1576 Book(s) Related to road to kingdom chapter 24

HER MISTAKE

HER MISTAKE

125 Views · Ongoing · Dare to Dream
The story of a girl Roopa who aspired to join the Indian Police Service and then the Intelligence Bureau, which is a part of the National Investigation Agency of India (NIA). Joining NIA is nothing, but being ready to give up life at any time for the safety of the nation. It is highly risky and confidential. Maintaining secrecy and being prepared to accomplish the mission assigned at any time is the primary duty of the team of NIA.

Roopa joined the NIA clearing the Civil Services, the seventh toughest exam in the world, which is unknown to her parents. As her parents opposed her goal to join the Police Department, Roopa achieved her goal, hiding it from her family. Her parents got her married to Preetam, who is handsome and wealthy. He married her with love, but his love turned into anger when he came to know the secret of her profession.

The entire nation except her parents, husband and in-laws appreciated Roopa for her courage, sincerity and never give up attitude. However, her family accused her saying she is reckless, selfish and cares least for the family.

Let us join in her journey where Roopa inspired every girl and changed the mindset of every parent, in-laws and husband.
After My Mafia Stepfather Turned Me Down in Bed: I Left for Africa to Teach

After My Mafia Stepfather Turned Me Down in Bed: I Left for Africa to Teach

819 Views · Ongoing · Hannah Air
At fifteen, my parents died on their way of volunteer teaching in underprivileged areas. I was adopted by the Miller family’s Don, Vincent and was brought up by himself. For ten years, he hauled me out of the mud, gave me a home, gave me favor no one else got and taught me what a “family” was supposed to mean.
On my eighteenth birthday, I climbed onto his bed and kissed him.
He called me disgusting with a face like ice. Later, he brought Isabella home, forced me to be her bridesmaid, and made me go with her to pick out wedding dresses and jewelry.
One shove from her was all it took for him to lock me in a pitch-black confinement room and he even had the light removed.
That was when I finally understood: everything I had could be taken back from me at any moment.
Apocalyptic Flood: My Mom Refused Me a Dime, So I Gave the Ark to Someone Else

Apocalyptic Flood: My Mom Refused Me a Dime, So I Gave the Ark to Someone Else

558 Views · Ongoing · Ryu
I begged my mom for ten dollars, but she smashed my head with a frying pan instead.

The next day, my mother posted on a forum asking:
"Hi everyone. My eldest son lied about the end of the world just to get ten dollars. I want to ask, how can I sell him on the underground black market to pay off his younger brother's $20,000 debt?"

The moment I saw that post, any remaining love I had for them died instantly. I snapped my phone's SIM card in half.

What she didn’t know was that a world-ending acid flood would descend upon New York tomorrow.

I had begged so bitterly for that ten dollars just to trigger the Ten-Million-Fold Return System to build a three-billion-dollar Doomsday Ark.

Since she didn’t want it, I gave the throne of the Ark Queen to the female classmate who casually tossed me some charity.
Boss In The Sheets

Boss In The Sheets

855 Views · Ongoing · Naiomie Chaster
A love story where pride makes it hard to listen, and prejudice harder to acknowledge feelings. A young college student (Rose) who seeks nothing but perfection, tries to avoid the pain we taste once in love, acting like she has philophobia. She meets a guy (Sam) who'll come into her life like a thunder, surprisingly but doesn't leave as easy nor as quickly, instead her world flips upside down, making her question everything she once stood for.
Midnight Prince

Midnight Prince

499 Views · Ongoing · Luke Chater
In ordinary teenage life, Chris, a 16-year-old, encounters Abbey, a new girl who brings change and potential. However, Josh, a charismatic peer, lures Chris towards a treacherous path. As temptation looms, Chris strives to gather the 'Fallen' to combat corruption. They embark on a journey through realms, solving puzzles, and seeking to free an imprisoned fallen angel. Betrayals test their resolve, yet a resilient reunion reignites their unity, even in hell. Unveiling connections to ancient fallen angels, they confront God to save humanity's existence. This epic saga explores bonds, cosmic trials, and the eternal clash of light and darkness, revealing the strength of unity and the enduring human spirit.
My Brother Stole the Divine Skill to Become the Savior, I'll Watch Him Beg on His Knees

My Brother Stole the Divine Skill to Become the Savior, I'll Watch Him Beg on His Knees

