Project Gutenberg Of Australia

Maria Walker has spent her entire life under the weight of expectations in a world where reputation trumps happiness. As the daughter of the respected Walker family, every choice—including her relationship with kind, loyal Noah Bennett—is judged by high society, who see him as far beneath her standing. Daniel Rothfield faces a different pressure. The powerful, emotionally guarded CEO of Rothfield Holdings has avoided relationships since a devastating breakup left him unwilling to risk love again. Yet his parents and business partners insist a man of his status needs to project stability—and a serious relationship is the perfect image. When Maria and Daniel unexpectedly arrive together at a prestigious charity auction, a fleeting moment ignites rampant speculation. Within hours, social media explodes with rumors that the billionaire CEO and the Walker heiress are secretly dating. Rather than deny it, Daniel proposes a solution: pretend the rumors are true. A fake relationship solves both dilemmas. Maria’s parents would stop pressuring her about Noah, while Daniel’s family and associates would see him finally settling down. It’s meant to be simple, temporary, and strictly controlled. Rules are set: No real feelings. No crossing boundaries. No forgetting it’s just an act. But pretending to be in love proves far more complicated than planned. As they appear together at events, family gatherings, and public functions, undeniable chemistry emerges—shifting from performance to something dangerously authentic. Meanwhile, Noah grapples with quiet jealousy fueled by headlines and photos, Daniel’s past resurfaces to threaten the facade, and their carefully built lie begins to crumble. In a society that measures love by status and appearances, Maria and Daniel face an undeniable truth: the relationship they pretended to have may be the most real thing either of them has ever felt.

Five years ago, Sasha Rivera left Rafael Moretti on the night that should have changed their lives forever. She had just found out she was pregnant and planned to tell her husband after dinner with the Moretti family. Instead, his family accused her of cheating with evidence that had been cut, twisted, and arranged to destroy her. But Rafael chose to believe his family, called her a gold digger, and let her walk away without chasing her. So Sasha left. Without Moretti money. Without telling Rafael she was carrying his child. Now, she is no longer the wife looked down on by an old Milan family. She is a successful architecture and interior design firm in Los Angeles, and the single mother of a four-year-old boy with someone’s blue eyes and unmistakable face. Her life is finally under control, until the biggest project of her career pulls her back into the past. Her client, Noelle Jamesson, is a wealthy heiress who wants Sasha to design her family’s Malibu mansion. And Noelle’s boyfriend is Rafael Moretti.... Colder. More powerful. As Noelle’s boyfriend, Rafael is suddenly everywhere Sasha has to be. In meetings. At dinners. On the Malibu site. Standing too close, watching too carefully, saying her name like he still knows exactly where to cut. Sasha can handle his coldness. She can handle his new woman. She can even handle the way her body still remembers him before her pride can stop it. What she cannot handle is Maxime. Her whole world. Because if Rafael ever learns the truth, he will not simply ask for a place in Max’s life. Rafael takes what he believes belongs to him. And Sasha is terrified that ....he will come for the only thing she cannot survive losing.

Peter Cooper lives in the town of Capistrano. After being dumped by girlfriend Amelia his friend James arranges a job at Trans-Port, bossed by the famous Professor William Carver. Carver’s assistant is an American woman called Claire. Peter is pressurised into being a guinea pig for the company’s teleportation experiments and gets sent to another reality ‘The Projection’. On returning he's told Trans-Port have mentally imprisoned him in Capistrano slnce ten. The programme is a wormhole to another reality and Peter is forced to go back there and bring home its creator, his brilliant scientist father John, so Trans-Port's teleportation system can work successfully. The Projection is only programmed for John and Peter’s DNA. Peter finds the alternate reality called ‘Guildford’ similar to Capistrano but landscape and identities have changed. He meets another ‘Claire’, now English. She helps him find his ‘parents’ who informed his doppelganger (Other Peter) is a successful scientist, married to Amelia and working for Kilgore Industries in ‘Cambridge’. They are also building a teleportation device. Realising 'his' John might have gone there, Peter follows. At Kilgore he finds another ‘James’, now ‘Other Peter’s’ Project Manager. He pretends to be his doppleganger's non-existent brother to find out about an 'accident' on the site. That night a dream shows ‘Other Peter’ involved in a metaphysical reaction to the accident. John asks Peter to help him find out more about it. They force Amelia to take them to ‘Other Peter’ at Kilgore. They find him trapped between two states of reality just like Peter’s dream. Peter forces John to return to Capistrano but Carver appears telling him neither realty actually exists. The accident killed Peter and he is now purely cyber intelligence. But is this true? Can Peter’s REAL life still be saved?

