
Digital Hearts
Odeimor Junior Alfred · Ongoing · 235.9k Words
Introduction
As Arabella stalks Cassian Hawthorne’s cutting-edge tech headquarters, sleek hallways with faultless lighting inside glass buildings, she is thrown into a maelstrom of passion and danger. Her own burgeoning feelings for Cassian, a visionary hellbent on erasing isolation, may not even be her own—perhaps Astra has been playing with her emotions? The callous corporate ambitions of Darius Knight and the dire portents of Dr Vivienne Sinclair push her to face a painful reality: In a world that uses data to stave off want, authenticity is a privilege.
In “Digital Hearts,” every beat of the heart is scrambled to the ticking clock of ethical compromise. As Arabella struggles to distinguish between true connection and artificial care, will she embrace the transformative potential of technology — or resist the human spirit that it threatens to consume?
Will she take the chance to trust her heart, or will Astra’s digital seductiveness claim her agency?
Chapter 1
Arabella Sterling awoke to the gentle hum of her automated blinds opening, exposing the sprawling, neon-lit skyline of Meridian City. Dawn’s early light bounced off glass towers, spilling cheerful colors into her small apartment. The room was a combination of modern minimalism and understated technology—a reflection of the city’s fixation with progress. Smart surfaces showed the schedule for the day, a holographic assistant started reading the latest headlines.
She took a stretch, fragments of a strange dream troubling the corners of her brain. In the dream, an unrecognizable hell-hound had reached out for help, and their voice had ricocheted off a void. That memory haunted her conscience, pulled at it, torturing her with images of her years as a social worker, visiting the worst vulnerabilities that people knew.
As Arabella walked toward the kitchen, she could smell the holographic food-prep assistant preparing synthetic coffee. She got a cup and poured, fingertips grazing the cool, smooth texture of the countertop. The energy of the city was palpable, a never-ending reminder of the technological advance that both eased and choked her.
What was carved out of her morning routine was interrupted by a soft chime coming from her wall display. An envelope on the screen blinked insistently, catching her eye. Out of curiosity, she stepped forward to the display and gently tapped it. With a soft animation, the envelope opened to reveal a sleek and minimalist invitation to a tech conglomerate known for its cutting-edge AI developments: Hawthorne Innovations.
“Dear Ms. Sterling,” the message read, “We are excited to invite you to join in the beta testing of our latest project, Astra — an empathic A.I. that aims to revolutionize how we interact with each other as human beings. Your experience with the work in emotional well-being makes you a perfect candidate to lead this pioneering effort.”
Arabella's heart raced. To be invited by Hawthorne Innovations was both an honor and a mystery. She had, of course, heard things about their ambitious projects, but she had never dealt with them personally. The letter ended with instructions to show up for an orientation session the next morning, and she now felt a jumble of hope and anxiety.
Arabella considered the implications of the invitation while she drank her coffee. This was an opportunity to make a meaningful impact — or was there something more insidious at play? Her instincts, sharpened by years of guiding others through their struggles, told her to be careful. However, the opportunity to contribute to the ethical development of artificial intelligence ignited a glimmer of hope within her.
Electronic music throbbed in the air, the city outside alive with drones and flickering holographic advertisements. From the window, Arabella watched the peaceful morning outside, while the tension boiling inside her beared no resemblanceed. But she feared in taking up this invitation, she would be embarking on a route filled with unforeseen challenges and moral dilemmas.
Arabella stood up as the sun made its ascent into the sky, and covered the city with golden rays. She would go to the orientation with a need to know that technology could be made to really better humanity without sacrificing its humanity at its very core. Unknown to her, however, this decision would tie her destiny with that of Hawthorne Innovations—and the mysterious Cassian Hawthorne—launching them on a path that would challenge the very nature of love, trust, and ethical integrity.
Arabella stepped into the kitchen, the minimalist design of her apartment this clean, muted slate was the opposite of the fracas of feelings in her. Holographic food-prep assistant quickly prepared her breakfast, laying out synthetic fruits and a freshly brewed cup of coffee on the counter. Her fingers hovered over its golden yellow skin before she peeled it open with practiced ease.
