Paid Payback

At the New Year’s team-building event, the intern, Lilith Woods, did not obtain my approval and changed our suburban trip to a seven-day tour of Baline. “Mr. Lucian Stone, I hear a change of scenery can really spice things up. Don’t lock up tonight. I’ll come by for a deep dive into our collaboration.” She pretended to be drunk and fell into my arms while slipping the room key into my pocket in the process. To avoid suspicion, I did not return to the hotel. However, in the middle of the night, the police called me in for questioning—someone had reported a dine-and-dash. Only then did I realize that the reserved budget of $100,000 for the accommodation had long since been exceeded. Lilith had upgraded their room to a presidential suite, feasted on high-end seafood buffets, and even used company funds to buy luxury handbags! When I showed up at their private room, the interns were still casually taking king crabs and several unopened bottles of the Macallan Whisky with them. “Mr. Stone, you’re just in time. Could you please settle the bill?” Lilith looked utterly righteous as she said this with a grin. “Young people like us make mistakes, while adults help to pay the price. You’re not exactly short on cash, anyway. Just think of it as buying my happiness.” I stared at the $700,000 bill and paid it in silence. The next day, the payment invoices made their grand entrance in the group chat, accompanied by my pinned message. [Upon financial review, this team-building event does not meet reimbursement criteria. All expenses will be shared equally among the seven participants.] [Each person will need to pay $100,000, payable immediately. If payment needs to be deferred, please print the proof and submit it to the President’s Office.]

During the Thanksgiving holiday, my mother-in-law Mary came to visit us from Ohio. I took her to my husband Liam's new spa in Manhattan, Apropos. We enjoyed a basic facial treatment together, which I had purchased for $9.90 on an e-commerce platform. Right after the treatment, the beautician slapped a high-priced package down in front of us. She glanced at us contemptuously and said: "Do you really think you can enjoy our premium services with a $9.90 coupon?Stop kidding. You two look like you’re here to freeload. A single facial here costs thousands of dollars. This isn’t some free trial for cheapskates like you." I suppressed my anger and said coldly: “We have already paid for the basic treatment. How can you call this taking advantage for free?. Go get your manager.” A flashy woman walked over. Her arms were crossed. She looked down her nose at us. “I’m the Boss lady of this place.You and this old hag are just trying to get something for free, aren’t you? Let me be clear. You're buying this five-thousand-dollar hydration treatment today. Or you're not walking out that door.” A five-thousand-dollar hydration treatment? So this was it. This was why Liam suddenly got into the beauty industry. He didn't open a spa. He opened a scam shop to bankroll his mistress. I was about to call Liam, but she beat me to it, dialing a number. “Darling, you need to get down to the spa, right now. I've got a couple of hicks from the sticks making a scene, trying to get free services!”

She gave him five years of her life. Her education. Her passion. Her family name. Everything she had and everything she was — laid down piece by piece at the altar of a man and his ambitions, because she loved him and she believed in them. But the moment he reached the top, he discarded her without a second glance and proposed to another woman on international live television. So Mia did the only reasonable thing a heartbroken, furious woman could do. She found a bar. She found a stranger. She found her way into a hotel room and completely out of her mind for one reckless, consequence-free night. Then he tried to pay her afterward. She paid him back. Every bill. Then she slapped him clean across the face and walked out without looking back. She thought that was the end of it. It wasn't even close. Because the stranger she spent the night with turned out to be Cole Ashford — new captain of the Chicago Vortex, the most infuriating man she had ever encountered, and the person sitting behind the interview table when she walked in the very next morning with her whole future on the line. He wants her. He said so plainly, across a professional table, without a single apology for the honesty of it. She told him exactly where he could put that. But Cole Ashford is not a man who lets go of what he wants. And somewhere between the fury and the history and the secret she has spent years running from, Mia is beginning to wonder if the universe placed him in her path for a reason. Or if she is simply foolish enough to make the same mistake twice.

