Counter Attack

To the Dawson family, Ethan Cole is the ultimate disgrace—a broke, useless son-in-law whose only value is doing chores and staying out of sight. For three years, they humiliated him publicly and privately, never imagining he could fight back. But the night a mysterious stranger addresses Ethan as “Young Master”, everything changes. Because the man they mocked is no ordinary nobody. He is the missing heir of a hidden global empire. And now his enemies know he’s alive. Ethan Cole once belonged to the powerful Cole Dominion, a dynasty feared in business, politics, and the underground world. But after a brutal betrayal that nearly cost him his life, Ethan vanished. He walked away from unimaginable power, choosing instead to live a quiet life with Mia Dawson—the one woman who loved him without knowing who he truly was. To protect her, Ethan hid everything: his training, his wealth, his past, and the enemies hunting him. But after being exposed during the Dawson corporate gala, Ethan’s peaceful life collapses. Trained operatives raid their home. Mia watches, horrified, as Ethan defeats them with lethal skill she never knew he possessed. The attack forces her to confront the truth: her “ordinary” husband is someone extraordinary—and dangerously so. As reinforcements close in, Ethan is thrust back into a world he abandoned. Old rivals seek revenge. Loyal protectors return. And Mia struggles to reconcile the man she married with the legacy he carries. With the Dawson family panicking and enemies closing in, Ethan must reclaim the identity he hid—before those coming for him destroy everything he loves. This is the rise of the man they underestimated. The son-in-law they humiliated. The heir they should’ve feared. And Ethan Cole is done running.

She thought she was using him. He'd been searching for her for twelve years. "Listen carefully," Diana Morrison's voice cuts through the study like ice. "These are the terms of our marriage arrangement, and they are non-negotiable." Marcus Hayes sits across from her in his worn suit, agreeing to every humiliating condition without protest. Separate bedrooms. No physical contact. Divorce after one year. "Do you have any backbone at all?" Diana demands, frustrated by his compliance. What she doesn't know: Marcus is the Supreme God of War of West America, commander of armies, controller of trillion-dollar empires. Twelve years ago, a starving orphan boy received kindness from a young girl who shared her meager lunch. He never forgot her. Now that girl stands before him—cold, calculating, believing she's trapped a desperate nobody in a fake marriage to escape her family's control. "Perhaps I am desperate," Marcus admits softly. "But not in the way you think." When the Romano and Bennett families attack, when her business crumbles, when assassins lurk in shadows—Marcus moves like the warrior he is, leaving enemies broken and allies in awe. "Who are you?" Diana whispers, watching him dismantle threats with surgical precision. Marcus's slight smile holds secrets that could reshape nations. "I'm your husband." She thought their contract marriage had an expiration date. She has no idea the Supreme God of War never lets go of what's his. He spent twelve years building an empire to be worthy of protecting her. Now he'll spend a lifetime proving she was always meant to be his.

Kai Gibson has always been ordinary—too ordinary for a city like Harborview, where power, influence, and fear rule every street corner. After losing his father under mysterious circumstances and struggling under crushing debt, Kai is pushed to the edge of survival. But everything changes the night he’s ambushed behind an abandoned mall and a strange surge of energy awakens inside him. With the rare ability known as Tactical Insight, Kai begins to see the world differently—patterns, threats, weaknesses, pathways to victory even when the odds are against him. Suddenly, the once-weak young man becomes a rising force in Harborview’s underworld. But Kai’s evolution comes with a price. Every step forward drags him deeper into a web of enemies: street gangs, corrupt elites, hidden organizations, and people he once trusted. Betrayals strike from unexpected places, and Kai learns that the attack that awakened his power wasn’t random at all—it was planned. Now trapped between shadowy forces that want to control him and others who want him dead, Kai must level up faster than his enemies expect. Each chapter pushes him through higher stakes: • deadly ambushes • shocking betrayals • growing supernatural abilities • strategic face-slapping comebacks • climbing from the lowest rung of society to a position of unstoppable strength As Kai climbs, he uncovers the truth behind his father’s death, the origins of his new power, and a hidden war brewing beneath the city’s neon lights. To survive, he must rise. To win, he must become more than human. And to uncover the truth, he must be willing to face the darkness inside—and the monsters hiding in plain sight. Harborview will remember the name Kai Gibson… whether it wants to or not.

Silence. Like a nice bucket of shhhhhhhhh. Everyone shut the effing fudge UP! That's all I've ever wanted. *Sigh.* But silence comes in different flavors. There's mint - the peaceful kind that wraps around you like a blanket. The kind I chase at 2 AM. I've cried once. Just once. With a bucket beside me, watching heroes with super suits and impossible strength tear each other apart. Somehow that feels less broken than my reality. Then there's the suffocating silence at school. Not an ice cream flavor. This one tastes like metal and shame. High school is my personal hell. Empty wallet, empty lunch tray, empty seat beside me like I'm radioactive. Empty soul on Wednesdays because middles are always the worst. *The usual.* But Emily made the silence bearable. Mint-flavored again. Until she broke something between us. *Snap.* One moment she's whispering secrets with me, the next she's weaponizing them. She scattered my private thoughts, added her own twisted lies. The betrayal burns hotter than the stares drilling into my back. I went from invisible to spectacle. Being a ghost feels like luxury when you're dodging spit balls and "accidental" lunch trays. But somewhere between my third panic attack and contemplating switching schools... *Something shifted.* Like in those games you play, when your character suddenly glows and the screen flashes: "New Skill Unlocked" And it wasn't just in my head. I tested it. Small things at first – a pencil moving across my desk when I focused hard enough. Then books. Then someone's lunch tray right as they walked past Emily. *tap tap tap* I used to think rock bottom was the end. *Well ladies and gentlemen,* it's just a really messed up spawn point. And now? I don't stumble from cliffs anymore. I swim in gravity, and dive head first.