37 Book(s) Related to groom swim trunks

The only thing more awkward than falling in love on national television, is having your heart broken in front of millions of viewers.When public school teacher Millie Kincaid signed up for the popular dating show, The Groom, falling in love was always a possibility. But then Jace proposes to someone else on the season finale, and her hurt and humiliation leave her desperate to escape the glare of Hollywood's spotlight...until a new reality TV show provides her a shot at money that her school desperately needs.Former star of The Groom, Jace Westfall, went from fan favorite to villain overnight. Hurting the sweet and shy Millie cost him everything: his reputation, his endorsements, and his heart. It was the last thing Jace wanted to do, but he had his reasons. Now on the verge of financial ruin, Jace finds himself left with no choice but to do another reality show.Neither expected to face each other again, but both need the money. As they race from country to country, trying to put the past behind them, it quickly becomes clear they have a real shot at the million dollar prize…and a second chance at love.But only if Millie and Jace can overcome the biggest obstacle that stands in their way: each other.

Ashley, just turning thirty, is stuck with a string of bad dates that keep getting worse. The last of her group of friends to be single, she’s quickly becoming hopeless about finding The One. When a friend convinces her to attend a new-age workshop on making your dreams come true, she gets onto a roller coaster she can’t get off of. The poignant and hilarious comedy of errors begins. The workshop sweeps through her life like a tornado and turns her reality upside down. She is told: visualize it, and he will come. But Ashley takes it seriously, and before she knows it, she’s planning a wedding. There’s only one problem: there’s no groom. Things quickly spiral out of control as one misunderstanding after another occurs, and Ashley’s friends and family find out a wedding is happening, and want to know who the groom is. Backed into a corner, she finds herself having to lie, and to make her wedding planning more and more a reality. Things intensify as Ashley chooses her bridesmaids and is caught in a whirlwind of looking for dresses, choosing a venue, finding a band, and everything else. Soon a date is set, invitations are sent out, and there is no backing out! In the meantime, Ashley is desperately dating, hoping for The One to show up in time! In a shocking ending with a twist, Ashley draws true love into her life in the most unexpected way.

When Ava Brown discovers that her groom was swapped on her wedding day, leading her to marry the wrong person, she becomes determined to confront the two men responsible for deceiving her.
Ava Brown, the twenty-four-year-old daughter of Mr. Steven Brown, the owner of the world's largest automobile company, is a formidable individual whom no one dares to cross. Raised in a world of power and fame, she has developed a tough and often snobbish demeanor, earning her numerous adversaries. Nevertheless, her reputation as a ruthless woman is well-deserved, especially when it comes to her counterfeit groom.
However, the situation takes an unexpected turn when Ava realizes that the man she mistakenly married is a renowned but enigmatic fashion designer who deliberately keeps a low profile. Few people recognize him, and he is commonly perceived as a troublemaker with no real value.
The story takes a significant twist when Bryan Whyte is back to take his bride, But a seed of romance has already been sowed in the two of them. While Bryan makes every effort to keep them apart, Ava and Zeke find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other. The longing in their eyes is impossible to ignore. Romance blooms between Ava Brown and the Zeke with Bryan Whyte remaining determined to keep them apart, creating a complex love triangle.

Queenie dale a 27 year old billionaire marries Arnorld shaw one of her worker out of the blue to cover up her relationship with Christine Monroe another billionaire but the both of them gradually fall in love with Arnold , who falls for another sofia martel , the web keeps spinning as Arnold tries to find himself , and love in a world of powerful strong women who all would not take know for an answer but might be able to share .