Newton college, a school in New York City. Popular firstly because of the magnificent build. Then the daily bullying. It's a school that only supports the rich so no commoner is attending but even the rich has levels. The extraordinarily rich (Upper category) Students whose parents own large conglomerates, students whose parents are business tycoons and students whose parents are influential politicians belong to this category. The normally rich (middle category) Students whose parents own a company at least and students whose parents are popular rich medical practitioners belongs to this category. The "just rich" (lower category) Students whose parents neither own a company nor conglomerate but they work under the owners and get paid hugely.... Such students belong in this category. Students wear identity tags which has their names and their categories written on it so it's easy to identify categories. The extraordinarily rich finds it fun to bully the "middle class" and "just rich" The "middle class" takes pleasure in bullying the " just rich" too. The " just rich" are the most helpless students in the school, thus becoming the target for bullying. And now the main reason for the popularity... The Emperors. On the other hand, November Blanco is the second daughter of Adelia and Matteo Blanco. Trouble can be her second name because she's always in one trouble or the other. She's not the clumsy, nerdy or dumb type, she's not brilliant either but she's a psycho who hates rude arrogant punks. She got to know from her mum that she's pretty and if there's anything she's proud of, it's her round @ss and curvy hips She has always dreamt of becoming a student of Newton but she fails the entrance exams yearly. What happens when November becomes a student of Newton college by chance?

At my three-year anniversary dinner with Vincent Hartwell, his secretary deliberately poured red wine over my head. I finally reached my breaking point and slapped her in front of all the guests. That very night, the incident spread like wildfire through high society circles. When my mother saw the leaked bedroom photographs of the two of them, the shock triggered a heart attack. She collapsed and died on the spot. When I learned the news, I sank to the floor and cried all night. Meanwhile, Vincent stayed by his secretary's side, comforting her. When he came home, he brushed past my disheveled state without a glance, loosened his tie, and spoke in that careless tone of his. "I've already buried the story. Don't let it happen again. "I have a meeting tonight. Pull yourself together and get to the villa within thirty minutes. Madison needs you." As he walked toward the door, he added over his shoulder, "She's fragile right now because of the pregnancy. If you do anything to harm my only child, I won't forgive you." I listened without crying or arguing. However, after he left, I pulled the divorce agreement from my drawer that I had prepared weeks ago. Beneath it lay my own positive pregnancy test. 'Vincent, I'll leave to find my biological father in three days.' This time, I was really leaving. I would make sure my father paid for every grievance I had endured over the last few years.

Avery Nash had two lives and one rule. Keep them completely separate. By day she was the captain of the Crestwood University cheer squad and a Business Management student holding onto her scholarship by her fingernails. By night she was Scarlett, masked and wigged and untouchable, dancing at Velvet Underground to cover the gap between what her scholarship paid and what her mother's deadbeat boyfriend kept taking from them. On the night her boyfriend cheated on her with her biggest rival, Avery made one reckless decision. She followed a brooding stranger back to his motel room and gave him the one thing she had been saving. Her virginity. "Take off the mask. I want to see you." He had said. "A little mystery never hurt anyone, did it?" she replied. She slipped out before dawn, telling herself she would never see him again. Then she rang her best friend, Jade's doorbell and he answered the door. Liam Harrington was Jade's new stepbrother, who she hated, the transfer quarterback every girl on campus was already talking about, and the boy sitting three seats away from her in every Business Management lecture. He was also the only person in the world who knew what Avery felt like without her armour on. He just did not know her real face. Now Avery was living three lives at once. The captain, the stripper, and the girl quietly falling for the one man she was absolutely forbidden to want. And the secret that started as one reckless birthday night was growing into something big enough to burn everything she had built.

When my mother went into kidney failure and needed a transplant, it was Pauline Maynard—on the brink of death herself—who gave my mom a second chance at life. Just before Pauline passed, she gripped my hand tightly and whispered her final words. "Summer, Ricky is my only son. He's rebellious… and fragile. Please, take care of him. Just three years, please?" I gave her my word. Then I moved into their home and gave Ricky everything he needed—love, comfort, a sense of safety. For three years, I stayed true to that promise. By the third year, Ricky had transformed. No longer the wayward boy he once was, he rose to become the Mafia Don Ricky Lenza. And I was carrying his child. As I busied myself with wedding plans, I overheard something I was never meant to hear—his voice, low and mocking, as he wrapped another woman in his arms. "Summer? She's just pretending to love me for the sake of my mother's inheritance and a stupid deal. A gold digger like her dreams of marrying me? What a joke." A sharp pain pierced my chest, like thorns stabbing deep beneath the skin. On the way to a prenatal checkup, we were hit in a crash. My baby didn't make it. And my mother, sitting in the passenger seat, shielded me with her life. When I woke up, I stared blankly at the date on my phone. Three days left. That would've marked the end of the three-year promise. I realized then—I'd paid my debt to Pauline in full. It was time for me to go.

