Novel & Cerita Big Brain Time

Not even halfway through the Thanksgiving holidays, my boss, Bill Griffin, calls me back to work. He demands I cold-call customers for sales and promises generous overtime pay. Eager to give my son a better learning environment, I seize every chance to earn more money and agree without hesitation. But once the holiday ends, the management posts a notice. "An employee has generated an excessive phone bill working overtime during the Thanksgiving holidays and incurred company losses. Please reimburse the phone bill immediately." Bill, whom I had worked alongside since graduating from college, swiftly turns on me. "Some people in their 30s are about to be laid off. Having a job at all is a blessing, yet they don't know how to appreciate the opportunities the company gives them." Refusing to bow to the absurd demands and open threats, I hand in my resignation that very same day. A company that discards its employees the moment the job is done isn't worth a second of my time. They will learn the hard way who holds the leverage.

"Sign this. We're done." Aaliyah Monroe thought she’d found love with a rising billionaire, Henry Smith—until he blindsided her with divorce papers on their fourth anniversary, revealing her twin sister, Aurora, as his true love. Betrayed and cast out, Aaliyah drowns her fury in a nightclub, where she meets Orrin Hayes, a billionaire mogul who falls for her instantly. He offers her a deal– “Aaliyah, I’m smitten. You’re fire, and I want to burn. Marry me.” She froze as her heart tripped. “What?” “Not for love, not yet,” he said with his eyes glinting. “A deal. You want revenge on Henry and Aurora? I’ve got the power to crush them. Marry me, and I’m yours—my money, my connections, my everything. We’ll make them beg.” She stared, the whiskey clouded her head but not her judgment. The idea was insane, but it lit a spark. Henry’s face on that stage and Aurora’s smirk—they deserved to fall. And Orrin? He was a weapon, wrapped in charm and danger. “You’re serious?” she asked, testing him. “Dead serious.” He took her hand into his, gently. “I’m half in love with you already. Say yes, and we’ll shake the world.” She laughed, the sound was shaky but real. “You’re crazy. But… okay. Yes.” Aaliyah agreed. But there was one thing she was yet to inform this charming yet mischievous Billionaire suggesting marriage to her– she's carrying her ex husband’s child. Will she successfully use him to climb the ladder and get her revenge despite having a child for her ex-husband? Or will a second chance in love surface?

I'm down with a 104-degree fever, so I want to apply for sick leave. But my wife, Nadine Sullivan's assistant, Terrence Lowell, denies my leave and forces me to take on an overtime shift. "Ms. Sullivan has gone on a trip to a tropical island with her 18th lover. So, I'm the one calling the shots at the company for the time being. "You're not allowed to leave the company without my permission." Terrence makes my life difficult on purpose just so he can kiss up to Nadine. That's how he becomes her 19th lover. Unwilling to accept this fact, I call Nadine on the spot. But she says to me coldly, "Terrence's word is good as mine. It's just an overtime shift; what else can happen to you? You're so dramatic, Barry." Disappointment surges into my heart at that moment. "Let's get a divorce." Nadine just smiles mockingly. "Do you even have the guts to divorce me, Barry Thorpe? All you do is cause trouble nowadays! Don't forget that you still need me to pay for your mom's hospital bills every month!" As soon as the call is over, Terrence starts a poll in the company's group chat. "Barry has brought up divorce again. Do you think he'll go through with it or no?" Nadine quickly votes "no". But what she doesn't know is that I've already made all preparations to leave her for real.

On the night of our wedding, my husband told me he wanted to have a child with his teacher’s daughter. When I confronted him, he turned it back on me. “Teacher is seriously ill, and her only wish is to see three generations under one roof. My junior and I are just doing IVF. It’s not like anything is actually happening between us!” “Besides, you were also her student. How could you refuse to help fulfill her last wish?” However, the next day, when I went to visit our teacher with a fruit basket, I saw my husband and his junior locked in an embrace at the corner of the hallway. The moment was like a bolt of lightning. I turned and walked away. The following day, my husband sent me a text: [I’m going with her for the IVF. Let’s postpone the family gathering for a few days.] I did not reply. Instead, I went back to my hometown alone, visiting each of my relatives to personally apologize. Then, I went to a lawyer. “I’d like to sue my husband for bigamy.”

My husband, Landon Hart, lost a truth-or-dare round, so he carries out the punishment by making out passionately with his secretary, Amelia Colton, in my car. They've gone so far as to leave stains of their coupling on my son's booster seat. After Amelia sends me the video clip of them making out, I forward it to Landon right away. "Are you about to file for bankruptcy, Mr. Hart? What, are you only capable of cheating on me in my car?" Landon sends me an audio message. His tone carries a hint of satisfaction—clearly, he's done having his fun. "This is just a business alliance between us. Do you seriously think I'm your actual husband? It's just a dare! What, are you too prim and proper for games now?" I just chortle coldly in return. Well then, I'll make Landon understand that he should pay the price for doing something he's not supposed to do.