She stole my wedding. I stole her future.
On the morning of my wedding, I caught my fiancé Kellan tangled in the sheets with my stepsister. The betrayal should have shattered me. Instead, it lit a fire in my veins.
So I did what any woman scorned would do.
I pointed to the most dangerous man in the room—Drexon Moreaux, Kellan’s ruthless billionaire uncle—and declared, “Him. I’ll marry him instead.”
Drexon could have laughed in my face. The Moreaux empire’s heir apparent, a man forged in boardroom battles and whispered about in elite circles, had no reason to entertain my reckless demand.
But he said, “I do.”
Now, my stepsister’s smug smile is crumbling. My ex-fiancé is forced to call me Auntie. And Drexon? He watches me with dark, calculating eyes, as if I’m a puzzle he’s determined to solve.
This marriage was supposed to be my revenge. But with every lingering touch and midnight confession, Drexon is turning it into something far more dangerous—something that feels like love.
Too bad the Moreaux family doesn’t believe in happy endings…

Life wasn't that good to Moriah as her groom decided against the marriage and left two hours before the wedding began. As if life hadn't been satisfied being cruel to her as it yet gave her another huge blow as she ended up marrying her sworn enemy. For her to salvage her reputation and that of her family, she has to walk down the aisle and marry the substitute groom. Walking down the aisle, she saw the man waiting for her. He was her archenemy, the billionaire business mogul, her fiancé's best friend, Ethan Miller. The blissful marriage she had been dreaming of with the love of her life turned into a nightmare.

——
When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
——

"The entire wealthy circle in Seattle knew how much Stella Carlson loved Aaron Malone. People watched the childhood sweethearts grow from inexperience to maturity, finally getting married in a grand wedding ceremony.

On the day of the wedding, despite the alliance between the Carlson and Malone families, the groom ran away. Stella knew that Aaron had rushed to L.A. to take care of his ex-girlfriend, who had attempted suicide.

Unwilling to become the laughingstock of all Seattle, she gritted her teeth and dialed the number of her adversary, her tone almost commanding, "Ethan, come and marry me now. This is your only chance for revenge."

On the other end, Ethan Powers raised an eyebrow as he gripped his phone, staring at the floor littered with cigarette butts. "Did the groom run away?" he asked. "My darling."

"Will you marry my groom, Hazel?" Indy asked me.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"I know you love him, please marry the devil."


Hazel Evan had been in love with her best friend's hot and irresistible fiancé, Tristan Hendrix, for a few years now. Never did she expect to receive the proposal from his supposed bride, to get married to her Prince Charming.

What if it turned out to be a terrible idea? What if she regretted her action? What if she had dug her own grave to hell? But wait… What if this devil actually had developed secret feelings for her? What if she was able to create a heart for herself in the ribcage of this heartless sexy devil?

After Ava lost her voice in a car crash, my brother fled the country overnight.
My parents begged me to take his place and honor the engagement.
For three years, I stayed by her side. I took care of her, helped her through rehab, and waited for the day she could finally speak again.
But at our wedding, my brother came back to stop it.
In front of everyone, my parents pressured me to step aside. "You were only filling in for Ethan in the first place. Now that he's back, it's time to give his fiancée back."
Ava stopped walking toward me and, without a second thought, ran straight into my brother's arms.
Later, she tried to smooth things over in private. She said it was only to test my brother's intentions, and promised that in the end, she would still marry me.
She thought I'd stay right where I was, like I had for the past three years, waiting for scraps.
What she didn't know was that I had already accepted the Godfather's secret appointment. That very night, I boarded a helicopter bound for the North District.
Now that the man she never got over was back, it was time for me to claim the underground empire that belonged to me.

What would you do if, on your wedding day, an unexpected guest appeared not to offer congratulations but to disrupt your special day?
Gavin had eagerly anticipated this momentous occasion, but it was marred by the appearance of a stranger who claimed he was the father of her child.

His dream wedding was on the verge of shattering.

His intended bride grew to despise him and left him at the altar.
His family and closest friends were furious over the situation.
Then, the disruptive woman disappeared, leaving chaos in her wake.
Gavin's life seemed in ruins, and things went from bad to worse.
Years later, Gavin unexpectedly crossed paths with her again, the same woman who had publicly declared in front of a church that she was carrying his child.
What steps should he take?
How can Gavin find closure and justice for the woman who once devastated his life, especially when he has now found the love of his life?

