Smile Like An Idiot

Two months remained until debut evaluation night. Before our unit performance, our main dancer suddenly offered me her center position. I stared at her, confused, "The trainers always praise your stage presence. Why give up your spot?" "You... you deserve center more than I do." Her smile was painfully forced, and she was fidgeting with her practice clothes - obviously not saying what she really felt. Puzzled by her strange behavior, I asked, "Are my moves too big? Am I making it hard for you to perform?" She suddenly started shaking, looking at me with pure fear in her eyes. After what felt like forever, she finally choked out, "Please, just stop. I won't try to compete with you for center anymore!"

When Ava Carter walks into Blackridge Academy with a fake name and a flawless plan, she’s not there to make friends — she’s there to destroy Jace Langston. He’s the boy who made her brother disappear. Son of a corrupt police chief. Golden boy with a perfect smile and a darkness no one sees. She knows getting close to him is the only way to expose the truth — and take down the entire Langston legacy. But Jace is not the careless rich boy she expected. He’s suspicious, cold, and way too clever. And the more Ava plays the part of the sweet new girl, the more she starts to see the cracks in his armor... and the truth in his eyes. As their twisted game spirals into something dangerous and electric, Ava has to choose: Break his heart — or let him have hers. Because revenge was never supposed to feel like this.

It had been the fifth year of my marriage, and I was about to reveal everything to my husband after pretending to be poor for so long. However, his childhood sweetheart had just returned from studying abroad. With a cruel smile, my mother-in-law sneered, "Claire and Thomas are a much better match. "Not like some trash who isn't even fit to show up in public." She and my sister-in-law had waited for the perfect moment, drugging me and teaming up with the childhood sweetheart to accuse me of being a mistress. The result? I had lost my baby. In a single night, I had lost everything. The position as a vice president of a major company, our lakeside mansion, the limited-edition sports cars... I would make sure it was all gone! I would make them beg for my mercy. I would make sure they came crawling on their knees!

Quinn Parker has a system: keep her grades up, keep her feelings private, and absolutely never act like the kind of girl who screams over a boy band, no matter how many NEON ATLAS songs she has memorized. So when the group’s lead singer, Jace Wilder, is chased through the arena hallway before a sold out show, Quinn reacts on pure instinct: she yanks him behind a giant fake pot plant, yells his name, and points the stampede of fans in the wrong direction. Jace disappears with security. Quinn goes back to her life. End of story. Except a week later, Quinn lands an after school cleaning job at a luxury rental and opens the door to find Jace Wilder alone, exhausted, and nothing like his shining, onstage self. He tries to flip the charm back on when he realizes she’s the girl who saved him, but Quinn doesn’t buy it. She makes him a coffee, tells him to sit down, and treats him like a normal person for the first time in a long time. Quinn isn’t falling for a fantasy. She doesn’t even know him. But the more time she spends in his offstage world, between rehearsals, rumours, and the pressure to always smile, the harder it becomes to ignore the quiet, real boy behind the spotlight… and the fact that he’s starting to look at her like she’s the only place he can breathe.

As the wife of the Colombian cartel heir, Krystal Serrano is a symbol of diplomacy and control. Dressed in silk, wrapped in silence, and displayed like a crown jewel at the center of power. But behind the flawless smile lies a woman raised not just to survive, but to rule. When her husband's betrayal ignites a war with the Italian mafia, Krystal is taken. Kidnapped and hidden away by Zachary Romano, the young, ruthless Don who solves problems with bullets and buries questions with bodies. He thought he had captured a soft, obedient mafia wife. What he brought home was a storm in heels. Krystal doesn't beg. She doesn't break. Her silence provokes, her lips taunt, and her gaze slices deeper than any blade. Inside the stone walls of his private villa, control begins to slip. Hatred turns into tension. Tension burns into obsession. And in their world, love always comes with blood on its hands. The ring on her finger still binds her to a man who believes she belongs to him. But what happens when a woman like Krystal meets someone dark enough to understand her, broken enough to match her, and reckless enough to want her? Because there's a difference between loving a woman like Krystal… And trying to own her. And Zach Romano is about to learn—only one man can stand beside her. The rest will be buried.

