Book Civil Disobedience

After I was taken into the mountains, I became the whole town's slave. If one field remained unharvested or one family's firewood went uncut, they beat my face bloody. They avoided my arms and legs only because they expected twice as much work from me the next day. On New Year's Eve, I finally decided I couldn't survive another day and went to the river to end my life, only to hear two people whispering behind the trees. "Watch yourself. He is still the Hawthornes' biological son. They sent him to Red Willow Hollow to learn discipline, not for you to use however you want." "Biological son? His parents haven't asked about him in years. They already have another boy, the polished young heir who visited last time. The difference between them is night and day. "If anything happens, we'll blame him. Mrs. Hawthorne said that a boy without manners doesn't deserve to be her son. He may as well die out here." I stood frozen above the river, forgetting even why I had come. My mother always boasted that her family came from old money. She said a gentleman's most important quality was proper conduct. So why, after seeing my body, did she abandon every rule of dignity she had ever demanded from me?

In a brutal all-male cadet academy where discipline is law and weakness is quietly erased, obedience is not requested—it is engineered. Elias enters the institution for survival. Debt, obligation, and limited options leave him with one rule: endure. He believes discipline is a tool, something external he can master and leave behind once his training is complete. He is wrong. The academy does not simply train bodies—it reshapes awareness. Silence becomes instruction. Proximity becomes pressure. Choice erodes long before it is ever questioned. Elias draws the attention of Instructor Vale, a senior authority figure whose control relies not on punishment, but on restraint. Vale does not command often. He observes. He waits. He allows Elias to adjust himself—until obedience feels voluntary and resistance feels unnatural. As training intensifies, Elias finds himself isolated, refined, and increasingly dependent on the presence that once unsettled him. The line between discipline and desire begins to blur, forcing him to confront a dangerous question: is he being controlled, or is he choosing alignment? In a system designed to strip autonomy while calling it order, Elias must decide whether obedience is something done to him—or something he is willing to claim. Under Orders is a slow-burn psychological MM novel exploring power, conditioning, and the unsettling intimacy of control—where submission is not demanded, but learned.

Alice Vance doesn’t do handouts, and she certainly doesn’t do billionaires. A fiercely independent art curator struggling to open her own gallery, she lives by a simple rule: rely on no one. But when a mechanical error traps her in the private penthouse of Manhattan’s most ruthless tycoon, her carefully ordered life shatters in an instant. Sylvester Arlington, the formidable CEO of Arlington Global, doesn't believe in romance. Burned by his mother’s ruthless betrayal as a child, he views every human relationship as a transaction. Facing an emergency ultimatum from his late grandfather’s will—marry within three days or forfeit his multi-billion-dollar empire to a hostile board—Sylvester sees Alice not as a woman, but as the perfect solution. She has no corporate ties, no leverage, and no place in his world. The deal is straightforward: a one-year fake marriage, a five-million-dollar buyout to fund her gallery, and zero personal involvement. To protect her heart, Alice signs under one non-negotiable condition added in her own hand: You never touch me. Forced into a world of high-society galas, ruthless corporate warfare, and intense domestic proximity, their cold arrangement quickly turns volatile. Beneath Sylvester’s icy control lies a possessive, fiercely protective man who makes Alice’s pulse race—and behind Alice’s fiery sarcasm is a vulnerability that slowly cracks Sylvester’s formidable defenses. When high-stakes corporate sabotage threatens Arlington Global, a surprise medical diagnosis flips the dynamic entirely: Alice is carrying Sylvester's high-risk triplets. Suddenly, the fake marriage becomes a deadly serious battleground. As an obsessed rival stops at nothing to destroy Sylvester’s empire—including targeting Alice—Sylvester must confront the one truth his fortune can't buy: The ultimate empire isn't built in a boardroom, and the only term that matters is total surrender.

Andriette Flynn doesn't believe in playing by the rules. Labeled a troublemaker wherever she goes, she transfers to a new school expecting another fresh start. Instead, she stumbles upon the one secret that could bring down the school's golden boy, Student Council President Claude Moore. Now trapped between Claude, who will do anything to protect his reputation, and Dixon Morris, the only person bold enough to challenge him, Andriette becomes the center of a battle she never intended to join. With two powerful boys pulling her into a war she never asked for, Andriette discovers that some secrets can break hearts... and sometimes, the biggest rule breaker is the first to fall in love.

Arian Smith had one rule which was to keep his head down, work well as the president of the book club, and hold tight to the scholarship that gave him a second chance at life. But when he’s falsely accused of stealing funds from the school’s prestigious Book Club, the orphaned student is thrust into a scandal that threatens everything he’s worked for. Kael Palmer has everything including money, power, and a last name that opens doors. What he doesn’t have is the academic award that stands between him and his graduation. The Book Club was supposed to be his ticket out until Arian’s scandal threatened to shut it down. Desperate to graduate, Kael strikes a risky deal with Arian. “Clear Arian's name to get the best member award”. But as both boys dug deeper, they became closer to the forbidden. What will happen to them since they live in a world where love between boys is forbidden?

I never thought my last name would cost me my freedom. One scandal. One signature. And now I’m married to a man colder than the vows we exchanged. Koven Elrik Mavros doesn’t believe in love. He believes in control, contracts, and consequences. And I just happened to be the loophole he needed. But I’m not the kind of woman who bows. I bite back even when it hurts. Now, we’re trapped in a marriage meant to break us. But the more he pushes, the more I see the cracks in his armor. This was supposed to end in divorce. So why does it feel like everything's just beginning?