Glass Lotus

My mother-in-law, Kylie McGowan, told me that she wanted to experience the life of the younger crowd, so I took her to my husband Jerome Callen's newly opened upscale bar for a quiet drink. I had just ordered her a signature cocktail when a woman from the booth across the aisle sauntered over, wine glass in hand. Her eyes flicked over the menu on our table, and she laughed mockingly. "Seriously? You ordered the cheapest drink on the menu? Did you bring this old lady here just to enjoy the free AC? People like you should stay in the gutter. This place isn't meant for penniless people!" I rose to my feet, holding back my temper. "We're paying for our drinks here. What does our drink choice have to do with you?" But she suddenly snapped, grabbed a half-finished beer bottle off a nearby table, and swung it at my head. "My husband's the owner of this bar! I could smash your skull in and still afford the damages! Get out, you pauper! Don't be an eyesore here!" I wiped the liquor off my face as my entire body shook with anger. Then I turned away, started my livestream, and spoke directly to my followers. "Look here, everyone! I'm going live to catch a cheater. Let's go explore my husband's other home."

Drina Federico was born with nothing and lost everything too early. Her parents were murdered, her home burned, and the truth was hidden by money and power. Weak, poor, and invisible, she grows up surviving on scraps in the shadows of Madrid, carrying only pain and a quiet hunger for payback. Dino Fazio is everything Drina is not. A cruel billionaire. A man who rules the city from behind polished glass and blood-soaked deals. To the world, he is invincible. In truth, he is the king of a criminal kingdom built on silence and sacrifice. When Drina steals information meant to expose him, she is caught and pulled into his world. Instead of killing her, Dino cages her. Sure, she is a threat. She is broken, frightened, and powerless, but she refuses to kneel. Trapped together, hatred turns sharp, tension turns dangerous, and the line between enemy and obsession starts to blur. As gang wars erupt and secrets surface, Drina learns the truth: Dino did not kill her parents, but his power made their deaths possible. Revenge becomes a choice, not a dream. Escape is no longer enough. Power is. Forced to choose between destroying Dino or standing beside him to burn the kingdom from within, Drina must decide who she will become. A victim who runs, or a woman who rises. In a world where love is born from violence, and trust is paid for in blood, can two broken souls find redemption or will power destroy them both?

Samantha Sonnet, my wife who's also a hospital dean, decides to replace my name with Nicholas Spark, the intern's name on the surgical atlas that I've spent the last three years drafting without my permission. That atlas is then published. I burn the only original draft of the atlas in front of the entire department. Samantha blames me for being brash. "He's just leaving his name there so that he can ensure a smoother project closeout." After dusting the ashes away, I reply, "My academic achievements will always be mine. Since someone else's name is printed on my achievements, that means they are no longer pure." Later at midnight, Samantha hands me a glass of warm milk in an attempt to apologize to me. When I regain consciousness once again, I've already gotten strapped to a surgical table beneath a huge spotlight. I see a scalpel glinting coldly right above me. "You're a man of purity, right?" Samantha murmurs into my ear. "Three people's blood will be coursing through your veins soon enough. You'll be impure soon enough!" At the moment, Samantha is livestreaming an illegal organ removal surgery. As I stare at the camera hovering above my head, I say coldly, "If you've recorded enough evidence, then it's time to turn off the camera! Tell Captain Hardy that I've gotten my hands on the evidence he wants!"

"Don't waste your time doing those." I heard his deep voice behind me as l accidentally dropped the spoon in my hand. "I-I wanted to make you breakfast." I replied in a timid voice, a little higher than a whisper. "I'm not hungry." He grumbled as he walked past me to settle on a stool. "Okay." I mumbled as I stood there like a statue not knowing what to do next. "You look hot in that dress." He smirked as he poured some scotch into a glass cup before taking a sip. "it's a pity I don't see you as a woman." "what do you see me as then?" | asked as I blinked away the tears forming in my eyes. "Just a pet." he shrugged. "not my fault your parents sold you to me." "What are you talking about? I'm your wife." I say as l glared at him. "Really? who told you that?" "My parents told me you loved me that was why you married me." My voice broke as I remembered how my parents convinced me into agreeing to our marriage. "Well, your parents lied." *************** Priscilla williams was forced into an arranged marriage because of her parent's debt to powerful mafia king Alfonso de Luca. Alfonso is known to be a cold and powerful person who thinks love is a man's weakness but what happens when Priscilla slowly becomes his weakness.

"Do you want me to stop?" Darlington growled, his thick cock buried deep inside her, stretching her with slow, deliberate thrusts that made her tremble. "No," Freya moaned, legs wrapped tight around his waist, hips rocking desperately to take him deeper. "God, no... harder." She was supposed to seduce him. Spy on him. Steal his secrets to save her dying mother. But the city's most ruthless billionaire, Darlington Knight, saw right through her from the moment she walked into his world. Now he's the one claiming her—pinning her against silk sheets, against cold glass walls, in the dark heat of his penthouse—fucking her senseless until she forgets her mission, forgets her lies, forgets everything but the way he owns her body. Every touch is dangerous. Every kiss a threat. He knows she's hiding something... and he's going to make her beg to confess—on her knees, breathless, dripping for him. Freya came to betray him. Instead, she's falling—hard, fast, and filthy—into a passion that could ruin them both. Even though Darlington might have his secrets, will he still see her the same way after finding out she was just a spy sent to seduce him?"