“He showed up for his sister’s wedding. He left wearing the dress.”

When Liam LaRosa returns to New York, he expects his sister's wedding, not his wedding. But after his twin sister takes her own life hours before her forced mafia wedding, Liam is given an impossible ultimatum: take her place at the altar… or watch his family fall.

Now bound to Donatello Moranno, the city’s most feared mafia boss, Liam becomes a pawn in a bloodstained game of power, loyalty, and twisted desire. But what starts as survival turns into something far more dangerous.

Because Donatello isn’t just the devil in a tailored suit. He’s the man Liam can’t stop thinking about.
And in a world where love is a liability… falling for the enemy might be a death sentence.

She wakes up with a hole in her memory and a name she can’t stop hearing in her head.
River was supposed to be a stranger. A steady presence. A safe place to land.
But secrets don’t stay buried in small towns, and the truth about the night that ruined her life is tied to the one man she’s starting to trust… and crave.

Synopsis:
Chevelle “Chevy” Daniels wakes in a hospital weeks after a brutal crash with a hole in her memory and a grief that won’t let go. Her best friend is gone, her family is terrified, and the only calm in the chaos is River, the quiet volunteer who seems to know exactly how to steady her. The problem is River has secrets, and one of them is tied to the night that shattered her life.
As Chevy heals, sparks turn into something deeper… until the truth rips them apart. Then Chevy vanishes, and the man who broke her heart becomes the one racing to bring her home. Because the danger stalking her isn’t new, it’s been waiting.
In a town that loves to whisper, Chevy and River have to decide what love looks like when trust comes with a body count, and the prettiest lies are the ones that almost feel true.

I looked Dante dead in the eye and said with crystal clarity, "Security! Please come and escort these clowns out. It seems they missed their way to the circus."
Lucien, still seated, finally spoke, his voice like frostbite. "If I see him within ten feet of you again… I'll take it personally."


Ravenna has always lived in the shadow of betrayal.
"Lily suits Dante better… she's the one he truly wants." The words stung, but not as much as the moment Dante himself confirmed them. "Don't overthink it, Ravenna. You know Lily and I share a history you can't compete with. "
That was the day Ravenna stopped waiting to be chosen.
A gifted doctor with hands that heal what others cannot, she hides her scars behind composure—until her father and stepsister strip away her last freedom. Faced with Dante's betrayal, her sister's scorn, and her father's indifference, Ravenna accepts the demand to marry in her sister's place—because she knows that respect is never granted, only taken. Bound to Lucien, a man she neither chose nor trusts, she steps into the marriage determined to seize her own power.
But Lucien is not the cruel stranger she imagined. Cold and calculating, yet bound by secrets of his own, he unsettles her with moments of unexpected tenderness. What was meant to be her prison becomes a battlefield of silence, suspicion, and a desire she cannot ignore.
As Ravenna works to bring down those who wronged her, she must also face the dangerous pull of a husband she was never meant to love. In the end, will vengeance define her—or will love rewrite the fate she thought was sealed?

Marlowe Crane is my best friend, and she's also a succubus.

She was born with this power that makes men lose their minds, but she always told me she only wanted to use her "gift" to protect me.

So every time I dated someone, she'd volunteer to "test" him.

Without fail, every single man fell at her feet.

She'd send me photos of them in bed together. "See, Rosie? They're all trash. Lucky I caught them for you."

After breaking up more times than I can count, I had a breakdown and moved from Boston to Los Angeles.

That's where I met Holden Kingsley. I thought the nightmare was finally over.

On my wedding day, Marlowe showed up in my dressing room with a glass of drugged water.

In my past life, I drank it and passed out. She stripped off my wedding dress, put it on herself, and climbed into Holden's bed.

Someone threw cold water on my face to wake me up. When I walked in with the bridesmaids, I caught them tangled up together.

I lost it. Screamed and cried and called the police right there.

And what happened?

Holden didn't feel guilty at all. He acted like I was the bad guy, like I'd ruined Marlowe's life.

