Harper didn't ask to become famous. One moment, she was a ghostwriter living in shadows, scribbling stories about celebrities she'd never meet. The next, she was standing under blinding lights, pretending to be the girlfriend of the world's most untouchable pop star-Eli Reyes. To the cameras, they're the perfect couple: glamorous, glowing, madly in love. Behind closed doors? He's complicated, cocky, and far too tempting for a girl who promised she'd never fall for a façade. As the paparazzi swarm and secrets threaten to crack the illusion, Harper finds herself spiraling into a world of jealousy, lies, and forbidden tension. But the closer she gets to Eli, the harder it is to tell what's real and what's just for show. When fame burns hot and hearts burn hotter, will pretending to be his girl cost her everything-including the truth she's been hiding from the start?
The glow of Harper's laptop screen was the only light in the room. The electricity had been out for days, and the building's landlord didn't bother fixing anything for a girl who technically didn't exist on paper. Her flat was little more than a forgotten attic above a shuttered laundromat, with rain-stained ceilings and mold threading through the corners like ivy.
She didn't care.
It was quiet. It was hers.
And it was where her stories came to life.
She sat cross-legged on a secondhand mattress, headphones on, fingers flying across the keyboard. The walls around her were covered with torn pages, scribbled notes, printouts of articles, and one worn-out poster of Eli Rivers from the Neon Flame tour.
"Eli knew he was broken," Harper whispered as she typed, narrating like she always did. "But in her eyes, he found the man he could be. Not the icon. Not the mistake. Just... Eli."
She finished the paragraph and hit save.
No one knew the girl behind the screen name SilverQuill. Her fanfiction about Eli Rivers had developed a cult following online, especially her fictional redemption arc for the fallen pop star. She wrote him raw-lonely, struggling, a boy trying to escape the cage of fame.
And always, always, she gave him someone who saw him.
Someone like her.
Harper tucked her knees to her chest. The boiler rattled somewhere below. It was another night of canned soup and a candle stub flickering beside her.
She didn't want fame.
She wanted stories.
Stories that helped people survive-like they helped her.
Harper had never known her parents. She was left at the doorstep of St. Miriam's Orphanage the night she was born, bundled in a weathered blanket with no note, no name. The nuns gave her one-Harper Lane-and a crib near the window.
She grew up watching families come and go, always left behind. At seventeen, she was told she'd aged out. "You're smart," they said. "Go get a job."
So she did. She scrubbed dishes in a battered local fast-food joint with flickering lights and chipped counters. It didn't pay much, but she saved every penny. Enough to enroll in a local college and pay her first month's rent on a condemned attic apartment no one else wanted.
She thought things were finally turning around.
Then came Jesse.
He had a crooked smile and promises of forever. Said he loved her, that he'd help. That they could build a future. But the day after she gave him access to her savings-everything she had scraped together-he vanished. Took her money. Her laptop. Even her winter coat.
She missed rent.
The fast-food place shut down two weeks later. The owner went bankrupt and laid off the whole staff.
Still, she stayed. She squatted in the flat, dodging her landlord and boiling water on a camping stove. And she wrote. She wrote because it was the only thing left that made her feel like she mattered.
She ghostwrote term papers, essays, even lyrics for desperate art students. Once, she wrote a breakup song for a girl who ended up getting back with her ex. Harper didn't mind. It paid the bills-barely-and helped her get a second-hand laptop for a very cheap price.
And then came the night that changed everything.
Her phone buzzed. Unknown caller.
She ignored it.
It buzzed again. Then came a message:
LAYLA: HARPER. PICK UP. YOU GOT IN!!
Confused, Harper called back.
"What do you mean I got in?"
Layla was screaming. "The contest! The Eli Rivers contest! You're a finalist! They LOVED your writing! I sent them a few of your fanfics and snippets-they couldn't stop reading! They said you've got the kind of emotional depth they want in a screenwriter or creative partner!"
"What contest are you talking about? I thought this was a casting call thing."