656 Views · Ongoing · Hades
Betrayed to death by my own brother, I was reborn before the apocalypse descended.
He rushed to seize the god-tier [Copy] talent first, leaving the trash [Purification] talent for me.
He thought that with this talent, he'd have no worries and reign supreme in the apocalypse.
Meanwhile, I quietly closed the last door of my fortress.
He didn't know that his prized copying ability had a fatal flaw.
The Homewrecker Posted a Bed Photo to Force My Divorce, But He Slept with the Wrong Woman

The Homewrecker Posted a Bed Photo to Force My Divorce, But He Slept with the Wrong Woman

1.1k Views · Ongoing · Ryu
At the family banquet, a power-hungry male special assistant projected a dimly lit bed photo onto the massive screen. He claimed he had slept with my wife—the heiress to the family—and demanded I walk away from the marriage with nothing.
While all the relatives were waiting for me to become the laughingstock, my eyes landed on a red rose burn scar in the corner of the photo. I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
He hadn't even turned on the bedside lamp. He had no idea that the woman he had just slept with was actually the wife of a psychopathic serial killer.
The Night I Took Off the Donna Necklace, I Made the Don Beg Me Not to Leave

The Night I Took Off the Donna Necklace, I Made the Don Beg Me Not to Leave

798 Views · Ongoing · Hannah Air
Five years into my marriage, I took off my Donna necklace at the Rossi family’s New Year’s Eve banquet and Noah still thought I could never leave him.
He stood by the long table with his mistress, Amelia, and said in front of every capo, “Some people will never measure up to her. Not even close.”
I didn’t cry. I didn’t make a scene. I just turned and walked away. On my way out, my cousin Lucas, my fixer, handed me a cup of coffee.
Three days later, he brought me two pieces of news.
Amelia was four months pregnant. And Noah was trading family territory to get his bastard child recognized by the family.
“What are you going to do?” Lucas asked.
I stared out the window, thinking about the red lipstick stain on Noah’s shirt. Thinking about the smug look in his eyes when he told me, “I only helped her because I felt sorry for her.”
“Wait,” I said. “Wait until they think they’ve won.”
What Noah didn’t know was I was still holding one last trump card.
My Wife is the Vampire Queen, But a Lowly Subordinate Demands I Kneel to Save My Daughter

My Wife is the Vampire Queen, But a Lowly Subordinate Demands I Kneel to Save My Daughter

598 Views · Ongoing · Ryu
"Daddy... so cold... and it hurts..." When my precious daughter Mia whispered these words in her weak voice, my heart felt like it was being torn apart.
The life-saving medicine was just ten meters away, but that damned anti-magic barrier had become an insurmountable chasm between life and death.
What made me even more furious was that the vampire guarding the gate not only extorted my life savings, but also demanded I kneel like a dog and lick his boots before he would open the door.
He didn't know that if the door stayed closed, it wouldn't just be my daughter who died—his son and mother would perish too!
She Told Me to Raise Her "Illegitimate Child," So I Took Off My Ring and Went North

She Told Me to Raise Her "Illegitimate Child," So I Took Off My Ring and Went North

337 Views · Ongoing · Hades
We’ve been married for five years. Then, she got pregnant with someone else's child.
In front of everyone, she said: "Ethan doesn't want this baby. You've always wanted one, right? Fine, take it and raise it."
In that moment, I finally understood: she wasn’t incapable of loving someone—she simply never saw me as a human being.
I took off my wedding ring, left it on the tray, and bought a one-way ticket to the North. My family said I wouldn't survive in the frozen North; she said that without her, I was nothing.
Three years later, she tracked me down using the GPS hidden inside that ring. She pushed open the door to my attic room, finding only a note I’d left: "Don't look for me. We're square."
On My Wedding Day, My Fiancé Wanted to Take His Sister-in-Law for a Prenatal Checkup

On My Wedding Day, My Fiancé Wanted to Take His Sister-in-Law for a Prenatal Checkup

