The city is a paradise. But the reality is just a scary hell. Elaria loves city lights. But the city lights Elaria could see were different. Dark, scary. Gray, confusing. Warm yet cold. Elaria's life was not easy. Elaria lost her job as a model because she was deemed incompetent. Her flower shop went bankrupt because it ran out of capital. She had to give up her dream of becoming a singer because she had no money. Elaria had almost given up on life until she met Danesh Leonard. A very scary man who has everything Elaria has ever dreamed of. Being with Danesh makes Elaria feel like her life is improving. Danesh brings Elaria closer to her dreams but how long can that last? Will Danesh Leonard treat Elaria well forever or will he take her to the darkest place where she can't feel anything?
"Shit!"
"Elaria, stop swearing. Get over here!" Elaria ruffled her hair.
"What exactly do they want? Those bastards keep acting crazy. Last week they smashed a bus stop. Tonight they smashed the glass of our flower shop. I feel like killing them." Elaria couldn't contain her anger.
"Stop nagging. Help Chinar carry the flowers to the back room. We don't have much time. The flowers might get rotten from the rain.
Elaria looked up at the sky. There was only darkness. The rain was falling relentlessly. Lightning could be heard everywhere. It was frightening.
"Why don't we have a chance for us to live a relaxed life?" Elaria sat among the flowers that had just been moved into the cramped room at the back of the flower shop. A room with two small stuffy rooms and a multipurpose room that could fit one long sofa that the three of them often sat on.
"Ela, there's no point in complaining. Being able to survive is enough." Sky handed Elaria and Chinar a cup of coffee.
"The city is getting more and more crowded. I'm having trouble breathing." Chinar inhaled the aroma of the packaged coffee they used to get at a small shop in a narrow alley. It was very cheap.
"I thought we would see a lot of color but why do we only see darkness? Shop rents go up every year but there's no building maintenance. We have to fix leaking roof tiles. The toilet is clogged. Water bills have to be paid every month as well as electricity bills. Not to mention the cost of daily necessities. Flower shops don't have a stable income. I'm going crazy."
"Don't forget, we have to fix the glass. We'll run out of money."
Elaria, Chinar and Sky. Just like the other dreamers. They came to this city to realize their dreams. The city that has always been called paradise. The beautiful city lights. But in reality it was nothing more than hell.
They went to great lengths. They try all means. They never see the beauty. Only failure. There is only darkness.
"What should we do?" Elaria moved to the sofa. Sitting in the middle between Sky and Chinar. This sofa could only accommodate the three of them and even then it was a bit cramped. It was better than having to sit on the floor.
"Do as usual. Open a flower shop. Ela composes songs and sings. Chinar promotes the songs. I'll take care of the rest." Sky was the most mature and calm among them.
"Why are you still with me?" Elaria looked at Sky and Chinar in turn. "You guys could be doing something much bigger. Even go back home. You won't lack anything."
"Home is too crowded. It's more crowded than this city" Sky looked at Elaria. "I enjoy living like this more than being at home anyway."
"We promised that we would succeed together. Ela, when we find the right producer. Your song will explode. We'll make easy money. We won't be living in a place like this." Chinar looked at Elaria with confidence.
Elaria smiled. Looking at Chinar and Sky in turn. "I will try harder. I won't let you live in misery."
Their hands clasped each other. That's how they survived in the darkness for so many years.
Living with many dreams while never knowing when they will come true.
***
Early in the morning Chinar was already repairing glass with a friend he had known for a while. Both fighters of dreams in the darkness.
Sky was upset. Most flowers are rotten because of the rainwater.
Elaria cleaned up the room that was messy due to the nighttime riot.
Living in the city is like going to war every day. Movement is very fast. If you let your guard down, you must be willing to be trampled.
"We lost again?" Elaria approached Sky.
"Unable to help." Sky ruffled her hair.
"What should we do?" Elaria panicked. If the flower shop closed, they wouldn't be able to survive.
"We have to get a cheap flower distributor."
"With our conditions. Getting a cheap flower distributor is not a solution."
"Chinar tell me what we should do?"
"I'll take some videos of you guys. You guys are good at flower arranging. We should promote Roseanne Florist on social media."
"So?"
