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 2
Avery reached out and picked up the top envelope from the stack. It was from the luxury jewelry brand she had fronted for two years.
She flipped straight to the final page, her eyes scanning the dense legal jargon until they locked onto the numbers.
The penalty claim had seven zeros.
Avery's fingers began to tremble. The thick paper rustled loudly in the quiet room.
Quinn pulled out a barstool and sat across from her. She tapped her knuckles against the marble.
"That's just the first one," Quinn said.
Avery forced her jaw to unclench. She grabbed a pen and a yellow sticky note from the counter.
She started writing down the numbers, adding the totals in her head.
The tip of the pen pressed so hard it tore through the thin paper. The final sum was enough to drain her entire savings and leave her drowning in millions of dollars of debt.
Avery dropped the pen. It clattered against the stone. She closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to slow her racing heart.
Quinn leaned forward, her elbows on the table.
"There is one way out of this," Quinn said. "A suicide mission, but it's a way out."
Avery opened her eyes. The muscles in her neck tightened.
"What way?"
Quinn pulled her iPad from her bag and tapped the screen. She slid it toward Avery.
A project proposal titled Second Heartbeat filled the display.
Avery glanced at it and immediately recoiled.
"A trashy celebrity dating reality show?" Avery's voice was laced with disgust. "Absolutely not. That will permanently destroy my resume as a serious host."
Quinn didn't argue. She just swiped the screen to the next page.
It was the confirmed cast list.
The very first name in bold print was Caryn Jordan.
Avery's pupils contracted.
Quinn tapped a video link embedded next to Caryn's name.
Caryn's face appeared on the screen. She was dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a tissue, looking perfectly fragile.
"I just... I just want to find a place to heal my broken heart," Caryn sniffled to her followers. "Maybe Second Heartbeat will help me believe in love again."
Avery's teeth ground together. She dug her fingernails so deeply into her palms that the skin nearly broke. A hot, suffocating wave of humiliation washed over her.
Quinn hit pause. Caryn's fake, teary face froze on the screen.
"She is going to use this show to step right over your dead body and play the ultimate victim," Quinn said.
Avery pushed off the stool. She started pacing the length of the living room, her mind spinning.
She stopped at the window, looking down at the paparazzi circling the building like vultures waiting for her to jump.
Quinn walked up behind her.
"The network is desperate for ratings," Quinn said softly. "The appearance fee they are offering covers the down payment for your first breach of contract settlement."
Avery turned around. The hesitation in her eyes was gone, replaced by a cold, hard sheet of ice.
"I want a guarantee," Avery said. "I want unrestricted microphone access while I'm in that house."
Quinn let out a dark chuckle.
"For the sake of the ratings you bring, producers are willing to take their underwear off. They'll agree to any conditions."
Avery walked back to the kitchen island. She picked up the iPad and began reading the fine print of the proposal.
She stopped at a clause detailing 24/7 camera surveillance.
Avery picked up her red pen. She aggressively crossed out the entire paragraph.
"I need off-camera private time," Avery stated. "I am not being filmed while I sleep."
"I'll negotiate it," Quinn warned, packing up her bag. "But you realize you're walking into a coliseum, right? They want blood."
Avery slapped the proposal back onto the marble.
"Let them," Avery said, her voice dead flat. "I'll be the one holding the knife."
Quinn pulled out her phone and dialed the network producer's number to lock in the deal.
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9.3
Born into privilege, Eleanor never imagined her life could shatter in a single night. Then her father disappeared with his mistress, her mother fell from a building and slipped into a coma, and everything she once owned turned to dust.
Determined not to ruin Jonathan's future with her family's disgrace, she ended their relationship and became the bride of a man trapped in a vegetative state.
She believed that was the last time their paths would cross. But two years later, Jonathan pinned her in the dark and whispered, "Long time no see, my sister-in-law."
7.3
Naelis Haldrith is many things, daughter to the South's most strategic Alpha, an Omega with Alpha genes, and an unapologetic misfit. During summer break, she decides to journey to Frostpine and spend her heat cycle with her boyfriend, the golden pea of the Thalric pod.
But during a collared moment, a secret of his is revealed, and Naelis realizes that their relationship was more complex than it seemed. Choosing to return to her pack, she steps outside under a storm, and it is at that moment she crosses paths with a man she had never seen before.
Zoran Vyer Thalric. Uncle to her ex. Member of the Elder's Council. The otherworldly primordial with red-ringed eyes and a wolf barely chained beneath his skin. Desire sparks instantly, and her sights are immediately set on him, but... he is a devotee of the Citadel, celibate, untouched, and unwilling to be the calm to her fury.
She is fire, wild and untamed. He is steel, honed and contained. And for the first time, Naelis is the hunter after her prey, and the line of resistance slowly blurs as he finds his years of enforced self-control and suppression unraveling at the tint of her touches.
And with a maniac on their radar, this summer break will demand blood, sacrifice, and passion that howls to the moon.
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.
9.3
The first sign I was going to die wasn't the blizzard. It wasn't the bone-deep cold. It was the look in my fiancé's eyes when he told me he had given my life's work-our only guarantee of survival-to another woman.
"Kelsi was freezing," he said, as if I were being unreasonable. "You're the expert, you can handle it."
He then took my satellite phone, shoved me into a hastily dug snow pit, and left me to die.
His new girlfriend, Kelsi, appeared, wrapped snugly in my shimmering smart blanket. She smiled as she used my own ice axe to slash my suit, my last layer of protection against the storm.
"Stop being so dramatic," he told me, his voice full of contempt as I lay there freezing to death.
They thought they had taken everything. They thought they had won.
But they didn't know about the secret emergency beacon I had stitched into my sleeve. And with my last ounce of strength, I activated it.
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!)