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Cover Reveal and Tease for The Marked One (The Marked Series) by Chevoque
It has been a while, but it was so worth it! I signed with Limitless Publishing back in March and it has been a great new journey. Thus I can bring you this stunning cover for a story that is SO dear to me. The pre-order links and so forth will be added once I get them, but until then, please add to your To-Read list on Goodreads and enjoy this bit of Aaliyah and Tristan I can share with you now!
All Aaliyah had ever wanted was to be invisible…
To not be stared at. To not have to display her lifelong pain everywhere she goes. But society is too blind to see that beauty lies beneath the skin.
Aaliyah only reveals her special mark—a facial birthmark—to the closest people in her life. But when Aaliyah’s friend paints her in a portrait titled The Marked One?, her birthmark is exposed to the world. Now no amount of makeup can keep Aaliyah’s secret.
Tristan Gerardo appears to be a successful CEO, but he is hiding many secrets…
What many don’t realize is that his successful public persona is a mask for his own pain—both of losing a sibling, and his failed marriage.
Tristan buys a portrait called The Marked One?, and is shocked when the subject of the portrait arrives for an interview at his company. He pursues Aaliyah, and while she is cautious at first, she feels an ease around Tristan that she’s never experienced before.
Little by little, Tristan’s secrets are exposed…
While Tristan struggles to keep Aaliyah from finding out how his sister died, she discovers he is still married. He assures her she has his full loyalty and the divorce is just a matter of time, and she desperately wants to believe him. But his estranged wife re-enters his life, and Tristan must figure out how to convince Aaliyah that she means the world to him.
How can Tristan make Aaliyah realize that he loves her for herself, and not because of her notoriety as The Marked One?
Full cover
Tease...
Tristan looked at the caller ID on his cell phone as he got into the town car. His assistant, Ivan, was still somewhere in the building grabbing contracts that needed to be signed, before they both headed to meet up with a business associate for brunch.
“Hello, father,” he chimed.
“Well done, son, I’m impressed. How ever did you manage to buy out all of Feldman’s stocks from the Craigs Company?” His father’s tone held glee he obviously didn’t care to hide. He’d wanted those stocks for years now.
“Persuasione. Motivazione.”
“Resistenza,” his father completed their little rhyme in Italian, which translated to: Persuasion. Motivation. Endurance. Tristan looked at the building’s entrance to check if Ivan was nearby, only to spot a woman leaving the building looking truly furious. She was walking down the few steps at the entrance, her head held low. Her long dark brown hair made it impossible for Tristan to see her face, as it created a small protective curtain, but he didn’t like seeing anyone leave one of his buildings acting in such a manner. It gave the wrong impression.
She stopped a few metres away from his car, shaking her head to herself as she looked at the ground. He got out of the car because he wanted to know why she was looking so furious. If it had been a client who had irritated her, she needed to know that was how the world worked in business. If her had treated her unfairly, it needed to be reported.
Every company in the Gerardo Corporations building was owned by his family, and any company causing trouble made his family’s good name look bad.
“Son, are you still there?” his father asked, concern filling his tone as the woman turned to face the building. She said something that he could barely hear, but he did make out the Gerardo motto paired with lies. She spoke in an accent he couldn’t figure out, which played with the words in an odd fashion.
“Yes, just a little issue.” A man passing her on the hectic sidewalk seemed to say something to offend her. “I’ll call you back in a moment,” he told his father and ended the call.
The woman took in whatever the man had told her and kept looking at him as he walked in Tristan’s direction. When she faced him, he understood why the man said something she disliked. It was likely the reason why everyone who was passed her was staring. Initially, he thought all the eyes on her was because of how differently styled she looked, in the green dress and brown leather jacket with matching boots, in the depths of the summer heat.
But, she was beautiful beyond the meaning of the word. Not the generic beauty found in magazines and on TV shows. She was unique, and she was hanging on his living room wall for the last week, in the form of a portrait.
The Marked One.
He was certain it was the woman from the painting. On the upper left side of her face, across her eye and about halfway down her cheek, a birthmark marked her beauty. She had bright green eyes, which looked like shimmering peridot stones, and the artist of the portrait had captured the sadness in those very eyes nearly too perfectly, as she looked exactly like the portrait in that moment.
Her eyes locked with his for a mere second before she turned and walked in the opposite direction, disappearing in the crowd.
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See you on the other side!
~Chevoque
