The Cold Superstar Demands A Second Chance
Avery had spent the last decade building her career from nothing to become a top-tier television host.
But overnight, a fabricated lie turned her entire life to ash. A drunken celebrity she barely knew publicly claimed his devotion to her, while his girlfriend posted fake screenshots framing Avery as a homewrecker.
The backlash was immediate and ruthless. The network handed her an indefinite suspension. Luxury brands terminated her endorsement deals, leaving her facing millions of dollars in penalty claims. Paparazzi swarmed her building, and angry fans screamed insults at her car. Facing absolute bankruptcy, her manager offered one suicide mission out: join a trashy celebrity dating reality show where the very girl who framed her was starring as the fragile victim.
Avery was suffocating under the humiliation of being ruined for a crime she didn't commit. But the final twist of the knife came when Graham, her ex-boyfriend and now a global pop superstar, unexpectedly returned to the network. On live television, he announced to the world that he was back for his "first love"—an outsider with a pure soul. Avery's heart flatlined, knowing he couldn't possibly mean the scandalous, ruined woman she had become.
The vulnerability vanished from her eyes, replaced by a cold, hard sheet of ice. She turned her back on the blinding stage lights and texted her manager.
"Get the contract ready. I'm signing it today."
She was walking into a coliseum, but this time, she would be the one holding the knife.
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Chapter 1
The blue light from the phone screen burned Avery's dry eyes.
She stayed curled on the living room sofa of her high-rise apartment, her knees pulled tightly to her chest.
At the top of the Twitter trending list, the hashtag AveryBirdGetOffTV glared back at her. Beneath it was an endless, scrolling wall of pure venom.
She dragged her thumb across the glass, trying to swipe the timeline away, but her finger slipped.
A video published by TMZ auto-played.
It was Kenneth. He was stumbling outside a club, his face flushed with alcohol, staring directly into the paparazzi's flashing cameras.
"Avery... I just want Avery," Kenneth slurred in the video, his voice dripping with a fake, sickening devotion.
A violent wave of nausea hit Avery's stomach. She gagged, the acid rising in her throat.
She slammed the phone face-down onto the glass coffee table. The sharp crack echoed in the dead silence of the room.
A sudden, aggressive buzzing from the doorbell made her jump.
Avery swung her legs off the sofa. She walked to the door, her bare feet cold against the hardwood floor.
She pressed her eye to the peephole. Quinn, her manager, stood in the hallway, her face flushed and her jaw tight.
Avery unlocked the deadbolt.
Quinn pushed through the door like a hurricane, bringing a blast of over-conditioned hallway air mixed with the faint smell of industrial carpet cleaner with her.
She didn't even kick off her shoes. She marched straight to the dining table and slammed a manila folder down on the marble surface. The network's logo was stamped on the front.
The folder slid a few inches, spilling a single sheet of paper.
The words "Indefinite Suspension" were printed in bold, black ink.
Avery's lungs stopped working.
She reached out and gripped the edge of the cold marble counter, her knuckles turning completely white. The countless sleepless nights prepping scripts, the thousands of hours smiling into a camera lens, everything she had built from nothing over the last decade-all of it turned to ash in a single second. A ridiculous, fabricated lie that had absolutely nothing to do with her was executing her entire career.
Quinn ran her hands roughly through her hair, pacing the floor.
"The executives want to cut ties," Quinn snapped. "They need to put out the fire, and you're the easiest thing to burn."
"I don't even have his personal number, Quinn," Avery said, her voice tight.
Quinn let out a harsh, humorless laugh.
"The public doesn't care about the truth, Avery. They only care about the screenshots Caryn posted. The matching luxury watches. The same flight manifests. The identical hotel check-ins."
Avery snatched her phone off the coffee table.
She pulled up her contacts and hit call on Kenneth's agent's number, holding the phone up so Quinn could hear.
A cold, automated voice immediately filled the room. The call went straight to a full voicemail box. He was rejecting her calls entirely.
Avery's chest heaved. She switched to Instagram and typed in Caryn's handle.
User not found. She was completely blocked.
Avery threw the phone hard against the sofa cushions. Her breathing was jagged, her ribs aching with every inhale.
Quinn stopped pacing. She let out a long sigh and walked over to the liquor cabinet.
She poured two glasses of neat whiskey and walked back, shoving one into Avery's hand.
"Drink it," Quinn ordered. "You need to face exactly how alone we are right now."
Avery took the glass. The freezing condensation on the outside of the crystal grounded her slightly.
She tipped her head back and swallowed the liquor in one gulp. The alcohol burned a fiery path down her throat, forcing the sting of tears back from her eyes.
