Mario Paint

I was the top bounty thief in the organization. The best they had. After turning in my final score, I announced on the spot that I was done for good. Then, I stood in my studio, blending paint. A single photograph was pinned to the wall before me. Black Viper filled the doorway, the light behind him casting his face in shadow. "What's it like," he asked quietly, "pretending to be an artist?" He stepped further inside. "Does paint smell better than blood?" I placed the palette knife down and wiped my hands slowly. "I'm done. I walked away." "Old Fox didn't approve of it." "That's not my concern." Black Viper crossed the room and tapped the old photograph on the wall. "Are you certain?" I did not want to look. I told myself not to. However, my gaze shifted anyway. A young boy stared back from the photo. "The blind kid?" I had spent ten years searching for him. "Where is he?" I moved toward the wall, reaching to rip the picture down. "One last job," Black Viper said, pressing his palm against the photo. My hand stopped in midair. "What's the target?" "The final lot at next month's auction that the Gilbert Group will be holding. "It's called Mermaid's Tear."

Raised in a quiet village, she grew up as an ordinary girl, or so everyone thought. Switched at birth with the wealthy family’s true daughter, she was only reclaimed by her birth parents at eighteen, a stranger in the opulent world she was born into. Rumors paint her as the “evil sister,” and few know her true talents, she’s a hidden protégé of a renowned jewelry designer, a masterful street racer, and a girl with a photographic memory who tops the class she started at the bottom. Then she’s handed over as the substitute bride to the wheelchair bound heir of the wealthiest family, whose own arranged fiancée, the girl who took her place at birth, refused him. He sees her as a pawn in their families' game. But on their wedding night, her quick wit and unexpected spark shatter his expectations when she teases, “Keep me happy, or I’ll let everyone know your legs are just fine.” Intrigued and captivated, he’s soon swept up in her unpredictable world of secrets, talents, and a charm that’s anything but tame. What begins as a marriage of convenience turns into a whirlwind romance as he discovers his "accident bride" may just be the love he never knew he needed.

The world knows no master like Lucian Daiuz. While they claim that no one is above the law, he stands far beyond it—beyond governments, kings, monarchs, or mafias. All bow to him. His face is a mystery, his voice unheard by any who live to tell the tale. To some, he is a devil, a monster. Whispers and rumours paint him in a thousand shades of darkness, even questioning his manhood for remaining without a wife at 33. Every woman he takes as a wife vanishes before a month passes, and his wealth, so immense, could feed the entire country and still leave a fortune untouched. Lucian Daiuz—he is the man who haunts every nightmare. And now, I have been chosen to be his wife... She is the embodiment of grace in a world marred by shadows, a damsel whose beauty radiates across the kingdom. Men fall to their knees for a chance at her favour, but none have succeeded in capturing her heart. She turns them all away, waiting for the one who can truly claim her. Her purity and light are enough to banish the darkness that surrounds me. She is Princess Aurora von Dysheria, and I have claimed her to be my bride.

My best friend and I were in relationships with the brothers from the Wilson Family, and we both got pregnant at the same time. She flaunted her relationship publicly, making everyone in Junopia know that Rick had left the monastery for her. On the other hand, I kept silent about my relationship with the heir of the Wilson Family. Thus, everyone mistakenly thought I was single. That was until my best friend saw my pregnancy report. In a fit of rage, she rallied a group of friends, stormed into my dorm, and vandalized my room with food waste. "I thought you were my best friend, and here you are, trying to steal my man," she accused. Not only did she live-stream this accusation, trying to paint me as the other woman, but she also spiked my chicken soup, hoping to get rid of my unborn child. In defiance, I poured the contaminated soup over her head. "Just so you know, Rick isn't the only Wilson brother," I retorted. Later, Rayden, the man who controlled Junopia, wrapped his arm around me and declared icily, "I've heard troubling rumors about my wife being called a mistress. We need to talk."

Life is not always bright. Esmeray, a woman who has always believed that there is good in everything, realized that when misfortune struck her one after another. Despite trying to live a normal life, she felt as if the world closed its doors to her; as she fell into despair, the curse she was oblivious of which repressed her peculiarity was broken and she became aware that she possessed a supernatural ability. Her world turned upside down as she found herself living in Mysticuria, a hidden place on Earth where supernatural people reside. She thought that she already fits in despite the peculiarity of the community as she hoped to unfold her identity but it seemed that her special ability is a jinx that could paint its user black and could cause destruction to the world. How will she survive if there is an order to exterminate her? "I have always been a lover of sunshine, an admirer of the light of day, a daughter of the Sun. To see the beauty of the world and its people in the glimmer of daylight made me feel loved. But of course, the thoughts I once believed in came crashing down into a speck of dust. I was unduly blinded by the goodness of every day that I overlooked the cruelty of life; it was already late when I realized that the dark dawns to shade my beautiful world with pitch-black."

