A Pawn's Passage - Chapter 24: Miss Tantai

“Block him.”“He's technically still my boss.”“Then block him with dignity.”The call ended again.And then started again.I let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a sob, then finally answered with the enthusiasm of a snail crawling through salt.“Yes, Mr. Walton?”“Have you changed your mind yet?”I collapsed onto the towel and gazed at the sky as though it might consume me entirely if I pleaded sweetly enough.“Do you ever take a break?” I asked, shielding my eyes with one hand.“You're avoiding the question.”“Because it's a dumb question.”He exhaled, the sound sharp and irritated even over phone. “It's not a dumb question. It's a business offer.”“It's a weird offer-one that I already said no to.”There was a brief pause, and I could practically hear him clenching his jaw through the speaker.“You are acting unreasonably.”“ Unreasonable?” I sat up. “I'm not the one drafting fake girlfriend contracts like it's a normal Tuesday.”“Isabella-”“Certainly not, Mr. Walton.” I mimicked his tone perfectly. “I told you I'm not doing it. You need to find someone else to play pretend with.”SYNOPSISIsabella Miller thought saying no to her boss’s fake dating offer was the end of the story.But Adrien Walton doesn’t take no—especially not when he’s convinced she’s a gold digger.Suddenly, her student loans are piling up, her father’s vet clinic is on the brink of eviction and her brother is about to be kicked out of college. Coincidence? She thinks not.Adrien Walton is calm, calculating—and he's just pulled every string to corner Isabella into the perfect position.Now she’s stuck choosing between pride and survival.So she agrees to his offer: be his fake girlfriend.No feelings attached. No drama. Just business.Or so she thought.“Conference Room B. Fifteen minutes,” he said, passing by without a glance.The folder he pushed across the table landed with a thud.I opened it. The contract. All of it.---Enemies to lovers? Check.Slow burn? Hmmnyea.Banter so sharp it might file your nails? Yes.Delicious workplace tension? Of course.Tension that could melt steel?Absolutely.Smut?? Wanna find out?Welcome to corporate romance warfare. There’s no escaping this contract.

Heartbreak was the worst thing Kanata thought he’d face this week. He was wrong.When the world begins to rot and the dead rise, survival becomes the only thing that matters. Trapped in a school turned slaughterhouse, Kanata finds himself side by side with unexpected allies—his sharp-tongued childhood friend, a fierce upperclassman with a blade, and a dangerously calm teacher with a mysterious past.With betrayal still fresh and the world falling apart, Kanata isn’t looking to be a hero. He just wants to stay alive.But in the apocalypse… staying alive is the hardest part.

After death, Lu Chen becomes an interstellar meteorite. Carrying his longing for his family and Earth, he embarks on a journey through the universe!He sees light in the darkness, witnesses miracles in desolation, and through interactions with numerous magical biological and celestial civilizations, he continuously absorbs interstellar matter, gradually evolving from a small meteorite into a starstone, asteroid, planet, and finally a star.

Ning Jiang's father was a famous bridge designer but he was framed and the bridge he designed fell. He couldn't bear what happened and died soon. After his death, Ning Jiang's mother married another man who already had a daughter.

The new family treated Ning Jiang badly. Her stepsister, Mo Lan, even got involved in her relationship on purpose. As a result, her boyfriend betrayed her and Ni Jiang's heart was broken.

Meanwhile, Ning Jiang discovered that what happened to her father might be related to her stepfather or a man, Luo Hanshang, the fiance of her stepsister, who was in power of a huge business empire.

To find out the truth behind her father's case and even take revenge, she set up a trap for Luo Hanshang and attracted him successfully. She helped him solve a big case and won his trust. Then he married her as she planned. As time went by, he fell in love with her and even melted her heart, but she never gave up revealing the truth...