The Cold Start Problem Novels & Stories

Alpha Revan Blank has a problem—his werewolf pack is on the brink of instability, and without an heir to carry the Blank bloodline, everything his family built could collapse. Pressured by the pack elders and threatened by rival wolves waiting to seize power, Revan agrees to an unconventional solution: hire a surrogate to carry his child. Paris Helton never expected that losing her apartment would lead her to the strangest job offer of her life. Desperate for money and a fresh start, she agrees to become a surrogate for a mysterious and powerful client. The catch? She must live with him during the pregnancy. Thrown together in a secluded compound, Revan and Paris quickly clash. He’s controlling, secretive, and used to getting his way. She’s stubborn, independent, and refuses to be intimidated. But as secrets unravel and danger from rival packs grows closer, the line between business and something far more dangerous begins to blur. Because carrying the Alpha’s child might not only change Paris’s life—it might start a war.

After half a month of nonstop overtime, I secured a contract worth over ten million, pulling the company back from the brink of collapse. My boss, Richard Gray, was overjoyed. At the celebration party, he called me the pillar of the company and announced that he would reward me with a bonus. However, when the end of the month came, and I opened my payslip, I froze. Negative 250 dollars. A negative commission? I actually owed the company 250 dollars? I immediately called the finance department, asking if there was a mistake on my payslip. They replied, "No mistake. This is the cost calculation formula that Mr. Gray personally instructed us to use. He said you'd understand once you saw it." I went straight to Richard for an explanation. He laughed. "The contract that you signed, after factoring in the concessions, upfront resources, and hidden expenses, left the company with a net loss of 150 thousand. Since the loss was due to your personal decisions, you're responsible for five percent. That totals to 7500. "Considering how hard you worked, we deducted it from your base salary first. But your salary wasn't enough, so you still owe the company 250. Don't worry. The company treats its employees well. We'll write that off." Soon after, he awarded 100 thousand dollars to the newly arrived intern. I watched the newcomer, probably connected to Richard, cheerfully treat the entire company to dinner with her bonus, and something inside me just snapped. From that day onward, I did the bare minimum. I clocked in. I clocked out. Nothing more. Later, when a critical project went catastrophically wrong and the company faced a colossal compensation demand, Richard came begging me to fix it. I just smiled and said, "Sorry, Mr. Gray. I've already resigned. If there are any problems, you can ask the intern who got the 100 thousand dollar bonus to handle it."

Hazel White is a british belly dancer based on Dubai. She is sunk in debts and needs desperately a way out of her problems. Jonathan Turner, a bilionaire engineer, who has just arrived in Dubai, appears as her saviour. He also need some help. Jonathan is a BDSM dominant without a girlfriend in a traditional society. Being married can be crucial for his businees with the Skeik. As a solution for his problem a friend came out with a proposal, that can help both, Hazel and Jonathan. He is a billionaire, powerful and handsome guy and she is a stunning belly dancer. They will face emotional problems in their agreement. They will slowly start to have feelings for each other. But they try to honour their own words as the agreement says "no sex, no personal relationships".

Cara Bennett has exactly three rules. Never ask for help. Never show weakness. And never, under any circumstances, trust a man with money. At twenty-four, she is surviving — barely. Waitressing double shifts in London to keep the lights on and her mother's medical bills from swallowing her whole. No savings. No backup plan. No room for mistakes. Then she spills coffee on Ethan Blackwood. He is cold, impossibly wealthy, and used to people falling over themselves to please him. So when Cara walks away without a single apology, he notices. And when his dying grandfather threatens to strip him of everything he has built unless he presents a fiancée within six weeks, Ethan does something he has never done before. He makes her an offer she cannot refuse. Six weeks. One performance. £500,000. Cara tells herself it is simple. Smile at his family. Wear the ring. Take the money. Walk away. But Ethan's family is nothing like she expected. Warm. Genuine. The kind of people who make her forget this was never real. And Ethan himself is nothing like the cold man he pretends to be. The problem isn't pretending to love him in front of his family. The problem is stopping when the six weeks are over.

