Regular Show Weekend At Benson's Novels & Stories

I decide to get onboard with the latest trend by custom-ordering a merfolk meant to serve me from AquaGene Corp. On the day Lance arrives at the company, the engineer tells me, "It's highly recommended that you be there in person, Ms. Ross. That way, you'll be able to form the initial bond with him." So, I spend one day standing before the eco-tank. As soon as Lance opens his eyes, he doesn't show any signs of wanting to get close to me. Instead, he merely scrutinizes me coldly before turning his back on me. I comfort myself, thinking that Lance is just shy. But one week later, I realize how wrong I truly am. I pay money because I want to buy a partner who can keep me company forever. Turns out I buy myself the biggest trouble of the century instead.

Daisy Velasco has spent her life staying invisible because in a world ruled by power and money, being noticed can cost everything. As a junior employee in one of the country’s most elite corporations, she follows one rule: work hard, stay quiet, and never draw attention. Especially not from Liam Villarreal. Cold, brilliant, and impossibly powerful, Liam is the billionaire CEO everyone respects, and no one dares to cross. He doesn’t mix business with emotion. He doesn’t make exceptions. And he certainly doesn’t get involved with employees like her. Until a company retreat traps them in the same orbit. What begins as forced proximity turns into stolen glances, late-night conversations, and a tension neither of them can ignore. Every boundary between professional and personal starts to blur, and Daisy realizes too late that Liam isn’t just watching her. He’s choosing her. But in his world, desire comes with consequences. Secrets can ruin careers. Scandals can destroy empires. And falling for a man like Liam Villarreal isn’t just dangerous it could be catastrophic. Because he doesn’t chase. He claims. And once he does, there may be no going back.

My sister, Gabriella Rutherfurd, is the richest female CEO in Brightshire. Her male secretary, Freddie Morgan, mentions that he wants to see a real-life version of the Squid Game, so she builds the venue and spends 100 million dollars to make it happen. The lure of a gigantic cash prize draws in countless desperate souls. Even the bodyguards responsible for protecting my brother-in-law, Cyril Harding, abandon their posts to participate. Cyril has no choice but to go to the hospital without the bodyguards for his medical appointment, but he is abducted halfway there. In my previous life, I found Gabriella and asked her to stop the game and send people to rescue Cyril. After hesitating, Gabriella agreed. She stopped the game and managed to save Cyril just in time. But the few players who had made it to the final round were furious that the game was canceled. To vent their rage, they took Freddie and beat him to death. Gabriella acted like it had nothing to do with me. Yet, on the day Freddie was buried, she ordered her men to beat me up. When I open my eyes again, I am back to the day that Cyril was abducted. This time, Gabriella gets what she wants, and the Squid Game is held as planned. By the final round, a masked man is dragged onto the high platform. Freddie announces that whoever slices the man's head off will win the 100-million-dollar prize. When Cyril's head rolls to Gabriella's feet, she finally snaps.

When nineteen-year-old engineering student Sky is scouted by Dream Entertainment, he thinks it’s a scam—until life throws him into financial uncertainty and he decides to take the leap. What starts as a desperate attempt to help his family quickly evolves into something far more complicated: a chance to star in a reality show where contestants pair up and compete for a coveted lead role in a new Boys’ Love (BL) series. Night, a successful but emotionally guarded model, isn’t the type to sign on for flashy reality shows—until he sees Sky’s casting photo and feels something he can’t explain. Against his manager’s advice and his own better judgment, he joins the project, drawn to the boy with the shy smile and uncertain eyes. Thrown into a house with six striking and wildly different contestants, Sky and Night are assigned roommates—others, not each other—and must navigate awkward first impressions, lip-sync battles, late-night conversations, and the growing tension between competition and connection. As the cameras roll and emotions blur, the question that hanging in the air: Is this just a path to fame in the entertainment industry—or is it something real? Is it all just for show?

Raina Gonzalez thought she'd found her savior in Castor Rowland, a charismatic politician who swept her off her feet and rescued her family from financial ruin. Their whirlwind romance ended in a fairy-tale wedding that made headlines. But behind the mansion's gleaming doors and beneath his polished smile, Raina discovers the man she married is a monster in a tailored suit. Her wedding vows weren't promises of love. They were chains binding her to a life of lies. Forced to play the perfect political wife while her husband builds his empire on corruption and destruction of lives, Raina feels hope slipping away. Until she meets Sylvester Brian, Castor's mysterious rival who lost someone he loved to men like her husband. Together, they forge a dangerous alliance to expose Castor's criminal network. But somewhere between stolen moments and whispered secrets, their partnership ignites into something neither expected: a forbidden love that could destroy them both. Just when Raina thinks she's found an ally she can trust, Sylvester's carefully constructed lies begin to unravel. The man she's fallen for has been using her all along, and she's caught between two devils: the one she married and the one who captured her heart. With election day approaching and innocent people's lives hanging in the balance, Raina must make an impossible choice: stay silent and complicit, or risk everything. Her family, her safety, her heart... Because sometimes, the only way out of a cage is to burn it down.

