Performance Partnerships

My crippled sister, Monica Porter, jumped from the roof of the classroom building. The day before she died, she had just been fitted with the custom prosthetic legs I had paid for with ten years of savings. She was glowing, excited to finally stand up on her own. But my wife's best friend, a guy she said was just like a brother to her, locked Monica inside an empty art room. He smashed her new legs, forced her to crawl on the floor and lick paint clean to retrieve the broken parts, and recorded everything on video. And my wife, a judge, ultimately ruled that the case could not stand. "The video cannot confirm the time it was recorded and may represent consensual performance art between both parties," she said. Sandra Pauley's final judgment was simple. "The deceased had a history of depression. The school and the defendant bear no responsibility." I smiled and cooked her a full table of food. The next day, I hung the bully, Eric Hoyles, from the school's flagpole and livestreamed it to the entire internet. "Honey, remember how you said Monica had such pretty legs?" I raised a claw hammer and brought it down on his ankle. "If you don't hand over the video evidence right now, I'll hook out his Achilles tendon one strand at a time and let him learn what it feels like to crawl!" The wind passed through. His screaming broke apart in the air, mixing with the strained creaking of the flagpole until it sounded almost like music. The live chat went insane. Meanwhile, I laughed until my eyes filled with tears.

When Ian Broker's childhood friend, Zoey Berg, hears that I have severe arrhythmia, she purposefully adds a strong dose of energy drink into my water. As soon as I drink the water, I feel my heart rate elevating rapidly. Heartwrenching pain instantly floods my chest. I quickly tear open the only pack of medication I have. Alas, that's when I realize that the water in my thermos flask has gotten swapped out with potent coffee. As soon as I took a sip out of my flask, my face goes eerily pale. Coldness floods my limbs as well, causing me to crumple to the floor as though I were paralyzed. Zoey keeps laughing at me to the point she has tears running down her face. "As expected of a theater student! You really are good at acting! I've been practicing medicine for so long, and I've never seen anyone suffering this much just by drinking some coffee!" I can only kneel before Ian in distress. My gums are on the verge of bleeding because of how tightly I'm gnashing my teeth together. "Ian, call the ambulance… I'm dying…" But Ian remains unperturbed by my condition. "That's enough, Daisy. Your performance will be far too dramatic if you keep this up. No one dies just by consuming a little coffee. "Besides, Zoey is a doctor. What can possibly happen to you with her around, anyway?" I no longer beg Ian for help. Instead, I draft an SOS text message and send it to someone else.

To scrape together my mother's surgery money, I worked myself to the bone at this company for three straight years. My performance was always number one. By myself, I supported half the sales department. Then, a newly hired HR director decided every desk needed an AI camera, claiming it was to optimize efficiency. Every blink, every breath I took was measured and calculated by the system. "Warning. Employee Nathan Gray blinked more than twenty times within one minute. Mental distraction detected. Fine: 50." "Warning. Employee Nathan Gray took 3.5 seconds to drink water, exceeding the standard by 1.5 seconds. Slacking detected. Fine: 100." "Warning. Employee Nathan Gray's mouth corners drooped for over thirty seconds. Suspected spread of negative emotion. Fine: 200." The most ridiculous part was the way he stood in front of the entire department, pointing proudly at my data on the giant screen. "See that?" he said smugly. "This is the power of technology. In front of AI, you lazy freeloaders have nowhere to hide. Nathan, your bonus for this month has already been wiped out by the system. If you don't like it, get lost. Plenty of people are lining up to take your place." What he didn't know was that the AI system he trusted so blindly had its core code written by me. Tonight, I was going to show him what happened when he angered the one who built the machine.

