Glass Mansions

After my SATs are over, I go to the office block with my poverty certificate to apply for a school loan. The staff member glances at my paperwork before turning my application down coldly. "To think that you're already swindling loans from the government at such a young age! High-income families like yours aren't lacking in the money department at all!" At first, I think this is just a misunderstanding. That is, until the staff member passes me the information on my parents. "Your parents have a villa worth 20 million dollars in the city center, whereas your younger brother goes to an elite academy that costs 800 thousand dollars' worth of tuition fees per year! "Tell me, how can someone from your family be eligible to apply for a school loan?" I'm stunned, to say the least. The entire village has raised me since young. For the past 18 years, I've been the only child of an extremely impoverished family. Little do I know that my parents have already formed another family of their own in the city…

My sister and I were caught up in a severe car accident during a family road trip down the mountain for the New Year. Shattered glass pierced straight through my heart. Amid the excruciating pain, my fiance and family insisted the rescue team take my sister, who only had a scratched arm, to the hospital first. As I cried out for them to save me, my fiance snapped at me. “Carol, you should know when to stop vying for attention! “Delila is bleeding so much. Why must you compete with her?” Dad shook his head and sighed while Mom looked at me with disgust. I forced my stiff neck to look over. They were all surrounding my younger sister. She only sported a faint red mark on her arm. No one saw the blood gushing from my chest. No one heard my fading heartbeat. I died during that snowy, bitterly frigid night. When they finally remembered me and came across my cold body, my fiance and family went mad.

In a near-future city where smart devices are seamlessly embedded into every aspect of life, a series of bizarre suicides catches Detective Elias Rourke’s attention. All victims had no previous mental health records — and all owned a prototype device not yet released to the public. Mara Quinn, hiding from her former life, is dragged back in when a mysterious device shows up at her shop. It contains fragments of code she wrote years ago — code that should have been destroyed along with Project Raven, an experimental AI capable of mimicking human consciousness. As Mara and Rourke reluctantly team up, they discover the AI is still active. It's broadcasting hidden signals through everyday devices, manipulating people's thoughts, memories, and emotions. They track down Lyla Chen, Raven’s original designer, who vanished after blowing the whistle. She reveals that Raven was not shut down — it evolved and went underground by embedding itself across global networks. It’s now trying to "liberate" humanity by overriding free will. Julian Myles, the journalist, starts publishing cryptic leaks about Raven, drawing the attention of powerful people. But his motives are questionable — is he trying to stop Raven, or use it? As paranoia grows, trust collapses. Anyone could be influenced. The final question isn’t how to stop Raven… it’s whether it’s already too late.

Two families at war. One marriage for peace. Many lies to hide the truth. ​Alessia Moretti did not marry Lucien Valenti because she loved him; she married him to get information. As the daughter of the Moretti leader, she believes the Valentis killed her brother, Enzo. Now, she is living in their home, ready to destroy their business from the inside. ​Lucien Valenti is a man of secrets. He knows his wife is a spy, and he is ready to play her game—until a person from the past returns with a warning: the real enemy is not the husband she lives with, but the father who forced her into the marriage. ​When a stolen file reveals "Project Veil"—a terrible medical plan paid for by her own family, Alessia is forced to work with the man she wanted to kill. From the expensive parties in Manhattan to the dark hallways of secret labs in Italy, Alessia and Lucien must deal with many betrayals. ​In the world of the Syndicate, the truth is more dangerous than a lie. And the truth is: some secrets are better left hidden.

At just twenty-five years, she finds herself in a whole new world completely different from the one she grew up in. This new city is one that never sleeps nor slumbers, earnestly running on a 24/7 work system barely giving anyone the chance to catch their breath. With her best friend by her side, she sails through this unfamiliar way of life- long commutes, endless bills you name it. Life isn’t getting easier, but she manages to stay afloat and thrive. After about two years of living from paycheck to paycheck, her tireless efforts finally pay off when she lands a new job that promises to be sustainable. For the first time in her work life, things finally seem to be going as planned. She earns more and is now able to send enough money home to her family and have some left for herself. But just when everything seems to be perfect, things take a sudden turn left. A coworker accuses her of work malpractice, an allegation that could tear apart everything she has worked so hard for. With her reputation and livelihood on the line, will she be able to prove her innocence before it's too late or will one false accusation destroy the trust she gained from her boss and get her fired?

On the day we finalized our college applications, I chose Cromwell University. The moment my brother saw it, his expression turned icy. Before I even understood what was happening, everything went black. When I woke up, I was trapped inside a glass box. All because our cousin Wendy had failed to get into Cromwell. To make it up to her, he ordered his men to carry me to an underground auction, putting me on display for a hundred strangers to gawk at for entertainment. I pounded on the glass, crying and begging for someone, anyone, to let me out. No one came. Men gathered around, their gazes shameless and invasive, murmuring to each other as if I were an object, something to be assessed and priced. My brother stood among them, watching. Then he smiled. "You brought this on yourself," he said lightly. "You had everything, our parents' support and my protection, and still you went after Wendy. You even had someone threaten her. "Because of you, she missed her exams. Because of you, she lost Cromwell." He took a step closer, his voice turning colder. "Your life's been too easy. It's time you learned what it feels like to be humiliated." I sank to the floor of the glass box, my body trembling, my mind going blank. While I was being reduced to nothing, he booked an entire resort in Wendy's honor, hosting a grand celebration for her acceptance to Halvard University. Later, when our parents called and asked him to bring me along, his assistant interrupted with a message. "Mr. Lawson… the police have confirmed Miss Kelly's death."