The Roommate Pact: No Strings Attached

"We do not talk. Ever," she warned, her voice trembling with a year's worth of rage. Brendon Hampton was Manhattan's ultimate "simp," using wealth and shallow socialites to silence his past. But during a lavish dinner, he snapped. He walked out, moved into a luxury apartment-and found Kiera Richards, the girl he ghosted during his father's scandal, standing in his new living room. Reunion is a nightmare. Kiera, now an "Ice Queen," looks at him with pure loathing. A housing glitch and a massive lease penalty trap them together. She reveals his disappearance cost her more than her heart-it shattered her mental health and her violin career at Juilliard. Brendon endures her hatred daily, unable to explain that federal agents seized his phone and his father had a heart attack. He abides by her rigid rules of silence, treated like a biohazard in his own home. Everything changes during a blackout. As a storm rages, Kiera's icy mask cracks-and she collapses into his arms, terrified of the dark. In the shadows, Brendon notices she still wears the necklace he gave her long ago. The war isn't over, but he's no longer just a roommate-he's a man determined to win back the soul he destroyed.

Chapters

Chapter 9

The next afternoon, the sky over Manhattan turned a bruised, sickly purple. A heavy humidity hung in the air, the kind that preceded a violent storm.

Inside Unit 4B, the tension was just as thick.

Kiera was sitting at the dining table, a stack of papers in front of her. Brendon was on the sofa, a textbook open on his lap, but his eyes were on her.

"I finished the agreement," Kiera said, not looking up.

She slid a piece of paper across the table. Brendon got up and picked it up.

1. No guests without 24-hour notice.

2. Quiet hours start at 10 PM.

3. No use of the other person's personal items (this includes the Netflix account, Brendon).

4. Absolute secrecy. No one can know we live together.

Brendon read the last one twice. "Absolute secrecy? Why? Are you ashamed of me?"

Kiera finally looked at him. Her eyes were hard. "I'm a freshman, Brendon. I'm trying to rebuild my life. If people find out I'm living with the 'Simp of Sigma Chi,' I'll never be taken seriously. Especially in the music department."

"The Simp," Brendon repeated, the words tasting like ash. "Is that what you call me?"

"That's what everyone calls you," she said. "I don't want to be part of your circus."

Brendon signed the paper without another word. He felt a sudden, sharp anger. He wanted to tell her that he was doing this for her. He wanted to tell her that he was protecting her from the fallout of his family's crimes.

But he'd made a pact. No past.

A low rumble of thunder shook the windows. Kiera flinched, her hand flying to the edge of the table.

Brendon noticed. He remembered. Kiera had always been terrified of storms. When they were together, she used to hide under the covers, and he would play her favorite movies until she fell asleep.

"It's just a storm, Kiera," he said, his voice softening.

"I know what it is," she snapped, though her face had gone pale.

She began gathering her papers with frantic movements. Another bolt of lightning flashed outside, followed almost instantly by a deafening crack of thunder.

The lights in the apartment flickered.

Kiera froze. Her breathing became shallow and fast.

"Kiera?" Brendon stood up.

"I'm fine," she whispered, though she was clearly anything but.

She turned and headed for her room, but as she reached the hallway, the lights flickered one last time and then died completely.

The apartment was plunged into total, suffocating darkness.

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Clare Lynch thought she was celebrating her fairy-tale engagement. She happily drank the pink cocktail her best friend, Brianna, handed her. But the drink was laced with a powerful, burning drug. As Clare's legs gave out, she overheard Brianna whispering outside the door. Her best friend had hired two thugs to assault her on camera and completely ruin her life. Terrified and gasping for air, Clare hid in the VIP room and called her fiancé, Jaren, for help. "I feel sick. Something is wrong. Please come get me." But Jaren just sighed impatiently, busy comforting his mistress in the background. "Stop throwing tantrums for attention. Grow up." Jaren hung up the phone. When Clare finally escaped and begged her grandmother to cancel the wedding, the matriarch coldly refused. She told Clare that marriage was just a business transaction, and she had to endure Jaren's cheating because their family needed the Bolton's money. Betrayed by her best friend, abandoned by her fiancé, and sold out by her own blood. Clare's world completely collapsed. She was nothing but a bargaining chip, thrown to the monsters by the people she loved most. The sheer injustice of it burned her soul to ash. With her last ounce of strength, Clare made a desperate choice. She called Aurthur Bolton—Jaren's ruthless, terrifying uncle. When the most dangerous man in New York kicked down the door to save her, Clare made a silent vow. She was done playing the perfect victim. She would let the devil claim her, as long as he helped her burn her abusers to the ground.

Action Modern Romance

7.9

Deadly Queen Unleashed: The Underworld Bends To My Will

7.9

Hannah came home under a false identity, ready to keep her head down and avoid trouble. Then a near-drowning opened her eyes, and the family she had wanted gave her nothing but disappointment. She severed every tie, shed the disguise, and rose in revenge as a miracle doctor, brilliant hacker, and feared underworld ruler. Shock followed her family at every turn. Her parents regretted everything. Her eldest brother clung desperately to the bond of their shared blood, while her second brother gave up his entire fortune just to earn her forgiveness. Her third brother offered up his own body for a surgery-all to save her. But Hannah stayed cold and built her empire alone. Only one deadly rival refused to be ignored. "I was hired to kill you, mister." "Then take my heart, too."