What was supposed to be a sacred mating ceremony, exploded into a blood-soaked nightmare for the daughter of the Head Warrior of Woodcrest pack. Before Anna's horrified eyes, future Alpha Axeel, her fated mate, was brutally butchered. The killer: Alpha Atticus of the Moon Howlers, an obsessed admirer whose twisted pursuit culminated in a chilling vow; she belonged to him alone. Condemned to eighteen years in a merciless Council prison, Atticus vanished, yet his dark promise haunted her. Devastated and emotionally walled off, Anna abandoned the werewolf world, fleeing Woodcrest and her loved ones for the unknown. But fate had darker plans. Four subsequent fated mates vanished without a trace during her desolate travels. Convinced she was cursed, a harbinger of doom, Anna swore off love forever, resigned to loneliness. Then, the strange began. Men actively avoided her, yet unexplained prosperity blossomed. She became a solitary queen in a sprawling mansion. But chilling questions lingered: Who shared her bed in the darkness? Who protected and provided for her meticulously? And most terrifyingly, as her body began to change, how would she explain the birth of her pup to everyone?...

For ten years, I was a peace offering to Alpha Kane. And he chose his adopted sister, Fiona, over me 77 times. He planned my birthday around her tastes. At the Hunter’s Moon festival, she stood beside him in the Luna’s ceremonial gown. My gown. Even on our mating night, he left me. Fiona faked a panic attack, claiming her wolf was losing control. He spent the night coddling her. I forgave him the first 76 times. Because he’d saved my life once, even if he didn’t remember. But when I was kidnapped, he had to choose: trade the pack's sacred artifact for my life, or stay with Fiona and her latest self-made drama. He chose her. The kidnappers injected me with a lethal dose of wolfsbane. I felt it tearing my wolf apart, devouring my life force from the inside out. The 77th time. I was finally ready to give up. But I was saved. By Drake, Alpha of the Nightfall Pack. The one who'd been watching over me for fifteen years.. That’s when I learned the truth. I’d been thanking the wrong man. The one who saved me was always Drake. Never Kane. So I went back. I filed to sever our mate bond with the Elders. In four days, I'll be free. And Kane can be with his precious Fiona forever. So why, now that it’s all over, is he on his knees, begging for me back and crying that he always loved me?

In the seventh year of my relationship with Ruby Carrington, she picks me up from work in the heavy downpour one evening. When I open the door to the front passenger seat, I notice a puddle of water on the seat. A strand of short hair is there as well. Ruby grips the steering wheel without even looking at me. "I just dropped off an intern from the project department at his home. He didn't bring an umbrella with him, so he was drenched." As I sit on the damp seat, I feel my heart slowly going cold as well. "Ruby, you knew very well that I'm severely germaphobic." Ruby just chortles in response. Her tone is filled with impatience and exhaustion. "It's just a seat, isn't it? He's younger and funnier than you, not to mention he's also more handsome than you even when he's drenched in the rain. "I tried having a relationship with him. Being with him is definitely a lot more interesting than with you. But I'll still marry you, though. As long as you pretend not to know anything about my affair, we can keep this relationship going." Rain continues streaking down the window outside, and yet, I find the air inside the car even more suffocating than the rain itself.

My mother-in-law, Emma Grant, and I return to the country in advance during Christmas Eve. We originally plan on giving our respective husbands a huge surprise by showing up at Grant Manor. But the moment we arrive at the front door, we find out that the entire manor is painted in pink. A rich lady quickly blocks our way. "This is a private Christmas Eve party, you know! Not anyone is allowed entry! Besides, I don't recall having invited you here! Get lost now!" Emma frowns at her. "What a joke! Why do I need your permission to come here?" The lady shoots Emma a dark smirk in return. "Do you have any idea who the owner of this manor is? It belongs to my husband, Edward Grant! "In fact, Edward's the one who specifically threw this party just for me! Since you're dressed like a slut at this age, that just means you're planning to use this opportunity to seduce my darling husband!" My mind begins buzzing loudly. Isn't Edward Grant my father-in-law, who married into the Grant family as a live-in son-in-law? How could he be this lady's husband instead? Then, the lady catches sight of my phone's lock screen, which is my wedding portrait with my husband, Caleb Grant. She roars, "Oh, I see! You two are a pair of shameless minxes! It seems you've found out that my adoptive son, Caleb, is about to get engaged with my daughter tonight! That's why you're here to cause chaos, right?" Emma and I swap glances with each other in confusion. It turns out that both Edward and Caleb have been cheating on us this whole time. But then again, these two men are living off the Grant family! What makes them think they have the right to have side chicks on their own?

The ninety-ninth time my mate, Valeria, the pack's Alpha Female, blocked our mind-link, I dragged myself, ravaged by Soul-Decay, into the Hall of Covenants. The cold marble steps bit at my bare feet, each one sending a lancing pain through my chest. In the final stages of Soul-Decay, I'd lost my healing abilities. Even the simple act of walking was agony. "I'm here to request a severance of my mate bond." The covenant official took in my pale, gaunt frame, his gaze softening with pity. "Sir," he asked quietly, "don't you have a pack to support you?" I've been invisible to my parents ever since my father brought home my adoptive brother, Silas, when I was ten. And while Valeria was my mate, it was in name only. We had never held a public marking ceremony. She rarely brought me to pack gatherings. Most of the pack wouldn't even recognize me. I wiped away the blood welling at the corner of my mouth. "That doesn't matter anymore," I told the official. "A dying wolf needs no pack."