Al Kaline Rookie Card

“You’re a blank, John. A hollow shell. Do you really think I’d tie the future of the Card family to a man who can’t even manifest a drop of instinct?” Caleb’s voice was like a wire garrote, tightening around John’s throat. “Carl is the heir. You’re just the mistake we kept in the basement.” John Mark was the Syndicate’s golden prince—until his power never came. In a world where the Hale Mafia rules through raw, predatory instinct, being a "blank" is a death sentence. When his biological brother, Carl Cole, returns to claim his birthright, John isn't just pushed aside; he’s erased. His brothers look at him with loathing, his father treats him like a stain on the ledger, and his fiancé, Caleb Card, discards him for the new, powered heir. But the city is rotting. The Abyss King, Morcant, demands a soul to keep the shadows at bay. With nothing left to lose and fifteen days to live, John signs the Sacrifice Certificate in secret. He’ll give his life to save the family that hates him, paying back his debts in blood. He dons a red coat and a porcelain mask, becoming the nameless "Red Savior" the city worships—while by day, he is the "useless" son the Hales kick into the dirt. As the clock ticks toward the final jump, John discovers his power didn't vanish—it was stolen. Now, trapped in a house of vipers, John must decide: Does he reveal the truth and watch his family’s world burn, or does he leap into the dark to save the monsters who broke him? The Abyss is hungry. And the man they called a failure is the only one who can feed it.

In the underground casino, my ex-fiancé Don Dante Castellano threw the card in my face. His arm was around Sabrina—his first love—and his eyes were ice as they shoved me toward the table. "Your father owed mine a life. The thing in your belly isn't mine." He pressed the card flat against my cheek. "The daughter pays the father's debt. Tonight you're the living chip on that table." The paternity test was fake. The child was his. I knew. He didn't believe me. That night, with a gun pointed at my head, I took off all my clothes in front of everyone. Two years passed. Two years later, in Vegas, he saw me again. I was in a red silk dress with a gold chain around my neck, the other end of the chain held by a yellow-toothed gambler. "This bitch is cheap. Bark for me, and all these chips are yours." I picked up the chips, practiced. "Woof. Woof." Sabrina pressed her face into his chest, covering her nose. "Dante. This is disgusting. Let's go." He didn't go. The veins rose along his temple. He was staring at the bruises on my knees. Then he kicked the gambler across the room. He bent down and took hold of my chin. Hard. "Sienna. Money, and you'll do anything at all?" He was close enough that I could smell him. Soap. Two years, and still the same soap. I closed my eyes, opened them, pulled my mouth into a smile for him. "That's right, boss. Pay up and I'll cooperate with whatever position you want. Care to buy a round?"

Great career, decent looks, at least twenty bucks in his wallet, debit card stacked with zeros, but good fortune had the opposite effect when it came to relationship issues. That's the gist of what Thomas Adam feels. Heartbreak from being left at the altar lingers and makes him distrust love. For him, being alone is no big deal. His life doesn't encounter complications either. His job skyrocketed like a rocket. Until Olive came along. She disrupted his straight path like a highway. It left him helpless and willing to take colorful detours just for Olive. But one question haunts him, "Will Olive leave him? Like what Diana did a dozen years ago?"

The next day, I woke to the sound of an angry voice filling the room. My heart sank as I struggled awake. With my sleepy eyes, I see him pacing the room, muttering under his breath. He was all dressed up and by the look of his expression, he wasn’t in a calm state. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he growled, slamming something against the wall. I sat up, panicked. “What’s wrong?” I questioned but he said no words to me. Walking towards him, just as I was about to touch him, he turned to me, his eyes blazing with fury. “You used me,” he spat. “What?” He pointed to my neck, where the faint scare of the mating mark of I and Sabastiam still showed. “You have a mate. You’re married, and you didn’t think to mention that before dragging me into this?” What? “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? I don’t get involved with mated wolves.” “I’ll pay you,” I blurted out, “Whatever you want… mention any amount.” I grabbed my purse and brought out my black card, stretching my hands towards him. “Here. Take this.” I said. “You think this is about money?” “Stop being dramatic. Have this card. Just forget about everything. This card will go a long way.” “Here.” I added. Coldly, he stepped closer, glaring directly at my eyes as shivers ran down my spine. He took another step forward and I took another backwards, his eyes still locked in mine. It happened twice. Reaching an inch from me, his cold husky voice broke the silence. “This isn’t about money.” With that, he stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