"If many people see our video. We will soon survive the crisis."
Elaria and Sky nodded in agreement.
"Let's do it."
"I hope that many high-class people will see our video. They are always willing to pay a high price for beauty."
"Chinar. Don't get your hopes up. We can't even see them." Elaria arranged some fresh flowers on the table. Sky set up the ring light while Chinar set up the camera.
"Let's work hard. We have to survive because going back home is not a viable option right now."
Again. A sentence full of enthusiasm.
Elaria and Sky started arranging the flowers as best they could. Chinar took a video.
It doesn't go smoothly. They do it over and over again until they get the results they want.
"This is exhausting!" Elaria stretched her muscles. Her eyes stung from staring at the ring light and camera flash for too long.
"How is the result?" Sky took the camera. Sky's situation is not much different from Elaria's. Sky was even worse. Sky wasn't used to standing in front of the camera like Elaria.
"Good. What do you think?"
"Okay, but I look really stiff. Ela, how about we take the video one more time?"
"Again?"
"I'm not fit to be in front of the camera. Please do it one more time." Elaria nodded her head.
Sky smiled broadly at the results, "Just as we expected. Ela is always beautiful in front of the camera."
"You're right. She should already be a world-class singer!" Chinar looked very excited.
"Our beautiful Ela will shine brightly." Sky smiled proudly. "Chinar quickly edited the video. Send it to me. I'll post this video to social media and send it to people I know!"
"I'll do it!"
Elaria smiled. Chinar and Sky. Two people who believed in her when Elaria was unsure of herself. Chinar and Sky always held her hand and even hugged her tightly when Elaria had to walk in the dark. Their dreams had never changed since they first met and heard Elaria sing.
Sky wants to be Elaria's assistant while Chinar wants to be Elaria's manager.
"Ela, it's time to go. You have a photo shoot." Elaria had started her career as a model since last year. Chinar and Sky organized everything.
Elaria's career as a model was not going well. The modeling world was too harsh. Elaria often received bad treatment, one of which was sexual harassment. Elaria experienced it once. At that time Elaria wanted to give up but seeing Chinar and Sky's struggle to get a job for her made Elaria undo her intentions.
Elaria chose to survive. Survive in darkness once again.
"I'm leaving." Elaria picked up her cell phone on the table.
"Ela, I will accompany you."
"You finish your work at the flower shop. I'll leave on my own. This isn't the first time I've worked with this brand. So far they've treated me well. Sky, don't worry." Elaria pecked Sky's cheek then darted away.
"Are you sure she'll be okay?"
"Sky, she's slowly growing up. You're taking good care of her. She'll be fine."
"Aren't we being too hard on him?"
"Not at all Sky. Calm down, don't overthink it."
"Does he like what he's doing?"
"Sure, she likes it."
The day Raina gave birth should have been the happiest of her life. Instead, it became her worst nightmare. Moments after delivering their twins, Alexander shattered her heart-divorcing her and forcing her to sign away custody of their son, Liam. With nothing but betrayal and heartbreak to her name, Raina disappeared, raising their daughter, Ava, on her own.Years later, fate comes knocking when Liam falls gravely ill. Desperate to save his son, Alexander is forced to seek out the one person he once cast aside. Alexander finds himself face to face with the woman he underestimated, pleading for a second chance-not just for himself, but for their son. But Raina is no longer the same broken woman who once loved him.No longer the woman he left behind. She has carved out a new life-one built on strength, wealth, and a long-buried legacy she expected to uncover.Raina has spent years learning to live without him.The question is... Will she risk reopening old wounds to save the son she never got to love? or has Alexander lost her forever?
Elena, once a pampered heiress, suddenly lost everything when the real daughter framed her, her fiancé ridiculed her, and her adoptive parents threw her out. They all wanted to see her fall. But Elena unveiled her true identity: the heiress of a massive fortune, famed hacker, top jewelry designer, secret author, and gifted doctor. Horrified by her glorious comeback, her adoptive parents demanded half her newfound wealth. Elena exposed their cruelty and refused. Her ex pleaded for a second chance, but she scoffed, “Do you think you deserve it?” Then a powerful magnate gently proposed, “Marry me?”
