Chained Up

Di hari ulang tahun pernikahan kami, aku membersihkan rumah dan menemukan sebuah album foto. Ternyata, setiap tahun di hari ini, suamiku selalu mengambil foto pernikahan bersama cinta sejatinya. Dari usia 40 hingga 60 tahun, dari rambut hitam hingga beruban, selama dua puluh tahun dia tidak pernah absen. Di balik setiap foto ada tulisan tangan suamiku: "Cinta abadi selamanya." Jika yang dia cintai bukan aku, aku tidak perlu lagi mencucikan bajunya, memasak untuknya, mengurus anak, hingga merawat cucu. Setengah hidupku telah kujalani dengan sia-sia, tetapi tidak ada kata terlambat untuk berubah sekarang.

In college, Elara Hayes was invisible, a quiet wallflower, mocked and overlooked. One drunken night, she made the mistake of sleeping with the golden boy, Leonard Shaw. By morning, he denied it, mocked her, and turned the entire campus against her. She left, broken and disgraced. Years later, Elara is no longer the girl he humiliated. She's now the face behind a rising fashion empire, cloaked in elegance, success, and unshakable poise. When fate brings Leonard back into her life at a prestigious award ceremony, he doesn't recognize the woman he once destroyed. But she remembers everything. And this time, she’s not here to be ignored, she’s here to rewrite the story. On her terms.

In the midst of a bustling metropolis, Sumire, a diligent and determined orphan with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, is engrossed in her studies while seated on a park bench under the radiant rays of the summer sun. It is here that she met a five-year-old boy, who unbeknownst to her, will change the course of her destiny. Mort, her fated mate, is an enigmatic vampire whose heart is captured at the very first glimpse of Sumire. Little does she realize that a world of supernatural beings surrounds her, as Mort's obssesion and desire for her sets into motion a series of events that will forever alter her life's trajectory. Their initial meeting serves as the threshold to an unknown realm, one inhabited by lurking monsters whose predatory instincts unveil a perilous threat. On a fateful night, beneath the crimson shroud of intimacy, that Mort awakens Sumire's dormant memories and primal thirst for blood. This awakening occurs whilst their enemies lurk menacingly outside their bedroom door, launching an unsuspecting assault on the bounty placed upon her head. How will Sumire navigate this newfound reality, where the tales of mere mortals pale in comparison? Will she be able to unravel the enigma of her own existence before it engulfs her?

She chased a rich man for revenge. She collided with a mafia king instead. Ophelia Barclay has spent her entire life playing by the rules of a family that never wanted her. Now, after a humiliating betrayal by her fiancé and stepsister days before her wedding, she’s done playing nice. Revenge is the only thing on her mind, and she knows exactly how she’ll get it: find a rich, powerful man who can elevate her beyond the Barclays’ reach, and leave them choking on the dust of her success. First-class flights become her hunting ground. But when she meets Ludwig Gallo, a man whose presence steals the very air from her lungs, her plans unravel before they even begin. He's everything she’s been looking for: dangerous, devastatingly handsome, and so wealthy it hurts to breathe near him. The problem? He doesn’t even glance her way. Humiliated and desperate, Ophelia thinks she’s lost everything… until fate throws her right into Ludwig’s world. Tracking a lost necklace, her most treasured possession, she finds herself sneaking into the heavily guarded Gallo estate, only to be captured by the mafia king himself. Mistaken for a spy, imprisoned in enemy territory, Ophelia’s survival instincts kick in. When Ludwig proposes a deal to pretend to be his girlfriend to silence rumours that have driven his mother into depression, Ophelia sees an opportunity. She’ll play the doting lover, smile for the cameras, win the favour of one of the most feared families in the underworld… and use Ludwig's wealth and power to destroy everyone who wronged her. But Ophelia didn’t plan on Ludwig being more than just a cold-blooded king. Beneath his ruthless exterior, she finds a man haunted by a violent past.

