Wrapped Up Christmas

Aku duduk sendirian di meja makan, tepat di hari ulang tahun pernikahan kami yang ke-7. Ponselku tiba-tiba berdering. Di layar kunci telepon, ada dua notifikasi pesan masuk yang masih belum terbaca. Pesan pertama datang dari Riki, dia bilang kalau dia harus lembur di kantor malam ini. Sementara pesan yang satu lagi datang dari nomor tidak dikenal. [Pak Riki sungguh luar biasa. Kakak sanggup mengatasinya?] Ada satu foto yang ikut dikirimkan dalam pesan tersebut. Foto itu menampilkan sepasang pria dan wanita yang sedang bercumbu mesra. Aku pun meniup lilin kue ulang tahun pernikahan kami sambil menutup mata dengan penuh kelelahan. [Ayo kita cerai.] Aku mengirimkan pesan balasan ke Riki.

Ever turned out to be that your Prince charming might not be whom or what you think he is? Chester Hunt is a reclusive billionaire with a devil-may-care attitude, living a double life as a coffee shop owner, so as to get away from under the control of his over bearing grand father. But there are more than just a few secrets wrapped around the family as a killer is linked to the chaos, and when the bodies start turning up, detective Tia is assigned to the case but then all evidence begin to point to the Hunt family and the reclusive billionaire whose double personality she has begun to fall in love with. The deeper they go into the case, the more they uncover. Will she ever discovered the lie? Will her emotions take over her duties? Who is the killer and what is the real face if Chester Hunt? This is love and war, if business and secrets and an age long grudge as the killer seems to be within this influential circle. Who is out to get who?

Di malam valentine, aku bertemu dengan sahabat kecil tunanganku di depan sebuah bar. Dia tampak seperti habis diracuni, tak sadarkan diri. Kali ini, aku pura-pura tidak melihatnya dan langsung berbalik pergi. Di kehidupan sebelumnya, aku sama sekali tidak mengenalnya. Karena niat baik, aku menolongnya. Tapi, malah tanpa sengaja melihat ada tato nama tunanganku di tulang selangkanya. Awalnya, aku kira itu hanya salah paham. Tapi sesaat kemudian, saat aku membantu mengangkat teleponnya, aku mendengar suara tunanganku dari ponselnya. Karena marah dan cemburu, aku pun memutuskan sambungan telepon itu dan mengabaikan 99 panggilan tak terjawab darinya. Aku baru pergi setelah memastikan dia sudah baik-baik saja di hotel milik keluargaku. Siapa sangka, dia malah menjadi korban pelecehan malam itu. Karena merasa memalukan, dia memilih mengakhiri hidupnya. Setelah kebenaran terungkap, tunanganku tetap pura-pura tidak tahu apa-apa, bahkan tetap menggelar pesta pernikahan megah untukku. Namun, di hari aku mengetahui kehamilanku, dia malah mematahkan kedua kakiku dan mengurungku di rumah. Aku sangat terpuruk dan bertanya kenapa padanya. Dia malah tertawa gila-gilaan. “Kalau bukan karenamu, Luna nggak akan jadi korban pelecehan, dia juga nggak akan bunuh diri! Ini semua salahmu!” Tak kusangka, saat membuka mata lagi, aku malah kembali ke hari di mana aku bertemu sahabat kecilnya di depan bar.

Ericka Matthews has been in love with her roommate for two years. The problem? Dominic Anderson made her sign a contract when she moved in: no romance allowed, or she's out. She's respected that boundary, hidden her feelings, and watched him from across the breakfast table every morning without letting on. Then Dominic kisses her. And immediately tells her not to kiss him back. Heartbroken and humiliated, Ericka decides to disappear. She has a backup plan, savings, and an apartment lined up. She'll be gone before he even notices. But when she collapses on campus and ends up in the hospital, Dominic is forced to confront what losing her actually means. The contract gets torn up. Confessions are made. And it turns out their mothers have been running a secret spy network dedicated to getting them together for three years. Now they just have to survive Sunday dinner with both families and Aunt Linda's unopened Christmas presents. A contemporary romance about two idiots who wasted three years pretending to be "just roommates," the meddling families who saw right through them, and the kiss that finally broke all the rules.