"Does the PR department have a counter-strategy?" Avery asked, her voice raspy.
Quinn wouldn't look at her. She turned her head, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the swarm of paparazzi vans parked on the street below.
"Standard PR is dead," Quinn said, her voice heavy.
Avery heard the slight hesitation in Quinn's tone. The hair on her arms stood up.
"What else?" Avery demanded. "Tell me the rest."
Quinn reached into the bottom of her leather briefcase. She pulled out a thick stack of legal envelopes.
Avery recognized the embossed logos immediately. They belonged to the top-tier luxury brands she endorsed.
Quinn slid the stack across the marble island.
"Breach of contract warnings," Quinn said quietly. "They are terminating your deals."
Avery stared down at the crisp white envelopes. Her vision blurred.
Her reputation was dead, her career was gone, and now, she was staring at absolute bankruptcy.
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8.9
Aliana braved a heavy storm, carrying a warm stew for her fiancé, Ivan, just as she always put his needs before her own. This ingrained habit, a survival mechanism from a cold childhood, was about to shatter into a million pieces. Tonight, everything she believed was a lie.
The iron gates of Ivan's private villa flashed red, denying her entry, and a guard mumbled lies. Ignoring him, she pushed past, a strange orchid perfume leading her to Ivan's car, where a tube of crimson lipstick lay on the passenger seat. Through a window, she saw him with another woman and a small child, an image that felt like jagged glass twisting in her heart.
Then his words cut through the storm, cold and cruel:
"Aliana is just a placeholder."
He was marrying her for her multi-billion-dollar patent, a secret deal made with her own parents, who had sold her for a kickback to buy this very house. Her family, her love, her future-all were a calculated lie.
Her inner wolf, usually fierce, fell terrifyingly silent, replaced by a chilling resolve. The burning acid in her throat wasn't just bile; it was the taste of her shattered devotion.
She didn't want his apologies or his guilt. She wanted his ruin, and as Ivan walked in with a fake smile the next morning, Aliana was ready to deliver it.
7.8
Elie Joyce’s entire life was controlled by Ebert Ewing, a ruthless billionaire who held her sick grandmother's survival and her family's freedom in his hands.
But on a freezing, stormy night, he forced her into a scandalous scrap of red silk and handed her over to a notorious, disgusting predator.
"You aren't an escort. You're just a free gift."
Ebert mocked her, using her as a disposable bargaining chip to secure a corporate funding round.
When the predator humiliated her, forced high-proof vodka down her throat, and violently pinned her to the floor, Ebert simply watched with dead eyes.
And when Ebert finally intervened to brutally beat the man, it wasn't out of mercy.
"She is my property. Even if she is trash that I threw away, a filthy pig like you doesn't get to touch her."
Afterward, he dragged her battered, barefoot body into his car, only to kick her out into the torrential rain, leaving her on the dark streets to die.
Standing in the storm, shivering and bleeding from broken glass, the last shred of Elie's hope shattered.
She had sacrificed her dignity and soul, enduring his violent bites and cruel control, just to keep her family alive.
Why did she have to suffer this endless, twisted humiliation for a psychopath who only saw her as trash?
But she didn't break.
Tearing a strip of his expensive shirt to bandage her bleeding foot, Elie gripped her broken stiletto like a knife.
With her eyes turning cold and calculating, she limped out of the shadows.
She was going to survive, and Ebert Ewing would soon realize she was no longer his obedient prey.
8.3
EDEN
8.3
Elianila, an AI Architect, is part of an elite team tasked with designing a global system meant to prevent threats, manage disasters, and distribute resources to vulnerable regions. After five years of tireless work with her colleagues, she uncovers disturbing anomalies, code-named, X-variables, that flag individuals according to criteria she never programmed.
As Elianila digs deeper to understand what the X-variables measure and where their origin, she finds herself in direct conflict with the authorities. Soon, the System marks her and her daughter as threats - targets to be eliminated.
With a small band of colleagues and dissidents, Elianila goes on the run, hiding in places beyond the Systems reach. As they evade surveillance, they race against time to warn others, expose the truth, and fight back against the omnipresent authority of the System.
7.1
The captain is dead to the world. And I'm the only one holding the kill switch.
Ethan Carter, the "Glacier of Silvercrest," was the most feared Alpha to ever step onto the ice. Now, he's nothing but a shell-a broken, comatose legend trapped in his own body.