Under Marlowe's succubus influence, he believed she was innocent, that I forced her into it.

After that, my marriage became a living hell.

Now I'm back, standing in front of the mirror, staring at that drugged glass of water in my hand.

This time, they're the ones going to hell.

This is a world where humans and fantasy races exist side by side. Werewolves move through city streets between glass towers, and every now and then, a pair of massive wings cuts through the clouds overhead. Twenty years ago, to secure the family's standing, the main house signed a contract with the Dragon Clan.

As the least favored daughter of a branch family, I was chosen to be the Dragon King's mate. The terms were spelled out plainly: if I couldn't get married within five years of coming of age, I'd have to go to Dragon territory and go through with the marriage.

For five years, every wedding I've planned has been blown up by my younger sister, Hannah.

This is year five. I'm finally in a wedding dress, about to marry Derek, the boy I grew up with.

What I didn't expect was that one hour before the ceremony, Hannah collapsed in the dressing room coughing up blood. She grabbed Derek's hand, crying, saying she wouldn't make it through the month.

And my parents are on either side of me, hands pressed down hard on my shoulders.

"Just let Hannah have the wedding. She's dying!"

What they don't know is that if I don't get married today, the Dragon envoys will come for me on the spot.

And I won't be coming back.

Emery’s undying love for her late mother drove her to do things only a desperate person could understand. To save her mother’s company, she agreed to marry a man twice her age. There’s no way she could escape the miserable truth, but on the day of the wedding, she married the wrong groom who turned out to be the wealthiest man in the country.
It’s like the Heavens gave her another chance and she won’t let the chance slip away. However, can she withstand the tension whenever her fake husband is near her? What if she falls for him? Will he catch her? Or she’d fall into a more complicated situation?


Every man's dream was to watch their bride walk down the aisle towards them, however, the beautiful dream turned into a nightmare when Terrence found a different woman under the veil. His bride ran away and he was forced to marry a stranger. To make everything more complicated, he just got appointed as the company President and he needs to maintain a good reputation.
Keeping his fake bride by his side is the only choice left to him. However, how can he deal with his self-control when the woman he mistakenly married is a total goddess of temptation?

Daphne's groom failed to appear on the day of their wedding. Daphne was so devastated by the breakup that she lost control and drank all night, eventually running into Nathan, a successful businessman who had recently relocated to the country.
Daphne, inebriated at the time, barged into Nathan's private meeting, causing him to lose some of his most lucrative clients. Daphne spent the night in detention as a result of this incident.
As an apology for Daphne's hasty actions, however, Nathan offered her a deal - to be naughty nephew's private teacher.
Later on, Daphne learns that Nathan is the man who caused her misery years before. He is her ex-groom.

Four months pregnant, I was full of joy and wanted to tell my gang-boss boyfriend.
He had sworn that if we had a child, he'd stay away from the underworld, and live a normal life with me.
But when I appeared at his stronghold holding a first aid kit, I was treated as a bitch who wanted to seduce the boss and suffered cruel abuse.
The most ironic thing was that my husband and I were only separated by a wall, but his subordinates told him "another slut is pestering you", making him miss the moment when I needed him most.
When I woke his memory with a lullaby, it was all too late—our child had...
The good news had become a dirge. Having lost everything, I understood a truth:
Real revenge is not taking away life, but making the enemy fall into the abyss when they are happiest.

The new member posted a yacht contract to the club group chat on her first day in. The caption read: Thanks for the birthday present, Dad 🥂
Ten seconds later she deleted it. Breezy apology. Oops, wrong group.
I looked at the photo one more time before it disappeared. I didn't check the numbers. I looked at the name painted across the bow.
It was my mother's name.
The boat was mine. My father had told me about it a week ago.
The chat didn't care. Which family is she from? Ninety-six feet of custom teak. Sienna, you dark horse.
I asked, quietly, if she'd share the registration number. I wanted to hear what she'd say.
My own husband stood up from two desks over and tore into me in front of every member in the room. Told me I was jealous. Told me I was an embarrassment. Told me to know my place.
Later that week, he broke into my safe. Took the diamond my father had given me for my mother — and put it around her neck.
That night my father's encrypted voice memo came in from somewhere at sea. One minute long. The last line was this:
"Find your mother's necklace. I can't wear her myself. I need you to wear her for me."

