A powerful, provocative novel about Black excellence, desire, truth, and the cost of living behind an image.

Malik Rowe is the face of success — a brilliant Black film producer, owner of the largest African American film and television studio in Charlotte, North Carolina. To the world, he represents discipline, legacy, and achievement. His marriage looks perfect. His empire is flawless. His life is aspirational.

It’s also a lie.

Behind closed doors, Malik’s marriage is cold, transactional, and hollow. When he begins a relationship with Imani — a former stripper turned actress with undeniable talent and unapologetic honesty — the carefully curated illusion begins to crack. As accusations fly and the public questions how she rose so fast, Malik makes a choice that shocks everyone: he refuses to deny the truth.

Yes, they slept together.
Yes, he cast her.
And yes — she can act.

As a tell-all book threatens to destroy his reputation, Malik rejects performative redemption and embraces something far more dangerous: honesty. Together, he and Imani confront judgment, power, hypocrisy, and the double standards placed on Black ambition and Black desire.

CULT OF BADDIES is a raw, modern story about flawed people choosing truth over comfort, love over illusion, and alignment over applause — and discovering that real power isn’t perfection, but the courage to be seen.