I got into an elite college with my boyfriend, Philip Jewitt—and tossed my acceptance letter in the trash. His mom was dying. He stood in front of me, eyes red. "Stella, she doesn't have time... If she finds out I dropped out to pay for her treatment, it'll destroy her. Please. Help me. I swear I'll treat you right for the rest of my life." Philip got four perfect years on campus. I scraped by, working three jobs. I paid his tuition. Covered his mom's bills. After graduation, he needed startup money. I convinced my parents to mortgage our house. When his company went public, he proposed in front of everyone. I thought all those years finally meant something. But then he heard his one-sided love, Winnie Schell, died in a car crash. He got drunk and shoved me to the floor. "Why wasn't it you? If I didn't feel guilty about you, I would've married her." I clutched my stomach, pregnant, begging through tears. He sneered. "You owe Winnie everything. You really think you deserve my kid?" Then he kicked me—hard—right in the stomach. Pain ripped through me. Blood pooled between my legs. My vision went dark. When I opened my eyes again, I was back—one hour before the college application deadline.

"I'm sorry, but this flight is overbooked. We're going to compensate you twenty dollars. Please deplane immediately." The head flight attendant had my suitcase in a death grip. Her tone wasn't a request—it was an order. I gave her a cold look, then turned my gaze to the man beside us, who had just been escorted onto the plane, draped in designer labels. "Why does he get to board after showing up late, while I—who paid full price—am being forced off?" She let out a mocking laugh and lowered her voice to taunt me. "Because he's the son of a top-tier medical conglomerate in Scallow City. He's rushing there to beg an elusive miracle doctor—the famous Phantom Surgeon—to save his life. "No matter how urgent your business is, can it really compare to a human life? If you delay Mr. Stafford, ten lives couldn't pay for it. Now get off." Several security guards dragged me off the plane by force as I watched the cabin doors close. I laughed in sheer disbelief. The "Mr. Stafford" she was talking about was William Stafford, and he was terminally ill. What she didn't know was that I was the very "Phantom Surgeon" his entire family had been on their knees begging for three months—pleading with me to fly to Scallow City and perform his surgery today. Since they threw me off the plane, I won't be doing that operation. As for William, he can go ahead and wait for death.

Myra Kapoor, a very kind-hearted twenty-two years old girl, who has just graduated from college. She lost her father a few years ago and her mother lost her mental health, who is admitted to the hospital. She was living in Delhi with her uncle and aunt, who paid the medical fees of her mother's treatment. They treat her as the maid of the house. As if life hadn't jerked enough from her, she was replaced in the place of her cousin sister Raima to marry the billionaire Austin Black, who is the father of a five-year kid. She was threatened by her uncle and aunt to marry Austin. There was no option for her, if she denies, what about her mother? Austin Black, AB in the business world. A heartthrob king, who has achieved a lot of fame and controversies at the age of twenty-six. An egoistic hunk, who asked to marry the daughter of the Kapoor family only to take her possession so his sister, Natalie Black can live a happy life with Aarjav Kapoor. Nobody knows about his five years old son. He is the most stunning bachelor of New York City. But he has a son, how? Myra was arranged as the bride of Austin, she was hoping for a lovely romance in her life, a prince charming but unfortunately, she is getting married to a guy, who is the father of a five years kid and he already told her that she will be his pretended wife until Natalie sets out in her life with Aarjav. She is a mere asylum object for him for an unlimited period. Join the journey of Austin Black and Myra Kapoor... Will their marriage be ended up? What is Austin's secret?