Tempted By You (Lionhaven Edition)

A Serenity Haven Universe Story

By Fiona Sora

Book Synopsis

In the rain-washed metropolis of Lionhaven, desire and destiny intertwine beneath mirrored glass and whispered secrets.

Cai Li Xin, once a rising star in the medical industry, loses everything when betrayal shatters the life she built. Alone and disowned, she begins again in the city that never stops raining—until a new path leads her into the orbit of Nexus Enterprises, and into the unseen world of power that rules Serenity Haven.

There, behind polite smiles and corporate masks, shadows trade in loyalty and sin. A mysterious man’s watchful eyes follow her steps long before she learns his name. And when the truth about love, loss, and protection finally collides, Li Xin must decide what she is willing to forgive—and what she is willing to burn for.

Tempted By You (Lionhaven Edition) blends emotional realism with cinematic romance, exploring how tenderness can bloom even within danger, and how every storm leaves its mark on the heart.

About the Author

Fiona Sora is the writer and creative architect behind the Serenity Haven / Lionhaven Metropolis Universe—a collection of emotionally intimate, visually cinematic stories where rain becomes memory and love carries consequence. Her work combines poetic prose with grounded realism, written in Singapore Standard English for global readers who crave depth, vulnerability, and quiet sensuality.

Tempted By You (Lionhaven Edition) marks a reborn chapter of the Fiona Sora world, weaving desire, redemption, and fate through the endless rainlight of Serenity Haven.

☕ https://buymecoffee.com/fionasora

Reader Welcome

Thank you for entering the world of Tempted By You. 🌧

If this story moves you, remember to like, comment, and share your thoughts—it helps the rain keep falling and the stories keep living.

Your love keeps Serenity Haven alive. ❤

Disclaimer

This book, Tempted By You (Lionhaven Edition), is an original work of fiction written by Fiona Sora.

All characters, settings, and events are entirely products of the author’s imagination and creative expression within the Serenity Haven / Lionhaven Metropolis Universe. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to real-life events or institutions is purely coincidental.

This story contains mature themes, emotional intensity, and sensual content intended for readers aged 18 and above.

Reader discretion is advised.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.

All world building, character designs, and narrative concepts belong exclusively to the author.

“Every storm begins with rain, finds peace in the sky, and returns in the wind.”

— Fiona Sora, Serenity Haven Universe © 2025

A Serenity Haven Story

[ My POV — Li Xin ]

The scent of antiseptic clung to the air — sharp, cold, and unyielding. Beyond the window, Serenity Haven blurred beneath a drizzle of light. The city looked distant, almost unreal, as if it belonged to another life.

I could hear the hum of hospital machines, the low thunder that rolled through the sky, the sound of my own breath struggling to stay steady. Pain came in waves — wild, relentless — and every time it hit, I clutched the edge of the sheets as if I could hold myself together through sheer will.

A nurse’s voice reached me through the haze.

“Breathe, Miss Cai. Slowly now.”

I tried. God, I tried.

And then, between one breath and the next, I felt a hand close over mine — steady, warm, grounding me in a world that was starting to fracture.

His voice was low, almost a whisper.

“It’s okay. I’m here.”

Those four words anchored me more than any medicine could.

I turned my head just enough to see him — Cheng Hao — standing beside me in a white shirt, sleeves rolled to the elbow, his expression unreadable under the sterile lights. He shouldn’t have been there. He wasn’t supposed to be part of this moment… and yet, he was the only one who made it bearable.

❖

“Ready, Miss Cai,” Dr. Wong’s voice cut through the blur. “One more push.”

I remember biting down hard, gripping his hand so tightly I must have left half-moon marks in his skin. The pain split through me — blinding, raw, infinite — and then, just like that, there was silence.

Then came the sound that would change everything.

A cry. Fragile. Beautiful.

The nurse smiled as she wrapped the tiny bundle in soft cloth. “Congratulations… It’s a girl.”

My chest ached, my whole body trembling as I held her for the first time. She was so small, so impossibly warm. When her fingers brushed mine, something inside me broke — and healed — in the same heartbeat.

Nurse Chen turned to Cheng Hao with a grin. “You’re a lucky man, Mr Zhang.”

I froze.

For a second, time itself seemed to hold its breath. But Cheng Hao didn’t correct her. He only gave a faint smile — that quiet, unreadable smile of his — and leaned down to press a kiss to my damp forehead.

No one questioned it. Not even me.

❖

When the nurse and doctor finally left, the room fell into a stillness that felt too intimate to name. The rain outside softened, tapping lightly against the glass.

He stood near the window now, half-silhouetted by the dusk. His shirt clung to his shoulders, damp from the drizzle he must have walked through earlier. He looked calm — too calm for what had just happened.

“You didn’t have to stay,” I murmured.

“I know.” His voice was quiet. “But I wanted to.”

The words slipped into the air like a secret.

I looked down at my daughter again. Her eyes were still half-closed, her lashes wet against her skin. There was something familiar in the curve of her tiny mouth, something that sent a tremor through me — a shadow of a memory I wasn’t ready to face.

A different man’s laughter under neon light. A night that changed everything.

I shut my eyes. Not now. Not tonight.

When I opened them again, Cheng Hao had drawn the curtains slightly, letting the soft gold-blue light pour in. For a fleeting moment, our reflections merged in the glass — me, the child in my arms, and the man standing quietly beside us.

He turned, voice gentler than I’d ever heard it.

