The Wicked Games ongoing The Wicked Games AUTHOR: layximi
LEAD: Xiumin
GENRE; SETTING: angst, arranged marriage; gangs
CHAPTERS: 19, as of 12/09/2016
READER INFORMATION: Subscribers Only and one or two chapters are also rated [M]  

When a syndicate threatens to fragment under pressure from deciding the next in line, the presiding boss resolves to end it all by producing an undisputable heir, which could only come in the form of a son. In comes Chloe Chang, who has been offered the position to become the vessel for this heir. In return, she's promised a limitless bank account and protection for her family. But what she doesn't expect is the amount of danger and power that comes with the territory.

thoughts PLOT: This fic has been on my radar for a while now and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I mean, it's an arranged marriage fic with a proper reason for the marriage, proper character development, and it involves gangs. And Xiumin. What's not to like?

This review was sort of hard to write, because I don't feel like I've done justice to it and how much I like it. Oh well.

Chloe Chang, aspiring med student, is... I guess you could say strongly persuaded into a marriage with Xiumin because her father's racked up a massive debt. In order to consolidate his power base, Xiumin needs an heir of some kind. Naturally, despite it being a contract marriage, feelings start to blossom and Chloe ends up simultaneously as Xiumin's greatest source of strength, biggest problem, his major weakness, and the most potent weapon to be used against him. In and amongst the routine gang stuff of all the criminal activity, chasing up people who try to cross them, setting up deals and dealing with other gangs looking for an opportunity to strike (though Chloe misses out on most of the gritty stuff because she's in university attending her classes), the police, led by Suho, are trying to track down Xiumin's syndicate (under the mistaken belief that it's led by Kris). When they latch onto Chloe as their best source of information, matters are complicated by marriage laws prevented from wives testifying against their husbands — even though Chloe might well need persuasion to talk in the first place. For every lead they gain, it's offset by another blunder, and not all of them are to do with Xiumin's contact in the police, either.

And then there's the figure of Xiumin's father, hovering in the periphery every now and again, and the increasingly precarious relationship with Chloe where one wrong foot could well lead to her betraying him.

CHARACTERISATION: The characters in this are ge