Game On: Tempting Twenty-eight

My best friend, Sydney Cox, is a troublemaker by nature. She thinks everyone around her owes her a good life. During summer break, she insisted on working in a factory. I was worried that she might get tricked, so I let her work in my family's factory out of the kindness of my own heart. In fact, I even gave her the easiest position with the lightest work. But I didn't expect her to think that her salary was lower than that of the veteran employees in the factory, leading to her setting fire to my neighborhood. The blaze was far too strong. Even though the firefighters came as soon as possible, my family and I still ended up dying in the fire. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day before Sydney's first day in a factory.

Lila is a struggling artist living in New York City who's just been commissioned to create a piece of art for a billionaire's private collection. When she meets the mysterious and charming billionaire, Alexander, she's immediately drawn to him, despite his reputation for being aloof and unapproachable. As Lila works on the project, she discovers that Alexander has a darker side, one that he tries to keep hidden from the public eye. He's been involved in some shady dealings, and Lila soon finds herself caught up in a dangerous game of power and lust. Despite her reservations, Lila can't resist Alexander's magnetic pull. They engage in a torrid affair, but the more she gets to know him, the more she realizes that there's something sinister about him. As their relationship deepens, Lila discovers that Alexander is involved in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with a rival billionaire. The stakes are high, and the tension is palpable as they navigate their way through the dangerous world of high finance and cutthroat business deals.

My wife, Maeve Sinclair, has a weird fetish. She loves roleplaying as other characters. In her scripts, I'm always the OG husband who gets abandoned by the heartless wife. Today, Maeve will be the domineering CEO who's fallen in love with her assistant. Tomorrow, she will be the professor who has the hots for her student. Every time, she will make me sign a divorce agreement. The next day, she will laugh while ripping it apart. "Darling, this is just a game." But when my dad gets into a car accident and requires 200 thousand dollars just to undergo a life-saving surgery, Maeve is playing the role of a broke woman. "I'm a penniless woman who's gone broke, Neal. I don't have any money for your dad's surgery at all." I can only watch as my dad breathes his last on the sickbed. On the day of his funeral, Maeve approaches me with a young and handsome university student clinging to her side. "Darling, I've fallen in love with my student. Let's get a divorce." Then, she pulls out a document from her briefcase and passes it to me. This time, I refuse to wait for her to rip it apart.

Aku harus melakukan sesuatu! Aku tidak mau mati untuk kedua kalinya! Gadis-gadis ini sangatlah berbahaya! "Se-sebenarnya aku sudah memiliki kekasih." Tolong kalian percaya kebohongan ini! "Aku merasa kau tengah berbohong saat ini." "Benar! Aku meragukan ucapanmu kau tahu?" "Apa... kau yakin?" Mereka semua menatapku dengan tatapan tak percaya. "Jika... kalian tak percaya akan aku mengenalkannya pada kalian..." Apa yang aku katakan? Siapa gadis yang akan aku kenalkan bodoh! Bagaimana kalau mereka ingin menemuinya! "Baiklah, aku tidak sabar untuk berkenalan dengannya."

The night of our engagement party, I found my best friend playing a dangerous game with my fiancé. The casino on our family's private yacht was where I found them. Clara was sitting on the lap of my fiancé, Killian, the Falcone family heir. Killian held a sharp family dagger, its tip snagging the thin strap of her dress. The blade traced a path along her collarbone. The slightest pressure would snap the silk. It was a dangerous, intimate scene. I stepped forward with a frown, but Killian just scoffed. "It's just a little game to liven things up, Principessa. Don't be so tense." Clara's eyes narrowed, her voice dripping with false sweetness. "We're just playing a traditional family game. The knife game. You don't mind, do you, sweetie?" I was about to speak, but Killian's expression hardened. "We just got engaged and you're already trying to control me?" So I said nothing. I just drew my custom pistol from its holster on my thigh. "So, it's a game," I said. "Then let's play for something real."

I transmigrated into a dating-sim otome game where I was supposed to romance a soft, fragile male lead. I had finally pushed him onto the bed and was just about to make my move when the long-missing system finally popped back online. [Host, I sent you to the wrong game. This is a horror game.] [The man you’re bullying right now is the horror game final boss.] I lifted my head and met a pair of blood-red eyes staring straight at me. My smile froze. “Um… you look a little tired. Maybe we should… continue this another day?” He smiled back, calm and terrifying. “I’m not tired. Go on.”

