Jenny & Jay - Volume 1
Johnny Simmons thrives on competition-whether in the pool, in playful bets, or in charming his way through life. He's used to being in control, but when Jane Shepperd enters his world, she proves to be an unexpected challenge.
Assigned to his study group, Jane is sharp, unfiltered, and unimpressed by his usual charm. Their first real interaction is filled with witty banter, subtle tension, and a clash of personalities that leaves Johnny both frustrated and intrigued.
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Chapter 4
The next day, although there was no training, I couldn't sleep and arrived earlier than the others. Even so, I wasn't the first-Jane was already there. As usual, she didn't pay any attention to me, buried in her book and just as stylishly indifferent as before.
"So, what kind of traveling, little girl?" I asked, grinning, waiting for her to put down her book.
"Excuse me?" She looked at me over the pages.
"The traveling that kept you from having a dog," I reminded her.
"Yeah, right. Until a few years ago, we traveled a lot, so we didn't get a dog." A brief answer, but it wasn't enough for me.
"Why did you travel?" I was genuinely interested.
"My dad's job required it. He was an international architect." Strangely, I didn't see any emotion on her face.
"Any other questions?" she smiled. "Or can I continue reading?"
Her smile was definitely beautiful.
"Have you been to many countries?" I asked quickly, signaling I still had questions.
"A few."
Behind me, Brian arrived and quietly sat down, fiddling with his phone.
"You know, if your sentences were longer, I wouldn't ask so many questions," I teased, making her smile.
"Do you speak multiple languages?"
"I can make myself understood in a few countries, yes," she said.
I had a feeling this was a modest answer.
"Didn't sleep well?" she suddenly asked, her beautiful eyes smiling mischievously.
"Why?" Her personal question surprised me-it wasn't like her.
"Your hair didn't turn out right, so I thought you were sleepy," she laughed, and Brian quietly smiled.
I went to the bathroom to check my hair, but it was perfectly fine. By the time I returned, more people were in the room, and Jane had just put away her book, waiting with a cheerful smile.
"You see, Pretty Boy, if I were you, I'd let me read," she said softly, winking.
Brian grinned, and I chuckled quietly at her teasing. Clever move.
I wanted to respond, but Shannon appeared and sat in front of me. Jane silently moved to the furthest empty desk.
Apart from biology and history, she never sat near me. That day, I only saw her at lunch-she was eating with Paul.
--
At dinner, Mom brought up an interesting detail.
"Son," she said, "I met Mrs. Tashiro today. She's an interior designer."
"I didn't know. Though I don't talk much with Paul-that's more the new girl's habit," I noted.
"How come?" Amber asked curiously.
"Paul doesn't sit at our table; he always eats with Jane," I said.
"Have you invited him to sit with you?" Dad asked.
"If he wants to, he will," I said. "Though then the smarty-pants would probably want to join too."
"Interesting name her parents gave her," Dad noted with a smile, but I didn't react.
"I'm curious about who this girl is," Amber said seriously.
"There's no need-you wouldn't like her," I said. "She doesn't even have friends. Paul only sits with her at lunch because he did on the first day, and now it would be rude to move. That girl never talks to anyone."
"I guess not even with you," my sister teased.
"She'd be happy if I brought some color to her boring days, but she's not that lucky," I said arrogantly.
"I see," my sister said, coughing lightly, while my parents suppressed a smile.
-
Just like every other day that week, Jane was already in the classroom reading when I arrived the next morning. I'd gotten up early on purpose, hoping to beat her there.
Of course, I still took the time to fix my hair-I wanted to look good. Jane looked just as well-dressed today as ever: a jeans and her usual sci-fi tee.
"Hey, little girl," I said, sitting down across from her and turning my chair around- even though today, we wouldn't be sitting close. "How many languages do you speak?"
"Hey," she sighed loudly from behind her book. "Is the library open at this time?" she asked, ignoring my question and starting to pack her book away.
"It opens as soon as the school opens," I answered matter-of-factly.
"See you later, then." She picked up her backpack and left the room.
I had no idea what that little nerd thought of herself-just walking off in the middle of a conversation. One thing was certain: I didn't like her.
I slid back into my usual seat just as Brian arrived. "What's wrong?" he asked, noticing my sulking.
"I don't like the new girl," I muttered. "She just left in the middle of a conversation."
"How rude," Brian said, suppressing a smile.
Her behavior stuck with me the rest of the day, even though I didn't speak to her again and only saw her at lunch- eating with Paul, as usual.
--
That evening at dinner, Amber was talking about some upcoming contest, but I barely listened-the new girl's rudeness kept swirling in my thoughts.
"How was your day, son?" Dad asked.
"The new girl is the rudest person I've ever met," I blurted out.
"What did she do?" Mom asked.
"She just walked out in the middle of a conversation," I said.
"Maybe something urgent came up," Amber offered with a smile.
"Going to the library doesn't sound urgent," I muttered. "I don't like her," I added.
"Oh, that's painfully obvious, son," Dad chuckled, exchanging glances with the women.
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7.5
Five years of a fake marriage to a billionaire.
Christi thought she was a wealthy wife-until City Hall told her the truth.
No marriage license. No legal rights. Nothing but a lie.
Her husband cheated on her for four years.
His entire family mocked her, used her, and planned to trap her with a baby.
She was ready to ruin them all.
Then a secret changed everything:
Her late parents were DARPA elites. She is the sole heir to $50 billion.
There's only one catch-marry Cornelius Gregory, Wall Street's ruthless paralyzed tycoon.
She signs the contract in an instant.