She was picking through her dinner while she went over what the invitation from Hawthorne Innovations had contained in her head. She had always regarded the company as a pioneer in the field of AI, but it seemed to her tricks were notoriously hard to pin down. With years of work dedicated to ethical technology development, Arabella had a keen sense of where the boundaries lay between the service of the greater good and the despicable manipulation of human weaknesses. This invitation seemed like a proposition metaphor—or a possible snare.
Her reverie was broken by her wall display gently dinging. This time, it was an alert about the upcoming tech conventions in the city — stuff she had tuned out in favor of more hands-on community work. Her past and present roles made for a stark contrast that neatly illustrated the balancing act she was trying to perform between technology and humanity.
Arabella put her banana down, her eyes on the invitation again. The holographic screen glittered with Hawthorne Innovations' sleek logo at its center, a beacon of advanced progress. She reread the message over and over, lingering over the fine print. It contained no hidden clauses or overt demands — just an honest offer to contribute her skills to the development of Astra.
A knock on her door startled her out of her reverie. And she opened it to the sight of a messenger drone hovering just outside, buzzing gently as it delivered a small package. Arabella took the delivery, noticing the elegant calligraphy inscribed upon the drone, a subtle but sure sign of Hawthorne Innovations' attention to detail. It intrigued her; she carried the package inside, unwrapped the layers, and discovered entwined, plush beings, and high-diddle gadgets — probably a prototype, maybe even the holy interface to Astra's sentient Database.
With each familiar sight, excitement mixed with trepidation coursed through her veins as she examined the device. What part would she have in this grand experiment? The invitation had indicated an opportunity to influence the future of empathetic AI, but Arabella couldn’t shake the undertones of hostility she’d noticed earlier. Years of experience leading others had developed her instincts, which whispered caution.
Arabella called her friend Dahlia Kensington, a razor-tongued digital ethics journalist who had a knack for exposing corporate hucksters. They had worked together on projects shining a light on unethical practices in the tech world, and Arabella trusted Dahlia’s judgment completely.
Dahlia answered, her voice peppy as ever. "Hey, Arabella! Just saw your message. Congrats on the invitation! Sounds exciting."
“Thanks, Dahlia,” Arabella said, sounding worried. "But something feels off. Hawthorne Innovations isn’t exactly a transparent company. Why would they specifically ask for me?”
Dahlia listened, the wheels of her analytical mind turning. “Perhaps they recognize something special in your heritage. Or maybe they’re hoping to rehabilitate their image vis-à-vis an ethical person like you. Either way, stay sharp. These large tech companies are like black boxes — full of secrets you don’t want to know.”
Arabella nodded, taking in her friend’s advice. "I will. I just hope that this opportunity will be what it says it is, to help people with no hidden agenda.”
Dahlia chuckled softly. “When has that ever been so simple? Just watch your back and don’t be afraid to bail if it gets sketchy.”
Arabella hung up the phone feeling reinvigorated. Though she understood that the road ahead wouldn’t be easy — competition would be fierce and technologies constantly evolving — her dedication to a future of ethical innovation eclipsed any notions of fear. Arabella looked up from the package she had just received from Hawthorne Innovations—her conscience still nagging her with Dahlia's serious tone—and braced herself for the blinding eye of the media, not knowing that on the other side of the world, her new partner lurked in the shadows.
The driverless taxi moved like a ghost over the elevated highway as the panoramic windows provided Arabella with an unhindered view of Meridian City’s beating heart. The city pulsed with life—floating billboards blared targeted ads at pedestrians, drones zigzagged between skyscrapers, ferreting out mechanical deliveries like clockwork. The way that AI had embedded itself in virtually every aspect of life was impressive, but also a bit spooky.
Arabella scanned over the holographic dashboard, which had already adjusted the route according to live traffic data and her preferences. She saw a billboard advertising the latest tech-fest, vibrantly colored and blinking, a reflection of the city’s fever dream of innovation. This aspect of the convention brought the promise of cutting-edge developments, pictures of solutions take live, from companies such as Hawthorne Innovations.
It was then that Arabella noticed—as the taxi made its way through the cityscape—that the AI systems around her were having some subtle glitches. On a stormy afternoon, a weather update on a digital billboard had called for lots of sun. In the vicinity, a fleet of delivery drones interrupted flight, hovering in midair, rotors stopping before they started moving normally again. Such minor imperfections were rare, but they were hints of a nebulous flaw in the otherwise perfectly calibrated technological veneer of the city.