561 Views · Ongoing · Cake Bird
With one week left until the wedding, Henry Jones asked me to reschedule the date—for one simple reason:
“On our wedding day, I’m taking Ann to the hospital for her prenatal checkup.”
Ann is the widow of his brother Ethan. She’s also my half-sister. In that private room, they laughed at me for being “almost thirty and desperate to get married.”
Ann put on an innocent face. “If Rory is really in such a rush… I can reschedule my appointment.”
I wanted to break up, and Henry frowned as he lectured me:
“As her future sister-in-law, why do you have to fight her over this one day?”
I asked him, “Do you even remember what Friday is?”
He coaxed me softly: “One day earlier or later—what’s the difference?” I nodded and said “Fine,” thinking I could still swallow it.
Until I pressed my fingerprint to enter his office and overheard Ann questioning him about inheritance, and Henry answered under his breath, “It won’t come to that—I won’t let Rory get pregnant with my child.”
That was the moment I u
The System Made Me a Live-in Son-in-Law for Three Years, Finally Time to Clock Out

The System Made Me a Live-in Son-in-Law for Three Years, Finally Time to Clock Out

374 Views · Ongoing · Ryu
The system made me an outcast live-in husband in a werewolf clan for three years. The mission reward: 80 billion dollars. Now there's only half a day left until retirement settlement.

The arrogant pure-blood Alpha wants to force me into a deadly full moon execution array, roaring for me to kneel and die.

I don't even lift an eyelid. Right at quitting time, I directly withdraw my soul, leaving the body to the original owner "Ancestor Wolf Emperor" to handle, while I return to my Manhattan penthouse, sink into the leather sofa, and start a holographic livestream.

"Enjoy your night shift, everyone." I take a light sip of hot coffee, coldly watching the screen as the Wolf Emperor crushes that pure-blood Alpha's spine into mush with one foot, shocking my mission wife and mother-in-law into idiots.
My Wife Gave My Late Father’s Heirloom to a College Boy—So I Made Her Leave With Nothing

My Wife Gave My Late Father’s Heirloom to a College Boy—So I Made Her Leave With Nothing

1.2k Views · Ongoing · Chau
In their eyes, my wife Emma—an Ivy League tenured professor in biological sciences—is ruthless, rational, and obsessively clean.
For seven years, even when she washed her hands, she would only ever touch the right-side sink—hers.
Until that night at 3 a.m., when I pulled a strand of sandy-golden short curl—hair that belonged to neither of us—out of my men’s shower loofah.
And around the neck of a pre-med student named Lucas, I saw the antique silver cross my dying father left in my hands.
When I confronted her, my always-icy wife protected the little homewrecker, slapped me across the face, and called me a jealous, controlling chauvinist.
She thought I’d swallow it like a coward.
But she forgot: as a top cardiothoracic chief, the thing I do best is cutting out tumors.
Only After My Family Sold Me to an Illegal Mine Did They Learn I Was a God of War

Only After My Family Sold Me to an Illegal Mine Did They Learn I Was a God of War

793 Views · Ongoing · Chau
After I retired, I was willing to do the dirtiest work at a small auto repair shop—just to give my sick daughter an ordinary childhood.
I endured my mother’s insults, my eldest brother’s wage cuts, my younger brother’s extortion.
But they actually joined forces to steal my daughter’s life-saving money for gambling, then sold me into an illegal mine to pay off their debts.
When the iron chain locked around my wrist, when my daughter cried in despair, the killing intent that had slept in my blood for three years finally woke up completely.
They had no idea I was once the iron-blooded God of War—commander of a million troops, the name that made enemy nations tremble.
The Night My Fiancé Got Engaged to Someone Else, I Got a Proposal Text from a Rival Mafia Don

The Night My Fiancé Got Engaged to Someone Else, I Got a Proposal Text from a Rival Mafia Don

1.2k Views · Ongoing · Hannah Air
At the Morello family’s Christmas dinner, I stood beside Vincent, waiting for him to announce our engagement.
Instead, in the very next second, he walked in holding a little boy and claimed him as his son.
And the woman he said he was going to marry? Scarlett Morello. The one he had always introduced as his “sister.”
The whole room erupted in applause. I stood there frozen, like a nail hammered into the floor.
Later, in his study, he took my hand and said, “Scarlett is dying. Late-stage breast cancer. She only has six months left. After she’s gone, I’ll marry you.”
But there was no guilt in his eyes. No love, either.
Then he told me to go to his villa that afternoon, to take care of the woman who was supposedly “dying.”
I opened the photo he sent me. Scarlett was lying in a hospital bed, pale-faced, an IV in the back of her hand.
A professional tennis player who had been playing in an exhibition match three weeks ago, and who had dropped three grand at Louis Vuitton on Fifth Avenue just five days ago.
But sure. She was “dying.”
At three in the morning, I was curled up by the front door of my apartment, crying so long I lost track of time.
Then my phone lit up. A text from an unknown number:
[Elena, I’m downstairs. When we were kids, you told me that once I controlled the docks on the East Coast, you’d marry me. The docks are mine now. Does that promise still stand?]
I pulled back the curtain and there he was. Ethan Vitale, my first love, leaning against the door of a black Cadillac, lifting a hand in a lazy wave.
Three years ago, when he left New York, he was only a Capo.
Now, he was the Don of the Vitale family.
He didn’t rush me. Didn’t pressure me to come downstairs.
He came for one reason only, to let me know he was back.
I wiped away my tears and texted back:
[It still stands.]
Because I wanted to see for myself just how long that woman could keep up her act.
The Heiress's Choice

