In Five Years A

I used to be that girl in the mafia—envied, untouchable. Orlando Leone, the big bad Don everyone feared, had eyes only for me. I took a bullet for him. After that? People whispered I couldn't have kids. He tried to shut them up by knocking me up—ninety-nine tries. Try number ten? His shiny new secretary texted, all confused over a decimal. He bailed on me. By thirty, she crashed his sports car while shopping. Claimed she couldn't park. I was left freezing in a bathtub. He said he loved me, but when it counted, he always picked the girl who played dumb and helpless. That's when it hit me—his love was never really mine. And by the time I disappeared for real, he lost his mind looking. Too bad. Me and that promise? Already buried at sea.

Willingly dying at the hands of his only teacher to repay all his debt, Hubert simultaneously plans his reincarnation and finds himself in the body of an 'evil' cultivator named wanted by one of the three strongest power of the Douluo Continent— Spirit Hall. But hope isn't lost. His trait from his previous life never left his side and now he will make missions in the Douluo Continent and live another life, this time, a life not owed to anybody.

Liliana Xhyrinn Costas is a normal rich teenager that lives in a grand mansion with her dad and three brothers. Because of her savage nature and rude approach towards boys, she was kicked out of their mansion and was forced to live in a share house with other people she doesn't know. Upon the sudden changes in her used to be a luxurious life, she met a wolf-like boy who got attached to her. How will she handle a boy who's like a storm in her life? Will this be a new love or a new pain for her? Cover art made by: Crownedwalker (deviantart)

Jessica came to her senses under the bed of her fiancé and good friend’s, regaining her IQ, and couldn’t go back ever since. The douchebag: “Jessica, prepare a birthday gift to celebrate my dad’s birthday.” “Sorry, now I am the chairman, it is him who should pay tribute!” Jessica’s scum girlfriend: “Jessica, can you let me host the marriage show?” “You said that you haven’t experienced the pure love, so don't even think about it!” Jessica tore off the fake masks of the scumbags’ and turned to a pair of ink eye pupils: “It does feel cool to slap others, but don’t forget what your identity is!” “What identity?" Christian Maddox held her waist lightly, his face without missing a beat: “You should ask the little prince in your belly...”

To save his mother’s life as she lay critically ill in the operating room, Dante had no choice. The hospital bills kept piling up. Every door he knocked on for help closed, one by one. Until an offer came—dirty, dangerous, and binding. To become a mafia boss’s kept man. Leonard Virelli was not just a wealthy man. He was the shadow ruler of the city—ambitious, manipulative, and accustomed to getting whatever he wanted. Including Dante. Dante knew this was not simply a “relationship.” It was an unspoken contract of ownership. Of a body paid for. Of a life slowly brought under control. He had never imagined himself stepping into a world like that. But for the cost of the surgery, for the only family he had left, Dante was willing to swallow his pride. What he did not expect was how dangerous Leonard truly was. The man did not only want Dante’s presence at his side—he wanted obedience. Loyalty. Perhaps even… his heart. Behind the expensive suits and cold smiles, Leonard harbored an unhealthy obsession. He was not used to being rejected. Not used to losing. And the more Dante tried to keep his emotional distance, the tighter Leonard’s grip became. Trapped between guilt, desperation, and feelings that began to grow without permission, Dante found himself asking a question he was afraid to answer: Did he sell himself to save his mother? Or had he unknowingly surrendered himself to a man who would never let him go? In the mafia world filled with blood and betrayal, love is not tenderness. Love is possession. And Dante has just signed a contract with the most dangerous man in the city.

After being chosen by a horror game, I took over a food stall in a small town. A ghoul tried to eat me, his huge, bloody mouth a gaping maw, but I quickly shoved a focaccia sandwich into it. He chewed and then said, “Oh, forget it. With food to eat, I’ll kill her tomorrow.” The next day, I made delicious pierogies, then skewers and stews. All the ghouls who stopped by gave up on trying to kill me, focusing on eating instead. The audience watching me was shocked that I could survive all the way to the end with just my cooking.

I was the sole front desk clerk at a haunted hotel. Welcoming players, checking in on the bosses’ quarters, and slacking off a bit were all part of the job. At least, that was what I thought. It turned out my days were far from ordinary. A blood-drenched little girl in a tattered red dress kept ringing the service bell. Her eerie voice echoed, “Miss, why didn’t you come play with me?” A creepy black cat with glowing eyes wouldn’t stop meowing and rubbing against my legs. And then there was the old woman with claws like knives, cheerfully knitting me a sweater… out of players’ skin. One day, I took a day off to care for my sick mother. That was my biggest mistake. The entire game instance erupted in chaos. Bosses interrogated players, demanding to know where their precious front desk clerk had gone. “Did she abandon us? Is she never coming back?” I ran. They chased. But no matter how fast I fled, their grip on me only tightened. In the end, escape wasn’t an option.

The words echoed, a promise she wore like a blindfold. “Give me a chance to prove to you that love is beautiful.” Kensington Darley had believed him. At twenty-six, she was the beautiful, trusting daughter of a gilded cage, and she had willingly traded her own life’s map for the one drawn by her boyfriend. His choices became her destiny; his whispered needs, her sacred law. Until the moment his love demanded her degradation. He didn't ask her to empty a savings account. He didn't ask her to sell the family jewels. He asked for her body, for her dignity, to be sold piece by devastating piece. The debt. It was a cold, unforgiving beast, and the only currency powerful enough to silence it was Kensington's unwilling performance in front of a camera. Every forced smile, every feigned moan, was a knife-edge decision she made in the name of love. She despised the spotlights, the sterile sets, the shame that clung to her like cheap perfume—but she did it. Because she loved him. But as she watches the man she is saving—the man who allowed her to be lost—a single, poisonous question begins to bloom in the darkness of her despair: Does he love her back? If the answer is no, what becomes of a woman who has sacrificed everything for a lie? And how will Kensington Darley ever learn to trust a single word, let alone love, again?

As the most eligible bachelor in Rivenhold, Alex Ye is engrossed in his work and shows no interest in women. One day, due to family pressure, Mr. Ye reluctantly went on a blind date. He had to convince himself, 'I might as well get married, have a child, and live a normal life.’ However, after the date, he was informed that he has a three-year-old daughter. Alex was shocked: “How can this be?!" ----------- One morning, Michelle Xia awoke to find a three-year-old child running a fever beside her, as well as a pile of messy overdue bills scattered around. Staring at her bank book, with a balance barely in double digits, Michelle realized she didn't even have enough to get the child to a doctor. Deep in thought, Michelle weighed her limited options. It didn't take her long to come to a decision. "To avoid the child's fever causing any brain damage," she mused with a hint of mischief, "perhaps I'll just have to interrupt the secondary male lead, who might be on a date with the heroine right now (^_^)."

Jennifer Nath, who was nineteen years old, lived alone and moved a lot out of concern that her tormentors would track her out and find her. She is the Alpha's child and a member of the Pintos pack, where her father and the rest of the pack hated her merely for being there. He grew ruthless and started abusing drugs and alcohol. At age 5, he started abusing her since she was too young to understand what was occurring or why. He was out of money and his pack was disintegrating. So, when she was 15, her father sold her to a group of cruel men. She has never experienced love or compassion, making her distrustful. The Black Aries pack's 21-year-old Alpha is Don Damian. From a young age, he learned how to respect and behave decently with women. Because of his power and capacity to guide and protect his pack, he was given the name Zeus in honour of the Greek hunter. Since his first shift at age 16, he has been waiting for his mate, but she has never appeared.