Theban Plays Novels & Stories

Zara James thought she had it all—a promising journalism career, a passion for uncovering the truth, and the guts to expose the powerful. But when her exposé on a corrupt politician backfires, her world comes crashing down. Blacklisted, penniless, and humiliated, Zara is desperate to rebuild her shattered life. Enter Adrian Cross, a tech billionaire with a reputation as ruthless as it is alluring. Adrian’s empire is on the verge of collapse, thanks to a scandal tied to his enigmatic and estranged brother, Nathaniel. Desperate to salvage his public image, Adrian offers Zara an irresistible deal: become his fake fiancée, and he’ll give her the exclusive story that could redeem her career. It’s a win-win—or so it seems. Thrown into a world of glittering galas, high-stakes boardrooms, and shadowy secrets, Zara quickly realizes Adrian is hiding more than just a tarnished reputation. Beneath his icy exterior lies a man haunted by betrayal, bound by dark ties to his family’s criminal empire. As their staged romance starts to feel dangerously real, Zara finds herself torn between her growing feelings for Adrian and the truth she’s determined to uncover. But Adrian isn’t the only one with secrets. Ethan Blackwood, a charming stranger who sweeps Zara off her feet, has his own hidden agenda—one that ties him to her worst enemy. Caught in a web of lies, power plays, and dangerous alliances, Zara must navigate the treacherous waters of love and ambition. When betrayal strikes from all sides, Zara faces an impossible choice: trust the man who’s kept her in the dark or risk everything for the one who might be playing her.

Synopsis Sienna Rodriguez was left with no choice but to agree to a marriage contract with Denver Thompson — a cold yet striking billionaire and the powerful CEO of Thompson Corporation. The marriage was a desperate exchange: two years of her life as his wife in return for the financial help she needed to pay for her mother and brother’s medical expenses after a tragic accident. Before this, Sienna had worked as Denver’s secretary — until she discovered that he was indirectly responsible for the death of her second eldest brother. She resigned immediately, full of grief and hatred, cutting all ties with him. Unknown to Sienna, Denver had fallen for her the first time he saw her. But love was a complicated thing for Sienna — her heart was still scarred by her past relationship with Oliver, a toxic ex who wouldn’t let her go. Agreeing to the contract marriage, Sienna finds herself trapped not only by legal bindings but by the disapproval of Denver’s powerful father and his vengeful ex-fiancée, Lisha. Yet as the days go by, she starts to see a different side of Denver. Against her will, her heart begins to soften. She slowly lets down her walls and even gives herself to him — and soon, a child is conceived. But fate plays another cruel trick. After an accident, Denver wakes up with amnesia, forgetting the last seven years of his life — including his love for Sienna. His old arrogant, ruthless self resurfaces, and Lisha seizes this chance to win him back. Can Sienna fight to bring back the man who once loved her? Will she survive the battle against a powerful family who refuses to accept her and a love that now only lives in her memories?

"Take off your ring." His command settled deep in my bones. I shouldn’t be doing this. And yet… I slid the ring off my finger. He stood on the other side of the room, his face hidden in shadows, but I felt him—his presence wrapping around me like a dark temptation. "Take off your clothes." I obeyed, my fingers hesitating at the waistband of my underwear. "I didn’t tell you to touch that." So I stood there—shoes on, pants still clinging to my hips—while my engagement party continued just down the hall. His gaze burned through me, drinking me in. "God, Butterfly." His voice was a tortured whisper, and I ached to comfort him. "Crawl to me." The words settled over me like silk and steel. Slowly, on all fours, I obeyed… --- Alessandra has always been the family push over even when her father forces her into a marriage. She plays the role of the perfect fiancée—obedient, loyal, untouchable. Until she meets him. Jeremy’s best friend. A man just as powerful, just as dangerous—but with eyes that see right through her. A man who tempts her to break every rule, risk every consequence. They hate each other on sight. But hate is just another kind of heat, and the fire between them threatens to burn everything to the ground. Loving him could cost her everything. Resisting him might destroy her. Either way, she’s already ruined. ~~~~~ Trigger warning : Dark Romance, obsession, Forbidden Romance, Male lead is a bit mentally checked out...

