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 4
Clara stumbled back into the empty mansion and collapsed onto the couch, the tears she had been holding back finally spilling over.
Grievance, humiliation, and betrayal tangled together inside her, suffocating her.
Her phone suddenly rang. The screen lit up with a single word, "Mom." Clara stared at it, and despite everything, a faint flicker of hope rose in her chest.
She took a deep breath, wiped away her tears, and answered the call.
"Clara, there's a family dinner tonight. You should come." Margaret's voice carried no warmth at all, only impatience.
Clara's heart sank. Her voice came out hoarse. "I'm not part of the Sterling family anymore. Why do you still want me there?"
Margaret sounded even more irritated. "Your sister invited you. Just come."
Her sister?
Clara froze for a moment before realizing that Margaret was referring to the real daughter of the Sterling family.
After a brief silence, she finally nodded. "I understand."
By the time she arrived at the Sterling residence, the dinner had already begun.
The moment she pushed the door open, every eye turned toward her. Whispers erupted, sharp and unpleasant.
Each word felt like a blade stabbing into her heart. Clara clenched her fists.
Julian walked over and cast a cold glance at those whispering. They fell silent immediately.
Just like the day she had fallen for him, this was how Julian used to protect her.
A sharp pain tore through Clara's chest. Julian noticed her ashen face and frowned.
She had seemed off these past few days.
"You okay?" he asked quietly.
At that moment, Victor and Margaret stepped forward. The hall fell silent.
Victor spoke, "We've gathered everyone here today to announce something important. After confirmation, Vivian is our biological daughter."
It felt like something exploded in Clara's mind.
Vivian… was the real heiress?
She looked at Vivian in disbelief.
At the announcement, Vivian's face turned deathly ashen.
She shot to her feet, anger flashing in her voice. "You promised me you wouldn't say this in front of Clara!"
The entire room fell silent.
The next second, all eyes were on the newly acknowledged heiress as she hurried to Clara, her voice low and apologetic. "Clara… I'm sorry. I didn't know they would do this."
Clara stared at her, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Suddenly, Clara laughed, tears slipping down her face. "Vivian… what else do you want to take from me? Just take it all. My husband, my family, love, friendship… take everything. Just don't hurt me anymore."
Vivian froze, all the color draining from her face.
"Clara, what are you saying? If you're upset about them announcing this, I can ask them to adopt you as their goddaughter, okay? We can still be family. We can still be sisters."
Clara felt something close to absurdity wash over her.
She slowly lifted her head and looked at Vivian, her gaze calm. "How long are you going to keep pretending, Vivian?"
Vivian's face went pale in an instant. "Clara, I really am doing this for you… I don't want to lose you, and I don't want you to have nowhere to go…"
"Doing this for me?" Clara let out a faint, bitter smile. "If that were true, you wouldn't be taking my money for your tuition, living in a place I arranged for you… while sleeping with my husband."
Tears burst from Vivian's eyes as she instinctively looked at Julian. "Julian, I never meant to hurt her…"
Julian frowned deeply, about to speak, but Margaret had already reached her limit.
"Clara!" Margaret snapped sharply. "Do you have any manners left? Vivian was kind enough to let you stay, and this is how you act? Who do you think you are?"
Before she finished, she raised her hand, about to slap Clara across the face.
In a split second, a figure rushed forward and threw herself in front of Clara.
A sharp crack echoed through the room.
The sound of the slap rang clear.
It didn't land on Clara's face, but struck Vivian hard across her left cheek.
Clara froze, her pupils shrinking in shock.
She watched as Vivian's tender cheek flushed red almost instantly, a trace of blood appearing at the corner of her lips. Clara's heart clenched.
"Vivian…" Clara reached out instinctively, her voice trembling. "Are you… hurt?"
The next second, Julian yanked her away with enough force to make her stumble.
He rushed to Vivian, gently cupping her face, his voice tight with urgency. "Where are you hurt? Are you dizzy? Do you need to go to the hospital?"
Vivian shook her head, though her tears kept falling.
She didn't look at Julian. Instead, she turned and spread her arms again, shielding Clara. Her voice was thick with tears, yet unwavering. "Mom! You're not laying a hand on Clara again!"
Margaret stood there, stunned, her hand still frozen midair. "Vivian? You… you took that for her?"
Vivian bit her lip and met Margaret's gaze. "She's the person I care about most."
Margaret's face turned livid as she pointed at Clara. "Look what you've turned her into! No respect, no sense of boundaries!"
"Enough!" Vivian practically shouted. "You keep saying you've taken me back, but do you even know me? You have no idea how good Clara has been to me! All you care about is your image, your reputation. You can't even give her basic respect!"
Standing behind her, Clara listened to it all and suddenly let out a quiet laugh.
She stepped forward, standing beside Vivian, and looked calmly at Margaret. "Mrs. Sterling, you're right. I do lack manners. After all, growing up, all I ever got from you was punishment and scolding. You never once had the patience to actually teach me any."
Margaret's face went deathly ashen.
Julian looked up sharply, staring at Clara in shock. Was this really the same quiet, obedient Clara?
Vivian froze as well, her eyes filled with pain.
Clara didn't look at anyone again. She turned and walked away.
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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.