Novels by jhumz

Adrian Chen is the golden standard of the marketing world—brilliant, commanding, and emotionally impenetrable. At thirty-two, he's built an empire on control: controlling projects, controlling people, controlling himself. He's never been vulnerable with anyone, and he's never had to be. Eli Reeves is twenty-seven, underestimated, and fighting twice as hard as everyone else to earn respect in an industry that dismissed him the moment he walked in. He's competent, passionate, and invisible to anyone important—until Adrian's firm brings him in as the fresh voice on a multi-million-dollar campaign. Adrian resents him immediately. Eli's creativity clashes with Adrian's rigid strategy. Eli's openness threatens Adrian's carefully constructed emotional distance. And the physical pull Adrian feels toward him is absolutely unacceptable. But forced proximity becomes forced honesty. Arguments become negotiations. Dismissals become defense mechanisms. And when Adrian finally kisses Eli after weeks of suppressed tension, neither of them can pretend anymore. What begins as dangerous attraction becomes something more: Eli's discovery that submitting to Adrian (both in the bedroom and emotionally) is empowering, not diminishing. Adrian's terrifying realization that loving Eli requires surrendering the control he's built his entire identity around. Their secret relationship deepens through escalating intimacy and escalating risk. But when someone in the firm begins sabotaging them—threatening to expose their relationship and destroy Adrian's reputation—they face an impossible choice: separate to protect their careers, or fight together and risk everything they've built. In a relationship where dominance and submission define their passion, Adrian and Eli must learn that true power lies not in control, but in trust. That surrender, when chosen, is the bravest form of strength. And that love worth fighting for is worth burning for.

I am Elias Vance, and my life is a well-oiled lie. I don’t build empires; I dismantle them. For years, I’ve served the shadowy organization known only as The Syndicate, trained to be their most effective weapon—a corporate ghost who infiltrates, exploits, and destroys. My latest target is Thorne Corp, a multi-billion-dollar tech conglomerate, and the man at its helm: Julian Thorne. Julian is everything I despise on principle: cold, impossibly wealthy, and guarded by a fortress of privilege. He is also the key to The Syndicate’s grand prize, and my mission is simple: get close, expose his vulnerabilities, and trigger a catastrophic failure that leaves Thorne Corp in ashes. The plan was airtight until I saw the cracks in his perfect facade. The closer I get, the more I realize the aloof CEO is carrying a burden heavier than his fortune—a legacy steeped in secrets and a profound, aching loneliness that mirrors my own. Every late night in his office, every accidental touch, every shared secret drags me deeper into the man I’m supposed to hate. The line between my duty and my desire doesn't just blur; it dissolves entirely. Now, The Syndicate is closing in, demanding the destruction I promised. I have access codes, damning information, and a clear shot to finish the mission. But completing it means condemning Julian and myself to a future where trust is impossible. To save him, I have to betray my masters. To save myself, I have to risk everything I know. In this game of corporate war, I am the obsidian proxy, caught between two powerful forces, and my only way out is a choice that will either end a dynasty or cost me my life.

He was sent to kill him. He chose to save him instead. Dante Voss is the most feared operative in a shadow organization known only as The Meridian — a man built from discipline, silence, and controlled destruction. He doesn't ask questions. He completes missions. Until the night he's assigned to eliminate Elian Rhys, a brilliant rogue journalist who has gotten dangerously close to exposing the most powerful criminal empire in Eastern Europe. Elian Rhys doesn't run from danger — he chases it. Armed with nothing but a sharp mind, a sharper tongue, and a death wish he'd never admit to, Elian has spent years dismantling corrupt systems from the shadows of his encrypted laptop. He's used to being hunted. He's never been wanted. When Dante chooses to pull Elian out of the crossfire instead of pulling the trigger, neither man is prepared for what follows — a frantic, continent-spanning flight through underground networks, enemy safehouses, and burning cities, where the real danger isn't the assassins on their trail. It's each other. Dante has never needed anyone. Elian has never trusted anyone. But survival has a way of stripping a man bare — and somewhere between a firefight in Budapest and a stolen night in Lisbon, something raw and irreversible begins to build between them.

Leo Moretti lives a life of obscene luxury and crushing isolation. Trapped in a marriage to the powerful, volatile Dominic Rossi, Leo exists as a beautiful ornament, polished for public view and bruised in private. His only constant is Silas Vance, his stoic, ex-military bodyguard – a silent sentinel against the world, and against Dominic's unpredictable rage. When a moment of shared vulnerability ignites a forbidden spark, Leo and Silas plunge into a desperate, secret affair. Their stolen moments are electric, a dangerous lifeline in Leo's gilded prison. But as their passion deepens, so does the risk. Dominic Rossi doesn't share what's his, and when he discovers his beautiful husband's betrayal with the man hired to protect him, the gilded cage becomes a deadly trap. Leo and Silas must fight not just for their love, but for their very lives.

In the coastal quiet of Baler, a studio is born—not of architecture, but of intention.* Founded by Yam, a poet whose words cradle pain gently, and Franc, an artist who paints tenderness into walls, the studio becomes a refuge for those learning to stay—with grief, love, longing, and themselves. As visitors arrive, they leave behind more than footprints: a sigh recorded in bamboo, a poem tucked into the “Found Letters” shelf, a mural painted in crooked lines. Through zines, tea, silence, and sketchbooks, the studio teaches softness as revolution. Ren creates the *Window of Soft Returns*, an installation of anonymous voice recordings—each whisper forming a community of echoes. Drew builds the *Staircase With No Wrong Turns*, inviting people to walk through emotions without shame. Franc offers brushstrokes as brave work, and Yam curates writing circles that map healing in half sentences. Together, they host festivals that feel like hugs, and they begin traveling their archive, letting softness cross oceans. Even those who once left—like Miguel—return, discovering that some doors never truly close. Others, like Tala, capture the studio’s sound and turn it into a podcast of breath and becoming. Over seventy chapters, the studio transforms into something larger than itself: a mural of memory, a sanctuary for second chances, a place where return is sacred and voice is proof of survival. In the final bloom, the studio stands not as a monument—but as a reminder: > *“Staying isn’t easy. > But chosen together, > it becomes home.”*