**When ambition blinds you to what truly matters, but one woman helps you see the light...** Victor Difabio once believed that winning the **Best Actor Award** would fill the emptiness in his life. He sacrificed everything—his time, his body, and his very soul—only to find that success comes at a devastating cost. The moment he finally achieves his dream, tragedy strikes when his beloved, **Phinea Lawson**, takes her own life, leaving Victor with nothing but a trophy and a heart full of regret. --- *"I need to make things right,"* Victor vows, awakening to find himself back in time, just before his wedding day. *"This time, I will prioritize your happiness, Phinea."* As he sets out to spoil her and repay the debts of his past, Victor embarks on a new project that intertwines their fates: an adaptation of Phinea’s favorite novel, **"Suddenly, I Know Nothing."** He works tirelessly to ensure its success, unaware of the profound connection between the story and their lives. --- *"You think you can change the future?"* Phinea asks, her eyes filled with hope and skepticism. *"What if the past is already written?"* Victor's heart races as he faces the challenges of fame, jealousy, and the haunting shadows of their past. With adversaries lurking in the wings, including Phinea's twin sister, **Peregrine**, he must navigate a treacherous path to protect the woman he loves. --- *"You don’t understand, Victor,"* Phinea says, tears glistening in her eyes. *"I’m not worthy of your love. I’m not even a true Lawson."* Victor steps closer, his voice firm. *"You are everything to me, Phinea. Your worth isn’t defined by your name. You are the woman who saved me from myself."* --- **What happens when a man driven by ambition learns that true happiness lies in love and connection?**

Adrian Cain has no past. At least, not one he remembers. He woke up at eighteen with a name, a guardian, and a carefully constructed identity that led him to build one of the most powerful tech empires in the world. Now, as the CEO of CainTech, Adrian is feared, admired, and emotionally impenetrable, his past locked behind clinical amnesia, sealed files, and a steel wall he doesn't dare breach. Until the suicides start. After two employees from his most classified division die under suspicious circumstances, trauma counselor Sera Vaughn is brought in to assess the psychological impact on staff. But Sera has her own reasons for stepping into CainTech, her older brother vanished fifteen years ago, and the only lead she has left is a face in an old photograph: Adrian’s. But his name back then wasn’t Adrian. It was Daniel Ward. As Sera begins digging into Adrian’s history and as Adrian’s carefully managed psyche begins to crack, long-buried memories start surfacing: a mysterious basement, whispered codewords, and a girl calling his real name. What neither of them knows is that they were both part of a covert experiment known as Project Phoenix, designed to erase identities and rebuild human obedience from the ground up. Together, they uncover a trail of lies, altered files, and fractured lives along with a chilling truth: Adrian may have been programmed to forget what he did… and who he destroyed. Now hunted by the people who created him, stalked by a version of himself he doesn’t remember becoming, and drawn to a woman whose trust he doesn’t deserve, Adrian must face the darkest corners of his past before they both disappear into it. Because some memories don’t stay buried. Some were never meant to.

I've worked hard to sponsor my husband, Zachary Sanders, through his PhD studies for eight years. In order for our daughter, Penelope Sanders, to get into a prestigious elementary school, I've visited the local registry office ten times. Yet, my applications keep getting rejected all the time. On my tenth visit, the helpless employee decides to reveal the truth to me. "Ma'am, I told you that something's wrong with the paperwork you brought! Three children have already used the permanent address you provided to enroll in our school. You can't use the address for the fourth time according to the rules." After that, the employee turns the monitor in my direction to show me the information. To my shock, those three children's mother is Zachary's first love, Amelia Norris. Unable to believe my eyes, I call Zachary on the spot. But he tells me nonchalantly, "Yeah, I did use our permanent address. I did this so that Amelia's children can get enrolled into good schools. It's very difficult for a single mother like her to raise all three children on her own, you know. "Besides, Penelope is still very young. She can just get enrolled into a regular elementary school. Once Amelia's children have graduated, Penelope can use a slot meant for the prestigious elementary school." I do my best to suppress my rage as I retort, "No need for that. My daughter will not be waiting for hand-me-downs." Then, I call my assistant right away. "Tell the admissions office to void all three enrollment slots that are tied to my property in the school district. Also, I want you to suspend the funding of his project in that research institute!"

