Your Promise
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The Hockey Prince's Secret Ice Queen
All I wanted was to find a computer genius to process the non-linear dynamic equations for my ecological model. Instead, I found myself cornered by Julian Andrews, the university's hockey prince, trading a public, staged kiss for his academic support. To finalize our "deal," I was dragged to the campus ice rink. The cheerleaders and puck bunnies immediately swarmed him, mocking my plain clothes and treating me like a pathetic joke. Brooke, the head cheerleader, even set up a figure skating competition with a date with Julian as the grand prize. She performed a basic spin, blew him a kiss, and smugly waited for me to fall flat on my face and humiliate myself. His hockey teammates laughed from the sidelines, watching me try to support Julian as he stumbled around the ice like a newborn giraffe. But as I held his warm hand to keep him from falling, I couldn't help but feel something was terribly wrong. Why was a top-tier athlete faking such awful balance? And why did his ice-blue eyes stare at me with such knowing anticipation, as if he already knew about the professional figure skating past I had spent years trying to bury? "Just let go and skate." He whispered, slowly releasing my hand. I took a deep breath, glided to the center of the rink, and landed a flawless double Axel. As the entire rink fell into a dead, shocked silence, I realized I had just exposed not only my own hidden past, but also the biggest secret of the campus god.
Chapter 1 No.1
Sage POV:
"Let me kiss you."
The request was a low, hurried murmur—warm, quiet, and laced with the faintest edge of mortification.
Stunned, I snapped my head up toward the sound.
Julian Andrews filled my vision. He easily towered a head over me, his lean, athletic frame silhouetted against the bright morning glare, casting a long shadow across the cobblestones. Briar University's star forward. Team captain. The athletic department's untouchable golden boy.
Campus rumor had it that Julian was notoriously indifferent, never sparing anyone a second glance.
Behind him, a solid wall of navy-and-gold varsity jackets blocked the brick path. His teammates were whistling, shoving each other, and effectively cutting off my only exit.
The sudden commotion immediately bottlenecked the morning foot traffic. Whispers rippled through the crowd, and within seconds, a dozen students reached into their pockets out of sheer muscle memory, black camera lenses catching the light as they aimed squarely at us.
Julian's sharp eyes tracked the movement, his jaw tightening into a hard, irritated line.
Before I could take a single defensive step back, he closed the distance between us. Leaning down into my space, his broad shoulders shifted in a subtle, fluid maneuver—throwing up an impenetrable physical wall that completely shielded my face from the intrusive glare of the cameras.
His sharp, striking face hovered breathtakingly close. His deep baritone brushed against my ear, lost to the autumn wind, meant for me alone:
"Sorry to drop this on you," he whispered, his pale blue eyes disarmingly earnest, holding a quiet heat that sent a tremor straight down my spine. "The guys backed me into a locker-room dare... but I'm not here to use you as a joke. We can fake it. Angle it so it looks real—whatever you're comfortable with. Just help me get them off my back, and I owe you one."
It was only then that my brain finally rebooted.
What on earth? He's actually trying to kiss me?
A sharp flare of pure absurdity hit me, and my gaze dropped to my reflection in the dark glass door of the adjacent building: an oversized, faded gray hoodie that swallowed my frame whole, soft, thin jeans worn at the knees, bare-faced dark circles carved beneath my eyes from forty-eight hours of non-stop coding, my dark hair hastily twisted into a cheap plastic claw clip, and a pair of oversized, thick black-rimmed glasses sitting heavy on the bridge of my nose, completely hiding my face.
I looked like a refugee from an all-night disaster. How had Briar's golden prince ended up in front of me?
When I looked back up, my breath trapped in my throat anyway. He was too close, his clean scent of winter mint and cedar wrapping around my senses. Having those pale blue eyes staring straight down at me made my chest tighten in a way I really didn't want to acknowledge.
"Clock's ticking, Cap!" Landon howled from the sidelines, hands cupped around his mouth as the rest of the players lost their minds laughing. "Plant one on her, or enjoy the five-AM bag skate!"