Freeze their accounts. Destroy the Rivera family.
The game is over for them.
And the queen has just arrived.
9.8
I was an arrogant, canceled reality TV star, trying to salvage my ruined reputation on a live broadcast.
But after I lost my temper and assaulted a cameraman, my furious grandfather chased me into our family's forbidden gallery, where I accidentally crashed into an ancient, sealed portrait.
The canvas shattered, and a terrifying woman with glowing golden eyes stepped out of the wall.
She was Cecil, the First Matriarch of the Marshall family. She caught a lightning bolt with her bare hands and crushed me to my knees with an invisible, suffocating pressure.
My grandfather, instead of saving me, groveled on the floor and abandoned me to her mercy.
"You are the disgrace that will end this family."
She hijacked my entire life, forcing me to act as her submissive baggage handler on my own survival reality show, broadcasting my humiliation to millions.
I didn't understand why this ancient monster was tormenting me. Why did she strip away my pride, treat me like a broken tool, and force me to endure the mockery of the very ex-girlfriend who had ruined my life?
But when those same cast members tried to corner me in the dark woods, Cecil stepped in front of me, her eyes locking onto the silver ring of the man mocking me.
"To catch the wolf, one must sometimes walk with the sheep."
That was when I realized she wasn't here to destroy me—she was here to hunt the parasites who had been secretly siphoning away my life force.
9.3
For years, Gabriela believed the man beside her would be the one she grew old with. They had loved each other since they were young, but in the end, all those years meant nothing beside a younger woman's smile.
Returning from a business trip, she uncovered his betrayal with brutal clarity. Still, she did not cry or beg. She took out her phone, recorded every damning second, and filed for divorce the moment she could.
Afterward, she rebuilt her life into something brighter, richer, and stronger, even marrying a powerful tycoon. As for her ex and his shameless mistress, they could rot together.
7.4
I was freezing to death in an abandoned cabin, desperately waiting for my fiancé to save me.
Instead, my phone flickered with a video from my adopted sister.
She was smiling as she confessed that she and my fiancé had orchestrated my kidnapping, and my parents' fatal plane crash, just to steal my family's trust fund.
When I called him with my dying breath, he mocked me for faking a PR stunt and hung up.
I died in the sub-zero blizzard, consumed by absolute despair.
But as a ghost, I watched my greatest business rival, the ruthless billionaire Collins, kick down the doors of my mansion.
He didn't just mourn me.
He shot my fiancé, trapped my sister, and set the entire place on fire, choosing to burn alive in the inferno just to avenge me.
I couldn't understand why the man I had publicly despised for a decade loved me so fiercely, while the people I gave everything to wanted me dead.
Opening my eyes again, I was back backstage on the night I won my Oscar, four years ago.
My fiancé smiled, holding out his arms to hug me.
I pushed him away in disgust, marched straight into the crowded theater, and kissed my billionaire rival on live television.
"Let's get married tomorrow."
This time, I would use him to burn them all to the ground.
9.5
Sapphyra
9.5
Sapphyra used to have it all: a super-genius husband, a superhero career, and a dragon side she actually got along with.
Then everything went to hell.
When the world faced a threat she couldn't punch, Sapphyra tried to sacrifice herself so everyone she loved could escape. But Wyatt, her husband with backup plans for his backup plans, refused to let her die. He trapped her inside a digital coma, planning to wake her when the world settled down.
That was 100 years ago.
Now Sapphyra has ripped herself free and woken to a ruined city, a broken world, and a body she barely recognizes. Her powers are locked away. Her dragon side is caged. And the Class System controlling it all? Wyatt put it inside her.
Because of course he did.
It only gets messier. Guy, the charming golden retriever-energy hero she met inside the coma, is real-and so are his feelings for her. Meanwhile, Wyatt separated his mind from his body, so now his consciousness follows Sapphyra around like a brilliant, possessive bad hangover.
And then there's Rupert Domingo, the madman who escaped her digital nightmare and now rules the ruined city like his personal kingdom. He knows what happened while Sapphyra slept, and he'll give her answers...
If she survives his game first.
To win, Sapphyra has to rebuild her city, untangle her powers, face Wyatt's sins, and decide what scares her more: losing herself to grief, or becoming the dragon Rupert is desperate to wake up.
8.9
My family's company went bankrupt, and my biological father was lying in the ICU, kept alive by machines that cost tens of thousands a day.
I thought it was just a tragic business failure, until I caught my mother in bed with my stepfather.
They had secretly transferred all our assets months ago, deliberately bankrupting the company and leaving my father to die.
To pay the hospital bills, my stepfather forced me to a private club, trying to sell me to a sleazy investor.
When I refused, he slapped me across the face, and my mother just looked at me with cold, dead eyes.
"Be realistic, Jaelynn. A woman's body is a tool. Use it to get what you need."
Later, right before my father's emergency surgery, my stepfather signed a Do Not Resuscitate order and froze the medical accounts.
"If you don't get on your knees and spread your legs for him, I will tell the hospital to pull your father's plug."
Standing in the freezing rain, covered in mud and blood, I stared at the astronomical hospital bill in my hand.
My own family had plotted to murder my father and sell me to the highest bidder. The betrayal shattered every ounce of sanity I had left.
I didn't cry or beg them anymore.
Instead, I pulled out a water-stained, gold-embossed business card.
It belonged to Dolph Valentine, the most ruthless billionaire in New York and my ex-fiancé's uncle.
If they wanted to destroy my life, I was going to sell my soul to the biggest monster of them all and drag them straight to hell.