate, lust, trauma, and children. They are bonded forever by the gift of parenthood, but Morgan's attachment to Messiah comes with immense pain. After the discovery of Messiah's condition, Morgan's conflict is intensified. She knows how healing the M&M bubble can be, but she also knows that Messiah has the ability to ruin her. Will Morgan finally take her second chance with her first love? Or will she make the hardest decision of all and let go of the past?

On a beautiful island in the Caribbean, a woman with a checkered past has retired from a life of crime. She is now raising her son, trying to spare him from the ills that her former life provided. However, in a blink of an eye it all changes. When a wealthy tourist gets entangled with her son, it forces Aries to show who she really is and her old connections are called.

Meet the Banks sisters - Simone, Bunny, Tallhya, and Ginger. The four beauties are living under the same roof by force, but they can't stand each other. Their only common denominator is their loving grandmother, Me-Ma. When she's not at work trying to make ends meet, she's home with her girls, trying to keep them from killing each other.

As Fabiola climbs the ladder of success, she is pulled between the spotlight and the street, trying to resist industry moguls who find the allure of fresh meat irresistible and the thugs from the shadowy side of the ghetto who threaten to keep her close.

Nikki Turner, Queen of Hip-Hop Lit, is back with one of her gutsiest female characters yet, a glamorous chick with a high-end hustle that can rival any man’s game. As the respected, renowned concierge for a luxury hotel chain, Beijing Lee caters to the wealthy and famous. Whether it’s securing a dinner reservation, a fleet of limos, or a record deal, or protecting her clients from the paparazzi, there’s nothing Beijing can’t do. She’s stacked up an impressive pile of IOUs from the world’s elite - and one day she decides it’s time to start cashing in.

Karlie Houston hasn't seen a raise in forever, but the payday loan office she manages is raking in the cash. So why not get what she's rightfully owed by masterminding a heist? Once her lover Sidney's boys hit all the company's locations at one time, there's a fortune to split. But suddenly bodies start dropping - and Karlie better devise the perfect plan to survive.

A tragic beginning to life led Jah and Shauka Disciple to homelessness and poverty at such a young age that they grew into men before their time. Yet, they turned their hunger, abandonment, and suffering into diamonds, mansions, and power. The natural hustler instinct they’d inherited from their father was their driving force. Yet, this story starts when Messiah turns 18 and is finally freed from his adoptive parents. Reluctantly, he leaves his twin sister behind as he, Jah, and Shauka run the streets and break yearning hearts along the way.

She's bright, beautiful - and a criminal at heart. A Virginia Beach street hustler turned identity theft mastermind, Lauren Kelly's always had a taste for the finer things - Chanel, Prada, Amex Black Cards - and Matt Connors, her lover and accomplice. When their partner, Yancy, stumbles onto a tycoon's three million dollar bank account, everything's golden - until Lauren discovers Yancy and Matt are planning the ultimate double-cross. Fortunately, Lauren's one step ahead of Matt.

Essence® best-selling authors Kiki Swinson and De’nesha Diamond are two rising stars in the world of urban fiction. Heist presents two novellas starring young women hustling their way to the top of the game through daring robbery schemes. In Swinson’s The Ultimate Heist, pampered Shannon Marshall is accustomed to a big-money lifestyle. Her world is shattered, however, when her man is thrown into prison for gun running.

In this captivating tale, Tressa's voyage will expose listeners to a side of a struggling single mother that has yet to be revealed to them. Nikki Turner, the bestselling author of A Hustler's Wife, once again takes you on a safari through the jungle of the fierce and stormy streets, leaving you on the edge of your seat and begging for an encore.

Law grew up in the trenches. Hustling since the age of 12, his focus was making life better for his mother and brother. Finding intimate love was never a priority because he didn’t have many examples of that around him. Instead, he was taught to focus on getting money, not finding the one. Yet upon seeing her, Zuri pulled something out of Law that was foreign to him. Though he had been with his girlfriend, Whitney, for a long, exhausting decade, he had never experienced a woman taking his heart so mercilessly.