For a decade, my world had been measured in laundry cycles, grocery lists, and the ever-growing pile of dishes in the sink. I was elbow-deep in soapy water, scrubbing the remnants of another family meal, when it happened. A sudden, silent cascade of text flickered at the edge of my vision, like subtitles for a movie only I could see: [Gosh, the heroine is so tragic. Her husband's entire family has been feeding on her luck like parasites!] [Her husband stole her graduate school admission and her career!] [The in-laws are literally siphoning her health away. No wonder she's always sick.] [And the sister-in-law took her "romance" stat! No wonder her love life is a desert.] [Heads up! Her husband's about to give her another "gift." Let's see how much more he takes from her this time.] My hands, clutching a greasy plate, froze. Right on cue, my husband, Tristan, sauntered into the kitchen. A smug, self-satisfied smile was plastered on his face as he took my wet hand. He slid a flimsy, garishly colored plastic bracelet onto my wrist. "Look what I got for you, sweetheart," he announced, his voice dripping with pride. "I made a special trip after work. Found it at the dollar store. It's romantic and economical, just like you always say you want. You love it, don't you?"

A Dark Mafia Romance , Dual POV , Forced Marriage , Obsession , Betrayal , Secret Identity Leona Moretti thought she was saving her brother’s life when she agreed to marry New York’s most feared mafia boss. She was wrong. Dante Rizzo didn’t take her out of mercy. He took her because she was promised to him. Sold by her own brother like a piece of flesh, packaged with a smile and a wedding ring. And Leona walked willingly into the trap. Now she wears his name. Sleeps in his bed. Lives in a mansion guarded like a prison. But he doesn’t touch her. Not yet. He watches. He waits. He burns. Dante is cold, cruel, and unreadable...until she disobeys him. Until she presses the wrong button. Until the mask cracks and she sees what he really is: A man obsessed. Possessive. Completely unhinged when it comes to her. But Leona has secrets of her own. Like the fact that she may not be a Moretti at all. And her entire life? A carefully constructed lie hiding a truth soaked in blood and betrayal. She’s not just a pawn in a mafia game. She’s a daughter of the deadliest name the underworld ever buried. And Dante? He’s not planning to let her go. Not when he finally has the one thing he's been denied his entire life. Her.

Billionaire Elijah Warren may be a saint to everyone else but Coraline Baxter knew better. She knew the younger man was too good to be true and that no one was that perfect. He always treated her like she was trash anytime they met, with a smile on his perfect face. She tried to avoid him as much as she could but it was nearly impossible when he was best friends with her friends and he came to her place of work every day. Coraline's life hits rock bottom when her daughter needs surgery and she is desperate for money, Elijah offers her double the money she needs. All she has to do is one little thing which is to be his surrogate. Coraline is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Will she agree to be his surrogate to save her daughter's life or choose her pride and walk away?

I met my mate, Alpha Draven, at the bonding ceremony of our classmate Raven—seven years after I rejected him. But everything had changed. He was still handsome and prestigious, with his beautiful mate clinging to his side. And me? I stood there in an old-fashioned uniform, black-rimmed glasses perched on my nose— a relic from another world. Yes. We were from two completely different worlds now. In the middle of the ceremony, I overheard some werewolves whispering and laughing. "Draven, have you finally moved on from her rejection? It's been seven years, after all." His smile faded. "Honestly, I didn't even recognize her at first glance today." Their words struck me like claws to the heart. I couldn't breathe. So I left—quietly, halfway through the ceremony—before the pain could completely devour me.

On the day I entered my contract marriage with Brian Janson, a flood of comments suddenly flashed before my eyes. [No…! The villainess is going to ruin the male lead’s purity!] [The CEO’s first time should belong to the heroine! Shameless woman, get off his waist right now!] [Are they going to do it or not? I’m on a tight schedule.] [Come on, have some loyalty to the main couple!] [If Brian knew he wouldn’t be able to give Quincy the ‘pure, untouched version’ of himself in the future, he’d probably drown in guilt.] Pure, untouched version? Sorry. I was born a villain, and making trouble is what I do best. So while Brianwas drunk, I leaned in without the slightest bit of guilt. The comments exploded again. [It’s over. They look like they’re about to get married for real!] [Am I seeing things? Did the male lead just… smile?]