My life? It was supposed to be simple. Graduate, survive the pack's bottom-tier status, and pay off my father's ruinous blood-debts. Instead, the pack elders handed me a contract soaked in cold, hard malice: I am the designated "Stabilizer." My only job is to touch him, scent him, and keep his wolf from flatlining.
I thought I was just a glorified nurse. I didn't realize the Alpha was listening.
When Ethan finally wakes, he isn't the hero the Kingdom of Valeria remembers. He's a starving predator with amber eyes that burn holes through my defenses and a temperament that makes the frost in the mansion seem warm. He hates the bargain, he hates the pack, and-most dangerously-he hates the way his scent turns wild whenever I'm near.
He wants me out of his sight. I want to be out of his reach.
But in a pack built on secrets, someone is still trying to finish the job they started on his life. Now, the man who wants me gone is the only one who can protect me. And as the rink turns into a battlefield, I'm realizing the most dangerous thing about the Alpha isn't his temper... it's the fact that once he claims a mate, he doesn't know how to let go.
Frozen hearts are meant to shatter. But in the fire of this pack, we're both going to burn.
9.5
He was born from the void between stars - a being of immense power, forged from cosmic origins.
For thousands of years, he walked among humanity, protecting them and keeping his true strength hidden. After losing the only family he had, grief led him to seek his own end... only to wake up in a world entirely unlike his own.
Here, cultivation is the main path to power. Those who master spirit qi gain superhuman strength, speed, and abilities that place them far above ordinary people. Four great sects rule the land, competing for resources, secrets, and dominance over each other.
Icaros joined the Li Sect, where he found companions he came to trust and care for: the capable and easygoing Li Han, the sharp and composed Su Yan, and the spirited Nelly. For a time, he felt he had found a place to belong, even as he kept his true nature hidden and wondered whether he could ever learn to cultivate like those around him.
Everything changed when their voyage was suddenly attacked. A powerful figure floating in the sky cut their ship apart with sharp, devastating energy strikes, leaving only destruction in his wake. Believing his friends had been lost in the disaster, Icaros chose to stop holding back any longer.
> "I am done hiding!"
He unleashed his full power: golden light blazed from his eyes, he flew at incredible speed, and he broke through every barrier and enemy in his way. On the shores ahead, he tore through hordes of powerful jade monsters, destroying them completely before flying deep into the interior of the island.
Meanwhile, survivors washed up scattered and alone. One young cultivator found himself on the shores of Jade Island - a place most cultivators avoid, as it holds no treasures or useful materials, only danger and endless deposits of ordinary jade. Yet despite the risks, ordinary people have built settlements here, finding safety from the conflicts and power struggles of the outside world.
This island works by different rules. Spirit qi is scarce and unstable, making cultivation far less effective than elsewhere. Instead, the people here rely on advanced technology - weapons and explosives that can injure or even defeat those with great physical strength. Here, skill and preparation can be just as powerful as raw strength, and even the strongest cultivators must move with caution.
Now, Icaros has vanished deep into the island. His companions are lost somewhere across this dangerous land. And the mysterious swordsman who destroyed their ship has already arrived here, searching for an ancient map said to lead to the legacy of a being from another world.
Will they find each other again? And can anyone survive in a place where the usual rules of power no longer hold true?
✅ Chapters 1–19: FREE
🔒 Chapters 20 onwards: PAID
(Continue the journey of power, friendship, and discovery!)
9.4
I was a New York photographer, but I woke up under the brutal sun of the African savanna.
Worse, I wasn't human. I was trapped in the body of a male cheetah, with two starving cubs clinging to my fur, telepathically calling me "Mom."
But I am a real man!
To keep my adopted sons alive, I had to fight hyenas and dodge rogue lions. But the real nightmare was my bizarre survival mechanism. Under extreme threat, I would uncontrollably shift back into my human form—stark, undeniably naked. I was forced to sprint across the plains with my bare skin exposed, carrying two cubs while escaping furious lionesses. I became a freak, the most confusing and humiliating legend of the animal kingdom.
Covered in bloody scratches and mud, I was pushed to the brink of despair. Why was I thrown into this beast's body? Why did my only defense mechanism involve profound social death?
Just when I barely survived a cliff dive to escape the lions, my path was blocked by two massive, highly intelligent prime male cheetahs.
But the alpha, Bradley, didn't want to kill me for my territory.
His intense gaze raked over my naked, bleeding human body with a dark, possessive hunger.
"You are full of surprises."
He purred smoothly, teaching me to magically summon a fur skirt before demanding I join his coalition.
"Oh, you'll come to me. I guarantee it."
Looking into his predatory eyes, I realized I was no longer just surviving the wild; I was the prey of a completely different kind of beast.