Swift Or Penny

Katherine Salazar. A girl from Spain whose life changed the day she first held a knife. She learned early that silence can be sharper than any blade. Her weapon a slender knife, always hidden beneath her clothes. Her adopted parents named her "Ghost Knife". She moved like a shadow—silent, precise, deliberate, clean. As she grew into a woman, her beauty captivated—and haunted— people around her in ways almost impossible to resist. When she took a mission she wasn’t supposed to handle herself, it tore her world apart, everything changed. She was caught by two brutal twin—opposites in behavior, different in power, identical in blood. Instead of ending her life, they chose to use her skills for their own dirty work. But then things got complicated. When both twin fell in love with her. A forbidden love, dangerous and consuming. Her next mission was supposed to be simple: eliminate the twins’ greatest enemy. But the target… was her “dead” father. "Dad?” My voice barely escaped, thick with disbelief, my vision blurred by unshed tears. “Kat?" His voice trembled with shock, more startled than I had ever seen him. In a fluid motion, he lifted his left hand, swift, precise—and the guards froze, stopped as if caught in a web of unseen power. " Y..You , I saw..." My words faltered, the knife quivering in my grip.

Led by my ex-boyfriend, the police raid the base of the major crime syndicate. The antagonist takes his own life, and the only person who could prove my identity as a top-secret undercover operative died two weeks ago. My ex-boyfriend drags me into court. He wants my memories extracted so I can face public judgment and sentencing. Nevertheless, I have no intention of explaining myself. "I plead guilty. Grant me a swift death." The masses are outraged, despising me with every fiber of their being. "Ha! You despicable traitor! You monster! You're a rat who exposes undercover journalists, yet you dare ask for a swift death? "This is the world of a novel. The maximum penalty for a guilty plea is euthanasia, but if judgment is passed by the court, you will suffer endless torment until your last breath!" "You don't deserve euthanasia. You belong in hell!" Rotten eggs and stones pelt me mercilessly. Even with my face now covered in blood, I make no effort to avoid the assaults. I only longed for death. My ex-boyfriend glares at me coldly. "You betrayed me. What right do you have to ask for a swift death? Your memories must be extracted and judged in court. Death will come only after your torment!" They are the ones who demand my memories be extracted and judged, yet after seeing them, why are they also the ones who go mad with regret?

A gaming-obsessed recluse, mooching off his parents and on the verge of getting kicked out of the house? No, this was the night a stock market prodigy was born! A single phone call from his guild master changed everything. "Don't you dare quit the game! Starting tomorrow, you're working at my firm. You'll be on salary, free to slack off, and it won't interfere with your gaming time!" What the—?! His guild leader was actually a financial titan? The elite investors at the private equity firm scoffed. "A clueless rookie who doesn't even know how to read a candlestick chart? Let's see how long it takes for him to quit in disgrace!" But then— "A worthless penny stock? Watch me go all in." What followed was ten straight days of a parabolic rally. The entire trading floor was left in stunned silence. "Holy—?! This guy's a newbie? He's a freaking market whisperer!" From scorn and contempt to groveling at his feet, the elites clung to his leg as if it were their lifeline. From 'Dieselgate' to exploding smartphones, every corporate scandal became his personal feast to harvest the world's wealth. And when Wall Street bared its fangs, plotting to crush domestic companies, he raised the banner and rallied the nation's capital to his cause! Channeling his most familiar in-game strategy, he issued the command, "Bros, on me—let's go raid Wall Street's home server!" That day, Wall Street lost its mind. The global markets screamed in turmoil, and the chairman of the NASDAQ was begging for a truce by morning. Facing the press, Elon Shaw only shrugged. "Market whisperer? Hardly. I just opened 999 loot boxes and maxed out my luck stat, that's all..."

"I was only trying to be nice to you and you did this??" Andrea wailed and fell to the floor looking down at her drenched clothes. "How could you do this to me Miss Alicia??" She cried profusely, pointing at Alicia who had great shock on her face. She hasn't done anything, what was she saying? She wasn't the waiter who had poured drinks on her body, why was she accusing her?? Alicia was damned confused. Just then, she saw it, her swift smirk when her husband began bashing her for offence she didn't commit, there she realized the b!tch had planned it all.

She wanted freedom… but traded one cage for another. Ember thought escape would mean freedom. She thought leaving Kelvin, the man who vowed to love her but would rather bury her six feet under than let her go, would save her. But freedom came wearing a darker suit. Aaron Moretti, a cold, Ruthless and Untouchable. A Mafia lord and a business tycoon who took her not out of mercy, but as collateral for a debt her toxic boyfriend owed him. In one swift move, he became both her saviour and her captor. Now trapped in his gilded prison, Ember is forced into servitude, haunted by the possibility of being sold to the highest bidder if Kelvin doesn’t pay up. Aaron, with his icy eyes and domineering presence, makes no promises least of all freedom. Yet, against her will, she finds herself drawn to the man who holds her chains. But in the Mafia world, love is a weakness a weapon your enemies will wield against you. And when debts are cleared and loyalties tested, Ember must decide: is Aaron her second chance… or her final downfall?

I used to think my husband was the angel who saved me from the depths of hell. Five years ago, I would have died for my ex-fiance, Marco Lombardi, but his carelessness caused Mom's kidneys to fail. He ignored 99 of my calls, and with an empty bank account, I couldn't even afford the surgery to donate my kidney to her. Only later did I discover that during that time, he was having romantic getaways with my stepsister, Penny Rossi. When I hit rock bottom, mafia Don Leon Costa showed up. He got me the best doctors, handled everything when Mom died, and even proposed to me when I was a complete mess. In our five years of marriage, he has spoiled me rotten. I've almost forgotten how much Marco and Penny hurt me. Then, today, I overhear his phone call with Penny. "Leon, thank you for giving my sister's kidney to my mother back then." My beloved husband just brushes it off. "Don't worry about it. I'll look after your sister. She won't ever know." He laughs quietly, and his voice is full of warmth. "You know I hate seeing you cry."

Aku didiagnosis menderita lupus eritematosus sistemik stadium berat dan akan meninggal tiga hari lagi. Setelah 188 kali telepon permintaan tolongku ditolak suamiku, aku membawa hasil pemeriksaan dan melangkah masuk ke kantor pelayanan perawatan akhir hayat. “Halo, tolong bantu jadwalkan proses kremasiku dan ajukan juga bantuan subsidi dari pemerintah.” Sepuluh menit kemudian, mereka datang. Belum sempat aku bicara, suamiku yang seorang pengacara langsung menamparku tanpa ekspresi. “Demi merebut perhatian dari Penny, kamu pura-pura sakit parah?” Kakakku yang seorang dokter merebut hasil pemeriksaanku, lalu membuka dan menatapku, sambil mencibir, “Lupus? Kalau mau pura-pura sakit, setidaknya yang masuk akal. Penyakit seperti ini hanya diderita satu dari sejuta orang.” Aku menahan rasa sakit di tubuhku, lalu kembali ke meja petugas dan menyerahkan formulir, serta hasil medis lagi. Melihat ruam berbentuk kupu-kupu di pergelangan tanganku, petugas itu tampak iba. “Aku sudah nggak punya keluarga lagi.” “Aku ingin mendaftar layanan kremasi tiga hari lagi, lokasinya bebas. Aku hanya berharap kematianku nggak menjadi beban bagi siapapun.”