The reigning Queen of Hip-Hop Lit, Nikki Turner returns with a fresh and fierce tale sure to satisfy longtime fans and create new ones. Desember Day is beautiful, confident, and smart. She has more game in the streets than a basketball player does on the court, and her boyfriend, Fame, loves every single inch of her. But unlike her mother, who has been in one bad relationship after another, Desember is not going to wait on a knight in shining armor to save her.

The past always has a way of catching up with you. Charisma Canton was born and raised in the heart of Baltimore, where she learns that a moment's pleasure can sometimes lead to a life of pain. Against her better judgment, she has a one-night stand that changes her life forever. Turning over the family business to her cousin, she leaves behind her past. Charisma moves to Miami, where she meets Mr. Manny Manifesto, aka Mr. Baseball.

Meet Heaven: a young girl who is loving, submissive, and beyond appreciative of her husband, Ross. As a teenager, Heaven lived solely for her sister, Divine, and her daughter, Sunshine. Because her mother is mentally ill and her father ran off, Heaven had to do some unimaginable things just to feed the family. Then came Ross, and everything changed. He wasn't some filthy rich, dope boy that some young girls dream of, but Heaven felt like Ross was her blessing.

I Need a Gangsta: Melody Goldman isn’t about to let her rich, cheating, ungrateful husband walk out and leave her with nothing. Fortunately, ex-con Scotty Harris has no problem disposing of her problems in exchange for plenty of cold, hard cash - and hot, hard sexing. But when Scotty crosses one line too many, Melody’s revenge will be a hustle he never saw coming.… Gentlemen Prefer Bullets: Successful publicist Blake Scott survived by playing the Hollywood game…and keeping far, far away from her gangsta kingpin father. But now the only person who can protect her is his enforcer, Eli Hardwick.

Essence® best-selling authors Kiki Swinson and De’nesha Diamond are two rising stars in the world of urban fiction. Heist presents two novellas starring young women hustling their way to the top of the game through daring robbery schemes. In Swinson’s The Ultimate Heist, pampered Shannon Marshall is accustomed to a big-money lifestyle. Her world is shattered, however, when her man is thrown into prison for gun running.

Meet the Banks sisters - Simone, Bunny, Tallhya, and Ginger. The four beauties are living under the same roof by force, but they can't stand each other. Their only common denominator is their loving grandmother, Me-Ma. When she's not at work trying to make ends meet, she's home with her girls, trying to keep them from killing each other.

At first, med student Misty Heiress just wants to help. With her cousin Jillian in constant pain, and the doctor refusing to prescribe, Misty steals opioids from the Virginia Beach pharmacy where she works. But when Jillian starts reselling them to local dealers and gets big money, Misty grabs an unbelievable opportunity to get out of crushing debt. Soon Misty's boss, Sanjay, learns the truth and wants in. In no time, their illegal business dominates the street - and racks up a fortune. But when demand quickly outstrips supply, Sanjay way overplays his hand - and the Feds come calling.

Young, irreverent, and reckless, Yoshi is struggling to make good at her prestigious college and keep her demanding mother off her back, while living the good life with her peers. But between the overwhelming workload and hostile professors, she’s on the verge of flunking out. Yet that’s the least of her troubles when her roommate, Gia, winds up in a coma, and Yoshi finds her diary - and a library’s worth of shocking, extremely valuable secrets....

Every city has an underworld leader. In the Kingpin series, we will visit eight cities and ride along with that city's kingpin as he rules the streets. The story starts out in Miami with Nikki Turner and will end with a compilation of all kingpins, written by New York Times best-selling author Carl Weber.

