The Beauty in Scars

Contents Author’s Note Playlist 1. Rafael 2. Isabelle 3. Rafael 4. Isabelle 5. Rafael 6. Isabelle 7. Rafael 8. Isabelle 9. Rafael 10. Isabelle 11. Rafael 12. Isabelle 13. Rafael 14. Isabelle 15. Rafael 16. Isabelle 17. Rafael 18. Isabelle 19. Rafael 20. Isabelle 21. Rafael 22. Isabelle 23. Rafael 24. Isabelle 25. Rafael 26. Isabelle 27. Rafael 28. Isabelle 29. Rafael 30. Isabelle 31. Rafael 32. Isabelle 33. Rafael 34. Isabelle 35. Rafael 36. Isabelle 37. Rafael 38. Isabelle 39. Rafael 40. Isabelle 41. Rafael 42. Isabelle 43. Rafael 44. Isabelle 45. Rafael 46. Isabelle 47. Rafael 48. Rafael The Freedom in Captivity Teaser First Look - New Series! Extras Ruthless Letters Sneak Peek Cure Bound Sneak Peek Also by M.L. Philpitt Acknowledgments About the Author The Beauty in Scars (Fractured Ever Afters #3) Copyright © 2023 by M.L. Philpitt All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, persons living or dead are entirely coincidental. Warning: This book contains mature content. Reader discretion is advised. Cover Designer: Cat Imb, TRC Designs Editing and Proofreading: Rebecca Barney, Fairest Reviews Editing Services Formatting: M.L. Philpitt The Beauty in Scars is book 3 of The Fractured Ever Afters series. There is slight overlap to the end of The Craving in Slumber (with chapter one occuring the same day Aurora wakes up from her coma.) While his can be read as a standalone, there is an overarching plot which starts in The Hunt in Elusion. Therefore, it is recommended you read the books in order. There is a part at the end, second half in chapter 47, that is a time jump and implies a lot within those three days. I did not skip over such a huge part of the series’ overarching plot. It’s coming in book 4. Just a note so you don’t feel like something major has been missed. It’s the next characters’ story; not Isabelle and Rafael’s. Note, I’m Canadian. I write using Canadian/UK spelling. This means words will have U’s in them, or double LL’s. (colour, flavour, signalling, etc.) These are not typos. This book has content some people may find triggering. Please visit this link for the list of triggers. Feel free to contact me with any questions. If you feel I have missed a trigger warning, please let me know. That’s all. Happy reading! “Heathens” by Twenty One Pilots “Hypnotic” by Zella Day “Not Strong Enough” by Apocalyptica & Brent Smith “Roses and Gold” by Bryce Savage “Fallen Angel” by Three Days Grace “Dangerous State of Mind” by Chri$tian Gate$ “Empty” by Letdown. “Bring Me To Life” by Evanescence “Paralyzed” by NF “Control” by Halsey “Ricochet” by Catch Your Breath “Something There” by Emma Watson & Dan Stevens “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction “Addicted” by Saving Abel “Not Meant to Be” by Theory of a Deadman “Love The Way You Lie” by Eminem & Rihanna “Under Your Scars” by Godsmack “I Want You Here” by Plumb “Beauty and the Beast” by Angela Lansbury “How Does a Moment Last Forever?” by Celine Dion “Evermore” bu Josh Groban “Every Breath You Take” by Chase Holfelder Listen here For those who want a real-life book boyfriend Well…sorry, I might have given you another one. BUT enjoy watching one of our own find her book boyfriend come to life. Rafael What a fucking day. And it’s only noon. When my phone pings with a message, a gut feeling says it’s about to get worse. I abandon the stack of paperwork I’m working through to retrieve my cell, buried beneath a few contracts. Even with the bullshit Stefano De Falco has dropped on my family’s lives, Eden can’t run itself; therefore, I manage to get work done when I can. The cat-and-mouse game we’re playing with him is one thing. The fact that my twenty-year-old baby sister, Aurora, is lying in a hospital bed, in a coma, because of the fucker is an entirely different thing. We’ve barely gotten her back in our lives, and already, assholes are trying to take her from us. Helping to hunt Rozelyn De Falco, Stefano’s daughter, gave me purpose for a few days, but with her found, the feeling of being in limbo, not knowing when Aurora will awaken, has returned. Which has made Eden an ideal place to spend my time while Flynn, our enforcer, is torturing information from Rozelyn. My older brother, Nico, is keeping everything afloat in the meantime, while our parents, his new wife, Della, her sister, and our older, estranged brother, Hawke and his girlfriend, sit by Aurora’s bedside. The message on my phone reads: Maurice Capo, can we talk? An odd message to receive from the soldier who’s old enough to be my father. For one, he rarely reaches out in general, and two, he typically comes out and states what he needs. Me About? Maurice Trust me. You’ll want to hear this. Come to this location please. He shares a pin on a map, which I click, and it opens the app, providing directions from Eden to Mount Royal. What does he think I’ll want to hear? And why can’t it be said over the phone? Caution flares up inside me because Maurice’s behaviour is moving to a new level of strange, but there’s an urgency I must respond to. I abandon my work and snatch my car keys, opening a text thread to the man who, besides recent developments, I trust as much as I do Nico. Me Meet me at the pin. I attach the same pin Maurice sent me to Rosen, and then a screenshot of Maurice’s message, so