The newly hired genius programmer was a proud woman who always thought she could turn the entire industry on its head. When an investor tried to pressure her into drinking, she flipped the table and slapped him across the face. "My worth is in my programming skills, not my ability to network. Asking me to drink with you is an insult." Enraged, Clint Warner immediately withdrew the eighty-million investment agreement. He even swore he would never work with us again. As the Head of Product, I scrambled to apologize. The situation was only salvaged after I drank so much that I ended up hospitalized. … Later, I complained to the boss and demanded that he discipline the new hire. To my shock, he dismissed the matter. "If the employee causes any problem, it's because the supervisor failed in their duty. The promised million-dollar dividend bonus is cancelled. Take this as your warning." Fed up, I wrote down Mary Hansen's name on the Counseling-Out List. She couldn't care less. "I have abilities you’ll never match, unlike a scheming bootlicker like you. If anyone tries to go after me, the project will be halted. Don't come crying to me when everything collapses." I did not argue with her then. However, when the Counseling-Out List was announced, I found my own name on it. The boss claimed it was a mistake to force me to leave. Then he promoted Mary to my position and even granted her the authority of a vice president. "You were only great because of the company's support. Mary's not the same. She's young and truly talented. She’ll lead us to greater heights." With a cold smirk on my face, I made my way to our competitor, taking the crucial piece of our company's technology with me.

Ten years ago, the world of billionaire Elias Thorne collided with the grounded simplicity of recent grad Vivian Holloway during one scorching, unforgettable summer fling. For a few perfect months, they lived in a bubble of passion and promises, believing their connection could overcome anything. But Elias was the heir to Thorne Global, and his ruthless family—determined to secure a crucial business merger—intervened. His controlling father orchestrated a painful lie: Elias was forced into an arranged engagement, believing Vivian had coldly abandoned him for her career. Meanwhile, Vivian's fervent attempts to contact Elias went unanswered. When she discovered she was pregnant, she made a difficult choice: she would protect her child, from the manipulative Thorne empire, choosing a life of quiet independence over battling a family that clearly didn't want her. She built a quiet, fiercely independent life for herself and her son, far from the cold reach of the Thorne empire. Elias Thorne, a cold and driven CEO, arrives in Vivian’s small coastal town. His latest ambitious real estate project requires him to acquire her property, bringing him face-to-face with the woman he never stopped mourning—and the undeniable, ten-year-old proof of their shared past. The shock of seeing Leo shatters a decade of misunderstandings. Elias realizes he was betrayed by his own family. He demands his place in Leo’s life, furious at the time he lost. But Vivian, fiercely protective, has built a life without him and refuses to risk her son's happiness on the word of the man who vanished. As Elias fights to earn back her trust, proving he is more than just the Thorne name, his family discovers the truth and prepares a new attack. Elias must choose: the corporate legacy he was born into, or the family he fought his way back to.

When I was three years old, my twin brothers, Silas and Julian, nearly died in an explosion while trying to save me. The Vampire King happened to pass by and turned them into high-ranking vampires. He had wanted to turn me too, so our family could stay together forever, but they refused. The King's power was too overwhelming, they said-the transformation would be agonizing. So they promised to turn me themselves when I turned eighteen. They spent every last penny they had on an impossibly rare serum-a blood-calming agent that would ensure I survived the transformation safely. But six months ago, they brought home a fifteen-year-old human orphan named Elena. Silas snatched my serum and handed it to Elena, his voice cold as ice. "You're strong enough to endure the transformation on your own. Elena is far more fragile than you-she needs this more." Julian's face twisted with undisguised contempt. He pointed at the door and snarled, "Get out! Don't come back until you learn to share!" I didn't say a word. I picked up the suitcase I'd already packed and disappeared into the rainy night. They assumed I was just throwing a tantrum. They figured I'd come crawling back in a few days. To celebrate ridding themselves of their "burden," they took the orphan on a vacation to the Caribbean coast-the trip I'd been dreaming about for years. But when they returned to the castle two weeks later, they were stunned to discover that I had undergone the Vampire King's transformation personally. Not only that-I had voluntarily signed a hundred-year agreement to join a classified isolation research project studying resistance to holy silver and crucifixes. A century of solitary confinement. I was never coming back. That day, they completely fell apart.

I collapsed at work and rushed to the hospital. When I saw the pregnancy test results, my heart filled with joy. Finally, something to save our loveless marriage. But my billionaire husband Ethan didn't ask if I was okay. He yelled at me for missing work. I noticed a Tiffany box in his car and my hope returned. Maybe he does care. Maybe he bought me something special. That night, his stepsister Mara came home after years abroad. She walked into our dining room wearing the necklace from that box. The one I thought was mine. She smiled at me while touching the diamonds around her neck. Then she took my seat in his car. My project at work. My place at the dinner table. Even my bedroom felt like hers. When the elevator crashed and we both screamed for help, Ethan came running. He pulled her out first. He held her like she was his whole world. He left me bleeding on the floor, begging him to save our baby. I heard them talking through the hospital wall. Mara asked if he loved me. The silence that followed broke something inside me I can never fix. His grandfather kept them apart because they're stepsiblings. Now he's dead. Now she's back. And I'm just the wife standing in her way. I'm pregnant with his child, but I'm starting to realize the truth. I was never his first choice. I was never even his second. I was just someone to fill the space until she came home. The question is, will I stay and watch him choose her over and over again? Or will I finally choose myself?