Paper Towns Novels & Stories

I was ten years old when I lost my hearing saving Adrian Falcone's life. After that, I couldn't survive without my hearing aids. He held my hand afterward, his eyes red-rimmed with guilt, and made me a promise in front of his entire family. "Serena Lombardi, I'll protect you with my life," he said. "I'll marry you." But when I turned eighteen, everything changed. Adrian needed to pass some test set by Daniela Moretti—the daughter of a rival family—and he chose the cruelest way to prove himself. He ripped the hearing aids from my ears in front of everyone and laughed. "You're just a deaf, useless burden," he said, his voice cold and cutting. "I've been sick of you for years. Honestly? I wish you'd died in that explosion when we were ten and saved me the trouble." I gripped the rehabilitation report the doctor had just handed me, and my fingers crushed the paper's edges. The diagnosis was precise—my hearing had fully recovered. That night, I burned my hearing aids and convinced my parents to cut all ties with the Falcone family. Adrian Falcone, we're done. Whatever we had, whatever you owed me—it's over now.

"Are you sure you can get out of this trap, Arka? The trap you created for yourself long ago." The sentence haunted Arka's mind every time he looked at the woman who was now sitting gracefully on his lap. Amidst the glimmer of crystal lamps and the sheen of a gold dress, his ex-wife, Kania, looked like a queen who had just reclaimed her throne. Arka knew they were no longer bound by a sacred vow. Their divorce was final, signed on stamped paper years ago. Yet, in this private room, with the aroma of whiskey and Kania's challenging gaze, Arka once again became the helpless, foolish man. Tonight was supposed to be the celebration of his new engagement. He was supposed to be celebrating a new chapter. But Kania's presence in the private lounge, in a high-slit dress that showed off her long legs, had ruined everything. "You didn't have to come, Kania," Arka hissed, his voice choked. Kania smiled cynically, caressing Arka's jaw with her cold fingers. "You're right, darling. I didn't have to come. But I had to make sure of one thing: that your heart... still belongs to me, just like before." It turned out that getting out of the marriage was much easier than getting out of his ex-wife's love. Will Arka continue his engagement? Or will he return to his ex-wife?

From the time I could count coins, my parents hammered one lesson home—if a boy did not start saving young, he would never have enough to win himself a wife. They opened a bank account in my name, vowing that money would only ever flow in, never out. And so, every birthday bill and crumpled allowance found a home in that card. I kept funneling every hard-earned paycheck into that same old account even after I moved to the city to chase my own future. At that point, that habit was done more out of reflex than reason. However, I was blindsided by acute kidney failure after years of working myself to the bone. Suddenly, that money was not just savings—it was my lifeline. My dad's voice trembled on the phone. He claimed he had forgotten the password and urged me to just take out an online loan for now. I hauled myself to the bank, my feet still shaky from my dialysis treatment. I clutched my ID, determined to file a loss report and reset the password myself. The teller's words froze me in place. "Sir, this account was emptied six months ago." Panic surged through me. I demanded a full printout of every transaction. The statement of the most recent transfer glared up at me from the paper, stating, "Wedding fund for our precious daughter, Natalia Callahan, plus the down payment for her luxury car."

LUCILLE thought it would be her engagement evening, not knowing it was the night she was going to realize she had kept foes as friends. Her boyfriend betrayed her with her best friend but she never let it affect her. Instead, she slapped them in their faces by getting married to RAMSEY ROWE, her ex's cousin and a zillionaire. It started as a marriage of convenience and they were not meant to fall in love with each other. *. *. * "It's simple. Marry me till I am awarded the contract," Ramsey's cold voice sounded. Void of emotions. "No. I want a real marriage with you," Lucille rejected his first offer, piercing her gaze into his. The tough man in front of her was powerful, rich, and had all the connections she needed to avenge the betrayal from her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend. Why would she miss the opportunity? Ramsey cracked up, kneading his brows. Silence overwhelmed the atmosphere and he leaned his mouth forehead, "You can't get what you want, Lucille. We are only bound by a fake paper," Lucille also chuckled and tilted her head backward, "I will make you fall in love with me," Determination filled her eyes. She wasn't going to lose this man to anybody. Will she be able to make his heart beat for her? What would they do when they realize their feelings are growing and they cannot do without one another? In the midst of many villains, will their love bloom or die?

"IS THIS TRUE???" Aria's uncle screamed at her, but Aria couldn't say a word. "YOU BASTARD! IS THIS TRUE???" He asked her again, as he hit her with the paper so hard, forcing her to kneel on the ground in a fall. "I... I..." Aria tried to say something, but the words were choked in her throat. Her tongue suddenly lost, and her voice became cracked and shaken with fear. "I SWEAR ON MY LATE BROTHER'S ASHES THAT IF THIS IS TRUE, I DAMON WILL RIP YOUR SOUL OUT AND FEED YOUR BODY TO THE HUNGRY WOLVES IN THE FOREST!!! ANSWER ME!! ARE YOU PREGNANT???" In this heart-pounding, intense scene, Aria's world is turned upside down as she faces the wrath of her uncle, Damon. Accused of an unforgivable transgression, Aria's very existence hangs in the balance. Forced to flee her home, Aria finds herself on the auction block, sold to the highest bidder. But just as all hope seems lost, a mysterious and feared king appears, his presence striking fear into the hearts of all who behold him. With a single, chilling command, the king claims Aria as his own, sparing her from a life of slavery. But as Aria navigates her new reality, she begins to realize that her new "savior" may be more monstrous than she ever imagined. Will Aria find a way to escape the king's clutches, or will she be forever bound to this dark and mysterious figure?