This was the ninety-ninth time Shen Yunxiao had disappeared during my heat period.
This time, as always, I found traces of him through my sister Shu Lan's Moments.
[Heat season is here again~ Luckily, someone's been guarding me nonstop for seven days straight.]
The accompanying photo showed Shen Yunxiao kneeling on one knee, his head bowed, kissing the top of her foot in profile.
Unlike the past, I didn't yell or cause a scene. I just liked the post.
I'm a succubus. Since birth, I've been bound to Shen Yunxiao.
So, my succubus heat periods could only be resolved through him.
But he never gave me a second glance, never cared about any of my needs.
Even during my most severe heats, he'd still sit there in his suit, watching me curl up on the floor, trembling.
He knew that a bound succubus could only be loyal to one person.
I used to think he was naturally disdainful of succubi. But when I saw the tenderness in his eyes as he helped my sister Shu Lan through her heat...
That's when I knew. He wasn't disdainful of succubi. He was disdainful of me.
Convinced I couldn't leave him, he brazenly went on every date with Shu Lan.
But he didn't know that surviving one hundred heat periods on my own was the deadline I'd set for myself.
He also didn't know that by binding myself to a top-tier succubus, I could sever my connection to him, a mere human.
So, this was the last chance I was giving Shen Yunxiao.

Everyone in the Blood Moon Pack knew that our Alpha, Ethan Black, was devoted to his Luna, Elena Mourn.

Until he met his fated mate, Celine.

He wanted to sever our bond to be with her, but I refused. We became the pack's toxic couple—he resented me for not letting go, and I despised him for his betrayal.

To get rid of me without looking like the villain, this asshole staged a pity party—claiming a dark witch cursed him in battle, trapping his memories at eighteen, and now his wolf only responded to Celine as his "true mate."

"Elena, I'm stuck at eighteen... I still love you, but our bond is gone." His voice broke. "I'm so sorry for hurting you all these years. Maybe we're both better off apart."

Watching his fake performance, I said yes.

He thought he'd won, never knowing I went along because three years ago, I took a hunter's wolfsbane bullet meant for him. The poison had been killing me ever since. One week—that's all I had left.

Before I died, I wanted one last look at his eighteen-year-old self, even knowing it was all fake.

The day college applications were due, Fern Whitmore wouldn't stop crying — and my two childhood best friends were completely wrapped around her finger.

They actually threatened to give up their Ivy League spots to follow her to community college.

I tried everything to talk them out of it. Nothing worked. So I went behind their backs and called both their parents.

Their parents showed up that same night and put a stop to it. Applications corrected, crisis averted, everyone back on track.

Or so I thought.

Fern lost her two personal ATMs, and one night she posted a goodbye message on social media and swallowed a bottle of pills.

Nash and Declan didn't blame her for it. They blamed me.

They lured me up to the roof. Both of them shoved their hands against my chest.

"Maren." Declan's voice was ice. "You ruined Fern's future. Go apologize to her in hell."

I fell twelve stories.

When I opened my eyes, I was back at the beginning.

This time, I'm not saving anyone.

In my previous life, I chose the werewolf and gave birth to the Arbiter, only to be burned alive by the younger sister I loved most.
When I was reborn, I knelt before the Oath Stone, handed my marriage pact to her, and watched her gloat in triumph before choosing Sylas, the elf everyone else avoided.
Everyone was waiting to see me make a fool of myself—until the day of the wedding, when he came carrying a gown blessed by the Sacred Tree, lowered his eyes to me, and said, "In this life, I will never fail you."

When Chrissy agrees to go camping with her new, hot boyfriend, she never imagined she'd be roughing it under the stars, or that she'd get lost.
When Luther, the werewolf, went for a run in a summer storm, he never expected to get pinned under a tree and rescued by a curvy, slightly crazy version of a brunette Barbie.