She walked away from her cold, loveless marriage... only to discover she carried the one thing they would stop at nothing to claim. Alina Hart never imagined her life would become bound to the Vaughn dynasty, Atheria’s most powerful family, where legacy mattered more than love. To the Vaughn's, she was simply the bride chosen for Sebastian, a match arranged for convenience. And to Sebastian Vaughn himself, she was a responsibility he accepted out of duty, not desire. Until one night changed everything. The only night he ever dropped his guard, and the only night she believed they had a future. By morning, he called it a mistake. By evening, a betrayal had a name: Natasha Fairfax, the socialite his mother loved, ready to take the place Alina never really had. Alina left, vanishing into the town of Marlowe. She soon learned she hadn't just left a husband; she was pregnant with the heir the Vaughn's would one day come for. Six years later, she returns. She is no longer the discarded wife, but a strong woman with her own power, her own name... and a secret that could destroy their empire. The Vaughn's want their legacy. Sebastian wants the truth. Natasha still wants her place. Alina wants only one thing: to protect what is hers. Their dynasty demanded an heir... she became their reckoning.

My mate’s childhood sweetheart was throwing a tantrum again, so Henry wanted to break our mate bond once more. Though I felt despair, I still looked calmly at him as I said, “This is the eighth time you’ve broken our bond.” His eyes were full of guilt and helplessness as he gently cupped my face, pleading softly. “Nicole, you know I have no choice. Alice threatened to take her own life with a silver dagger again. I grew up with her. She’s like a sister to me. I can’t just leave her alone. “My love, don’t worry. I swear, once I’ve cheered her up, we’ll immediately re-establish our mate bond.” I stayed silent. He’d made this promise to me countless times, so much that we had formed a mate bond and broken it eight times. To the werewolf pack, a mate bond was sacred. But in his eyes, it was nothing. “Please, my love.” As he took out the potion to sever our bond, I quietly clenched my fists. “Okay.” After all, there won’t be a next time.

Sa mundo ng mga makapangyarihan, ang pag-ibig ay hindi isang pagpipilian—ito'y isang kasunduan. Para kay Klarise Olive, isang mailap at napakagandang ballerina sa Paris, at kay Louie Ray, isang mapagmataas at aroganteng billionaire cosmetic surgeon, ang kasal ay isang tanikalang pilit isinuklob sa kanila. Isang kulungang hindi nila ginusto. Isang sumpaang hindi nila pinili. Isang umaga, dinala sila ng kanilang mga magulang sa isang seremonyang inakala nilang isang simpleng pagtitipon—hindi nila alam, sila pala ang mga bida sa isang kasalang hindi nila alam na kanila. Sa puting bestida at tuxedo, natagpuan nila ang kanilang mga sarili sa harap ng altar, walang ibang pagpipilian kundi ang lumakad at bumigkas ng panatang hindi nagmula sa kanilang puso. At sa simula pa lamang, ang kanilang pagsasama ay puno ng tensyon at pangamba. Si Klarise, na buong buhay niyang inalay sa sining at kalayaan, ay ngayon nakagapos sa isang relasyong hindi niya ginusto. Si Louie, isang lalaking hindi kailanman naniwala sa kasal, ay napilitang pakasalan ang babaeng hindi niya hinangad. Ang digmaan ng mga titig, sagutan, at matitinding emosyon ay namayani sa kanilang pagsasama. Ngunit sa bawat pagtatalo, sa bawat sulyap na puno ng galit at pangungutya, isang pagnanais ng pag-unawa at pagmamahal ang unti-unting sumisilip sa kanilang mga puso. Galit nga ba talaga ang namamagitan sa kanila? O mayroon bang alon ng pagmamahal na higit pa sa lahat ng kasunduan ? O may isang damdaming mas malalim, mas totoo, at mas mahirap ipagkaila? Sa gitna ng kanilang magkaibang mundo at personalidad, magsisimula silang hanapin ang kabuluhan ng kanilang piniling kasunduan.

After three years of marriage, I finally got pregnant—my mafia husband treated me like his queen. Every day felt like heaven, until she came back—his first love, Eloise Rosenveil. On his birthday, after answering Eloise’s usual call, he turned to me and said softly, “Darling, you’ve been working so hard carrying our child. There’ll be too many people at the party—I don’t want you to get hurt.” But that day wasn’t just his birthday. It was our one-thousandth day of marriage. So I decided to surprise him anyway. I baked a mango cake and went to the party. Only to find him playing a kissing game with Eloise, surrounded by laughter and cheers. When he rushed to explain himself, Eloise, consumed by jealousy, pushed me—and I lost the baby. With the child gone, my heart died too. Since he had always loved his first love, I decided to grant his wish and walk away. But why… why did Lawrence lose his mind searching for me everywhere after I left?