Zhu Wen

In Moonrest, seventeen years old Lyra Hale's life changes the night the sky crack open and a glowing symbol burn onto her wrist . Guided by Cael, a mysterious boy from another realm, Lyra discovers she is the last Veilkeeper-destined to stop two world from collapsing into darkness. As shadow creature rise and an ancient king awakens, Lyra must uncover her family's secrets, face betrayal, and harness her light to restore balance before the Twenty Moons align

I burned my painting right in front of the students and university staff. Thunderous applause filled the hall. Everyone thought it was some kind of performance. But my senior in the graduate program panicked. He rushed forward and grabbed my wrist, his voice tight. “Connor, have you gone mad? This is your only shot to prove yourself!” I shook him off, cold. A chance? That was his chance, right? During my past life, he stole the painting I poured my heart and soul into and entered it in the competition ahead of me. The composition, the colors, even my original technique… He copied all of it. He won the Gold Award for the National Youth Art Competition, signed with a top gallery, and basked in glory. Meanwhile, I was branded a shameless plagiarist. The insults and curses overwhelmed me completely. "Get out of the art scene already!" “A plagiarist like you should just die!” His fans stormed my studio, smashed my tools, and broke my right hand. With my world in ruins, I jumped off the studio roof. Opening my eyes again, I realized I had returned to the day my senior accused me of plagiarism.

On my birthday, Rowan Shore ditches me for the 99th time to run to his suicidal true love. I tell the system, "I'm done with this mission. I've had enough." For years, I have tried every trick in the book, but I can't win Rowan's heart. The system says that if I die in this world, I'll return to my original one. The first time, I slit my wrists in the bathroom. Rowan kicks the door down, sends me to the hospital, and berates me for using self-harm to snare his attention. The second time, I swallow an entire bottle of sleeping pills. He bursts in at the last moment and sobs while holding me. He says he knows he messed up. There's still a third time, a fourth time, and more, right?

Mom and Aunt Denise Taylor fell off the balcony in the midst of their heated argument. Dad rushed in just as they hit the ground, each with a broken arm. Without hesitation, he left Mom behind and hurriedly took Denise to the hospital instead. Later, Mom filed for divorce. Dad's face twisted in anger as he yelled, "Enough, Nicole! So what if you broke an arm and can't hold a scalpel anymore? What's the big deal? Dee is a genius designer. If she had lost her hand, her life would've been over! Of course, I had to save her first!" Watching all this in my ghostly state, I couldn't help but laugh. Did Dad really think that Mom had only lost the use of her hand? Mom didn't just lose her hand. She lost me. After all, I had severe heart failure, and the only person who could perform the life-saving surgery was Mom, the medical master herself. But none of that matters now, because I'm already gone.

Scarlett Voss has one rule: get in, get paid, get out. No attachments. No exceptions. No mercy. When a mysterious client offers her the biggest payday of her life to seduce billionaire Xavier Blackwell and steal a file from his private server, she doesn’t hesitate. Men like Xavier are easy targets — too powerful to expect betrayal, too arrogant to see it coming. Except Xavier Blackwell isn’t either of those things. He knew about Scarlett before she walked through his door. He knew her name, her game, and exactly who sent her. What he didn’t know — what no amount of preparation could have warned him about — was how completely she would dismantle every wall he’d spent years building. What neither of them knew was how deep the danger truly ran. Because the man who hired Scarlett isn’t just a client with a secret. He’s a senator with blood on his hands, a confirmation hearing in twenty-seven days, and a willingness to destroy anyone who stands between him and untouchability. He’s already killed once to protect himself. He’ll do it again without hesitation. He’s also Xavier’s uncle. And he chose Scarlett specifically — not just for her skills, but because he saw what would happen between them before either of them did. Now Scarlett and Xavier are running out of time, running out of trust, and running toward each other in a situation designed to make both impossible. The con was supposed to be simple. The truth is anything but. Some lies protect you. Some truths destroy you. And some people are worth burning everything down for.