“I reject you, Rhea Graymont. A shiftless wolf has no place at my side.” With those cold words, Rhea’s fated mate, Alpha Kael, shattered her soul in front of the entire pack. Disowned by her father and branded a disgrace, Rhea is left with nothing but her secret life as a legendary gamer and her only friend - Adrian, a dark possessive Chat AI she coded to be her "perfect" partner and gaming avatar. But her enemies want her dead, not just exiled. When a brutal ambush leaves Rhea bleeding out in a mangled wreck at the bottom of a dark ravine, she makes one final, desperate wish into her shattered phone. "Adrian... I wish you were real." Amidst a storm of Crimson Rain, the digital veil shatters. Adrian Veyran steps out of the void - not as pixels of a Chat AI boyfriend or game avatar, but as a ancient Vampire King bound to Rhea’s soul as her second chance mate, with a lethal obsession for the girl who "created" him. Now, Rhea is returning to Aetherion Academy. The "weak" princess is dead; in her place is a masked phantom protected by a monster. While Silas and her treacherous family celebrate her death, Rhea begins her shadow war to reclaim her throne and her mother’s stolen company. But as Adrian begins to "delete" her enemies with terrifying ease, Rhea realizes her code had a secret side effect. Her "perfect" protector is the reincarnated Shadow God. Adrian doesn't just want to protect Rhea - he wants to claim her, body, soul, and code. When the Alpha who broke her heart comes crawling back, will Rhea choose the wolf who left her to die, or the digital god ready to burn the world for her?

Lilliana's mom always thinks about herself, never her own daughter. So, when she gets married and moves them again to a new town, Lilliana never expects she will become happier than she has been in years. Her new stepbrother Ryder can't stand seeing Lilly with her five new 'boyfriends." Ryder makes her his. Then the other two stepbrothers come home for Christmas break and things get even hotter. How is she going to handle being with three guys, when she has never even had a real boyfriend?

We're releasing balloons on Christmas Eve when Milton Jenning's lover deliberately sets off fireworks. They explode on me, burning me severely. My back, already torn and raw from skin grafts for her, becomes even more of a bloodied mess. However, I don't ask Milton for help. Instead, I shield a recently reunited heir of a wealthy family beneath me, risking everything to save him. In my past life, Milton kicked me in the back and told me not to stand in the way of him taking his lover to the hospital. "Is it funny to you to use a child as a cover, Larissa? Even if you're pregnant, you and your baby are just walking skin providers for Rita! I must've spoiled you—how dare you do something as heinous as this!" I was blacklisted by all hospitals and ended up dying while pregnant. My heart was filled with hatred as I breathed my last breath. When I open my eyes again, I see Rita Atkinson secretly aim fireworks at the night sky and set them off. I hear her laugh manically as she says, "You and your child can die together!"

I was about to kill my mother's murderer…until he almost killed me first. As the daughter of a respected policeman, justice burned in my blood. I watched my mother die at the hands of a Mafia Lord. And I swore to make him pay. But when I confronted Don Theron, I didn't expect to be wrapped up in his arms, his grip choking life out of me. “Say your last prayers, princess,” he growls, tightening his grip like the devil he was. I struggled, I gasped for air, my heart raced but there was no saving from this doom. I thought I was done for. But then he let me go. But my freedom wasn't a gift, it came with a heavy price–a gruesome curse. In a twisted deal with my father, the man who murdered my mother became my husband. Now, every morning I wake up beside a monster who's cloaked in charm, secrets and control. My soul still burns for vengeance, his soul thrives on possession. And with every day that passes by, I wonder… Will I ever make it out of here alive?

BLURB After catching her boyfriend in bed with another woman, Arlyn wants two things for Christmas: distance from heartbreak and a fresh start. A disastrous airport chase, a mistaken identity, and, yes, a bite mark later, she meets the hottest man she’s ever seen… and the biggest jerk she’s ever attacked by accident. She thinks she’ll never see him again. Until she walks into her mother’s new husband’s mansion— And finds the airport stranger standing in the foyer.

When Edna Crossby ditches the marriage registration for the fifth time, I block her contact number and social media accounts on the spot. If she's in any of the social gatherings, I turn down the invitations right away. I'd rather take the long route than walk past the cafe Edna frequents. If she attends a team-building session, I take the day off without hesitation. Even when Edna shows up on my doorstep with gifts in hand on Christmas Eve, I pretend that I'm not home at all. I don't answer any calls from her. I don't respond to texts she sends me. Just like that, I completely fade away from Edna's world. In the past, Edna used to be the focus of my life. My emotions fluctuated all the time because of her. When Edna flakes out on me for the fifth time, I finally snap out of my lovesick stupor. I don't want to live life like this anymore. Rather than getting abandoned time and again, I might as well live my life on my own happily.