Battered (A True Dream Novel)

When they found her, she had no voice. No dignity. No defense.

Sybil was discovered in Jimmy Bowale’s living room—naked, bruised, and barely conscious. A scandal waiting to explode. A crime scene waiting to condemn her. By the time the police finished their investigation, her name was tangled in a criminal case that threatened to destroy not only her life—but his family’s reputation.

To Jimmy’s parents, she was a liability. A disgrace. A threat that needed to be erased.

They were prepared to go for the jugular.

But Jimmy saw something they did not.

In the middle of the chaos, beneath the bruises and silence, he felt an instantaneous pull toward the mysterious young woman everyone else had already judged. Against logic. Against family pressure. Against his own better judgment—he stepped between her and the wolves.

When Sybil’s name is eventually cleared, it should have been the end of the nightmare.

It wasn’t.

Because innocence does not erase suspicion.
And freedom does not heal trauma.

As whispers continue and tension escalates, Jimmy chooses to fight for her—risking family loyalty, public opinion, and his own future. But the deeper he draws close, the more he realizes the real war is not outside.

It is inside Sybil.

She is guarded. Wounded. Unreachable.
The scars on her body are fading—but the ones in her heart are fortified like walls.

And love cannot rescue someone who refuses to be saved.

Battered (A True Dream Novel) is a gripping, emotionally charged story about trauma, judgment, redemption, and the fragile power of love. It explores what happens when attraction collides with scandal, when loyalty clashes with family, and when a man must decide whether fighting for a woman is worth losing everything—including himself.

Because sometimes the most dangerous battle isn’t against the world.

It’s against the brokenness of the one you love.