Platform Seven

At my father’s funeral, my childhood friend Larry drove his SUV straight through my father’s portrait, screaming, “Your father deserved to die!” A week later, I smashed his mother’s urn on the docks and told him, “So did yours.” He stole the money meant to save my mother’s life. I blinded his sister in one eye. For nine long years, we tore into each other, clawing and ripping until nothing was left but exhaustion. In the end, he fled to Northern Myanmar. I stayed behind as the city’s top bounty hunter—codename “Moon Goddess.” … The day of my father’s funeral, Larry roared up in a black SUV like a madman. He plowed through rows of white funeral wreaths, shattered my father’s black-and-white portrait, and finally—amid the screams—slammed hard into the coffin. The heavy casket lurched with a sickening scrape. My mother fainted on the spot. Standing in the wreckage in my black mourning clothes, I watched coldly as the red-eyed boy behind the wheel rolled down his window and gave me a cruel smile. “Ellie,” he spat. “Your father deserved to die.” I didn’t speak. I just stood there, calm, as his bodyguards dragged him out and pinned him to the ground, where he thrashed and roared like a trapped animal. A week later, his mother’s ashes were to be interred. I went to the docks alone. When no one was looking, I snatched the rosewood urn. Under Larry’s furious, wide-eyed stare, I ran to the windiest spot on the pier and hurled it down. *Crash.* Gray-white powder scattered, caught by the sea wind, vanishing instantly into the murky water. I looked straight at him and said, slow and clear, “Larry. So did yours.” That day, he tried to kill me. If his father’s men hadn’t held him back, I’d be fish food at the bottom of the sea. And so began our nine-year war. I’d denied his mother peace in death. In revenge, when my mother lay critically ill and desperate for money, he pulled the rug out from under us—stealing every last cent that could have saved her. I blinded his half-sister in one eye. So he arranged a car accident that put my mother in a wheelchair for life. We were like wild beasts, tearing into each other with the sharpest claws, leaving nothing but ruin and blood behind. Nine years. The war only paused when I was twenty-eight—the year he fled to Southeast Asia. I stayed in Seaport City and became its top shadow operator: the bounty hunter called “Moon Goddess.” On the surface, I ran a little dessert shop named Moonlight. And Larry? Once the golden boy of Seaport City, he remade himself as the most ruthless arms dealer in the gunfire and chaos of Southeast Asia. I thought we’d never see each other again. Until the Seaport City news reported that the infamous Mr. Larry—the man who’d raised hell across Southeast Asia—was coming home in style, fiancée in tow.

Chapters

Chapter 2

Nestled in the quietest alley of the old town is my dessert shop, "Moonlight."

Inside, the air hangs thick with the scent of butter and sugar—a fragrance that can make you forget the world, if only for a little while.

It’s my perfect disguise.

No one would ever connect the gentle-eyed woman in an apron, carefully piping frosting, with "Luna," the name that makes Seaport City’s entire underworld tremble… the one who takes lives in the dead of night.

Three days after Larry’s return, the shop door opened to a young girl in a white dress.

She looked no more than eighteen, fresh-faced and innocent as a blank slate. Her large, bright eyes held a trace of timid curiosity as they took in the little shop.

"Hello," she said, her voice soft and sweet. "Are you Miss Ellie?"

I looked up from behind the counter, wiping cream from my hands, and nodded. "I am."

"Oh, good." She sighed with relief, a sweet smile spreading across her face. "I'm Linda. My… my fiancé says you make the best tiramisu. Today is his birthday, and I wanted to make one for him myself."

*Fiancé.*

A needle of pain pricked my heart.

"And who is your fiancé?"

I asked, already knowing the answer.

"His name is Larry."

When Linda said his name, her eyes shone with a light only a girl deeply in love could possess.

I fell silent for a moment. An invisible fist closed around my heart, stealing my breath.

Beneath the counter, my pill case held only half a tablet left. Lately, the pain had been striking more and more often.

I smiled as if nothing were wrong. "Of course. Come with me."