A raucous chorus of barks and chest-thumping went up from the team.
A few yards away, two girls heading toward the dining hall froze in their tracks, pointing their phones.
"Wait, who the hell is that?" one of them laughed loudly, zooming her camera in on my face. "She looks like she just crawled out of a dumpster. There's no way Julian's actually kissing her. Post it on Sidechat right now—this is going straight to number one."
The cruel words hit like a splash of ice water, snapping me out of my daze and instantly killing the stupid flutter in my chest.
I hated the attention.
Four years ago, after my family and my former training partner framed me and destroyed my competitive skating career, I swore I would never be public entertainment again. I buried my name, switched majors, and hid behind oversized fleece and thick glasses just to live an invisible life. If I ended up on the campus forums with Julian Andrews, the internet vultures would dox me before noon—and drag up the toxic scandal I had bled to walk away from.
My research was already on the verge of falling apart. I didn't have time for this circus.
I locked my grip around my heavy binders, my knuckles straining white.
"Find someone else for your dare, Andrews," I said coldly, taking a step back to put distance between us, my voice tight with adrenaline. "I'm not interested in being part of your game. Move."
I kept my head down, attempting to brush past him.
"You're Sage Kelley, right?"
The sound of my name brought my boots to an immediate halt.
I blinked up at him, caught completely off guard.
"Professor Beaumont's senior research student," Julian straightened up slightly, his cadence measured and even, carrying an intellectual sharpness that seemed impossible beneath a varsity jacket. "I saw your Havenwood Creek senior capstone proposal sitting on his desk over Sunday dinner."
My heart gave a hard, hollow thud. Professor Beaumont was my academic advisor—and the guardian of the final research endowment my late father had left behind.
Julian leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a near-whisper against the whistle of the wind. "I spent an hour going over your codebase."
My lips parted. "You... read my proposal?"
"Your simulation keeps crashing because your core fluid algorithm strategy is flawed," Julian murmured, his pale blue eyes deadly sharp. "And Uncle Des mentioned that if you don't deliver a working version by this Friday, the department is pulling your grant—which means you don't clear your senior thesis, and you don't graduate in May."
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
Friday was the deadline. If the funding was pulled, the project died, my senior capstone failed, and I would be forced to stay another semester without my degree. Worse, my father's final ecological legacy would be reduced to scrap paper.
I had been panicking over that exact deadline for two days straight, and Julian had just laid it out like it was nothing.
Worse, I couldn't even brush him off. I had heard the rumors about Beaumont's nephew—the CS prodigy everyone in the department talked about. I just had never realized it was him.
"I know how to fix your algorithm," Julian stated plainly, laying his cards on the table, his gaze locking onto mine with an unshakeable, quiet certainty. "Help me get through this bet. In return, I'll rewrite your boundary calculations tonight. Deal?"
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Payback Promise
Olivia Cambridge is the second daughter of a politician, but by night, she is a hired woman. Hans hired Olivia to reveal the scar she got from her father. Together, they took revenge on their father. Don't stop at revenge! Olivia gets evidence that Hans doesn't want revenge for physical injuries but
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FALLEN PROMISE
Lucas and Clarissa's love blossomed from their childhood, cultivating a deep friendship and a profound love for each other. However, in an unexpected turn of events, a curse shattered their beautiful relationship. Because Clarissa was not meant for Lucas. Because Clarissa was destined for the sea.
