a stranger by the shore

To save her father's life, Alicia Bennett is forced into a dangerous game of deception, swapping places with Sabrina Knight to "pretend" to be intimate with Sabrina's powerful husband, Ethan Clark. What begins as a desperate bargain to secure money for surgery soon spirals into a deadly web of secrets and manipulation, with Alicia trapped as a pawn in the ruthless Knight family's control. By day, she's Ethan's dutiful assistant; by night, she's a "stranger" in his bed, caught in a whirlwind of passion, power, and betrayal. As their complex, forbidden connection deepens, Alicia is drawn into a world where nothing is as it seems—until the shocking truth is finally exposed… Will Alicia escape the tangled web she's been caught in, or will the Knight family's plans destroy everything she's fought for?

Fiona Simmons and Xavier Stanley were childhood sweethearts, but a devastating fire led Xavier to mistakenly believe that Fiona had intentionally refused to save him. Haunted by this grudge, He carried resentment toward her love throughout their three-year marriage.Deliberately picking fights, Xavier filed for divorce 100 times,and each time, Fiona swallowed her pride, pleading for forgiveness with undignified devotion. When Xavier filed for the 101st time and they walked out of the civil affairs office, his friends tripped Fiona and mocked her openly. Xavier watched coldly, ignored her injured knee, and left with his friend to attend a welcome party for Jenny Simmons. Heartbroken at last, Fiona decided to let go of their love forever and accepted a mysterious stranger's offer.

Fiona Simmons and Xavier Stanley were childhood sweethearts, but a devastating fire led Xavier to mistakenly believe that Fiona had intentionally refused to save him. Haunted by this grudge, He carried resentment toward her love throughout their three-year marriage.Deliberately picking fights, Xavier filed for divorce 100 times,and each time, Fiona swallowed her pride, pleading for forgiveness with undignified devotion. When Xavier filed for the 101st time and they walked out of the civil affairs office, his friends tripped Fiona and mocked her openly. Xavier watched coldly, ignored her injured knee, and left with his friend to attend a welcome party for Jenny Simmons. Heartbroken at last, Fiona decided to let go of their love forever and accepted a mysterious stranger's offer.

Cleaner Betty’s night shift takes a fateful turn: she rescues a drugged stranger—unaware he’s elite tycoon Eli—and they share an impulsive night. The next morning, she slips away to help her best friend Ivy out of a crisis, , leaving Eli desperate to find her. Seizing the chance, Ivy poses as Eli’s mystery woman, lying outright that her ex-husband’s child is his—and steals Betty’s place entirely. Betty discovers she’s pregnant soon after starting medical school, raising the baby alone. Six years later, she becomes Eli’s household private physician. From their first meeting, Eli can’t shake the mother-daughter pair’s uncanny familiarity—a connection that makes him question everything…

Elite lawyer Kylin Taylor walks into a cafe and finds her fiance Zane Walker attending tenderly to his mistress. She doesn't make a scene. That night, she slides a condom into a legal contract and hands it to Zane's closest friend, David Evans, Eryland's most talked-about playboy. "Hotel tonight? It's on me." What begins as cold, surgical revenge becomes something stranger: she uses David to deliver Zane a humiliation; David plays along with every sign of enjoying himself.But as the game deepens, he drops the act entirely and and starts betting everything he has on her instead of the thrill. Kylin realizes, with a jolt, that she never had control of this board to begin with. Someone laid these pieces into position ten years ago, and it wasn't her.

After getting hit on the head, Selena Logan woke up to find herself inside the very CEO romance novel she had been reading. Now, she was a spoiled heiress from the capital's elite circle, known for being love-obsessed and hopelessly naive.Her home life consisted of a scheming cousin and three dangerously powerful brothers.On day one, things went off-script: she accidentally drank the love potion meant for her cousin Yasmin and ended up in a chaotic one-night stand with a mysterious man.They met again at a lavish birthday banquet. To her horror, that stranger turned out to be Louis Johnson — the cold, untouchable heir of the Johnson family.What had started as a mistake turned into a deliciously sweet and chaotic game of cat and mouse. This "villainess" might just have stolen the whole show.

Elite lawyer Kylin Taylor walks into a cafe and finds her fiance Zane Walker attending tenderly to his mistress. She doesn't make a scene. That night, she slides a condom into a legal contract and hands it to Zane's closest friend, David Evans, Eryland's most talked-about playboy. "Hotel tonight? It's on me." What begins as cold, surgical revenge becomes something stranger: she uses David to deliver Zane a humiliation; David plays along with every sign of enjoying himself.But as the game deepens, he drops the act entirely and and starts betting everything he has on her instead of the thrill. Kylin realizes, with a jolt, that she never had control of this board to begin with. Someone laid these pieces into position ten years ago, and it wasn't her.

At her dad's birthday banquet, Willa Sawyer was tricked by her stepsister, Wendy Sawyer, into having a one-night stand with a stranger. Willa's fiancé, Scott Torres, ruthlessly called off their engagement, and she became a laughingstock of the entire city.Then, her mom got ill and was in urgent need of money for surgery. Willa turned to her dad for help, but he wanted her to sleep with an old man to secure a deal. Out of anger, she quickly married a stranger, Shane Zoller, only because he'd pay for her mom's treatment. She thought she married an ordinary guy with slightly better looks and character, but she never expected him to be a powerful and mysterious heir to a rich family. She thought this would be another hellish ordeal, but he actually doted on her.He said, "In my world, you never have to endure anything or anyone; you just bask in my adoration. Mrs. Zoller, I met you too late. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you."