Action Mafia Modern

8.7

From Discarded Mate To Enemy's Gamma

8.7

For seven years, I was Alpha Zane’s Chosen Mate, suppressing my warrior instincts to be the docile, supportive partner he demanded. On our seventh anniversary, while I waited by a candlelit table, I accidentally overheard his mind-link with another woman. "Seven years is a habit, my dear, not love. She's docile, she'll understand." He told Seraphina, his new political ally, laughing as he dismissed my entire existence. I didn't scream or cry. I scraped the anniversary cake into the trash, drafted a formal rejection letter, and walked out of the packhouse. But Zane didn't even notice my departure. He was so consumed by his new lover that my rejection letter was treated as garbage and tossed into the incinerator. He paraded Seraphina around the pack, even handing my hard-earned strategic command over to her—a woman who knew absolutely nothing about war. When my loyal subordinates protested, he violently suppressed them, declaring my absence a "childish tantrum" and framing me as the bitter obstacle to his destined romance. He honestly thought I was just hiding in my room, waiting to beg for his charity and accept a humiliating demotion. He had no idea that I had already crossed the border into enemy territory. Tonight, I am attending his grand celebration. Not as the heartbroken mate he discarded, but as the newly appointed Gamma of his deadliest rival, the Sterling Pack.

Action Romance Werewolf

8.1

His Uncle, My Sweetest Revenge

8.1

My fiancé, Freddie, signed the papers to have me committed to a mental asylum. He told everyone my "episodes" were becoming a liability to his family's pristine reputation. The truth was, he and his mistress, Jessie, wanted me out of the way. They painted me as a hysterical, unstable psycho so their affair could continue without a single complication. I spent my last days in a chemical haze, trapped and forgotten. My final memory wasn't of love or compassion, but of orderlies forcing my head under the stagnant, drugged water of an asylum bathtub. Freddie just watched, his face cold and indifferent as I drowned. He stole my life, my sanity, and my future. He got away with murder while playing the part of the devoted, heartbroken fiancé to a world that believed his every lie. Until I opened my eyes again. The blinding Hampton sun stabbed my retinas, and the smell of chlorine filled my lungs. I wasn't in the asylum. I was back at the Madden family's annual summer party, three years before my death. Across the pool, I saw Freddie laughing with Jessie. They thought they had won. They had no idea I was back from the dead to burn their entire world to the ground.

Action Mystery Romance

8.1

Reborn To Escape His Toxic Love

8.1

Erich died in a freezing cabin, abandoned by the powerful Hollywood actor who had kept him as an abused, captive pet. But instead of finding peace, his eyes snapped open in a rundown bedroom. He had been reborn into the body of a suicidal stranger. The original owner, who shared his exact name, had swallowed a bottle of pills after being framed for plagiarism and destroyed by cyberbullying. Now, his new family was drowning in medical debt and facing foreclosure. Meanwhile, Erich was still paralyzed by the severe PTSD of his past life, suffocating at the mere memory of his ex's footsteps. Desperate to shed his trauma, he went to a barbershop to cut off the greasy hair hiding his new face. But when the barber removed the cape, a wave of pure, unadulterated terror crashed over Erich. Staring back in the mirror was his exact original face, complete with his signature teardrop mole. He knew if his psychopathic ex saw this face, the man would tear the world apart to drag him back to his personal hell in Malibu. But Erich refused to be a victim again. He grabbed a flyer for a prestigious art competition and looked at his stunned new sister. "I'm going to New York." This time, he wouldn't hide. He was going to use his art to save this broken family and declare war on everyone who had ruined them.

Action Fantasy LGBT+Romance

8.2

Scars Of His Ruthless Contract Pregnancy

8.2

Denice Copeland's son was dying of leukemia, and his only hope for survival was a savior sibling. But the wealthy Montgomery family offered a cruel ultimatum. To get the experimental treatments her son desperately needed, Denice had to conceive a child naturally with Jasper Montgomery—her dead husband's cold, estranged twin brother. Jasper treated the arrangement like a clinical transaction, taking her body without a shred of tenderness and threatening to cut her son's medical care if she disobeyed. The ultimate betrayal happened when Denice collapsed from exhaustion at his hospital. Jasper's glamorous partner, Kira, suddenly appeared and took control of Denice's dying son. Kira made the little boy call her "Mommy" and ordered security to throw Denice out. "I don't know you. I've never seen you before in my life." Jasper stood between Denice and her own son, coldly defending the woman who had stolen her child. Denice was completely shattered. She finally understood she had never been anything but a cheap stand-in for Kira, a convenient breeding vessel for the Montgomery bloodline. Stripped of her dignity, her past love, and now her only child, her mind violently fractured in her freezing, mildew-stained apartment. Abandoning the last shred of her pride, she sent Jasper one final, desperate text. "Tonight. I'm ovulating. Come." Then, she stepped fully clothed into a scalding shower to drown herself, forcing the man who destroyed her to finally face the wreckage he had made.

Action Modern Romance

The Roommate Pact: No Strings Attached

Chapter 9

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