Step by step, I guided her: whipping the egg whites, melting the chocolate, soaking the ladyfingers.

She learned earnestly, and once, with curiosity, asked, "Miss Ellie, did you know my fiancé before? When he mentions you, his expression always seems a little… strange."

Stirring the mascarpone, I kept my voice flat. "You could say we knew each other. We were neighbors."

Childhood sweethearts. Inseparable. Bound by a love that could have just as easily been hate.

As the cake was nearly finished, the wind chime at the door jingled.

A tall figure walked in, silhouetted against the light. He wore a perfectly tailored black suit, his posture erect, features sharp and deep-set. But the eyes he turned on me held a frost that hadn’t thawed in nine years.

It was Larry.

Behind him followed Richard, his brother in arms. Seeing me, Richard’s expression turned awkward; he gave a slight nod, a silent greeting.

Linda ran over in delight, holding up the cake like a treasure. "Yanhou! Look, I made you a birthday cake!"

But Larry’s gaze didn’t settle on her. It was locked on me.

Nine years had stripped away the boyish softness. He stood more mature now, more dangerous—like a panther lying in wait, his presence oppressive and suffocating.

"Ellie," he said, his voice low and rough, edged with mockery. "You really know how to pick a place. Hiding out here like a turtle in its shell, living the good life?"

I untied my apron, wiped my hands clean, and met his gaze calmly. "Can't compare to the empire you've built, Mr. Larry. All that bloodshed must be so rewarding."

The air froze instantly.

Linda seemed to sense something was off. She tugged nervously at his sleeve. "Yanhou, don’t be like this… Miss Ellie has been very kind."

Larry let out a cold laugh, ignoring her completely.

He pulled a black card from his suit pocket and tossed it onto the counter. The sound was sharp, jarring.

"Pack up every single dessert in this place."

He paused, his eyes scraping over my face like blades. "Then get behind the counter with your little creations. I want a picture."

He looked at me, each word a calculated insult. "Smile for the camera, Miss Ellie. This is probably the biggest payoff you’ll ever see."

Continue to next part

My father gave me an ultimatum: marry a man I despise or lose my entire inheritance. I chose to run, boarding a private jet with no intention of looking back. But his reach is absolute. The phone buzzed before we even left New York airspace. "Send me a picture with Sterling now," his voice barked, "or I'm calling your pilot to turn that jet around." I faked the photo and fled to Las Vegas, my last resort. My mission was simple: find my father's illegitimate son, the one secret that could break his hold over me. My only lead was a grainy picture of a ruthless fixer, a man who cleaned up my father's messes. I found him in a desolate diner, a giant of a man surrounded by a wall of guards. I gambled everything on a single coin toss for the information I needed. He saw right through my desperate bluff. He leaned in close, his voice a low, gravelly rasp. "In my city, the house always wins." I was left standing there, humiliated and defeated. But as he turned to leave, he glanced over his shoulder. "But you're lucky. Today, I'm just curious what Howard Bright's daughter is doing so far from home." He had seen me not as a threat, but as a curiosity. I had lost the battle, but I wasn't done yet. I was no longer running. I was hunting.

Action Billionaire Modern

8.8

El hijo de la reina de la mafia

8.8

Trilogía Carluccio: Libro 1. Una madre para mi hijo. Libro 2. El padre de mis hijos. Libro 3. El hijo de la reina de la mafia. Alexandre Carluccio regresa a Italia después de veinte años, con el único objetivo de vengar a todos aquellos que intentaron asesinar a su abuelo, sin imaginar que en medio de esta guerra que se ha desatado por obtener el poder, encontrará algo más que venganza. Yelizaveta Belucci, es en apariencia una chica frágil que necesita ser protegida por todos aquellos que se cruzan con ella, nadie imagina que debajo de esos ojos verdes se esconde una mujer peligrosa y tan despiadada como su padre, uno de los más grandes capos de Italia. Un amor tierno y pasional que pondrá en peligro la vida de ambos, pero que los llevará a conocer el amor verdadero.