“Rest. I’ll handle everything.”

I wanted to ask why—why he cared, why he pretended, why any of it mattered to him. But the words caught in my throat. Instead, I whispered, “Thank you.”

He adjusted the blanket over my shoulders before turning back toward the window.

The city lights shimmered through the rain, and I realised that even in peace, there was a promise of another storm waiting beyond it.

For now, I let myself believe in this illusion — just for a while longer.

■ Sneak Peek — Episode 1 : “Love’s Unyielding Chains”

They say heartbreak ends when you stop looking back.

But I learned that sometimes, the past doesn’t end — it just changes its face.

“Every storm begins with rain, finds peace in the sky, and returns in the wind.”

— Fiona Sora, Serenity Haven Universe © 2025

[ Li Xin’s POV ]

The rain was already waiting for me when I stepped out of Vitality Pharmaceuticals. It had that familiar scent — the metallic breath before thunder — and I almost laughed at the irony. Five years of devotion, five years of pretending I was enough, washed away by an email stamped “Congratulations to the future Mr and Mrs Liu Hao.”

I stood under the glass awning, clutching the resignation letter that no one had bothered to read. Around me, the city pulsed like a wounded heart: cars hissing through puddles, neon trembling across mirrored streets. Inside my chest, something tight refused to break, though it wanted to.

Liu Hao hadn’t even looked at me when his mother announced his engagement. I still saw his reflection across the boardroom table — perfect tie, polite smile, the good son she’d raised. When he finally turned, his eyes were a stranger’s.

“Li Xin,” he’d said, voice measured, “you understand how the company works.”

What I understood was the sound of my own heartbeat in the silence that followed.

❖

The rain kept whispering, even indoors.

I lingered in the lift lobby, pretending to check my phone. My reflection in the mirrored doors looked like someone mid-fall. Mascara blurred into small rivers; my blouse clung to my skin, rain and tears indistinguishable.

When the doors slid open, the HR manager gave me that sympathetic look reserved for people being erased. “We’ll process your exit by next week,” she murmured. “It’s really for the best.”

I nodded because that’s what polite women do when the world collapses politely.

Outside again, the storm had thickened into curtains of silver. The umbrella in my hand felt pointless. I let the rain soak through my hair, my sleeves, my pride. Each drop struck like memory — our first date at the harbour, his laughter under fairy lights, the night he said forever.

Forever, it seemed, lasted until a mother decided it shouldn’t.

❖

The café at Rainlight Bay was nearly empty when I found Kyra. She was a burst of colour against the grey — bronze curls, film-set sunglasses, the kind of confidence that made silence step aside.

“Xin, what happened?” she asked before I could sit.

My voice barely worked. “He’s engaged. To Wang Mei.”

Kyra blinked, slow, deliberate, then reached across the table to squeeze my hand. “You’re joking.”

“I wish I were.” I tried to smile, but it cracked halfway.

She exhaled sharply. “His mum again?”

I nodded. “She said I’ll never fit their circle. And … I think he agreed.”

Kyra’s grip tightened. “Then he never deserved you.”

Her words were fierce, but I heard the tremor under them. She’d seen this city eat people whole — especially women who loved too hard.

❖

The rain had thinned to a drizzle, tracing slow lines down the window.

I watched droplets race each other toward the sill, wondering which would reach first, which would disappear unseen.

“Maybe it’s fate,” Kyra said softly. “Maybe this is how you start again.”

“Start what?” I asked. “I don’t even know who I am without him.”

“You’ll find out,” she said. “You always do.”

Her certainty was both comfort and a curse. I envied how easily she believed in rebirth. My own reflection looked like a ghost of someone still begging the past for answers.

❖

Hours later, I walked home through Serenity Haven’s night scape. The skyline shimmered — towers outlined in rainlight, streets glistening like liquid glass. Each step echoed in rhythm with the ache inside me.

I thought about returning the gifts, the letters, the promises. But memory doesn’t return itself; it lingers, haunting the edges of consciousness.

At the crossing outside Nexus Tower, a black saloon idled beside the curb. Its tinted window lowered just enough for me to glimpse a man inside — dark suit, silver cuff links, eyes unreadable. For a heartbeat, our gazes met. Something about that stillness brushed against the rawness in me, a calm far too deliberate for strangers.

Then the light changed. The car rolled away.

I stood there, pulse unsteady, the echo of those eyes following me into the rain.

❖

The rain had stopped, but the air still smelled like him — like something I shouldn’t remember.

When I reached my flat, silence greeted me. The city hummed beyond the glass, a muted symphony of tires and thunder fading into the distance. I peeled off my wet blouse, folded it carefully as if neatness could rewrite the day, and sat by the window.

My phone vibrated — a message from Kyra: Still awake? I left soup by your door. Eat before you cry yourself to sleep.

I smiled, small and real. Outside, the moon floated half-hidden behind drifting clouds, pale as forgiveness.

I whispered into the quiet, not sure to whom, “Tomorrow, I’ll survive.”

The words felt heavy, but they stayed.

■ Sneak Peek — Chapter 2 : Whispers of Betrayal

They say silence heals, but in Serenity Haven, silence spreads like fire.

Tomorrow, the world will know Liu Hao’s engagement — and Li Xin’s name will burn with it.

“Every storm begins with rain, finds peace in the sky, and returns in the wind.”

— Fiona Sora, Serenity Haven Universe © 2025