It's my fifth year working at my relative's factory after giving up a high-paying job. I'm in the middle of helping the administrative staff clear out the printer when I accidentally catch a glimpse of the new clerk's payslip—Base Salary: 6,500 dollars. I freeze right on the spot. Five years ago, I've turned down two high-paying offers and joined Dad's younger brother, Liam Graham's, factory. Back then, he patted me on the shoulder and said, "We're family. I'll never shortchange you." I believe him. However, it's been five years, and my salary is still the same five grand I started with. Every single time I ask for a raise, Uncle Liam cries poverty, claiming that the factory isn't doing well. My girlfriend breaks up with me, saying my salary makes it impossible for her to see a future. I pull the weight of three people and pour my heart into training the newcomers, only to find out a new hire is making 1,500 dollars more than me. I jeer out of sheer exasperation and hand in my resignation to Uncle Liam. "Why?" he asks in shock. "The pay is terrible. There's no career progression. I can't do this anymore!"

I'm born with severe allergies, the kind where a whiff of pollen can trigger a full-blown asthma attack. But my mom, who is also the principal of my school, insists that I go on a field trip to the botanical garden with the rest of my class. I plead with her, my eyes reddened, but she stays as cold and hard as ice. "You've got all your meds, don't you? It's just a little thing. Why are you being so dramatic? I'm the principal, so I have to treat every student the same. If anything, you have even more reason to go, so people don't think I'm playing favorites!" To show what a good relationship I have with my classmates, she publicly commands me to get into the flowerbeds and pick flowers to be given to the top student in our grade, Rachel White. The moment I get close to the flowers, I start coughing and wheezing violently. A crushing sense of suffocation floods over me. Mom doesn't look worried in the slightest. Instead, she bites out, "Penelope, how long are you going to keep this act going? You're doing this on purpose to cause trouble for me and embarrass me, aren't you?" She has no idea that my throat is already swelling and closing up. Every breath I take feels like I'm swallowing broken glass. It looks like I won't be a problem for her anymore.

When Victoria Hale catches her fiancé kissing her cousin at their engagement party, the betrayal is only the beginning. In front of her entire family, he announces he never loved her and publicly humiliates her as delusional and desperate. Cornered and broken, Victoria makes an impulsive lie: she already has someone else. The problem? She points to Simon Reed, the mysterious homeless man she's been feeding at the local shelter. The bigger problem? Simon plays along. What Victoria doesn't know is that Simon Reed doesn't exist. He's actually Simon Savage, billionaire CEO hiding from a corporate betrayal that nearly destroyed him. Their courthouse wedding was supposed to be temporary, a favor to help her save face. But fake vows start feeling real. Protective touches linger too long. And Victoria's vengeful ex is digging into Simon's past, getting dangerously close to the truth. When Simon's identity explodes at a charity gala, Victoria realizes she hasn't just married a stranger. She's married one of the most powerful men in the world. And he might be the only man who's ever truly seen her.

After the death of her parent, Fia was taken to an Alpha Academy where she will learn the fundamentals needed to prepare her for the task ahead. She is to be the Alpha heir of her Clan, though they were banished from their realm. Marked but rejected by her fated mate, wasn't a good start for a girl whose Clan's reputation is taunted. The Alpha King is not who we think he is. He had on several occasions orchestrated the attack on his son, Fia's fated mate. As problem unveils itself, Fia is pushed into restoring balance within the realm including her Clan's position but that would come at a great price. To achieve this, Fia has to save, protect and take the life of her beloved ones.

Lycan children born from Alphas often came in twins or triplets. Destined to be matched with one female throughout their reign. But it wasn’t that simple. Some Alpha siblings were willing to share. Others prepared to kill one another to keep their mate to themselves. It was no different for Jaxon and Xander. Having already rejected three mates they are paired with a fourth, something that wasn’t heard of. The only problem was, she wasn’t a Lycan. Blue is a wolf with no pack. She refuses to live as a wolf, and instead lives among humans. When Jaxon and Xander walk into her life, they turn it upside down. Secrets that she had kept hidden for a long time start to come to the surface, revealing Blue for what she really is.

Diane Pierce, the beautiful billionaire's daughter who didn't want to date the guy her dad had chosen for her, did the unthinkable and picked her enemy, the popular Harry Michaelson, to be her fake boyfriend. The problem was how the two would survive in a relationship where one was as hot fire and the other as cold as ice. Will they really survive? Or will they find out that the intense hatred they thought they aborred for each other was infact not hatred? This is a spin off of 'A Partner For The Rich Playboy'. It is telling the story of Harry and Diane.