Now Chrissy thinks Luther is her new 'puppy',
Luther's new name is Fluffy,
And back in the city, the pack is about to have the laugh of their lives.

But try as he might, Luther can't seem to bring himself to leave her, and Chrissy could never known that there was an underground battle in Seattle for who would get to claim the city as their pack's territory.

They pulled my husband Beckett’s car out of the Avery River at four in the morning.
I was sitting in the reception area of the Ardenvale police station, having waited all night. Everyone thought I was just the pathetic wife—the one who had been humiliated at her mother-in-law’s birthday banquet, went home early, and panicked when her husband never returned.
No one knew that from the moment I dialed 911, this was exactly the news I had been waiting for.
He was dead. And I was the one who made it happen.

"I'm a stripper, so what?"
"You dare speak to me like that?" Ryan growled. "You ungrateful, good-for-nothing, wretched stripper."
"You have no right to judge me. You're only privileged by luck."
"Don't get too comfortable. You never know what's coming for you. Watch your back." Did I just stand up to the most ruthless and feared billionaire in town? Unfortunately, he's my husband. And I might be in deeper trouble than I thought.
Ryan, a spoiled and ruthless 30-year-old billionaire, can't access his father's empire unless he's married. Desperate, he contracts Iris -a bold 26-year-old stripper-to pose as his wife. Iris, with nothing to lose and everything to gain, agrees. But as her life finally seems to come together, shadows from the past threaten to tear it apart.
Ryan's hidden identity and a dark family secret push their lives into turmoil, with his manipulative mother determined to keep the truth buried. Will Iris be the key to unlocking Ryan's empire, or will their fake marriage lead to something far more real-like love?
And as tensions rise, will the empire fall into unexpected hands?

I’m Scarlett, the last true revival tattoo artist, capable of defying death with my cursed ink—for a brutal price. I lost everything saving my fiancé Hunter in my past life, only to be betrayed and killed by him .

Reborn when Hunter dies again, I refuse to sacrifice myself for my murderers. In an unthinkable twist, the powerless fraud Wendy resurrects Hunter, winning universal praise while I’m branded cold. Only I know the truth: he is not alive. He is a decaying, cursed corpse. I gamble everything for revenge and resurrect the only man who once saved me.

But tampering with death twice stirs a fatal, unspoken curse.

In the seventh year of being a stay-at-home husband, I discovered the son I cherished as the most precious treasure in my life was actually the illegitimate child of my wife and her male best friend.
To conceal the scandal of her infidelity, my CEO wife, worth millions, joined forces with her male best friend in a grand deception. They single-handedly destroyed my artistic career, transforming me into a free nanny raising their illegitimate child.
Upon learning the truth, I didn't lose my composure.
I calmly presented the divorce papers and the paternity test report proving no biological relation, then turned and walked away without looking back.
Later, that ever-lofty wife, the one who had once publicly doused me with ice water for her male best friend, was utterly consumed by regret and fury.
She kicked the scoundrel to the curb. In front of a crowd, she pressed a switchblade to her own throat, casting aside all dignity to kneel on the ground, crying and begging me to look at her just once more.
I didn't even blink. My voice was as cold as ice. "If you want to die, do it outside. Don't ruin my mood for coffee."

Do you have someone couldn’t forget in high school?
The boy who keeps disturbing you to attract your attention? You hate him a lot.
But several years later, you meet him again, will everything is the same as before or will the hate become love between your two?


When Hailey goes back home to the small town where she grew up for a vacation, she is expecting everything that a reunion could bring.

Meeting her parents again after a long time, had a happy time with her family, dealing with relatives she didn't like.

However, she wasn't expecting to meet Boris Stern again, the guy who had bullied her in high school.

And she definitely wasn't expecting a rollercoaster romance to begin.