Loraine Winehouse is a married woman, but she’s struggling to keep her own husband to herself. Jack Winehouse is every woman’s dream, but the ring on his finger keeps him chained to a life he’s not sure he wants. He loves women, but duty comes first—and that includes Loraine. But what happens when the air suddenly shifts, and Loraine becomes the very woman he can’t stop craving? Will Jack finally see her as his wife? Or will Loraine have to fight for their marriage the only way she knows how... by seducing her own billionaire husband?

My name is Salem Harpen. I'm eighteen years old. And I am the last member of my pack. The day I was born, my pack was secretly attacked, and many of them were killed. My grandmother was lucky enough to escape with me into the depths of the forest. For eighteen years, my grandmother and I have been dwelling secretly in the forest. Old age had soon taken over her, and she was not strong anymore. The day she was taking her last breath She made me make a promise to never leave our secret place. One day, I had to. There was no more prey to hunt, and I was slowly dying of hunger. I had to leave our secret place to survive. Seeing the outside world of the forest for the first time, I was scared. I swiftly searched for enough food to return to my safe place, but unexpectedly, I was captured by a pack of wolves for hunting on their land without any permission. As someone new to the outside world, I was clueless about such a rule. They chained me up and carried me away to be punished by their alpha. I cried. Was I the end of my entire pack?

Ethan Hayes and I grew up together, but we ended up resenting each other for a lifetime. He blamed me for taking matters into my own hands, forcing his memories back, and causing his true love to jump off a building. I blamed him for going back on his word. He promised to love me forever, but after losing his memory, he fell for someone else. In the early stages of our ten-year marriage, we were as cold as strangers who knew each other too well. When I got diagnosed with ALS, everyone in town urged him to divorce me. He only carried me to a chapel, knelt among the burning candles for an entire day and night, and prayed for a miracle. On my deathbed, he held me through the night, his forehead against my cheek. "I've done my duty to you in this life," he whispered. "If there's a next one, I hope you don't make me remember. Just let me be with her." Tears slid down my face. I finally got it. I shouldn't have chained him down with our teenage love, dragging him through a whole life. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day I found Ethan. This time, I chose to let him be with his true love instead of waking his memories.

Anaya Grace Santillan was a woman deprived of a complete family. Her mother died when she was twelve years old, and her father quickly remarried. She learned early to work hard to survive and finance her college education. She thought her suffering at the hands of her stepmother and father would end after graduation, but she was wrong. After finishing her studies, her father forced her into a marriage with a man she didn't love to settle his and her stepmother's debts. But what if, on her wedding day, she chose instead the man who arrived last at the hotel and pulled him before the altar? Before the man could speak, she demanded he sign the marriage contract so she could escape her torment. Aurelius Kael Quinn Gutierrez, the only child of the Gutierrez family—Asia's wealthiest and most prominent business magnates—owns various companies and will inherit his parents' empire. He never expected to be powerless against the woman who insisted on marrying him, despite her family problems. Nevertheless, he's prepared to be her bodyguard, sugar daddy, and even stalker to ensure her safety. But what if, due to a misunderstanding, she hides their child from him? "Will love and effort be enough when the heart dictates the person you choose?" author by Jelly-Gel

I wanted to break away from her, be free... but why did she step on all my plans? Why did she want to keep me chained to her? She made me numb for the longest time until I met Dominic Black. He made a fire spark in my empty chest. He made me feel things, things I'd never felt before. I wanted to have him... except, he would now be my new stepbrother. Just another thing my mother took from me.

Bullied. Broke. Betrayed. 20-year-old Ethan Reyes is at rock bottom—until a mysterious A.I. system grants him unimaginable wealth and power. With the Trillionaire System, he’ll rise from a forgotten nobody to the richest man in the country. Those who mocked him will kneel. Those who betrayed him will pay. But as enemies emerge and loyalties are tested, Ethan learns that money isn’t everything—love, loyalty, and revenge are priceless.