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Pinky Promise
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The Mafia's Promise
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Seven Years, A Shattered Promise
On the giant screen in Times Square, Chloe Davis, radiant in red, slammed the gavel, and "Davis Innovations" exploded in green numbers. I stood in the crowd, a ghost she couldn't see, having spent seven years in her shadow, building her dream, waiting for the promise she' d made: "It will be you and
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His Betrayal, Her Ghostly Promise
My husband, Darius Madden, and I were the tech world's perfect couple. He was the charismatic CEO of the empire we built together, and I was the reclusive genius, the unseen force behind our success. Our love story was a PR masterpiece everyone adored. Then I discovered the truth was a far uglier t
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The Bad Boys Broken Promise
Brandon and Taylor first met at high school but he didn’t start to notice her till year eleven who thought a bad boy would go for the geek? Five years on they were still going strong until Taylor met Jayden Mathews her new boss and Brandon’s new hate. Will their relationship survive or will he brake
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His Promise, Her Prison
The day I was released from prison, my fiancé, Don Ford, was waiting for me, promising our life would finally begin. Seven years ago, he and my parents begged me to take the fall for a crime my adopted sister, Kelsey, committed. She got behind the wheel drunk, hit someone, and fled the scene. They
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A BILLIONAIRE'S PROMISE
He's New York's most powerful billionaire-cold, untouchable, and known as the Ice King. She's just a nurse fighting to keep her dying mother alive. Their worlds should never have collided. But one glance across a crowded room changes everything. Ella Reynolds never expected to catch the attention o
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His Promise, Her Ruin
Tonight was supposed to be the greatest night of my career. I was the frontrunner for the Pinnacle Prize, the highest honor in architecture. But the award went to a complete unknown—my fiancé’s first love, the widow of his older brother. My fiancé, Kason, the man who was supposed to build my winnin
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His Broken Promise
Her marriage wasn't perfect. Infact, it wasn't anywhere close to being perfect. But she always had hope and tried to make things work. She had expected it to last forever, no matter how bad it was. But her hope came shattering down when he dropped the divorce papers on the table right in front of
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BETWEEN PACKS AND PROMISE
I was born to serve my pack and raised to despise the Blackfangs, the sworn enemies of my bloodline. So when my father commanded me to mate with Demon, their ruthless Alpha, I obeyed without hesitation. The plan was simple: infiltrate his pack, weaken him from within, and secure our victory. Bu
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The moon's promise
In a post-apocalyptic world, Lily possesses extraordinary magical abilities that make her a beacon of hope. The powerful Eldritch Order seeks to recruit her, believing she can restore balance. However, as Lily uncovers the Order's hidden agenda, she realizes they may plunge the world into further c
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The Gangleader's Promise
"Promise me one thing?" She asked. "Anything", he replied. "That if I am in any sort of trouble, you'll be there when I call for help?" "I promise", he sworn. "Good, but this is not goodbye Brendan, I'll be back." she assured him. "And I'll be waiting for that call", he smiled. _____ 5 years
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Tainted Alpha's Promise
When Hayley's father dies, she and her mother are deserted and shunned from the rest of their pack, forced to live a life as exiles. Hayley was tainted and given the title of the cursed child, she was rejected by all of the Alphas of Crescent city. When all hope seems lost, Hayley meets Drako; her
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The Billionaire's Broken Promise
When Lena Carter lands a ghostwriting job for reclusive billionaire Ethan Wolfe, she has no idea she's about to step into a world of secrets, wealth, and emotional chaos. Ethan only hired her to help with his biography to clean up his public image-but her presence stirs emotions he buried long ago.
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His Promise, My Shattered World
My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend. From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down." That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my t
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The Billionaire's Promise Of Love
In the heart of the city, where the stars were often eclipsed by the shimmering lights of skyscrapers, lived a man named Darius Sterling. He was a billionaire by birthright and a playboy by choice, notorious for never letting his heart be entangled in the affairs of love. His life was a whirlwind of
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Drawn Blood, A Broken Promise
After six years of failed fertility treatments, my fiancé Blake and I were finally expecting our miracle child. Our shared dream, the one that had held us together through years of heartache, was finally coming true. But then I discovered he was faking amnesia to cheat on me. Heartbroken, I went
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His Promise: The Mafia's Babies
Getting pregnant by her boss after a one-night stand and suddenly leaving her job as stripper was the last thing Serena had hoped for, and to make matters worse he is the heir to the mafia. Serena is calm while Christian is fearless and outspoken but somehow the two have to make it work. When Christ