Panni never intended to steal her twin sister’s life. She only agreed to help with one simple favor—pretend to be Annie for a single meeting. But the moment she stepped into an elite private restaurant and faced Jinyan Lu, the cold, brilliant CEO of Lu Corporation, she realized nothing about this meeting was simple. Jinyan, still bound by his late grandmother’s dying wish to “find someone who will stay by your side,” had prepared a contract marriage proposal. He believed the woman sitting before him—Panni in disguise—was the one who had already agreed to the arrangement. Bound by fear, circumstance, and her sister’s disappearance, Panni reluctantly stepped into a life that wasn’t hers, signing a contract that would entangle her fate with a man who trusted no one. As she plays the role of the polished, confident twin, Panni struggles to hide her true identity while navigating the cold walls of the Lu family mansion, the scrutiny of the company board, and the unspoken expectations placed upon the future Mrs. Lu. But her biggest challenge is Jinyan Lu himself—distant yet unexpectedly protective, calculating yet quietly vulnerable. What begins as a practical arrangement slowly turns into a dangerous emotional territory neither can control. When Jinyan starts falling for the woman he believes is Annie, Panni is torn between duty and desire, truth and revival. Every moment she stays by his side deepens the lie… and the attachment. But secrets don’t stay buried forever. When the real twin retraces and hidden agendas threaten the fragile bond forming between them, Panni must decide whether to walk away—or fight for a love built on borrowed identity.

I once thought I had the most dangerous yet the most perfect love in the whole world. My lover, Dante Costello, is the Underboss of the Costello family. He carries himself with grace and nobility. Everyone fears and respects him, yet he only shows his gentle side to me. I used to think that the man who keeps lurking in the shadows and has once left humiliating marks on me while gazing at me with cold eyes is his brother, Luciano Costello. Luciano is a Capo who lives in the shadows. He's also a madman whose hands are stained with blood. Everything changes when I smell the unique scent of gunpowder and blood that only Luciano has from Dante's custom-fitted suit. Only then do I realize that I have never just belonged to one man all this time. During the day, Dante plays the role of my perfect lover. He showers me with jewelry and deadly romance. At night, Luciano transforms into a devil who satisfies his twisted, possessive urges in the roughest way possible. Both brothers have set up an elaborate trap to lock me up in this gilded cage and admire my struggles from afar. When I find out about the truth, I don't cry or bleed over it. Instead, I'm filled with eerie calmness. The brothers want to watch me break down. Instead of doing that, I'll ruin them. I flutter effortlessly between the brothers, using their only weakness against them. Apparently, both of them think that they are the only hunters in this game. This time, it's my turn to weave them a trap.

An arranged bride. An accidental claim. A love worth defying everything for. — When nerdy, bookish Elizabeth “Lizzie” Foster sets her eyes on Reese Blackwood at a wedding, she makes a wildly uncharacteristic decision. He’s going to be her first. Reese is charming, sexy, reckless, and far too attractive for his own good—the notorious son of a billionaire who’s never had to chase anyone in his life. But after one unforgettable moment, Lizzie thanks him politely… and tells him she hopes they never see each other again. For the first time, Reese is the one left wanting more. Fate, however, has other plans. Desperate to escape her controlling mother and finally claim her independence, Lizzie attempts a daring escape—only to be cornered at the airport before she can board her flight. With security closing in and her future slipping away, she does the only thing that comes to mind. She grabs Reese Blackwood after seeing him in the crowd, kisses him senseless, and announces to her mother and the world: “Meet my boyfriend. We’re getting married… and I’m pregnant.” Stunned—but spotting the perfect opportunity to defy his ruthless father and an arranged marriage with an unbearable woman he never wanted—Reese plays along. Now bound by a scandalous lie, a fake relationship, and a very public fake “pregnancy,” Lizzie and Reese are forced into a dangerous game of pretence. He’s hiding secrets that could destroy them both. She’s fighting for freedom she’s never had. And neither of them expected the biggest complication of all— Falling for each other might be the one lie they can’t survive. What could possibly go right?

Lyana Dela Merced grew up with nothing but grit and determination. Life had never been kind to her. From abandoned by her lover, and later losing her only child to illness, she learned the hard way that pain doesn’t pause for anyone. But even when the world kept breaking her heart, she refused to stay down. Her younger brother, who battled mental illness, depended on her strength, and that was enough reason for Lyana to keep fighting. From one side job to another, Lyana took on every decent work she could find just to survive. Cleaning houses, waiting tables, running errands—name it, she’s done it. So when her doctor friend one night offered her a stable job with the wealthy Tejada family, she didn’t think twice. But what she didn’t expect was that the job came with a shocking twist. Instead of being hired as a simple housekeeper, the Tejadas wanted her to be their surrogate mother. They couldn’t have a child of their own, and they wanted Lyana to carry the baby for them. Torn between desperation and morality, she faced an impossible choice: become the billionaire’s baby maker, or walk away from the one chance that could change her family’s life forever. Years later, fate plays its hand again. The widowed Preston Tejada crosses paths with Lyana Dela Merced, the woman who once carried his child. Old secrets resurface, hearts begin to stir, and both must confront a past that refuses to stay buried. Can Lyana right the wrongs she once made with the Tejada family? Or will she find herself falling for the very man she was never meant to love?

