Van Wyck Branch Library

On our fifth dating anniversary, my boyfriend, Luke Bolton, gives me a cheap bracelet worth less than a hundred dollars. On the same night, he splurges ten million dollars on a yacht for his first love, Cindy Gale. I refuse to accept this, and he accuses me of making a scene. "I gave Cindy that gift to boost the company's stock price, not because I still have feelings for her," he says. "You're poor, and I still promised to marry you. Isn't that enough? This was actually your last test, Elisa Gray, but you failed it." I break up with him, and he immediately proposes to Cindy. Five years after that, we meet again at a luxury hotel during a business summit. His company is about to become an industry giant, and Cindy is holding onto his arm. When he sees me, I'm standing in a fountain, all drenched and disheveled. "Elisa," Luke sneers. "When you turned me down back then, did it ever cross your mind that you might end up worse than a homeless person? "Don't think acting pitiful here will make me feel sorry and take you back." I ignore him. My son's cherished blue diamond was a birthday gift from his father, and he accidentally dropped it into the fountain. He's so upset that he's about to cry, and I have to find it right away.

Three months after my fiancé disappeared, I saw him at the airport, his arm around a girl. He laughed smugly, "Thanks to my buddies, coming up with that plan. Otherwise, how would I get to spend every day with you? Won't go back until you're pregnant. Let that old ball-and-chain keep searching." I didn't rush over to confront him; I just watched them in complete silence. Back home, I wrapped my arms around his brother's neck and whispered bitterly, "Harry is gone, but your family needs an heir."

Aurelia I was the invisible daughter and the perfect Luna—until my fated mate traded our bond for my sister’s bed. While they celebrated their true heir, I was rotting in a dungeon, losing my unborn pup and my wolf in a pool of blood. He refused to reject me, intending to keep me as his wolfless slave. But I would rather die than stay. I severed my bonds in a forbidden ritual and fled into the shadows of a rival pack. I am a ghost now. A wolfless healer rising from the ashes. I thought I was safe in the dark... until I met the King. Julian I rule with blood and iron. Love was a fairy tale for the weak—until I saw her. Behind her silent, stoic mask lie the jagged scars of a brutal past. My court of vipers thinks a wolfless Queen is a weakness. Let them try me. I will tear the throat out of anyone who dares to touch what is mine. I am ready to burn the world to keep her safe, but can I ever breach the walls around her scarred heart? Or will her past consume us both?

I'm the only heir to the wealthiest conglomerate in the world. My father, Tyrone Ferguson, is extremely powerful and has forces from both the underworld and the legal world eating out of his palm. But I witness my girlfriend, Vivian Vega, giving a "Voluntary Transfer of Body Ownership" contract to my arch nemesis, Richard Larkin, at our engagement ceremony. "Don't be mad at us, Isaac." Vivian shows me the contract, her tone still light and casual. "I love you, so I'll reserve my most treasured virginity for you. I will always be your wife, but I want to give the ownership of my body to Richard." "The hell are you on about?" With a deep frown on my face, I attempt to pull Vivian away from Richard, only to get pushed away by the latter. Vivian quickly moves to stand in front of Richard, her brows tangled into a frown. "Stop being so narrow-minded, Isaac! I'm free to give anyone my body!" She then stands on her tiptoes to kiss Richard right in front of me. At that moment, I become the biggest joke in elite society. Before the mass media begins spreading the news, I send out a text message calmly. "There's no need to help cover up for the Vega family's shady businesses anymore."

When Matthew Sinclair accused me of selling company secrets, I expected my girlfriend to stand by me. Instead, Selena Oxford told me to apologize. To the man who framed me. That was the moment I understood that trust was not something you pleaded for. You either had it, or you did not. I resigned the same day, cut every tie, left a ring on the table that she would never wear, and walked out of her life without looking back. I believed we would never cross paths again. Eight years later, at a black-tie banquet, Selena spotted me across the crowd. I was dancing with another woman, moving through the room as if I belonged there. In front of everyone, now known as a corporate powerhouse, she met my gaze with red-rimmed eyes and asked, "Was it for her? Is that why you left me eight years ago?"

Livia, an insatiable nymph with unacknowledged desires, is about to become much more than just a servant in the eyes of the powerful businessman Alessandro. Every glance from the billionaire Alessandro burns her from within. He, ruthless and arrogant, knows exactly what he wants, and he also knows that his power can obtain anything, including her heart, if she grants it to him. But a contract, signed under the impulse of growing passion, will bind their lives in an unprecedented way. A contract that goes beyond the simple terms of an agreement. Livia must bear his child, and Alessandro, much more than just a businessman, finds himself forced to lose himself in a dangerous game where feelings and sensuality intertwine. The question remains: can a contract signed in ecstasy truly be a promise of love, or is it merely a trap? Will Livia have control, or will she be the one dominated by a billionaire whose heart seems as cold as his gaze? They will cross boundaries that neither of them had anticipated…

"How did you capture his majesty's heart?" This is the question that everyone wishes to ask the newly hired eunuch to serve the emperor. Xu Zhengming, also known as Eunuch Xu, the great Casanova in town. His looks aren't inferior to Pan An's, and he knows it. This beautiful man knows all types of women and mastered the ways to get them. He experienced being chased many times but successfully gets away every single time. On that one fateful night, while running away from a group of women he bumped on his majesty the emperor. And with that, the ruler of an empire took him to his palace. Now that he's back to the imperial palace, previous relationships won't remain in the past. First friend, first love, first heartache. Connections that got severed by the sharp blade of fate. Will the once parted and now finally reunited be separated for the second time?

The chief healer, Evan Stone, is actually my secretive mate of six years. Unfortunately, he keeps refusing to let our pup, Toby Stone, address him as "Daddy". When he misses out on yet another one of Toby's birthdays in favor of spending time with Selena Meadows, his childhood sweetheart who works as a nurse, I finally bring up the topic of wanting to sever our mate bond. After that, Toby and I leave the pack forever. But Evan, who has always been calm and composed, loses control of himself immediately. He barges into the healing center and begins hunting down my scent like a mad wolf. This time, however, both Toby and I will never return to him ever again.

She was the daughter of a monster. He was the man who put a bullet in her father’s skull. Now, they're both trapped in a game of obsession, betrayal, and blood. When Mirabella Belluci escapes her brutal Mafia past in Chicago, she doesn't expect to be hunted by the man who freed her. Giovanni Moretti. He is cold, calculating, and a sworn enemy of her family and is meant to watch her from the shadows. Instead, he watches too closely... and wants too much. But in a world where love is weakness and loyalty is lethal, desire comes at a cost. And the closer they draw to each other, the deeper they sink into a war that could destroy them both. "Obsession is just another kind of loyalty.”

My roommates have booked booth seats at the New Year Countdown Light Show at the price of five thousand dollars per ticket. Soon, they begin urging me to transfer them my share of the payment on the group chat. I just send them a screenshot of the remaining balance in my bank account. "You guys have fun. I'm still saving up for my college tuition fees." Everyone just spams me with laughing messages instead. One of my roommates, Zane Lawson, even uploads a screenshot of our conversation to his social media feed together with a caption that says, "The first step of ascending to the next tier in social hierarchy is to stay away from party poopers like this." But as soon as 12:00 am is over, my roommates send me a photo of the light show. "It's such a shame that you aren't here." I'm still confused by the photo when I receive a phone call from the counselor, who sounds very anxious over the phone. "Did you buy tickets for your roommates to the light show? The organizers claimed that they never checked in at the entrance! Now, they've gone missing!"