The Heiress's Choice

1.4k Views · Ongoing · Kay Chester
For the love of him, I hid my billions and played the invisible wife for three years. Now? The game is over.
For three years, Elena endured a husband who barely acknowledged her, a mother-in-law who treated her like hired help, and a sister-in-law who sneered that she was nothing but a golddigger. All the while, her husband, Damien, pined after his "perfect" ex, like his own wife didn't exist.
The morning after their third anniversary, her mother-in-law delivered the final blow:
"Damien's right. You're not going anywhere. I don't want you bringing shame to my son, not now that he just closed a major deal. Besides, you're not smart enough or strong enough to survive on your own."
"We'll see," Elena said quietly.
She signed the divorce papers, packed a single bag, and vanished.
Damien was certain she'd come crawling back within a week. But the woman they all dismissed? Turns out Elena is a billionaire heiress, the CEO of the very empire Damien has been desperate to partner with and the one now signing his paychecks.
Oops.
Now Damien is spiraling, realizing too late what he lost. But Elena has choices she never had before. Like her childhood best friend, an NFL star who's been in love with her all along.
So who will it be?
The ex-husband who finally woke up?
The best friend who never left?
Or has Elena finally decided she's done with men who don't deserve her?
When the rebirth of the zombie apocalypse occurred, the younger brother was the first to choose the safe zone at sea

When the rebirth of the zombie apocalypse occurred, the younger brother was the first to choose the safe zone at sea

1.8k Views · Ongoing · Chau
When the apocalypse struck, my brother Leo didn't hesitate to choose the offshore sanctuary.
In our past life, faced with a choice between a powerful inland warlord commanding a massive army and a leader clinging to a solitary island, Leo snatched up the first option.
But when a zombie horde overran the mainland and defenses collapsed, he fled to my island for refuge.
Jealous of how well I was surviving the end of the world, he and our parents knocked me unconscious in the dead of night and threw me into the ocean to drown.
Now that I've been reborn, Leo immediately took our parents to the maritime base, leaving the "dangerous" mainland to me.
He thinks the ocean is a natural barrier that guarantees his safety, that he can sit back and relax while the world burns.
But there's one thing he doesn't know.
Zombies aren't just static, mindless walking dead—they evolve.
And when they do, that offshore sanctuary will become a floating hell with no way out.
The Billionaire's Desperate Chase

The Billionaire's Desperate Chase

65.7k Views · Ongoing · Ellis Carter
"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling my silk robe tight.

Theron's voice remained controlled and cold. "You are not the biological daughter of the Reed family, and they've found their real daughter."

My face drained of color. I had planned to explain everything upon his return, but Victoria had beaten me to it.

"What do you intend to do about our marriage?" I forced myself to ask directly.

"Marriage for me is a procedure, regardless of who it's with." With that, he picked up his briefcase and left.

_

Six years ago, Leila's fake heiress identity was exposed. Theron ruthlessly divorced her, and she was framed for attempted murder. Only after the divorce did she discover she was carrying his child. Blacklisted and desperate, she survived in a basement until her real family found her—she was the lost princess of Chicago's powerful Randall Family.

She gave birth to precious twins, but was told her baby boy didn't survive, leaving only her beloved daughter. What she didn't know was that destiny had other plans.

