Velvet & Steel

"At eighteen, Marissa Lane has mastered the art of invisibility. By day, she's just another tired student at Sherman High—hoodie up, head down, barely keeping her grades afloat. By night, she becomes Velvet: a masked dancer who commands every room she enters, untouchable behind silk and stage lights.
But this isn't a story about glamour or empowerment.
This is survival.
When her mother's overdose left her father drowning in grief and addiction, Marissa learned that some bills don't wait for you to grow up. The heat gets shut off. The eviction notices pile up. And sometimes, the only way to keep the lights on is to step into the dark.
Behind the mask, she's in control. She sets the rules. She chooses who sees her and how much they get. The key around her neck isn't just decoration—it's a promise that no one touches what she hasn't offered.
But two lives can't stay separate forever.
When a face from her day world appears in the crowd, when exhaustion starts to crack the foundation she's built, when the line between Marissa and Velvet begins to blur—she realizes that control is just another kind of cage.
And the mask that protects her might be the thing that buries her.
Velvet & Steel is a raw, unflinching look at what it takes to survive when the world expects you to be both victim and savior, child and provider, invisible and unforgettable. It's about the price of power when you're too young to know what you're paying. And it's about a girl who's holding everything together with glitter, grit, and sheer force of will—until she can't anymore.

Content Warning: This book contains mature themes including substance abuse, family dysfunction, financial exploitation, and the psychological toll of survival. Recommended for viewers 18+."