I flinched as he smashed the glass with his bare hands after my harsh accusations. With bleeding hands and teary eyes, Lewis looked at me. "I love you Victoria!" "God damn it!" "Why are you the only one that can't see it?" Lewis blurted out in anger and sadness. "Would any guy go this far for a girl he just pities?" "Do you think I brought you all the way here if I wasn't in love with you?" "I love you. I need you." "I can't pretend like I don't care about you anymore", Lewis said in between tears. "I hate how you smile around Kaden, I hate to see you blush around other guys." "Just say you'll be mine Vic." "I know you love me too", He said, while walking towards me and cupped my face with his uninjured hand. He was right. I loved him. Ever since I did his tie back then, I started caring for him. I didn't want to admit that I had fallen for the obnoxious jerk I met back then, but here I was, admitting it. I loved Lewis. I really did. "I..I love you Lewis, so much", I said with my voice breaking as I cried.

Two weeks before our wedding, Jonah Alston suddenly wants to postpone it. He says, "Sasha says she's having her first exhibition on that day. She'll be alone during the opening, and I'm worried she'll get stage fright. I have to help her. We're just going through the motions with the wedding, anyway. What does it matter whether it's a day earlier or later?" This isn't his first time postponing our wedding for Sasha Lester's sake, though. The first time he did it was because he claimed she missed having homecooked food after undergoing surgery. He'd flown abroad to care for her for two months. The second time was because he said she wanted to head into the mountains to get inspired. He'd gone with her out of concern for her safety. Now, this is the third time. I hang up and look at Austin Everett, my childhood sweetheart. He sits across from me, looking leisurely as he taps his emerald-embedded walking cane on the marble floor. I ask, "Do you need a wife?" On my wedding day, Sasha holds up her glass and waits for Jonah to clink it with his. However, his eyes are red as he watches a livestream—it's the wedding of the scion of Everett Group, the country's largest property development company.

The night before our wedding, Jason Scott receives the cancer diagnosis of my adopted younger sister, Helena Sanderson. His expression falters, and he says indignantly, "We'll cancel the wedding tomorrow, Victoria. Helena is very fragile now. I can't risk upsetting her at this point in time." I reply, "I don't agree with it! Why would my wedding upset her?" Jason doesn't show any displeasure after my rejection. He even thoughtfully prepares a glass of milk for me. … When I wake up the next morning, I realize the house that should be full of excitement is eerily quiet. Anxious, I dial Jason's number 99 times. He only picks up the call on my 100th try. "Where did my wedding dress and shoes go?" I ask. Jason falls silent for a moment. His tone is apologetic when he replies, "I'm sorry, Victoria. Helena wants to experience being a bride once. I can't let her leave with regrets. Please bear with this for now. I'll make it up to you once she passes away peacefully." As the line goes dead, I sit frozen on the bed, unable to recover for some time. … A month later, while Jason is on his honeymoon, I send the livestream of my wedding announcement with his rival, Frank Lawrent, directly onto his phone. Jason regrets it bitterly.

Sherry Hart never imagined the family business would crumble in her hands. With nowhere else to turn, she strikes a desperate deal with Enzo Blackwood, cold, calculating, and dangerously handsome, the elusive billionaire known for his ruthless business tactics and a heart as cold as his empire's towering glass walls. Enzo doesn’t make deals without control. In exchange for saving Sherry’s Fashion House, he demands 5 years of her life as his Personal assistant. Bound by a contract neither can break, what starts as a transactional arrangement soon sparks fiery clashes as Sherry challenges Enzo's authority at every turn. At the very moment she vows to guard her heart, Sherry resolves to keep their relationship strictly professional. But she's pulled deeper into Enzo’s high-stakes world, where hidden enemies lurk behind designer suits and whispered threats. Enzo reveals a side she never imagined: fierce, protective, and willing to fight for her. But the moments when Enzo shields her from harm, exposing a fiercely protective side concealed beneath his cold demeanor, leave her truly shaken. As secrets unravel and desire blurs every line between them, Sherry faces a dangerous question: Can Sherry trust the man who holds both her career and heart hostage, And when desire turns into obsession, will Enzo risk everything for the woman he swore he could never love or is she just a puppet in Enzo’s ruthless game?

“You really think a chrome leash makes me yours?” Timothy’s voice was a jagged shard of glass, his pulse thrumming frantically against the cold metal of the Blackwell collar. Kan leaned in, the scent of expensive bourbon and gunpowder clinging to him. He captured Timothy’s chin, forcing those defiant lavender eyes to meet his own. “It doesn’t make you mine, little ghost. It just keeps you still long enough for me to show you why you’ll never want to leave.” Behind him, Gideon’s shadow fell over them both, heavy and suffocating. “Careful, Kan,” the enforcer rumbled, his knuckles still stained with the blood of the men who’d tried to stop them. “He’s a reaper. He doesn't want a home. He wants a body count.” One Ghost. Two Predators. No Escape. Timothy Gal is a shadow. A high-level operative for the Nash Rebellion, he’s spent his life as a nameless tool in the war-torn Sopttyi District. He doesn’t feel, he doesn’t miss, and he certainly doesn't belong to anyone. But when a routine surveillance mission in Saati Town goes south, he catches the eye of the two most dangerous men in the Blackwell Mafia. Gideon Blackwell is the muscle—a man of controlled violence and territorial hunger. Kan Nelblack is the mind—a predator with a silver tongue and a taste for absolute submission. They don’t just want Timothy’s secrets. They want his soul.