One year. That’s all I have to survive. I went from dancing naked in the neon-soaked stage of the Velvet Eclipse club to the cold, marble halls of the Hart empire with nothing but a promise I made to a dying man. I thought Richard Hart was my savior, but his final gift turned out to be a death sentence: live in a penthouse with his four sons—the most powerful, dangerous, and devastatingly handsome men in the city—for twelve months, or lose everything. The catch? They hate me. They see me as a charity case, a gold-digger. There’s Lucien, the Ice King who wants to crush me under his corporate heel. Damon, the inked-up mafia boss, who plays with guns and my sanity. Kai, the tech genius whose stormy blue eyes track my every mistake like a virus. And Theo, the golden boy whose charming smile hides a heart of pure stone. They’ve made it clear: they don’t want a roommate. They want to break me until I beg to leave. But they don’t know where I come from. They don't know what I've survived, Jace, my ex boyfriend who is currently hunting me from the shadows, ready to drag me back to the life I barely escaped. I’m trapped between four sharks who want to devour me and a monster who wants to own me. But as the walls of the penthouse start closing in, the hatred is starting to feel a lot like hunger. The lines are blurring, and I’m beginning to realize that the only thing more dangerous than the Hart brothers hating me... is them wanting me. I was sent here to tame them. But in this den of lions, I might be the one who ends up devoured.

It was something that Lissa had wanted ever she laid eyes on their newly appointed supervisor over the small but continuously growing company that she works for. He's gorgeous as hell. And everybody wants him. Sometimes, Lissa even thinks about whenever she 'plays' with herself. But of course, everything that she fantasies will remain as a fantasy. That supervisor of hers is bisexual and prefers to do the deed with men. But that's until she hears a little something from a little birdie in the table next to her. "Karma is a bitch, and revenge is best served cold --- bitter and kicking." As the messed up relationship between Anthony and Lissa grows passionately everyday, a text message from an unknown number will disrupt their lives. The text message contained a few sentences, something vague and Anthony thought it was only a scam for there are so many opportunistic folks in the world. However, the next day when he turned up for work with Lissa holding his hand, a certain woman wearing a Burgundy lipstick rattled him to the core. It was Tessa. Armed with vengeance and a story that could potentially destroy the empire Anthony's father has built. "So... what's your plan now, Mr. Lee?" Tessa leaned closer, whispering words laced with venom to his ear. "Will you cave in, or... would you like the world to know what kind of twisted son a of a bitch you really are." Anthony swallowed, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. His head was spinning and his world was crashing and burning and breaking in different places. And so it's true, Karma comes after everyone eventually. And this is his. "What do you want?" Tessa licked her lips then smirked. "Isn't it obvious?" She chuckled, her fingers traveling down his pants. "You."

He’s the Captain of the Austin Wolves. I’m just the guy who makes him lose his composure. Diego Alvarez is everything the sport of hockey demands: lethal, disciplined, and untouchable. As the captain of the Austin Wolves, he lives his life in the spotlight, fueled by the primal instincts of a wolf who refuses to be leashed. He plays hard, wins harder, and never looks back at the guys he leaves in his wake. I’m the opposite. I’m Kol Reyes—scholarship student, dance instructor to kids, and a guy who spends more time in the university library than on the ice. I’ve spent two years perfecting the art of being invisible to the Alvarezes, especially after Diego humiliated me back in high school. But then comes one night, one party, and one massive, blurry mistake. I wake up in the bed of my worst enemy, tangled in his sheets and gasping for air, with no memory of how I got there—only the lingering, electric hum of his touch against my skin. Now, Diego is everywhere. He’s stalking the library, "helping" with my Physics homework, and looking at me with a predatory intensity that makes my traitorous heart skip a beat. He says he wants to get to know the "real" me. He says he’s done with the games. But I know better. He’s an Alpha, and he’s playing a dangerous role. The problem? The chemistry between us is a frozen fire I can’t stop reaching for. I’m supposed to be guarding my heart against the man who once broke it, but every time Diego touches my cheek or pulls me into his orbit, the walls I built start to crumble.