I was a semi-retired actress, joining a divorce reality show with my billionaire husband. "I want a divorce." Facing the camera, I spoke calmly. Off-camera, Hector Sinclair frowned as he reviewed the scene with me. "You need to show more emotion when you say it. That’s what will get people talking, stir up discussion, and drive the views. "Otherwise, who’s going to believe you really want to divorce me? They’ll just think you’re acting again. “Use your head. I can’t guide you every step of the way." Yeah. To outsiders, I was nothing more than a pretty face—vain, shallow, and talentless. Meanwhile, he was a shrewd and cultured businessman, commanding a fortune worth billion. No one believed I would willingly give up the title of Mrs. Sinclair, not even Hector himself. However, he had no idea that this time, I meant it.

Dalia Reyes came to the city chasing dreams—not trouble. But being undocumented means she’s always one step away from losing everything she’s worked for. Cleaning condos for people who don’t even know her name, she’s learned to survive quietly, invisibly… until one bad day throws her right into the path of Lucas Daniels the cold, arrogant, impossibly handsome billionaire heir who seems to have it all, except what he wants most: his father’s approval. When Lucas powerful father demands he “settle down” or lose his inheritance, Dalia becomes the most unlikely solution to his very expensive problem. The deal is simple: a fake marriage. Six months. No strings attached. But nothing about their arrangement stays simple for long. Because somewhere between the lies, the late-night arguments, and the moments they forget it’s all pretend—Dalia starts to feel something dangerously real. And when secrets from both their worlds collide, they’ll have to decide what’s worth saving: the truth, their freedom… or each other.

My father, Terence Locke, is covered in mud. He grabs my shoulders desperately, and his eyes are bloodshot. He says, "Emma, my company has gone bankrupt, and I accidentally killed a business rival. You have to run away with me." I believe him. Suppressing my fear, I follow him deep into the untouched mountains. To find food for him, I eat bugs and drink dirty water. When a pack of wolves closes in on our cave, my first instinct is to stand in front of him. "Dad, I'll lure them away. Run!" I look back at him one last time before finally making up my mind to trade my life for his. But after I leap off a seemingly bottomless cliff and fall to a pulp on the rocks below, I somehow "see" him inside a slowly descending helicopter. He is popping a bottle of champagne in celebration. At that moment, I finally understand everything. The whole desperate escape over the past few days that ultimately pushes me to sacrifice my life is nothing more than a reality show staged by him. He is merely putting on a performance, while I am truly dead...

Caked in mud, her eyes bloodshot, my mother grabbed me by the shoulders. "Elliot, the company's collapsed. I… I killed a competitor. It was an accident. There's no way out now. You're the only one who can come with me." I believed her. I swallowed my fear and followed her into the mountains, deeper and deeper until there was nothing left of the world I knew. To keep her alive, I searched for food, forcing down insects, drinking whatever murky water I could find. When a pack of wolves began circling our shelter, my first instinct was to step in front of her. "Mom, I'll lead them away. You go." I glanced back at her one last time…and made my choice. I would give up my life for hers. However, when I leapt from the cliff and my body shattered against the rocks below… I still saw her. She was inside a descending helicopter, calm and composed, lifting a glass of champagne. Celebrating. That was when it finally clicked. The desperate escape that had driven me to sacrifice myself… was nothing more than a carefully staged show. She had been acting the entire time. I…was the only one who had actually died.

My grandfather died on a covert mission, and authorities approved a grand funeral in his honor. Concerned about my grief, my fiancé offered to handle the arrangements. On the day of the funeral, I arrived with my grandfather's ashes, only to find his portrait discarded on the ground, replaced by one of a dog. Furious, I tried to remove it, but my fiancé's adopted sister stopped me. "Hands off that portrait!" Suppressing my fury, I countered, "This is my grandfather's funeral. He was a decorated hero." "So what?" She shrugged, sneering, "Isaac said Luck deserves the grandest send-off. If you've got a problem, take it up with him. Adoring me, he'd cancel your engagement and ditch you in a heartbeat." I laughed incredulously, calling Isaac's family. "You people begged for this engagement. Since when does your adopted daughter get to call it off?"