[Wattys Shortlist - 2025] Hiral Kashyap is a homemaker - conventional and burning, fragile yet unflinching, just another woman smiling through the burns and life. Riddhan Nanda is a dangerous man, a widower - the prime suspect in his wife's murder. A lawyer by profession, he has always straddled the blurred line between power and lies. Bitter by nature and trapped in the chains of patriarchy, he speaks louder than his beliefs. When destiny strikes, secrets unfold, hope shatters, and hearts wither. Twisted and unhinged, Riddhan desires her for a motive, and he won't stop until she gives in. Timid and scared, Hiral picks up the battle, for she is done being treated as dirt and a burden. Passion sparks while enmity intensifies, as they are forced to wrestle for control over their lives, future, past, and present. Join Hiral as she embarks on her journey to find peace and discovers that courage is beyond defeat and love is beyond heart. Flowers are beyond fragrance while life is nothing without a start.

COMPLETED ON SCROLLSTACK Sara Rajawat has walked half her journey for vengeance alone. Things are getting tougher. More dangerous. More brutal. She might not be prepared to control the tsunami of consequences threatening to engulf her. So he steps in. With a wedding ring in his hand. Her ex-husband, the King of Jaigarh, a man feared by all, defied by none. And offers her his power, his throne, his sword, wanting nothing in return. Or so she is made to believe. Because once the Queen obliterates all the pieces on the board, the King is taking her for himself. *Content and Trigger warning: gore language, violence, graphic description of sex, mentions of suicide, past trauma.

COMPLETED ON SCROLLSTACK In the wake of her return to her home country, Sara Rajawat wanted only two things: to help her brother achieve his revenge, and get started on her own. In the span of twenty years, she had very meticulously planned out the five cold blooded murders of the five monsters who had stolen the light of the day from her sister's eyes. It's time, for once, she sleeps peacefully now. But then enters Yuvraaj Singh Chauhan, her ex husband, with a set of his own questions, still wearing their wedding ring. In the six months they were married, he had never glanced at her, let alone speak to her. Except for when they fought, with weightless things and hateful words hurled at each other so loud even the palace walls had shuddered. Their marriage was a disaster, and the only sane decision was to walk out of it. So what makes him think she owes him any explanation? But if she knows one thing about her ex-husband apart from being an uptight and the most unempathetic person to ever walk on the face of the earth, then that he's stubbornly in hate with her. She knows nothing about where his hatred stems from, neither does she care. She never did. He is an insignificant fragment of her past, and she wants him to stay as such. But maybe that's exactly what's keeping him hooked to her. Because Yuvraaj Singh Chauhan, for anyone, is unforgettable.

*When duty collides with destiny, and protocol meets passion* --- What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? In the treacherous terrain where military precision clashes with medical compassion, Major Mayank Kashyap and Dr. Yamini Singh are about to find out. **She saves lives. He takes them. Both are excellent at their jobs.** Dr. Yamini Singh doesn't believe in following orders, especially when they conflict with her Hippocratic oath. Emergency medicine is her battlefield, and she's never met a protocol she couldn't bend in service of saving lives. Reckless? Perhaps. Effective? Undeniably. Major Mayank Kashyap lives by a different code entirely. Special forces, counter-terrorism, and a mysterious double life that requires him to vanish for thirty days every quarter. His world runs on discipline, hierarchy, and secrets buried so deep that even his closest friends don't know the whole truth. When an earthquake throws them together in the rubble of disaster, their first meeting ends with him physically restraining her and her questioning his authority. Professional courtesy? Not exactly. Mutual respect? Hardly. Yet somehow, beneath the antagonism, something dangerous begins to grow. One drunken confession. One impossible promise. One word written on a palm that changes everything. From earthquake zones to terrorist attacks, from military bases to hospital corridors, from family secrets to battlefields: their story unfolds across a landscape where personal becomes political, where protection becomes persecution, and where the line between salvation and destruction is razor-thin. *Code Name: Ishq* is more than a romance: it's an exploration of what happens when two people perfect at their jobs discover that their most challenging mission might be learning to love each other. It's about the weight of secrets, the cost of duty, and the courage required to choose vulnerability in a world that rewards armor.

An Arranged Setup that Sparkled into a Love Story of Its Own. »»---♡---«« 'His nose is crooked!' 'I think he has some gray hair!' 'He looks too mature for his age!' 'Nah! He is seven years older than you!' 'One of his eyes seems smaller!' 'Don't you think he is smiling too much in this photo?' 'God! I wonder how, even after looking at hundreds of biodatas every day, none could catch my parents' attention. With every biodata they see, they manage to point out some flaw or another.' »»---♡---«« An Indian Arranged Marriage Story. Modern-day marriages are no cakewalk, and arranged marriages are certainly not. Set against an Indian backdrop, "Love Unrushed!" explores not only the complexities of an arranged marriage but also the pursuit of individual happiness within the confines of societal norms. If you are up for a simple and subtle blooming love story, ponder-worthy thoughts with social stigmas and taboos effortlessly slipped in here and there, and some real, relatable characters, then this story is definitely for you. You will find a part of Riya and Aditya hidden within you as they navigate their arranged marriage, unveiling the hidden layers of their personal and professional insecurities. There will be no unrealistic villains or overdramatic plots, but this story will undoubtedly highlight the true version of how marriages are arranged in India. Thus, this book tends toward a realistic portrayal with a touch of fiction. Please be kind. This book is under editing and the chapters with (•) are recently edited. Rest are in progress.