Vivian Stephen Chen was the epitome of a perfect lady. She was well-educated, driven to her career, knowledgeable, kind, and beautiful. She even had a figure to die for. But there was something missing in her life. She had never dated a man before, to the point that she was being mistaken to like fellow women. And then one day, as if it was a fateful encounter, she met him. Zander Li Martin, a bachelor multibillionaire, suddenly proposed a deal that turned her life around. He was much older than her but he had everything a girl could ask for. Money, power, looks, perhaps; even performance in bed. Vivian was not in dire straits for money. She had her own business and she had more than enough money for herself. But she had greedy vultures feasting on her. Zander’s offer churned something inside her. She had always been a careful woman and had never done anything crazy and unaccounted for in her life. She realized that she was bored with her current life that she was actually longing for a major unexpected change that would arouse her excitement. As if something was pushing her, Vivian accepted the offer. She wanted to do something crazy and dangerous for a change. Likewise, she would be able to satisfy the greed of the vultures that haunted her. All of a sudden, she gained a husband. What will her married life with him entail? Would she get the thrill she was looking for? Join Vivian in her life journey as the wife of a multibillionaire and discover what experiences await her.

I was at the Blood Registry office to reissue my Blood Covenant Certificate with Lord Ethan when the registrar looked up at me and said, “Your Blood Covenant Certificate is forged.” “There is no record of your bond in the vampire consort system.” I froze. “That’s impossible,” I whispered. “I registered my union with Lord Ethan five years ago. Please check again.” The clerk searched once more. “Lord Ethan’s record is here,” he said calmly. “His lawful consort is Ella.” Ella? The name fell like a blade. Before he said it, I still hoped it was a clerical mistake. But Ella… was his childhood companion. In that moment, everything made sense. In five years, he had never marked me. He had publicly acknowledged me as his Blood Queen, letting the entire Coven believe I stood beside him by right. He had given me titles, a throne at his side, and a crown to wear in front of the world. Titles can be announced. Only the Registry makes it law. The certificate he gave me had been nothing but a beautiful lie. The five years I believed were happiness— were nothing more than a carefully forged illusion. An illusion crafted to keep me obedient, grateful, and blind. If none of it was ever truly mine, if even the title of “Blood Queen” was only a performance, then leaving should be easy.

On my way to the interview, my best friend—who had always warned me not to meddle in other people’s business—suddenly rushed toward the crashed luxury car without hesitation. That was when I knew she had been reborn too. In our previous life, she and I were known as the two top aces of the Finance Department. After graduation, we both made it to the final interview at one of the world’s top five hundred companies. On the day of that interview, we encountered a terrible car accident. The company’s president was inside the wreck. I gave up the interview to save him, while my friend ran straight to the interview without looking back. In the end, she got the offer, and I lost my chance at the prestigious firm. Everyone pitied me. However, the president held a grand wedding to repay me. I became the wife of my friend’s boss. I was admired and envied by all. She, on the other hand, struggled under endless performance targets. She got buried by work. At the company’s annual gala, I stood beside the president, dazzling under the lights, while she faded into the crowd—exhausted and invisible. Jealousy drove her mad. She grabbed a knife and stabbed me right there at the gala. When I opened my eyes again, she and I had both returned to the day of the president’s car accident.

I used to be a top ballet dancer. The year I was diagnosed with a spinal hemangioma, my boyfriend Julian Blackwood said, "Wherever you go, I go." We'd been together three years. He walked beside me as I went, step by step, from the most luminous dancer on that stage to a woman in a wheelchair. Every time the nerve pain hit and I collapsed, he was the one who lifted me off the floor. Every round of electrostim and acupuncture, he sat in the corridor outside the therapy room and waited for me to come out. Before I got sick, he promised me—the night I finished my final performance of Swan Lake, we'd sign the marriage license. He'd bought tickets for that show three months in advance. I never stood on that stage again. And the marriage license never came up. Until the morning I noticed the collar of his white dress shirt carried a smudge of lipstick that wasn't mine. I heard him on the balcony. A woman's voice on the other end. "Mr. Blackwood, you left your jacket at the hotel last night. I'll bring it over." I stared at that smear of red, and something in me snapped. I laughed. "Send me to Westbrook. The locked-down rehab facility. I don't want to drag you down anymore." Something flickered in his eyes—a brief, animal panic. Then he nodded. He thought I meant rest. He didn't know I'd already signed the papers to donate my body to science. I was going there to die.

