The Riddler

The evening wind and tranquility wiped away all the chaos that had been filling my mind for the preceding few days. It felt as though I had been granted a second opportunity at life, akin to that of a newborn kid. I'd always wanted to feel that way for so long, and that night was a very captivating time for me to begin with. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the breeze brush against my skin as I relived all the horrific events that had occurred. All the turmoil that seemed to escape reappeared in an instant. Tears rush down my cheeks as I feel my body shudder as a dreadful understanding dawns on me. It feels as if every second of my existence has been squandered, and as if the sense of despair and worry has taken over the little strand of sanity that exists for me as it pours through my veins and fills my spirit to the core. "You've got this. All you have to do is think that you can," I said to myself persuasively. "You can't, you just can't. You'll never be able to do it, and you'll have to live with the repercussions for the rest of your life," a familiar voice said. My senses begin to be overpowered by numbness. And with that, I realized I could not go away. The reality that this is my fate hits me like a ton of bricks. As I stretched out to wipe away all my tears, I felt thick moisture on my fingers and was terrified to find blood instead of tears. I felt as if my world was spinning before I could even scream. Then, all of a sudden, darkness crept inside me. And eventually sends me to oblivion.

In the Kingdom of Avelune, no one dies without warning. Every soul is born beneath a glowing number, counting down the exact day death will come. Elara Veyne has no number at all. She's spent her life feared for it, until she locks eyes with a stranger in the rain who shouldn't be standing at all. His number reads zero. He's breathing anyway. And when he looks at her, it isn't with fear. It's with recognition. His name is Kael Draven. The kingdom calls him the Black Villain, a man rumored to have killed thousands and to be impossible to kill himself. He tells her she's late, as if she was always meant to arrive. He knows her name before she speaks it. Details about her life no stranger could know. Every instinct tells Elara to run. But Kael keeps finding her. Keeps saving her from dangers he predicts before they happen. And the longer she stays near him, the more the world unravels: a woman who dies and wakes the next morning with no memory of it, a painting centuries old bearing both their faces exactly as they look now, dreams of a golden room she's certain she's never seen and somehow knows by heart. Piece by piece, the truth surfaces. Elara has lived this life before. Died in it, over and over, in ways she cannot remember and Kael cannot forget. Behind his violence is a man who has spent three centuries choosing to love her again, every time the world takes her from him. Now something ancient is waking, and it has decided they are both mistakes to correct. Elara is the reason the world keeps breaking. Stopping it might mean losing the one person who has never let her go.

I quit and dipped. City threw a parade. Only Jenna Blake—my oh-so-gifted junior who claimed she could "see through killers' eyes"—lost it. At her celebration banquet, she went full drama queen: "I owe everything to Kate Mercer. Please, bring her back!" I laughed. Cold. Not happening. Last time around, I was the hotshot detective. But every clue I found? She dropped it first like she read my mind. People started saying I was washed. So I went all in—three months, no sleep, cracked a massive trafficking ring. Led the raid myself. She beat me there. Again. Place was cleaned out. Boom. She's the city's golden girl. I'm the clown with no game. Pressure got ugly. My head snapped. I died chasing the last scumbag. Then—bam. I woke up. Same day. Raid morning. Round two.

Have you experienced role changes in your life? Started from the one doing the job and ended being the job itself. If not, you should be grateful, because this role changes are happening to Selina Maya Hayes. A renown assassin, from Black Circle who owns a reputation that every target that being assigned to her are guaranteed to be eliminated. As if receiving sudden message that her father dead isn’t enough Selina’s has changed from the one who eliminated targets into a target that is required to be eliminated. Will she escape this dream like story or she end in the afterlife?

She had gotten used to being alone, being hidden from the world, but then he came out of nowhere and nothing was the same anymore. He was the first, to let his gaze linger on her, longer than necessary. She tried to ignore him, as much as possible, but he seemed to be everywhere, she was, making it hard, For her. He claimed her as his Partnef in Crime, before she could utter the word, ' no.'

Twelve years ago, Detective Myra Black lost her brother to a murder the police never solved. Now, she wears the badge — not for justice, but for vengeance. When a high-profile case lands her face-to-face with Raffaele Moretti, a cold, calculating Mafia boss with secrets buried deeper than graves, everything she's built starts to unravel. He’s dangerous, untouchable, and frustratingly calm... and worst of all, he might be the key to her brother’s death. But the more Myra digs, the more the truth turns to smoke. And the more Raffaele protects her — with his dark past and darker loyalty — the more she questions whether she’s hunting a killer… or falling for one. In a city where truth is currency and lies are survival, can a woman sworn to the law trust the heart of a man who lives in the shadows?