"It was. Originally it was for finding a fake girlfriend for Eli Rivers to help boost his album sales with a drama-packed PR stunt. Girls were supposed to audition through videos and scripted monologues, show confidence and chemistry. I had to improvise. I told them you had the flu and couldn't record anything. So instead, I sent your stories. And they loved them! They said you had a voice, Harper. That you made Eli feel real."
"Layla, are you serious right now? You sent my writing to a contest I didn't enter?"
"Technically, I did. But you made it to the final three! Out of hundreds, Harper! They're bringing the top finalists to his private mansion for orientation. It's real. This is huge."
Harper stood frozen.
Eli Rivers.
He would actually read her words.
She almost said no.
Until she heard a loud bang on the door.
It was her landlord, shouting. Telling her she had until morning. That he'd change the locks this time.
So Harper Lane packed the little she owned, stuffed her printed manuscript in her coat, and whispered to herself:
"This is just a story. One I get to be in for a while."
But stories have a way of changing when they leave the page.
And Harper was about to learn that hers had only just begun.
Two years ago, Ricky found himself coerced into marrying Emma to protect the woman he cherished. From Ricky's perspective, Emma was despicable, resorting to underhanded schemes to ensure their marriage. He maintained a distant and cold attitude toward her, reserving his warmth for another. Yet, Emma remained wholeheartedly dedicated to Ricky for more than ten years. As she grew weary and considered relinquishing her efforts, Ricky was seized by a sudden fear. Only when Emma's life teetered on the edge, pregnant with Ricky's child, did he recognize-the love of his life had always been Emma.
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?
After a one-night stand with Gavin Russell, the Powerful and cold alpha CEO, Iris Green was smitten and she thought there could be something between them after realizing they were fated mates. Her hopes were crushed by his harsh words, "I don't eat the same food twice." Broken, she returned to her city to manage her family business but soon realized that a seed had been planted. Giving birth to a set of twins, she could not endure raising them alone, when they looked exactly like him. She sent one of them to Gavin with a note, "Dessert after supper." Gavin frowned when he received the parcel, from his son. He sent people to fetch that blondie but it was as if she disappeared from the face of the earth. Of course, the Green family was mysterious and she was the new head of the family. She only gets seen whenever she wants to be.
Sandra Hill, the long-lost real heiress of the Hill family, was shunned by her own kin. Instead of embracing her, they bestowed their affection upon an impostor. They even arranged her to marry a vegetative man in place of her so-called “sister”. Sandra sneered, refusing to put up with this humiliation, cut off ties with the Hill family immediately and ran into the flash marriage with Wesley Cooper, her unconscious billionaire husband. With her incredible medical skills, she defied the odds and revived him. Little did she expect that her husband spoiled her with all his love... A medical genius, a computer prodigy, a national treasure in painting, and a racing legend... Her husband revealed her various identities, leaving the Hill family regretful. Her father came pleading, "It's Dad's fault. Please come back." Her mother wept, "Mom will protect you from now on. Please come back." Even her five brothers knelt before he, begging for forgiveness. Yet, Sandra's smile held a hint of mockery as she vowed, “Never!”
Joelle thought she could change Adrian's heart after three years of marriage, but she realized too late that it already belonged to another woman. "Give me a baby, and I'll set you free." The day Joelle went into labor, Adrian was traveling with his mistress on his private jet. "I don't care whom you love. My debt is paid. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other." Not long after Joelle left, Adrian found himself begging on his knees. "Please come back to me."
"Never let anyone treat you like shit!" I learned that the hard way. For three years, I lived with my in-laws. They didn't treat me as their son-in-law but as a slave. I put up with everything because of my wife, Yolanda Lambert. She was the light of my life. Unfortunately, my whole world came crashing down the day I caught my wife cheating on me. I have never been so heartbroken. To have my revenge, I revealed my true identity. I was none other than Liam Hoffman—the heir of a family with trillions of dollars in assets! The Lamberts were utterly shocked after the big reveal. They realized what fools they had been for treating me like trash. My wife even knelt down and begged for my forgiveness. What do you think I did? Did I take her back or made her suffer? Find out!