Zoe Oliver had been mistreated all her life ever since she got married to the billionaire family of the Meyers. She was used, abused, and miserable because they didn't see any good in her, and treated her worse than their maids because they felt that she was not deserving of her husband. She was crumbled and broken because she decided to love the only person she thought would give her a new life. Malcolm Meyer, her husband, couldn't care any better for his wife, and let his family do whatever they wanted to her because he didn't love her. One sudden night, he dropped a divorce paper before her eyes and told her to sign it so that she could get out of his life for good. "I do not want your alimony!" She spat at him with anger. Everyone thought she was crazy to have refused millions as alimony to compensate for her miserable life. Through the spotlight in the gathering of elites, a lady emerged and sauntered through the crowd in million of dollars worth dress, and heels. She held everyone in a collective gasp as she smiled charmingly and was introduced as the Multi-Billionaire heiress. Everyone could not believe their eyes. The Meyer family almost lost their minds. Now, she would make everyone in the Meyers pay in double and triple folds for every hell and torment they made her go through. Zoe Oliver was back to rule!

In a world where Omegas are bought, sold, and treated as slaves, Arwenna learned early what survival meant... what it entails and what it should be. Sold by her aunt at the age of sixteen, Arwenna was married off to an old man to pay the debts her aunt owed. A mere Omega was not cared for by the clan nor the Alpha... It never really mattered if they survived or not. Years later, she was blamed for the death of the same man she was forcefully married to. And now she was to be sold... dragged back to the same clan, to the same guardian who sold her off like a commodity; she was thrown back to everything she once escaped but now as nothing but the slave she always has been. Time flew by like a curse that came to haunt, sticking to her like glue. She lost her wolf... lost. She never got her wolf, only to realize during the mating season that she doesn't have a mate. "The Moon Goddess is so shrewd," she cried out, with emotions that have been bottled up for years. Nothing seems to be working, and now her aunt gives her away... No, she sells her again to the palace as a 'Dwangi,' a slave specially to keep the Alpha sane before finding his mate. She agreed. What's the purpose when she's like a useless paper plate that doesn't serve any purpose other than to be used and discarded? But what she doesn't know is that her story just begins.",

My fiancé was sleeping with my maid of honor. I caught them the night before our wedding. I didn't make a sound. I closed the door, walked back to my bridal suite, and sat at the vanity until my hands stopped shaking. Then I grabbed my keys. At two in the morning I drove forty blocks across Manhattan and knocked on Atlas Marchetti's door. Two years ago I'd told my family I wouldn't marry him. He hadn't said a word about it since. He opened the door in pajama pants. "Marry me tomorrow," I said. He didn't say yes. He poured himself a drink first, listened to everything, and then handed me a piece of paper with terms I should have read more carefully. I signed at dawn. Six hours later I walked down the aisle Carter and I had planned. The Plaza ballroom. The dress I'd chosen in spring. Three hundred guests who came to watch me marry the wrong man. I married someone else instead. Carter watched it happen. He didn't understand yet what he'd lost, and he wouldn't understand for months. Not until he found out who owned the company he ran, and how long Atlas had been bleeding it. I went to Atlas for revenge. He'd been writing this for two years.

Five years after my parents, Ian Smith and Sophia Wright, get divorced, I run into Dad at school. He has just finished attending a parent-teacher conference for his stepson, Eugene Moore, who ranks first in the grade, and he's beaming with pride. The moment he spots me, his expression instantly darkens. "Is this what you usually wear to school? Is this how your mother is raising you?" He hands me his business card, his tone dripping with condescension. "Here, take it. Tell your mother that if she's willing to swallow her pride and admit she was wrong, I'll transfer you into the international class right away. In any case, it's better than rotting away in the regular class." I don't take it. In fact, I simply take a step back. "That won't be necessary, Mr. Smith." His brows draw together, his eyes filled with disgust. "You really are just like your mother—a lost cause. From now on, don't tell anyone you're my daughter." I tighten my grip on the paper in my hand and calmly watch him leave. He has no idea that this isn't a report card. It's my withdrawal application, because since Mom died, there's no one left to pay my tuition.

NATALIA My fate was written on paper decades before I left my mother’s womb. Many might envy the Cosa Nostra princess, but what they don’t know is that I am no more than a transaction to my family. A means to an end. I have always been the obedient little sister—keeping my head down and doing exactly what I’m told. That is, until I meet him. No man has ever made me want to throw caution to the wind and dive headfirst into disaster before, but then again, no man has ever made me feel the way he does. I am betrothed to his son. I definitely shouldn’t be sneaking into his bed when no one’s watching. But for once, I’m doing what I want and it feels too good to stop. ALEKSANDR The rule is simple. Handle business, attend my son’s wedding, and leave. But then I meet his bride and she looks like the angel that has been sent to slay me. The right thing would be to walk away from this madness before I get in too deep. There’s war coming and she’s too much of a distraction to keep around. Except that I’ve never been one to do the right thing, and I’m determined to keep her—even if it means burning down the whole world.