Action Mafia Romance

7.2

Give Me Your Life, My Beloved Wife

7.2

She is a cunning princess. She accidentally binds the wrong person, causing the devil to come. He is a ruthless business leader. A contract imprisons her, and a game called revenge begins. He hated her, but he refused to kill her... Love is a poison. Although it was highly toxic, Alice still looked up and drank it. Her life has three memories. They only cry for that man and laugh for that man.

Action Modern Romance

8.5

I Married My Ex-Fiancé's Ruthless Older Brother

8.5

I was a Vitiello, sold to the Morettis to secure an alliance. For five years, I quietly loved Dante, counting down the minutes until our wedding at St. Patrick's Cathedral. But it ended with a single text three minutes before the ceremony. "Stay at the apartment. Sofia is awake. Don't make a scene." His ex-girlfriend, the love of his life, had woken from a coma with no memory. Just like that, I was erased. For thirty days, I waited in the shadows while Dante played hero to a woman who didn't remember him. He told me he was protecting her fragile mind. But then I found the truth. I stood outside the doctor's office and heard Dante refuse a treatment that would restore Sofia's memory. "If she remembers, she might leave again," Dante told the doctor. "Elena will wait. She's a good soldier. Let me have my fantasy." He wasn't protecting her. He was keeping her broken to feed his ego, banking on my submission. He thought I was furniture he could put in storage. He was wrong. I didn't go back to the apartment. Instead, I dialed a number every made man in New York feared. "Matteo," I said to Dante's lethal older brother, the King of the underworld. "I am done waiting. I want to be a Moretti bride. But not Dante's."

Action Modern Romance

8.4

Marriage for Revenge

8.4

"How can you smile like that when neither of your fathers are here at your own wedding reception?" Pond asked, eyeing Dunk, who stood in the gallery, smiling towards his newly-wedded husband. Dunk's smile didn't waver, but his eyes darkened. He turned to Pond, voice sharp, "Do you think I don't care? That I'd go against them on purpose?" Pond responded without hesitation, "Aren't you doing exactly that?" "No, I'm not," Dunk snapped. His voice dropped lower, colder. "I'm standing here for my pride-the same pride he crushed. I'm not a child who goes crying to his parents. He destroyed me, P'Pond. Now it's my turn. I'm going to destroy his life-completely." Pond looked shaken. "You can't marry someone for revenge, Dunk. I told you-I'm here for you. I'll never let anyone from the Guthithanan family hurt you again." Dunk's voice cracked as he exploded, "But he crossed the line that night!" He scanned the room and quickly pulled Pond into a quieter corner. His voice was low and furious. "He shattered everything I had. And now, with this marriage, I'm going to make him live with the consequences. He's trapped with me now-forever. I won't let him walk away so easily." His gaze flicked across the room-directly to Joong, who stood beside Sarawat, calmly speaking to a business partner. Joong caught Dunk's stare and instinctively looked his way. Dunk raised his champagne glass with a mocking smile. A toast to war. Joong clenched his jaw, returning the gesture coolly-but his burning eyes slid to Pond, full of rage and warning.

Action LGBT+Modern Romance

7.7

The Forbidden Alpha's Mate

7.7

Five years of war, three peace summits. One rule that never changed. Ray Carter and Levi Morgan stay on opposite sides, until the night fate decides otherwise. Ray feels nothing, rules everything and answers to no one. He built his empire on control and his reputation on fear, and he has never once lost either. Then Levi walks into the room. His enemy, his rival. The heir of the pack that took everything from him, his mate. One bond, two men on opposite sides of a war neither of them started. Laws older than their bloodlines demand they reject each other, walk away, and pretend it never happened. But the bond doesn't care about laws and neither, it turns out, does Ray. Someone already knows their secret and someone who has been waiting for exactly this moment. The question isn't whether Ray and Levi can survive each other. It's whether either of them will survive what's coming and who exactly wants them to find out the hard way?

Action LGBT+Romance Werewolf

Platform Seven

Chapter 2

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