Amy didn't expect that her husband whom she had loved and trusted earnestly for many years would be cheating on her by having sex with his secretary. When she confronted him, he and his secretary mocked and ridiculed her, they called her barren to her face, afterall, she had not conceived for the past three years that she had been married to her husband, Callan. Terribly Heartbroken, she filed for divorce and left to the club, she picked a random gigolo, had a hot one night stand with him, paid him and dissapeared to a small city. She came back to the country six years later with three identical cute boys and three identical cute girls of the same age. She settled and got a job but soon find out that her CEO was the gigolo she had sex with six years back at the club. Will she be able to hide her six little cuties from her CEO, who happens to be the most powerful man in NorthHill and beleived to be infertile? Can Amy and the most powerful man in NorthHill get along considering the social gap between them.
They don't know I'm a girl. They all look at me and see a boy. A prince. Their kind purchase humans like me for their lustful desires. And, when they stormed into our kingdom to buy my sister, I intervened to protect her. I made them take me too. The plan was to escape with my sister whenever we found a chance. How was I to know our prison would be the most fortified place in their kingdom? I was supposed to be on the sidelines. The one they had no real use for. The one they never meant to buy. But then, the most important person in their savage land-their ruthless beast king-took an interest in the "pretty little prince." How do we survive in this brutal kingdom, where everyone hates our kind and shows us no mercy? And how does someone, with a secret like mine, become a lust slave? . AUTHOR'S NOTE. This is a dark romance-dark, mature content. Highly rated 18+ Expect triggers, expect hardcore. If you're a seasoned reader of this genre, looking for something different, prepared to go in blindly not knowing what to expect at every turn, but eager to know more anyway, then dive in! . From the author of the international bestselling book: "The Alpha King's Hated Slave."
"There will be no falling in love, we will only act as a loving couple when we are in public, we will share a room to make it believable, but no intimacy, touching is off-limits. We'll only have sex once a month, and that's solely to produce an heir. You won't interfere in my business, and I won't interfere in yours. You will be my wife in every sense and you will not be involved with any other man," he said, arrogance seeping from every word. I watch his mouth move, I'm not ready to fall in love with any man, especially not one as arrogant and egoistic as him. I can handle acting as a loving couple, and as for intimacy once a month. I can agree to that just to satisfy my sexual cravings with no strings attached. "Where can I sign?" I asked since I had nothing to lose. *** Nadine's wedding dreams turned to nightmares when she caught her sister and fiancé cheating! With a secret recording, she's ready for revenge. But then mysterious billionaire Logan West offers a deal: A Contract Marriage to take down her ex's empire. But what Nadine doesn't know is her life is getting complicated as she takes her chance to get revenge or risks everything for a chance at love?"
COALESCENCE OF THE FIVE SERIES BOOK ONE: THE 5-TIME REJECTED GAMMA & THE LYCAN KING BOOK TWO: THE ROGUES WHO WENT ROGUE BOOK THREE: THE INDOMITABLE HUNTRESS & THE HARDENED DUKE *** BOOK ONE: After being rejected by 5 mates, Gamma Lucianne pleaded with the Moon Goddess to spare her from any further mate-bonds. To her dismay, she is being bonded for the sixth time. What’s worse is that her sixth-chance mate is the most powerful creature ruling over all werewolves and Lycans - the Lycan King himself. She is certain, dead certain, that a rejection would come sooner or later, though she hopes for it to be sooner. King Alexandar was ecstatic to meet his bonded mate, and couldn’t thank their Goddess enough for gifting him someone so perfect. However, he soon realizes that this gift is reluctant to accept him, and more than willing to sever their bond. He tries to connect with her but she seems so far away. He is desperate to get intimate with her but she seems reluctant to open up to him. He tries to tell her that he is willing to commit to her for the rest of his life but she doesn’t seem to believe him. He is pleading for a chance: a chance to get to know her; a chance to show her that he’s different; and a chance to love her. But when not-so-subtle crushes, jealous suitors, self-entitled Queen-wannabes, an old flame, a silent protector and a past wedding engagement threaten to jeopardize their relationship, will Lucianne and Xandar still choose to be together? Is their love strong enough to overcome everything and everyone? Or will Lucianne resort to enduring a sixth rejection from the one person she thought she could entrust her heart with?