She's bright, beautiful - and a criminal at heart. A Virginia Beach street hustler turned identity theft mastermind, Lauren Kelly's always had a taste for the finer things - Chanel, Prada, Amex Black Cards - and Matt Connors, her lover and accomplice. When their partner, Yancy, stumbles onto a tycoon's three million dollar bank account, everything's golden - until Lauren discovers Yancy and Matt are planning the ultimate double-cross. Fortunately, Lauren's one step ahead of Matt.

Scarred by poverty and life with a crackhead mother, Onika Lewis had a rough start. Still, thanks to her sharp mind, and hard work, she graduated with honors from a prestigious college. But her achievements weren't enough to earn her the elite status she craved. So she leveraged her gorgeous looks to become a rich man's trophy. And was eventually dumped for a younger model. Now Onika is unemployed, broke - and homeless.

Bernadette "Bernie" Hunt excels in life, but love is another story. Being gorgeous, smart, and from a well-to-do family, she has no shortage of high-society suitors vying for her attention, but when measured against her father, none seem good enough. This changes when she meets Keith Davis, a hotshot lawyer recently hired at her father's firm. Being new to Atlanta from New Orleans, Keith's past is somewhat of a mystery. The day Keith proposes to Bernie is one of the happiest of her life. She has found a kindred soul who seems to bring everything to the table, including a dark secret.

Jonas, the only boy in a family of four children, has always been a fighter. From the neighborhood bullies to the stepfather who uses him and his siblings as punching bags, his life has always been one battle after another. When he crosses paths with rogue homicide detective Louis "Lou" Ceavers, he's offered a bargain that will change the course of his life. Detective Ceavers becomes like a guardian angel and surrogate father to Jonas, teaching him the game and guiding him in his quest for power.

Sasha Campbell’s sizzling debut follows Nikki Truth, a radio talk show host who has no trouble dishing out relationship advice on the air, yet can’t seem to follow that advice in her own life. With Nikki’s marriage on the rocks and her husband overseas, her best friend Trinette urges her to seek happiness elsewhere. But once Nikki realizes she’s not ready to move on, she may have already lost her husband for good.

Faith often feels that her man has way too much money for the small legal endeavors that he tells her about, but she chooses to believe in him. That is until the feds kicks in her door one day. She doesn't know if she has it in her to be a ride-or-die, but putting her belief in Trust may give her an everlasting love or cause her to lose what she loves most.

Six months before aging out of foster care, 17-year-old Tori meets a local hustler who makes her an offer she can’t refuse. At first, she enjoys the benefits of being Ricky’s “new girl,” but it’s not long before he’s looking for a return on his investment. After a confrontation with Ricky spirals out of control, Tori goes on the run. Halfway across the country, she meets Dana, a street-wise woman in a similarly desperate situation. The two become quick friends and hatch a plan to move to Reno. But soon Tori is on her own again - and out for revenge.

After they are in a car accident together, video vixen Paisley Lawrence and gospel singer Warren Cobb are mobbed by media speculation. And if that’s not enough, Warren’s wife has a few questions of her own. With rumors flying and speculation rampant, these two must straighten out their stories before tempers get out of control.

When her marriage to an NFL phenom ended, so did Adrienne Sheppard's chance at wealth and security. Now she's betting on her exclusive new nightclub - and her new man - to turn her luck around.… Sexy vixen Shanice Whitaker is taking her pay-for-play schemes to a whole new level to stack up the mad fortune of her dreams.… And Zakiya Lee is sure she knows how to work the sports fame game straight into full-time professional wife-hood with her NBA star.…

The era is 1988, Detroit is the scene, and crack is the movement. It's a time when young black men can become self-made millionaires seemingly overnight by selling dope. The crack era has become to blacks what Prohibition was to the Italians - a time to get over! It's a time that inspires generations of street dreams.... Fresh out of high school, young Wink has but one thing on his mind - rollin' fresh. Infatuated by all the trappings of the game, Wink and his B-boy crew jump headfirst into the ills of the drug trade, determined to taste the good life.