She skimmed over a large holo-screen in front of her, displaying a news report about AI being used in public services. The presenter, an AI-generated avatar with lifelike mannerisms, talked about the pros and cons of empathetic AI companions like Astra. Arabella shivered as the segment quietly mirrored her own ethical dilemma. It sounded too much like what Hawthorne Innovations would expect from H.
The holographic advertisements flickered, as a burst of energy disturbed the city of Skytopia, warping their pictures into liquid forms before snapping them back into focus. The self-driving taxi creaked a bit, briefly breaking its smooth gliding pattern. Arabella felt a momentary quickening of heart rate — these glitches were coming more regularly than usual, a possible sign of stresses in the city’s AI infrastructure.
She looked out, saw a drone delivering medical supplies to a nearby building on a trajectory soft enough that its payload poured harmlessly into the street. The drone quickly corrects, and continues its way without missing a beat. Arabella couldn’t shake the feeling that the small disturbances were more than simple technical hiccups; they were splotches of a deeper malfunctioning underneath the smooth surface of the city.
Her train of thought was interrupted by the appearance of a familiar face on the side of the billboard—Cassian Hawthorne, the enigmatic head of Hawthorne Innovations. He was waxing lyrical about Astra’s ability to revolutionise human relationships, his magnetism almost escaping the confines of the hologram. Arabella wavered between interest and wariness. As she later told me, she had only seen his professional persona, but there was an intensity in his eyes that suggested a personal drive far beyond the corporate kind.
As the driverless taxi neared her destination, Arabella couldn’t shake the feeling that Meridian City, with its technological wonders, was hovering at the edge of something monumental. The glitches served as a reminder that even the most sophisticated of systems can trip up, and she thought about whether Astra’s development could serve as a spark that would lead to broader changes — some good, and some that could be perilous. Arabella got out of the taxi and took a deep breath, bracing herself on the way into Hawthorne Innovations. The hidden tensions of the city mirrored her own internal struggles, priming her for the ethical battles and emotional entanglements to come.
Last Chapters
#201 EPILOGUE
Last Updated: 1/20/2026#200 CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED
Last Updated: 1/20/2026#199 CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-NINE
Last Updated: 1/20/2026#198 CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-EIGHT
Last Updated: 1/20/2026#197 CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-SEVEN
Last Updated: 1/20/2026#196 CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-SIX
Last Updated: 1/20/2026#195 CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-FIVE
Last Updated: 1/20/2026#194 CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-FOUR
Last Updated: 1/20/2026#193 CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-THREE
Last Updated: 1/20/2026#192 CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-TWO
Last Updated: 1/20/2026
You Might Like 😍
Cursed To Be His
At thirteen, everything changed.
After her parents were murdered, she was cursed by a powerful witch and used as a vessel for Elder magic. Saving her life came at an impossible cost; the curse was broken, but so was the wolf inside her, leaving her human.
Ten years later, Talia hides her grief behind sharp sarcasm and a smile she no longer believes. When a rogue attack proves she can no longer protect herself, or the people she loves, she leaves the only home she's ever known for the quiet human town of Ashbourne Hollow, determined to disappear.
Instead, she catches the attention of the town's most dangerous owner.
Alaric Lazarus is a vampire who rules from the black castle overlooking Ashbourne Hollow. He is cold, enigmatic, and impossible to read, but he awakens something in Talia she can't explain. She doesn't trust him. He trusts her even less.
Then vampires begin turning up dead.
Forced into an uneasy alliance, Talia and Alaric uncover a trail that leads back to the family she lost... and the curse she thought she'd escaped. As old enemies emerge from the shadows and buried secrets come to light, Talia discovers that everything she believed about her past was a lie.
Because the curse that stole her wolf was never meant to save her.
It was meant to lead her to him.
This is book 3 in the series, but it can be read as a standalone.