"No-please-don't do this!" Seraphina sobbed, her voice cracking as she clung to her eldest brother's wrist. "I-I'll be good. I'll do whatever you say, just don't-" A sharp crack echoed through the room as his palm struck her cheek, sending her crashing to the marble floor. Pain exploded across her skin, but it was nothing compared to the terror clawing at her chest. From above, his voice was cold. Unmoved. "You will marry him." She shook her head wildly, crawling backward until her spine hit the wall. "He's a monster," she whispered, her breath shuddering. "He's not human. Please, don't make me do this. I'll die." Her second brother crouched in front of her, grabbing her chin roughly, forcing her to look at him. His lips curled, eyes void of warmth. "Then die." Her breath hitched. "But you will die as his wife." The door behind them creaked open. Heavy footsteps. Her father stepped inside, his expression unreadable. "Lock her in this room," he ordered. "She will not step out until her wedding day." Sera thrashed as hands seized her, dragging her toward the massive iron doors. "No! Please-Father, please!" But he didn't even look at her. The last thing she saw before the door slammed shut was her brothers standing side by side, indifferent as she was thrown into a fate worse than death. Then darkness. And the only thing left was the suffocating truth. She was a sacrifice. A bride to the Sinister, a devil himself. #A STANDALONE BOOK

|𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐬 - 𝐈| 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴. "Junoon ban chuki ho tum. Ishq ki tapish se bhi tez aur pagalpan ki har hadon se paar. Is qadar beyhadh ki tumhari rooh tak qaid karne ka irada hai." Upon stumbling with "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒐𝒚 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑯𝒆𝒓 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒆" Aarav on her cousin's wedding, Mishika struggles to keep the dark secrets hidden under the veil. However fate has always been cruel to her. Betrayed and tricked by her own extended family, she finds herself at the altar, 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 the man who was supposed to be her cousin's husband-to-be, the same man she had hated for 6 years. Threatened to take 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 on the very first night by her forced husband, she was pushed and pulled between the past she can't get over from and the practicality of life. When she scramble to figure out her expectations and boundaries in the hopeless marriage, she was left shaken when her 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦-𝘧𝘰𝘳-𝘢-𝘏𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 confessed about being 𝑶𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 with her since 8 years. An obsession he strived years to bury and get over with. But will it be so easy for 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 to incarcerate his favourite 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒆 when somewhere deep he knew that 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘥 ? her heart was latched with HATE his mind was tainted with LUST? ❌No Cheating Between The Leads❌

" W..what are you-" " Do you want me to show all those people who you belong to the easy way or the hard way?" He says deeply, a dark look in his eyes as he looks down at my lips then back to my eyes. I feel my heart start to beat insanely fast at his close presence, the smell of his expensive cologne intoxicating me, almost like he was trying to lure me into his lips. • Sofia Novikov, youngest daughter of the Russian Mafia leader was kept away from the public eye her whole life. Her sister Anastasia Novikov however was always in the spotlight. With her perfect figure and personality everyone adored her. She was the sunshine and could do anything you could think of, she was everything any girl wished to be. What happens when ruthless and cold hearted Italian Mafia leader Connor Agosti is to be arranged in a marriage with one of the Novikov sister?

Singhanias, a name that was looked up to and worshipped like God. They had everything and anything they ever set their eyes on. Money, power, authority and respect were just other ways of describing the family of Singhanias. For the world, the Singhanias were perfect but no one knew about the dark side of them. They were mafias and blood, gun, murder- the horrible things that everyone detested was like a game to Singhanias. And being the daughters-in-law of this lavish, wealthy and powerful family was what many girls dreamed of in the country but for the wives of the heirs of the family was like a walking nightmare. They were ordinary girls until the name- Singhania was lined with them which meant to deal with high-class people, paparazzi and follow strict protocols of the family and do nothing that would harm the Singhania family image. And the worst part was to act as perfect brides of the heirs in front of the world but what if heirs of the Singhania family were adamant to destroy and shatter them to an extent knowingly or unknowingly. One bride was ignored by her husband, one despised and one breaking slowly by her husband. Will the daughters-in-law of the family be able to change the pride of the family or will the heirs of the family will be the reason for their death? (P.S. The description of the story will be like a death to me. I hope the story is better than the description)

AKSHAT SINGHANIA - A literature professor in Singania Institute of Arts and Commerce. He is soft and caring person with a tough exterior, who doesn't believe in love or marriage because of his parent's broken relationship and his ex wife's betrayal. As a professor, he's dedicated to his work, and his no-nonsense attitude masks a softer side. AMRIT TRIPATHI - She is a straightforward but introvert student, embodying simplicity and honesty. While others vie for the attention of their stern professor, Akshat, Amrit remains unnoticed until life takes an unexpected turn. Her future dream is to become an writer and she is starting her PHD. However their fates intervened when Akshat had to marry Amrit for saving her from humiliation. Jump inside to join their journey ✨