A Heart Misplaced, A Love Bone-Deep
Julian Laurent was known as the most notorious playboy in Rivermont, changing girlfriends as often as he changed his clothes and treating marriage like a joke.
Clara Sterling, on the other hand, had always been the most quiet and obedient daughter of the Sterling family. Raised as the heir since childhood, she had been flawless in every word and every gesture.
A family-arranged marriage forced these two complete opposites into the same life.
On their wedding night, Julian openly made out with a young model at a nightclub.
For the first time, Clara cast aside her propriety, slapping him and demanding a divorce on the spot.
But before the next day was over, their families had forced them to remarry.
This time, Julian managed to stay faithful for a month before he cheated again.
Clara filed for divorce once more, cutting ties with him completely.
However, that very same day, it was revealed that Clara was not the real daughter of the Sterling family, and she was thrown out.
At her lowest point, Julian found her and solemnly promised to protect her from then on.
They remarried again, and from that day forward, the scandals surrounding Julian ceased.
Everyone said Clara was lucky. Even her best friend insisted that Julian had truly settled down, and Clara believed it.
Until she saw him in a hospital corridor, holding her best friend's hand, his voice strained with deep emotion, "I never liked her. You're the one I've always loved!"
It turned out all of his tenderness had been a lie.
This time, she walked away and never looked back.
And the man who had once treated her as disposable only realized after she was gone that he had long since drowned in her quiet love, unable to escape.
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Chapter 3
Clara wanted to leave.
But a warm hand gently closed around her wrist.
It was Vivian.
"Clara, please don't go, okay?" Her voice trembled slightly. "Ever since you remarried, we've barely spent any time together… I just want you to shop with me for a little while. Just a little while, please?"
Clara lowered her eyes and looked at that hand.
Once, that hand had held hers all night when she had a fever. It had hugged her while she cried after her first divorce. It had wiped away her tears when Victor and Margaret announced that she was not their real daughter.
But now, that same hand had just slipped out of Julian's grasp, only to reach for her again.
How ironic.
Clara said nothing. She simply tried to pull her hand free.
Just then, Julian strode over.
His gaze burned with concern, but it was not for Clara. His eyes landed on Vivian's face, his tone edged with reproach. "Vivian, you look awful. I'm taking you to the hospital."
Vivian shook her head, her eyes reddening. "I'm not going. Clara hasn't agreed to have cake with me yet…"
"If she doesn't want to, then forget it!" Julian's voice darkened. At last, he turned to Clara, his eyes cold. "Clara, Vivian has given you everything she has. You can't even spare her this little bit of time? Do you even feel anything?"
Clara let out a faint, bitter smile. "Julian, you're right. I don't."
Julian looked at Clara's expressionless face, and a sudden wave of panic rose in his chest. Did she know something?
Clara tried again to pull free from Vivian's hand. Vivian seemed to twist her wrist slightly, and her brows drew together.
Julian's eyes darkened. He stepped forward. "Clara, you hurt Vivian."
"Julian!" Vivian suddenly raised her voice and rushed in front of Clara, spreading her arms. "Don't talk to Clara like that!"
Julian froze. "Vivian?"
"I said I'm not going to the hospital!" Vivian's eyes were red, her voice shaking, yet unusually firm. "Either you leave right now, or you stay and spend Clara's birthday with her. Choose."
"But you look terrible. What if—"
"There is no what if!" Vivian cut him off, tears finally falling. "It's Clara's birthday today. Are you going to celebrate it with her or not?"
Julian went still and instinctively looked at Clara.
Clara had lowered her head, her long hair hiding her face, but the slight tremble of her shoulders betrayed her.
Julian clicked his tongue, as if trying to cover the panic in his heart. "Fine, fine. I'll celebrate it with her, okay?"
Vivian took a deep breath and turned to Clara, her voice softening. "Clara… it's your birthday today. I ordered a cake, bought you a present, and booked a table at your favorite café… Please don't leave, okay?"
Clara's eyes burned.
How badly she wanted to believe this was real.
But she knew better than anyone that this was only another performance put on by the two of them.
"Thank you for the gift. I really like it. As for the cake… you two can have it."
With that, she turned and left.
Silence fell behind her.
A few seconds later, she heard Julian say quietly to Vivian, "I'll take you home."
"No." Vivian avoided his hand. "If you treat her badly, I'll leave right now. I'll disappear forever, and you'll never find me again."
Julian was silent for a long time before finally giving in. "Fine. I'll treat her well."
Clara did not look back, but her steps slowed for a moment.
So Julian's tenderness toward her had only been an illusion created by Vivian's words. How ridiculous. Vivian had been with Julian just to make him treat Clara better.
Clara kept walking, every step feeling as if she were treading on the edge of a blade.
She should have hated Vivian.
But she couldn't bring herself to.
Because Vivian truly loved her.
And she truly loved Julian too.
But in this world, some things could never coexist.
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7.7
Not only was I drugged, blinded and assaulted. I was deceived into carrying a baby by a stranger I never knew. Then he appeared and took my child away.
I was sent to a militia by the father of my child. I thought I was rescued but I was recruited to be a weapon for killing. Who was manipulating me, I didn't know. The answers were far from what I knew.
Forced to blend into the world that I could never believe I would be to, a place where brutality reigned, kill or be killed was the only language. I have survived but he has to pay for everything he did to me, because I believed every phase of my life was set by him and him alone. Have I really survived?
Who would have thought, he existed twice in the same world? Do I really know who I should take revenge on? Him or the person I would sacrifice everything for?