Book 1 - The Matchmaker
Book 2 - The Heir of Flame and Fang
Where The Ice Gives Way
Blake Atlas scents his mate the moment Charlotte arrives. The bond hits hard and unmistakable, but Charlotte doesn’t recognise it. She doesn’t know why her chest keeps pulling toward the one boy she absolutely cannot afford to want. Blake is Charlie’s new hockey captain. Charlie’s chance at making something good. Charlie makes it clear; his sister is off-limits and Blake tries to do the right thing, but secrets don’t stay buried forever. Rogues prowl the edges of town. The ice cracks. The bond tightens. Then Charlotte’s rare white wolf awakens, the very thing that makes her powerful, also makes her a target.
Shanti needs Shakti. (Peace needs strength.)
Where the Ice Gives Way is a slow-burn YA paranormal romance filled with fated mates, protective alpha energy, fierce sibling loyalty, found family pack bonds, hurt/comfort, and quiet, aching tension. It’s a story about first belonging, learning to be cared for, and what happens when the girl who has always held everyone else up finally falls, and someone catches her.
The New Girl and the Broken Basketball Star
After years of feeling unwanted by the father who should have protected her, Clara is finally forced to leave the only home she has ever known. Her stepmother’s pregnancy only makes it easier for her family to let her go.
With nothing but her mother’s old violin, she arrives in a small Pennsylvania town carrying the fear that she will never truly belong anywhere.
The last thing she expects is Adrian Cole.
Once the town’s basketball star, Adrian gave up his dreams after his father disappeared and left him with debts he never should have carried. Now he spends his days repairing cars, avoiding the court, and pretending he doesn’t want anything more from life.
Clara thinks she is too broken to be loved.
Adrian thinks his future is already over.
But somewhere between physics lessons, late nights at the repair shop, and a forgotten small-town high school, two lonely people begin to find something they both thought they had lost forever:
A reason to stay.
✦ ✦ ✦
A tough exterior with a soft heart x A soft exterior with a strong heart
✦ ✦ ✦
The first half is set in high school, and the second half is set during their college years. Hope you enjoy the journey!
This is a slow-paced story, focused more on emotions, healing, and the small moments in life rather than intense action or dramatic twists.
If you find any mistakes while reading, please feel free to leave a comment. I’ll be happy to correct them.
I hope ordinary Clara, ordinary Adrian, and all of us ordinary people can find the happiness we deserve.
Human Capture (Up North #2)
Raised in a starving settlement choked by a vast, unforgiving forest, Lara learned early that survival has a price. To keep her family alive, she became a master hunter—agile, silent, and deadly with an array of mismatched blades. But the forest has eyes, and one evening, the shadows dragged her away.
Nine months later, Lara breaks free from a concrete dungeon, only to find herself stranded in the lawless, rogue-infested wilds of Avers Land alongside four captured werewolf girls. Seeking refuge in the neighboring territory of Illyen, she expects to find a way back to her human life. Instead, she is brought face-to-face with Alpha Rowan, the terrifying, ruthless ruler of the frozen North.
One look into Lara’s eyes, and the Alpha’s world shatters. His eyes turn an absolute shade of black. The bond is undeniable. She is his fated mate.
But a human cannot survive the brutal political landscape of the North, and Rowan openly rejects the bond, dragging her onto a warship bound for a kingdom that views her as a fragile liability. Trapped between a mate who refuses to love her and a court of monsters waiting for her to break, Lara must use every hunter's instinct she possesses. Because in the realm of wolves, a human must either grow claws of her own—or perish in the snow.
Kaged In
Follow Kage's journey as he tries to heal, falls in love and faces his inner turmoil.
Offside Temptation
Ethan Ryder was a disaster waiting to happen. Hot-headed, reckless, and constantly one bad decision away from ruining his career. I was supposed to hate him. Instead, I memorized him. I learned exactly how to push his buttons on the ice just to see the fire in his eyes.
When he grabbed my jersey in that locker room and kissed me in front of twenty cameras, it wasn't a mistake. It was the moment the line between hatred and obsession finally snapped. The media called it a scandal. They called us a divorced couple. But they didn't see the way Ethan trembled when I cornered him in the hallway afterward.
"You're staring again," he whispered, his back hitting the wall.
"You're still here," I replied calmly, stepping close enough to feel his erratic pulse.