Ethan Blake and Julian Cross are Hollywood’s favorite rivals—two A-list actors whose off-screen feud is as legendary as their on-screen performances. For years, the media has played up their animosity, feeding into the narrative of two stars who can’t stand each other. And Ethan is fine with that. Julian is arrogant, reckless, and far too good at getting under his skin. But when they are cast as romantic leads in a high-profile LGBTQ+ blockbuster, everything changes. Forced into close proximity, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur. Heated arguments behind the scenes turn into charged moments neither of them can ignore. A single off-script kiss during filming shatters their carefully constructed walls, sending both their careers—and emotions—into uncharted territory. The media explodes with speculation. Rumors spread like wildfire, and their public feud only adds fuel to the fire. A PR crisis forces them into damage control, but every interview, every staged moment, only makes it harder to deny the truth simmering beneath the surface. As industry backlash looms and personal stakes grow higher, Ethan finds himself at a crossroads. He has spent years playing it safe, hiding behind his carefully curated image. But Julian refuses to be another script he follows. He wants something real. In an industry built on illusion, can two men who were never meant to fall for each other survive the spotlight’s harsh glare? Or will fear and fame tear them apart before they even have a chance? Enemies on screen. Lovers behind the scenes. But can they survive the ultimate Hollywood scandal?

Lila Bennett has always been invisible. The quiet, bookish girl who prefers the library to parties, she spends her days studying and her nights dreaming about someone she could never have Ethan Ryder, the charismatic captain of the university hockey team. Confident, talented, and adored by everyone, Ethan already has the perfect girlfriend: Vanessa Hart, the beautiful and popular queen of campus. For two years, Lila has secretly admired Ethan from afar, writing about him in her private notebook while keeping her feelings hidden. But when Ethan’s academic performance falters, putting his spot on the hockey team at risk, he is assigned a tutor and that tutor is Lila. Suddenly, the invisible girl and the campus king are forced together. Late night tutoring sessions turn into shared secrets, stolen glances, and undeniable chemistry. Ethan begins to see Lila in a new light intelligent, kind, and unlike anyone he’s ever known. But love on campus is never simple. Vanessa notices Ethan’s growing interest in Lila and will stop at nothing to maintain her status and control. And when another hockey player, Lucas Hale, begins developing feelings for Lila, she finds herself caught in a complicated love triangle. Jealousy, rumors, and hidden truths surface, forcing Lila to confront her feelings, assert her confidence, and decide what and who she truly wants. In a world of rivalry, heartbreak, and high stakes, the quiet girl who was once invisible may finally become the one everyone is fighting for.

One face. Two lives. A marriage built on a deadly lie. Grace thought the hardest part of her life was being an orphan—until she discovered she wasn’t one. Found by the wealthy biological family who abandoned her, Grace isn’t greeted with open arms. Instead, she’s greeted with a cold-blooded ultimatum: Become your sister, or watch your adoptive mother rot in a prison cell. To save the only woman who ever loved her, Grace must step into the designer life of her twin, Isabella. That means navigating a world of backstabbing elites and, most dangerously, marrying Sebastian Vane. Sebastian is a man who rules with iron and ice. He doesn't want a partner, he wants a contract. He doesn't want love, he wants a pawn to secure his empire. “No love. No expectations. No children,” he warns. Grace is happy to oblige. After all, she isn't even the woman he thinks he’s marrying. But as the lines between her life and Isabella's begin to blur, Grace realizes that Sebastian is hiding secrets of his own—secrets that link their families in a web of blood and betrayal. Now, trapped in a golden cage with a man who sees everything, Grace has to play the performance of a lifetime. Because if Sebastian finds out she’s an impostor, he won't just break the contract—he’ll break her. She’s living her sister’s life. She’s sleeping in her sister’s bed. But can she survive her sister’s husband?