Was my mother the one who orchestrated everything? What kind of pawn am I?
7.4
In a city where data is power and truth is a weapon, some secrets are worth killing for.
Mara Quinn is a ghost in the system, an underground journalist known only as Cipher, feared by corporations and hunted by those with everything to lose. When she breaches a classified network inside Axiom Industries, she uncovers something no one was meant to see: ORACLE, a predictive AI capable of shaping human behavior on a global scale.
She expects retaliation. She doesn't expect Kael Draven.
Cold, brilliant, and untouchable, Kael is the architect behind Axiom's empire, and a man who doesn't make threats he can't execute. Instead of silencing Mara, he offers her a choice: work under his watch, or disappear from existence entirely. Trapped inside his glass fortress known as The Spire, Mara is pulled deeper into a world of surveillance, manipulation, and power plays that stretch far beyond anything she imagined.
But ORACLE isn't just a tool, it's already been used. Governments have fallen. Empires have shifted. And someone else is pulling the strings.
As a rival syndicate closes in and a hidden war erupts across the city, Mara and Kael are forced into an uneasy alliance, one built on intellect, suspicion, and a dangerous, undeniable pull neither of them can ignore.
Because in a world where every move is predicted...
the only thing more dangerous than control is feeling.
And the system is already watching.
7.7
Rory stood on the witness stand, forced by her father into an impossible choice: secure her dying mother's medical funding, or save her innocent boyfriend.
She looked Corbin right in his trusting eyes and lied to the court, testifying that he was the one driving the car during the fatal hit-and-run, sending him to a maximum-security prison for ten years.
The betrayal destroyed him. Corbin's father died of a heart attack upon hearing the guilty verdict. Six years later, Corbin returned as a ruthless billionaire and systematically blacklisted Rory from every job in the city. He cornered her into singing at his private club, humiliating her by forcing her to drink scotch—knowing she was severely allergic—and making her throw away his promise ring just to earn a stack of cash.
"Remember this moment. This is only the beginning."
She endured his cruel revenge because she was hiding a desperate secret: she was raising his five-year-old daughter, Willa. But when Willa's congenital heart defect suddenly worsened, requiring an impossible one-million-dollar surgery, Rory realized Corbin's calculated blockade had left her completely trapped with no way to save their child.
Staring at the sterile hospital walls, the last shred of her guilt burned away, replaced by a cold, hard resolve. He had destroyed her career and backed her into a corner, but he was the only one with the money. Wiping her tears, Rory turned and headed straight for Vance Tower.
8.5
Amelia, an artist struggling to live a life full of dreams and hardships, finds herself caught in an unexpected vortex after a wild night at a masquerade ball. She wakes up with a hazy memory of piercing blue eyes and a powerful presence, without knowing who the man was or what happened? A few weeks later, Amelia's life changed forever when she realized she was pregnant. The baby's father? None other than the Lycan King, a powerful and dangerous creature who rules the hidden world of werewolves. Forced into a world of magic, danger, and forbidden love, Amelia must adapt to a new life. He must navigate the dangerous politics of the Lycan Kingdom, learn to control the new powers that arise within him, and face the wrath of the King's jealous couple. In the midst of this chaos, Amelia must choose: accept her fate as the Lycan King's mate, or fight for her freedom and the life she lives.
9.8
Three women, three brothers, a single, crumpled dollar bill.
Alina's world shatters the moment she's auctioned off-and claimed by the powerful Hawthorne brothers.
Thrown into Adrian Hawthorne's cold, dangerous world, she becomes his to control... his to protect... and, terrifyingly, his to desire. He's ruthless, possessive, and hiding secrets that could destroy them both. But the deeper she falls into his world, the harder it becomes to tell if she's his prisoner-or something far more dangerous.
Because the Hawthorne brothers don't just take.
They keep.
Viviane has spent her life surviving, so when Julian Hawthorne "buys" her freedom, she knows better than to trust it. Men like him don't save people-they collect them. But Julian isn't as simple as he pretends to be, and the deeper she's pulled into his world, the more dangerous it becomes to walk away.
Especially when she realizes she might be the only thing he's ever been willing to fight for.
Lena doesn't belong to anyone-and she intends to keep it that way. Brilliant, guarded, and hiding more than anyone suspects, she enters Lucien Hawthorne's world on her own terms. But Lucien doesn't play fair, and he doesn't let go.
When her past comes crashing back, Lena is forced to face the one thing she's been running from: trusting someone who could destroy her... or save her.
Three women. Three choices.Stay. Fight.
Or burn it all down.
Because being sold was only the beginning.
8.0
Twenty-one-year-old Hazel has always lived in a safe, comfortable bubble, meticulously guarded by her fiercely protective older brother. Her life is predictable, quiet, and perfectly ordinary. Until he steps into it.
Silas is twenty-four, dangerously captivating, and her brother's best friend. He brings with him an aura of dark secrets, ink-stained skin, and a predatory gaze that strips away all her carefully built defenses. He is everything she has been taught to avoid, yet living under the same roof makes him impossible to escape.
What starts as a temporary living arrangement quickly spirals into a suffocating web of stolen glances, unspoken desires, and a dangerous obsession. Silas isn't just looking for a place to crash; he's looking at her. And once he pins her in his sights, the thorns of their forbidden attraction will bind them together in ways that could destroy them both.
In a house where walls have ears and her brother is always watching, giving in to the madness is a risk. But Silas is a temptation she might not survive.