For three whole years, as the "partner" of the bourgeois empress Victoria, I remained the most docile shadow of her business empire. Everyone thought I was a beautifully kept ornament, but only I knew that beneath this glittering facade, every shadow was a chaotic situation I had quelled with my own blood and flesh. It wasn't
until she used her daughter's final resting place as leverage to appease her lover that I realized that marriage was nothing more than a deceptive hunt.
Now, I'm going to recoup the costs.

"We should be doing this," I mumbled, yet I bent my neck for him, giving him better access to it.
"Yes we shouldn't," he answered, but his hands were sliding under my skirt and pulling my panties down.
"If we get caught," I muttered, moaning as his fingers found my slick entrance and he rubbed. My knees shook but he held me against himself with his other hand.
"If we get caught," he repeated. It was as if this had become some sort of game between him and I. Repeating each other's words like this.
"I could be expelled and your job would be taken from you," I completed.
"Yes, that could happen," he answered with a nod of his head. He moved away from me and stared into my eyes. "But it won't happen. We won't get caught. I won't tell, if won't tell."
"I'd be crazy to tell someone," I answered, my eyes searching his.


Vampire x Human. Professor x Student. Steamy x Forbidden love
When your one night stand turns out to be your professor, there's only one thing to do- continue to sleep with him. And that was exactly what Sophia is going to do.
She's faced with a forbidden attraction that's hard to resist until she finds out his dark secret; he's a vampire.
Will her passion overcome the secrets he had been hiding from her or will the shadows tear them apart?

The day before my engagement to my fiancé, I discovered I was a fake heiress.
And now, the real young lady had returned, and I was being sent away to the poor countryside.
But unlike what they said, my biological parents weren't poor country folk—they were the wealthiest family in the nation!
And I owned top-tier farms, a mysterious jewelry studio, and was a hidden tycoon who could shake up the entire business world.
My fiancé, who had looked down on me, was now crying and begging me to marry him.
He came to me with photos: "Pretending to be greedy, pretending to be ignorant, when you're actually a top-tier mogul? My fiancée, you've deceived me so thoroughly."

My name is Ethan, and it wasn't until the apocalypse arrived that I realized just how cruel fate could be.

Ability awakening became the new normal. Most survivors gained some kind of supernatural power, ranging from F-rank to the legendary S-rank.

F-rank abilities were barely better than being ordinary, while S-rank ability users possessed the power to face a hundred enemies alone.

My childhood friend Davis awakened a B-rank ability [Thermal Perception], allowing him to sense the heat distribution of all living beings within a hundred-meter radius.

And me? I got the F-rank ability that everyone mocked—[Refresh].

"Hahaha! Refresh? What can that do? Refresh your life?" People at the camp always laughed at me like that.

But I didn't care. I only wanted to protect my sister Leia.

Leia is eighteen this year, one of the few ordinary people in this camp who haven't awakened an ability.

I swore to protect her, no matter the cost.

That evening at dusk, Davis came to find me, but he had already betrayed me and become a lackey of the Gray Mark Gang.

She was once the cherished daughter of a respected professor, but now, she is nothing more than a shadow in the city-poor, struggling, and alone. Whispers follow her wherever she goes. Beauty like hers, they say, is a curse for a girl without power. They assume she'll do anything for money.

But she is fire, untamed and unbroken.

The university, once her father's legacy, is now under the control of a powerful man-a man who watches her with a cruel smile, waiting for the moment she will break. He holds the strings to her fate, dragging her into a silent war where wealth and control always win.

Then, he returns.

The boy who once played by her side, the boy who vanished the night of the tragedy, is back-no longer a friend, no longer the boy she knew. Now, he stands at the front of the lecture hall, wearing the title of Professor. His cold, unreadable eyes lock onto hers. His touch lingers like a ghost from the past.

He helps her in the shadows, yet she feels his presence in every downfall she faces. Does he still hold the warmth of their past, or has he returned only to watch her drown?

As secrets unravel and desires ignite, she must decide-fight against the power that seeks to destroy her, or surrender to the darkness lurking within the man she once called her own.