He thought I was cold. He thought I was controlled. He didn't realize that every time he looked at me, I was fighting the urge to completely destroy the distance between us.
Now, the league is forcing us to live together, train together, and smile for the cameras to fix our public image. But the more time we spend alone in my apartment, the harder it is to pretend I just want to play hockey...
King of the Underworld
However, one fateful day, the King of the Underworld appeared before me and rescued me from the clutches of the most powerful Mafia boss's son. With his deep blue eyes fixed on mine, he spoke softly: "Sephie... short for Persephone... Queen of the Underworld. At last, I have found you." Confused by his words, I stammered out a question, “P..pardon? What does that mean?”
But he simply smiled at me and brushed my hair away from my face with gentle fingers: "You are safe now.”
Sephie, named for the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, she's quickly finding out how she's destined to fulfill her namesake's role. Adrik is the King of the Underworld, the boss of all bosses in the city he runs.
She was a seemingly normal girl, with a normal job until it all changed one night when he walked through the front door and her life changed abruptly. Now, she finds herself on the wrong side of powerful men, but under the protection of the most powerful among them.
Ignition And Ice; A Racer's Forbidden Blueprint
The first? Becoming an architect worthy of finally making her mark.
The second?
Convincing herself that one day, Hayes Gallagher–NHL superstar, lifelong best friend, and the man she’s secretly loved for years–will finally see her as more than the girl who’s always there when he needs her.
He doesn’t.
So when Hayes abandons her for yet another girl, Merritt decides she’s done waiting.
One reckless night later, she ends up in the arms of a stranger whose touch makes forgetting Hayes dangerously easy.
She never expects to see him again. Until that stranger turns out to be Stellan Mercer.
Formula One’s most infamous golden boy. And Hayes’s stepbrother who is the one man Hayes would rather destroy than share a room with.
When Stellan uses his influence to make Merritt lead designer on his luxury penthouse project, staying away from him becomes impossible.
Working behind closed doors quickly turns into a secret neither of them can afford. Because the more Merritt falls for the man she was never supposed to touch… the more Hayes realizes he may have lost the only girl who ever truly loved him.
And when jealousy, family rivalry, and the spotlight collide, Merritt will have to decide which dream she’s willing to lose.
Her career, her heart. Or both.
BROKEN TRUST
Neither of them knew she was carrying his child.
Emily’s affair didn’t just end her marriage—it erased the life she thought was guaranteed. Ryan left without looking back, carrying his anger like armor and leaving Emily alone with regret she would never outrun. Three years later, fate drags them back into each other’s world, along with a little girl who has Ryan’s eyes and a truth that shatters everything he thought he knew.
Old wounds reopen, grief masquerades as rage, and love refuses to stay buried. As parenthood binds them together and the past demands accountability, Emily and Ryan must face the question neither of them is ready to answer: is broken trust the end of their story… or the beginning of a love forged through loss, forgiveness, and brutal honesty?
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
One Weekend with the Billionaire
I open my mouth to respond, but all that comes out is a staggered breath and a small sigh. He chuckles, a low, rough rumble and then leans down and kisses the middle of my back.
I feel the tip of him again at my entryway. He pushes in slightly, and my body comes to life again. My muscles react to his presence, contracting and loosening, as if my body is trying to suck him deep inside.
He's my husband's boss, so this is supposed to be wrong.
So why does it feel so right?
Braxton Merriweather always gets what he wants. Now, he wants her--Julia Thompson, the wife of one of his workers. From the moment he first laid eyes on her, he knew he had to possess her in every way.
When Jeff Thompson takes him up on the bargain he proposes, Braxton is shocked. He's even more surprised when Mrs. Thompson agrees.
But now that he's had a taste of her, he wants more. How can he possess a woman who's already married to someone else?
Julia feels trapped by her marriage to her high school sweetheart. In the two years since they've been married, he's changed, and not for the better. When billionaire Braxton Merriweather shows interest in her, she's flattered. And intrigued. Is it possible that one of the richest men in the world could really want her?
And if so... what does she do about her husband?
One Weekend with the Billionaire is a sexy story for mature readers.
Let Them Kneel
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.
But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.
Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.
When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.
For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.
Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.
But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.
And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.
Especially him.
She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.
Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.