Six years ago, a corporate acquisition deal I handled went up in flames, and 50 billion dollars vanished into thin air. Bankrupt investors spray red paint all over my front door for a year straight. Dad died from a stroke, and Mom lost her mind and disappeared. I ended up doing six years in prison for embezzlement. After I got out, I changed my name and started delivering food in downtown, running myself ragged for a few bucks per delivery. But then my ex-wife, Shirley Pearce, showed up, and the entire delivery station ground to a halt. She had become a financial powerhouse, a regular on the covers of business magazines. Reporters blocked my delivery scooter, shoving microphones in my face. "Mr. Marcus Quinn, Ms. Pearce has been single for six years, paid off all your debts, and she's been waiting for you to come home!" I stared at that perfectly made-up woman with her adoring eyes and felt nothing but disgust. That so-called "devoted" ex-wife of mine? Six years ago, she had forged company seals to help her boy toy short the stock market. Then, when everything fell apart, she threw me under the bus to save herself.

She got pregnant by the man she loved, but he left her. To protect the image of their family, Ayana Salma De’Mario was grounded and hidden, like a bad omen, together with her child. She knows only the walls of her room, her sweet five-year-old girl, her paintings, the young student she is teaching, and this mysterious ghost lover whom she has never met. But a tragedy strikes their family empire. In need of a savior, her family decided to trade the black sheep of the family to save their company. And in the picture is the cold-hearted Adam Stone De'Leon, the most notorious heartbreaker the country has ever had. But the moment he meets Ayana, something changes—something that leaves his walls in shambles. His heart starts beating only for this girl. But Ayana is done being tossed like an object. She yearns for freedom, especially to save her deprived child. But while she battles over what to do, the billionaire baby Daddy returns to claim what he believes is his. As if that is not enough tangle, her ghost lover finally reveals himself—the one whom she thought would take her out of the cage. But he turns out to be the one person she wouldn't have expected—her student. Three smoking hot billionaires, after one lost, desperate, and confused soul. And the tangle begins! Who will win Ayana's heart?  

The little boy I had saved when we were kids grew up to be a possessive, obsessive CEO. For ten years, he kept me by his side, using my grandmother's illness as a bargaining chip to force me into marrying him. He tried everything to win my heart, pulling every trick in the book, but no matter what he did, he could never make me love him. In a fit of rage, he found a woman who looked almost exactly like me to take my place. They flaunted their relationship for everyone to see, and people whispered that the CEO had finally found his true love. But that day, the woman, riding on his affection, barged into the villa with her entourage. She broke my fingers one by one, slashed my face with a utility knife, and removed my clothes to humiliate me. "Even though you had surgery to look like me, I'll let that slide. But you even learned to paint like me, too? You really did your homework. Let's see how you try to seduce men now!" Just as I was bleeding out and on the verge of death, the obsessive CEO finally showed up. The stand-in grabbed my hair and dragged me in front of him, smugly reporting, "Honey, this wench was hiding in the villa trying to seduce you. I've made sure she can't succeed!"

She fell first, he fell harder. Liliana Storm, an innocent and naive 22 years old ambitious artist who always wanted to achieve something away from her watchful father and elder brother's eyes. Their sheltered princess was oblivious of the world's cruelty and Lily wanted to make a name for herself, so despite of their worries, they let her go to a complete different country and let her pursue her dreams. Russia, the beautiful progressive country which taught her many things, but the biggest was not everyone are saints. Cyril Sokolov, Russian mafia lord, far from innocent and naive man, complete opposite of what his future bird possessed in her. He was a slave of one thing, his competitive nature, he loves challenges and would be damned to lose any. He was raised by ruthless monsters in human flesh, and he didn't mind becoming one of them. Cyril once again took upon a challenge and played a dangerous game but he never thought this time, his victory will become his biggest downfall. The Russian mafia would be reduced to his knees after his obedient little bird would decide to embrace her freedom away from his toxicity. A story of deceit, betrayal, twisted game and obsession. When the dangerous playful challenge would ignite an unwanted attraction curling it into bloodthirsty obsession forcing the ruthless mob boss to paint the town red just bring his escaped bird back to his cage.

I am an Omega. One day, Alpha Carl Blanchard found me in the Borderlands and took me in. After we formed the mate bond, he spoiled me senseless, never once caring who was watching. Now, everyone was whispering about the cold, ruthless Alpha who treats me—an Omega who used to be a Rogue—like I'm something sacred. They said it defied everything the Moon Goddess ever intended. I used to think he loved me down to the bone, that he just couldn't help showing the whole world how crazy he was about me. But then, I overhear him talking to his close friend. "I'm the Alpha of the Eastlands. I rule ten packs. If I don't paint Daisy as my weakness and my one obsession, how else am I supposed to keep Fiona off my enemies' radar? Turns out every wound I took for him was a damn joke. If that's how it is, I'm done playing Luna of the Eastlands. On my last day there, I made one call. "I'm in. I'll head to the Borderlands and spend the next ten years in closed research on medicinal herbs." When Carl found me gone, he came after me with bloodshot eyes and his pride in ruins. "Daisy… are you really leaving me?"