After reuniting with my birth family, my wealthy biological father tossed me a black card and laid down one rule: I could spend as much as I wanted, but I was never to call him Dad—that title belonged only to his adoptive daughter. Clutching the black card, I cautiously bought myself a two-dollar-fifty ice cream cone. Just as I was happily licking the sweet ice cream, the adoptive daughter dropped to her knees before me. "Alice, are you mocking me because I can't even afford something that costs two-fifty in the future?" My brother immediately slapped me twice. "You have money now, but you can't split love. Natalie is my one and only sister!" Then my father splashed boiling water onto my face. "No disgraceful wretch deserves to be a Gervais." To punish me, they sent me off to Rimala, forced to work as a child laborer in the mines. Ten years later, I walked into a grand banquet hall with an ice cream in hand and came face-to-face with my brother, Ansel Gervais, dressed in a hand-tailored suit. "All these years and you're still a disgrace," he sneered, but I couldn't be bothered to argue. "Let go. My dad's waiting for me—and if I'm any later, the ice cream's going to melt." He looked down at me with contempt. "Dad? Who gave you permission to call him that? Natalie will forever be the only Gervais girl—no one can take that away from her!" I rolled my eyes. Who said I was talking about that cheap excuse for a father? I was talking about my adoptive father—the oil tycoon with an incurable sweet tooth. I was in a hurry to let him taste some ice cream.

This is the adventure of a boy who has never set foot off the mountains where he and his mother have lived for the past ten years. Accompany Dorin, a young mage brought up alone in their mountain home. He has always been an obedient son until his mom flatly refused to let him travel to a place called 'University' to attend a so-called 'Photography Camp' he read from a flyer in one of her books. Now, filled with the thrill of adventure (and the knowledge that his mom would probably skin him alive), he embarks on a journey towards unknown lands to learn the magic of 'Photography' and all the hidden wonders in 'University' where he would find people, objects and events that would go beyond his wildest imagination. Especially since there are good reasons why her mother is trying desperately to hide him from the world.

I logged into my girlfriend's account to sell her DSLR camera on a secondhand marketplace. The transaction went through fine. The next morning, the messages started showing up, and they were nothing I was ever meant to see. "Great shots this time. What's the rate for the outfit in the middle?" That’s when it hit me–the camera's memory card had not been wiped. However, the photos inside… were nothing I had ever seen before. Revealing shots. Intimate poses. Not meant for me. I forced myself to stay calm and tried to explain the situation to the buyer. His reply stopped me cold. "Drop the act. It’s not like this is the first time I've bought from you."

I won eight million overnight. The first thing I did was rush to the hospital to pay for my son's surgery and treatment. That was when my phone rang. Ian, a coworker from the company, called, "Something urgent came up! You need to get back here right this instant!" My wife, Mara, took the bank card from my hand, and said with an gentle and understanding voice, "You can give me the PIN. I'll take care of our son's hospital bills. Go. Work is important. Don't worry about us." In my previous life, I didn't hesitate one bit. I trusted her completely and hurried back to the office. My son never made it into surgery. Instead, the police came for me. It turned out that Mara and Ian had conspired together to frame me, pinning the crime of embezzling company funds on me. The very money Ian had stolen. With no money for treatment, my son died in the hospital. My parents, shattered by grief, suffered fatal heart attacks one after the other. And I, rotting in prison, ended my life in despair. After my death, my soul drifted to the holiday villas of Moldeves, where Mara was on vacation. I heard her laughing as she spoke to Ian, "That idiot won a fortune and wasted it on that useless sick kid. He dragged me into a miserable life." Laughing even harder, she added, "Now, their whole family is dead, and we get to enjoy wealth for the rest of our lives. Consider it compensation from that idiot! Haha!" Then, I opened my eyes. I was back in the hospital corridor, at the exact moment my wife reached out and took the bank card from me. This time, I still told her the PIN.

Every action generates a reaction, every act has its consequence regardless of whether it is good or bad. What goes around comes around and there you go. Nothing was planned and this careless act had a consequence that hit everyone hard. She didn't know what to do and he didn't want someone she didn't love, but think about that before anything else. Both put up with each other, one hates the other, for thinking that one destroyed the other's life. They don't know how to control themselves, she gets hurt and he doesn't know how to go back, maybe it's too late or maybe not. There is still hope, hope that unites them forever and ever.

Aurora just wanted a second chance at life. Raised in the system with no real childhood, she knew what it meant to survive. It was not surprise that when the opportunity came, Aurora took it. One way ticket, and there was no looking back. Kyram Vladimir knew who she was the moment he saw that mark on the back of neck. Then Aurora became the sharpest card in his deck. Under him, she was hidden from the world and most importantly protected from anyone willing to take her. With Kyram's past tangled in Aurora's future, and the Vladimir bloodline tightening around her throat, the question isn't whether she can escape them. Can she survive Kyram’s fate?