Six years later, a business venture brought her back to San Francisco, where she faced her cold ex-husband—who had a five-year-old son. Even more twisted - he was now her patient, completely at her mercy. Gone was his former arrogance; now he pursued her with desperate intensity. Could she ever forgive the man who destroyed her, or would she make him pay for the hell he put her through?
Owned by the Ice Vampire King

Owned by the Ice Vampire King

7.1k Views · Ongoing · Ellis Carter
Ivy Hayes has one dream: escape to the Solaris Sanctuary where sunlight keeps vampires away forever. But when she encounters her dying high school classmate Lucien Sinclair at the blood lodge, everything shatters.

Lucien is now a vampire, poisoned by silver and descending into madness. His brother Valerius—the ruthless head of the Blackwood family—kidnaps Ivy and drags her into his estate. Her scent is the only thing keeping Lucien sane. She's not a nurse. She's a living sedative, monitored and controlled, her body no longer her own.

Valerius underwent an ancient ritual that severed his empathy. To him, Ivy is just another possession to manage. He controls her every movement, destroys her escape routes, and tightens his grip until she's utterly trapped. But his cold precision hides something far more dangerous—a dark obsession that hungers for more than obedience.

While caring for Lucien, Ivy finds unexpected tenderness with the gentle vampire who still remembers her. But when Valerius corners her in shadowed hallways, his touch blurs the line between punishment and twisted desire.

Then Seraphina arrives—Valerius's fiancée and the woman who once shattered Lucien's heart. Her return ignites a vicious war between brothers, with Ivy trapped at the center.

One vampire offers her broken tenderness. One demands absolute surrender. One wants her destroyed.

Can Ivy reclaim her freedom—or will she discover that some chains are forged with blood, desire, and darkness?

WARNING: Dark paranormal romance with explicit content, dubious consent, captivity, and morally complex relationships. 18+ only.
The Cold Major’s Obsession

The Cold Major’s Obsession

718 Views · Ongoing · Ivy Carter
I was Louis’s girlfriend, the fragile burden he always left behind. For years, I waited in the shadows—my health neglected, my heart ignored—while he treated me like an accessory. But the night he abandoned me in a blizzard for someone else, I finally realized the truth: I wasn't his love; I was just his obligation.

Trapped in a freezing RV with a failing heart and no way out, I faced the end alone—until Graham Cox arrived. Louis’s cold, aloof older brother—a man who had always viewed me as an annoying pest—tore through the storm to save me. “If she dies,” he growled at Louis, “don’t bother coming home.”

He didn't just save my life; he pulled me from the wreckage of a toxic relationship. But now, the lines are blurring. Beneath his icy, disciplined military facade, a dangerous obsession has stirred. One night, he pinned me against a door, his eyes burning with a hunger he’d hidden for a decade. “Did you really think,” he rasped, “that I only ever wanted to be your brother?”

Now, Louis is begging for a second chance, but I’ve already moved on. I’ve walked into Graham’s cold, calculated trap, and there is no turning back. In a world of family secrets and forbidden desires, I have to choose: the boy who broke me, or the man who is quietly, obsessively claiming me.
After They Abandoned Me, I Became Untouchable

After They Abandoned Me, I Became Untouchable

879 Views · Ongoing · Ivy Carter
I once believed that if I was obedient enough, my birth family would finally love me. Instead, they gave everything to Anna, the fake heiress—my competition spot, my reputation, even my kidney.
Then I opened my eyes and returned to the year it all began.
This time, I won’t beg. I won’t yield. My achievements, my dignity, and my life belong to me.
When everyone called me vicious, Damian Sterling draped his jacket over my shoulders and asked in a low voice, “Am I an outsider?”
I leaned into him and smiled. “Of course not.”
But soon I discovered he was being slowly poisoned—and the culprit might be someone closest to him. Worse, the truth behind my death in my previous life may be darker than I ever imagined…
The Cursed Dragon King's Contract Bride

The Cursed Dragon King's Contract Bride

450 Views · Ongoing · Ellis Carter
"I have nothing to offer you," I told him. "Only myself."

"Renard can at least give you a concubine's title." His eyes moved over me once. "Don't imagine you can negotiate for even a blood slave's position with me."

I did not flinch. "I know that."

The knife was still in his hand. His voice was flat. Final. "So why come to me at all?"

"Because my godmother was going to hand me to her husband. I needed another way out." I held his gaze. "You are the most useful person I can reach."


After her parents died, Evelyne Olara made her way to Chalk City, where her godmother had promised there would be a place for her.

There was. Just not the kind she had hoped for.