Ich starb an dem Tag, an dem ich den „Distinguished Service Award“ des Rudels erhalten sollte. Drei Stunden nach meinem Tod machten meine Eltern, mein Bruder und mein Gefährte gerade den Abschluss der Abschlussfeier, die sie für meine Schwester ausgerichtet hatten. Während meine Schwester Ella ein gemütliches Familienfoto auf Instagram postete, war ich im Keller eingesperrt. Ich versuchte, mit der Zunge über mein Handy zu wischen, um Hilfe zu rufen. Der einzige Person, die antwortete, war mein Gefährte Ryan. Alles, was er sagte, war: „Sophie, hör auf mit dem Drama. Ellas Abschlussfeier ist wichtig. Jetzt reicht's aber mit dem Theater!“ Es war das neunundneunzigste Mal, dass sie mich im Stich ließen. Und das letzte. Ich lag in einer Lache meines eigenen Blutes, und meine Lungen waren reglos. Sie dachten, ich hätte einfach einen Wutanfall und hätte mich irgendwo versteckt, und dass ich schon zu ihnen zurückkriechen würde, wenn sie mich nur genug schmoren ließen. Aber sie wussten es nicht. Ich war die ganze Zeit zu Hause. Ich war bereits tot.

Isabella has spent her nineteen years trapped in a gilded cage, never knowing freedom, always under the oppressive control of her father. Using her mother as a pawn, he manipulates and confines her, forcing her into a marriage with a man she doesn't want. Her life is one of obedience, secrets, and silent rebellion-until Landon Volkov enters it. Landon is an FBI profiler with ties to the shadowy underworld, a man everyone fears and no one dares cross. Cold, controlled, and lethal, he has always kept the world at arm's length-until Isabella awakens something in him no one else ever could. Drawn together by danger, desire, and an unspoken understanding, Isabella and Landon are pulled into a high-stakes game of power, obsession, and self-discovery. As their connection grows, Landon becomes obsessed with the real Isabella-the girl behind the cage, the one who refuses to be silenced. But in a world where control is currency and betrayal lurks around every corner, can Isabella claim her freedom without losing herself... or the man who might destroy everything for her?

My mother was once adored and protected by three men. As such, I had three fathers. After her death, I was raised by one of the greatest doctors, the richest man in Theala, and an award-winning actor. For 13 years, I was showered with overwhelming adoration. That was until three years ago—the day they adopted Erin, an orphan girl. From then on, they began to dote on her. When she accused me of stealing her necklace, they tore my room apart in their search, smashing my most cherished music box in the process. They only felt remorse when they saw me sobbing over the shards. As compensation, they bought me every music box they could find. When she claimed I mocked her for being an orphan, they forced me to write a hundred apology letters as punishment. They only massaged my hands in remorse upon seeing them trembling so badly that I could no longer feed myself. When Erin accused me of shredding her gown, they locked me in the dark basement, starving me for three whole days. When I was let out, they were filled with remorse upon realizing how much weight I had lost. Their bloodshot eyes watched over the grand feast they prepared as an apology. All of that lasted until Erin poisoned my cup of water. I kept coughing up blood as my body grew weaker by the day. Daniel only diagnosed me with malnutrition and made me take prescribed supplements. Unbeknownst to him, those supplements only hastened the poison's effects. After I collapsed at school, I went to the hospital for treatment. "You only have three days left to live," the doctor said. Why then… Why did my fathers drown themselves in sorrow and kill Erin after my death?

Als ich zehn war, rettete mir Jonathan Cooper das Leben und sagte mir, er würde mich ein Leben lang beschützen. Als ich fünfzehn war, lernte ich William Reed kennen. Auch er sagte mir, er würde mich für immer beschützen. Doch in dem Jahr, in dem ich dreiundzwanzig wurde, warfen mich genau diese beiden Männer, die geschworen hatten, mich stets in Sicherheit zu halten, um ihrer wahren Liebe willen ins Meer.

The night before my wedding, my mom got into a car accident—she needed a blood transfusion, fast. Her blood type was rare. Mine matched. I was pregnant, but I didn't think twice. I donated. While I was bleeding out, losing my baby, my fiancé, Joffrey Habsburg, and his brother—my so-called childhood friend—Mateo, were busy holding Nancy's hand during her cosmetic surgery. I begged Joffrey to save my mom. Only then did he bother to pick up a scalpel. When it was over, he said, "Surgery failed. She's gone." Two days later, I overheard Nancy purring through the door, wrapped around the Habsburg brothers. "Mateo really is a racer—he hit that old hag dead on. And Joffrey? You were amazing too, making sure she didn't survive the surgery. Thanks to you both, I got Lori's blood for my operation."