The Architect of Regret
By @john1208
Elias Thorne, once hailed as a visionary architect, now haunts the city's forgotten corners, a ghost of the man whose ambition devoured his life and family. Five years ago, a devastating scandal – a compromised building, a public exposé of his ethical failures – cost him everything: his career, his reputation, and, most painfully, the trust of his brilliant, estranged daughter, Iris. Now, a desperate plea from his dying ex-wife offers a bittersweet path to redemption: complete a derelict community center, a project he abandoned decades ago, a symbolic monument to his youthful ideals. But Iris, now a formidable investigative journalist, is covering the center's redevelopment, her journalistic integrity clashing with her father's desperate need to prove himself. Every brick laid on the crumbling structure is a painful step through their shared, fractured past. Can Elias rebuild not just a building, but the trust he so carelessly shattered, before the ghosts of his past—and Iris’s unforgiving lens—condemn him forever to the ruins of his regret?
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Beneath His Obsidian Gaze
By @john1208
Elara Vance’s world crumbled the day she learned of her daughter Lily’s rare, aggressive illness. With medical bills soaring beyond imagination, her cheerful facade threatened to shatter. Desperate, she accepts an outlandish proposal from Asher Thorne, the enigmatic tech billionaire known for his reclusiveness and impenetrable gaze. He offers the funds she needs, but only if she becomes his temporary wife, a beacon of 'normalcy' for his demanding board – and his reclusive mansion. Her contract demands a perpetual smile, a vibrant presence, a stark contrast to the brooding silence that typically fills his obsidian-draped halls. Each forced laugh feels like a betrayal, every touch of his cool hand sending shivers of both fear and an unsettling attraction down her spine. If she fails to uphold her end, Lily’s only hope vanishes. But as his darkness threatens to consume her, Elara fears losing more than just her daughter’s future – she might lose herself entirely. Her heart aches, caught between an impossible bargain and a dangerous pull she can barely resist.
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