The Valerius ducal house took her in as a ward and immediately began calculating what she was worth. Her guardian wants her for his bed. Her godmother wants her as a bargaining piece for the winter marriage market.

And at the center of it all stands Cassius Valerius. Grand Inquisitor of the Heresy Tribunal. Cursed with a madness no physician in the empire has ever been able to touch. The man they call the Forsaken Dragon behind closed doors, because everyone who has ever tried to get close to him has eventually stopped trying.

What begins as a transaction, cold and precisely worded and signed in blood, becomes something neither of them has a name for.

He gave her protection. She gave him the only thing that could silence the darkness in his blood. But what happens when a contract signed in desperation becomes the one thing neither of them can afford to lose?

WARNING: Dark fantasy romance with morally complex characters, dubious consent, and mature themes. 18+ only.
Falling for the Hidden Tycoon After Betrayal

Falling for the Hidden Tycoon After Betrayal

26.7k Views · Ongoing · Ellis Carter
Blake pinned me against the edge of the desk, his fingertips scorching, papers scattering across the floor. "Stop lying to yourself," he murmured coldly, "You need me."

I should have hated him—his father was the prime suspect in my parents' death, yet his touch made me tremble. "I hate you…" I gritted my teeth, but my voice was weak.

He smirked, his grip tightening, "Yet your body is responding to me." His fingers slid deeper, "So wet, and you still say you don’t want me?"

"Ah…Blake…" I arched my back, my sanity crumbling.

He chuckled softly, "Good girl."


After Emma's parents passed away, she was supported by the Reynolds family, particularly Gavin. She gradually fell in love with him. After knowing each other for ten years and being together for five, she accidentally discovered Gavin's ambiguous relationship with Sophia, his late brother's widow, just as she was about to marry him.

Then fate led her to an emotional entanglement with Blake from her partner company, but it also hinted that the car accident that caused her parents' deaths seemed to be related to Blake's father...

The man who healed her wounds might be the son of the man who destroyed her life. Thunder roared as Blake’s key turned: "Emma?" Standing before the evidence, her heart was torn. When love and vengeance collided, what would she choose?
Rise of the Cursed Luna

Rise of the Cursed Luna

5.9k Views · Ongoing · Ellis Carter
The slap came without warning, Mom's palm cracking against my cheek. Blood filled my mouth.

"Eighteen years of wasting my time on worthless, un-awakened trash!" she screamed.

Dad's boot connected with my ribs before I could recover. I crumpled to the floor, gasping.

"Get out of Shadowveil Pack," he snarled. "Crawl back to whatever filthy omega family spawned you. We don't need garbage polluting our territory."

I looked desperately at my brother, hoping for mercy. He just stood there, arms crossed, disgust in his eyes. "Don't look at me like that. You're not my real sister. Just some charity case we took in for Vanessa."

Elara spent eighteen years as a living curse vessel for Vanessa, enduring pain and scorn as a wolfless outcast. Cast out and broken, she returns to her birth father's pack only to face new humiliation.

But when ancient Guardian magic awakens within her, Elara discovers a dark conspiracy threatening all werewolf society—a blood magic cult draining powerful bloodlines. As she investigates, she awakens as the legendary Silver Moon Imperial Wolf, a bloodline thought extinct.

In her fight against evil, fate brings her Kaine Thorne, the future Alpha King. Their unexpected bond ignites a love that defies all odds. Together, they must stop an enemy seeking to enslave their world, but victory demands the ultimate sacrifice—Elara's life force to save those who never showed her mercy.

A story of redemption, fated love, and finding the strength to protect a world that cast you aside.
Falling for My Ex’s Brother

Falling for My Ex’s Brother

521 Views · Ongoing · Ivy Carter
I thought Jon was my salvation—until I saw him kissing another woman and discovered he had destroyed my training plan with his own hands.

With an injured knee, I fought my way back onto the ice, determined to win everything I’d lost. But every time I was about to break, it was always Leon who appeared.

He was cold, dangerous, and impossible to read.

He was also my ex’s older brother.

He saved me from an alley, carried me out of danger, and warned me in that low voice, “Not competing won’t kill you either.”

I asked, “Then why do you keep saving me?”

His gray-blue eyes locked onto mine. “Because I don’t want to see you break.”

I knew I should stay away.

But on the night of a thunderstorm, when the power went out and someone knocked on my door—

Was it really him?