MC: "Can I... can I hug you?" ML: "No, only I can hug you" and proceeds to hug MC

Happy Ending! :) One vs one

Main character is a rich bratty boy exploring the realm of BD*M. He is naive, curious, and a little greedy. Haha. Wanting to reap the benefits without giving up too much. I liked that he enjoyed the BD*M, but also resisted certain toys/types of play/commands initially. But he eventually starts to trust and give himself to the ML. I was invested in following his gradual character development into becoming a s*ave.

Main love interest is an experienced and highly sought after dom who is trying to acclimate the main character into being his sub/s*ave. He's also a really powerful person. Kinda typical cold love interest who warms up only to the main character, but the BD*M aspect of the story makes it interesting and the way he treats the main character too. He's not driven by "instinct" and will not f*ck the main character because he's a horn dog.

I really liked that the main love interest never forced the main character into having s*x with him. A few times, I freaked out with the main character when he was getting punished, but the punishment would stop before it went too far and would comfort the main character and ask why he reacted a certain way.

I also like that they are mutually affectionate with each other and you can tell. And it's not a mindbreak story. (One person gets broken by s*x and s*x is all they can think about) They're a married couple who enjoys kinks by the end of the story.

ML is part of an extremely powerful and ruthless gangster family with some pretty insane family members. The MC almost dies after the ML's brother forces him to drink an lethal amount of alcohol, solely because he dared to bid on a painting at an auction without knowing that the gangster was the other bidder. The ML is so powerful that he can easily kill the MC, and saving him from his insane brother (who then humiliates him by calling him a 'toy') is just doing the bare minimum, not some heroic deed.

The ML breaks down and humiliates the MC to the point where he becomes suicidal and throws himself out the window to escape.

the ML was tortured by the other guy because the MC was complicit in a scheme to capture him, so the ML continues to suffer on a regular basis and the MC later feels horribly guilty for his betrayal/making him suffer when he finds out

an abusive character gets excused with the logic of having suffered himself. The ML's suffering being due to the MC does not make it okay for the ML to r*pe and humiliate the MC. Especially because he doesn't do it for revenge, but out of jealousy.

he suffers a mental breakdown and tries to kill himself

that the ML has gotten revenge and the MC can be said to have been punished for his previous betrayal

PTSD and was afraid of the ML - it makes no sense that he would be able to engage in BD*M with him even if the ML didn't actually have s*x with him

the ML and the rival gang engages in a life-and-death struggle for dominance, and the ML knows it can result in a lot of people dying, yet he doesn't take any steps to secure the rest of the family or the people working for the family. As a result, almost everyone working for the MC gets mu*dered.

It's mentioned once and emphasizes how the MC and ML are at heart good people, because the MC gets really sad and the ML silently comforts him and takes care of all the funerals. But it's the ML's fault that all these innocent people got mu*dered. And it felt like a convenient plot point that the author came up with to ensure that the MC and ML are able to form a family with the orphan daughter of the MC's housekeeper (which he also saved from her abusive ex). And it's portrayed as morally just that the MC and ML adopts the girl despite their unconventional relationship (which they don't exactly keep hidden - they have s*x and engage in BD*M pretty openly and don't seem to take much precaution despite having a small child in the house). And they reason any concerns away with a 'well the girl's parents had a conventional marriage but the dad was abusive, so we're the good guys'.

Neither MC or ML considers whether they should 1) be careful with their s*x life when they now have a child in their house or 2) that the girl's mother was mu*dered because of the ML's business conflict and that adopting the child might put her at risk in the future.

So it feels pretty much like the author conveniently erases/kills off the child's mother just so the CP can get a 'real' family and be happy in a conventional way. The adoption plot could have worked if it was a real part of the story and not just tagged on, or the CP were seen to act as real parents/caregivers to the child (besides eating with her and dropping her off to kindergarten).

THEY SWITCH. So if you (like me) are into that kind of rare occurrence in BL novels, then book 4 is perfect for you.

MC is Qin Mu/Pharaoh from books 1 and 2. The characters are not perfect people (especially ML) but that makes them stronger as characters. There is a lot of tension and angst. I cried several times. What makes this book different from 1 & 2 is that the characters have known each other for a long time and have a lot of backstory together. Another thing that makes this one different from the previous books is... there is more plot. Not that the others didn't have plot of course, but they were more focused on BD*M. This one is more like, there are BD*M scenes but it's not the MAIN storyline/focus.

I would say there are two major themes in this book. The first one is how if you have power and influence, you can control everything and override "justice." This is also a theme in the first three books, but WAY stronger in book 4. The other main theme is about... lying or manipulating someone in order to protect them—even though the intentions are good, it is still manipulation. So the book plays with the idea of the balance of how far ML is willing to go to protect/shelter MC vs. whether MC actually wants to be protected/sheltered.