Just Remember To Breathe

Love can hit you when you least expect it. It could be a soft easy wind that caresses you and gets stronger over time till it absorbs into your body and heart. Other times it can hit you like a gale-force wind and take every breath you will ever have. Laken stole my breath. She was my gale-force wind, and I will gladly give her every breath I have just to keep her safe, alive, and mine. If I have to live without her then I don’t want my breath. I don’t want anything but her. I will go to hell and back to get her from the grips of death.

The first sign wasn’t the bodies. It was the birds. When flocks begin falling lifeless from the sky and people start collapsing without warning, Dr. Naomi Sinclair is thrust into a medical nightmare no science can explain. Victims bleed from every orifice before dying within minutes, hospitals are overwhelmed, and every answer only leads to more impossible questions. Then the air begins to change. As oxygen becomes humanity’s most valuable resource, governments ration every breath and erect massive atmospheric domes that keep cities alive for only one precious hour before shutting down. Beyond those walls, survival becomes a race against an invisible enemy. Amid the chaos, Naomi begins receiving anonymous messages that always seem to arrive moments before the next horrifying discovery. Someone knows what’s happening. Someone wants her to uncover the truth. But every scientist who gets too close to the answers disappears. Determined to stop the catastrophe, Naomi forms a small team to unravel a conspiracy buried beneath decades of secrets. Along the way, she finds an unexpected ally in Aiden Vale—a brilliant, compassionate man whose unwavering support becomes her only constant in a world that is rapidly falling apart. As trust turns into love, Naomi finally begins to believe that even in the darkest moments, hope is still worth holding onto. Until one discovery changes everything. Now, with humanity gasping for its final breath, Naomi must decide who to trust, what to sacrifice, and whether the truth is worth the price it demands. Because if the person she loves has been lying to her from the very beginning… How do you save the world when the only man who can help you might also be the one destroying it?

I had always been fragile, the kind of kid who could not handle a gust of wind without losing balance and who teared up over the smallest thing. The day my biological parents found me and took me back into their wealthy world, everything had already felt unreal. Then, things got worse. Out of nowhere, an old woman came sprinting down the street and dropped right in front of the Bentley, like she had timed it perfectly. I panicked and completely froze, so I did the only thing I could think of. I dropped down beside her and started crying. However, I overdid it. I cried so hard that blood started streaming from my eyes. The old woman jolted upright like she had seen something horrifying. She shoved 500 dollars into my hands, muttered a string of curses, and ran off without looking back. Just like that, I was back with the Snyder family. The house rose in front of me, all polished stone and perfectly kept lawns, like something out of a magazine. However, the closer I got, the more my nerves kicked in, and that familiar metallic taste crept up my throat again. The so-called heir walked over, smiling like we were supposed to be close. Then, he gave me a light shove. He leaned in, his voice low enough that only I could hear. "Stay in your place. Don't start wanting things that were never yours." Right there, in front of everyone, I leaned back and collapsed. I did not move at all. He froze. His face turned red as he grabbed my collar and shook me. "Quit pretending. Get up!" A few seconds passed, then a few more, before he slowly turned his head, his movements stiff. Tiny drops of blood speckled his clothes. His voice trembled. "Mom… Dad… I think…" He swallowed hard. "I think he stopped breathing."

"For a moment his eyes locked onto me with an intensity that left me breathless." ●●● "Oh my goodness. Sir, are you okay?" I check his pulse. Thank God the pulse is there but barely there. I look around his body for any injury and almost in a second find the bullet wound near his kidney. "...My god." Shit, there is no service in this stormy weather. I look at his almost lifeless body and the next I know I am driving him to my house. ●●● Victoria Forbes. A young doctor. Still healing from the past. She is kind, caring, loving but most of all lonely and broken. Christian Amore Vasquez. The Italian alluring, beckoning, bewitching, captivating, Mafia leader. He's not the typical, ruthless Mafia leader. He actually has a heart of gold and is ready to die for who he loves. He stumbles into Victoria's life. There is an obvious connection between the two that cannot be easily ignored. With Victoria thrown into Christian's life without even knowing uncovers a lot of secrets and brings back all the demons from the past. They both learn so much, together. "Love isn't baggage or a blame." "It's a risk, but worth taking."

After four years of love, Eliana’s world shatters in a single moment when Mike walks away without explanation. Heartbroken and desperate to numb the pain, she makes a reckless decision that changes everything. One tragic night, a drunken stumble leads to a devastating accident that leaves her body broken—and her life hanging by a thread. But when Eliana wakes up, something isn’t right. She can see, hear, and move… yet no one can see her. Trapped between life and death, she watches as doctors fight to save her body while discussing a future she never imagined—one that may cost her more than she’s already lost. Alone in a silent world, she begins to realize that she may not be as alive as she thought. Just when hope seems lost, a mysterious stranger—the same man who saved her life—lingers close, unaware of the connection forming between them. As Eliana struggles to understand her new reality, she must confront the truth about love, loss, and the fragile line between holding on and letting go… before time runs out.

His face is so close, he can almost taste him. His fingers twitch, fighting the urge to grip his hips harder. He never imagined feeling this way about the boy. He tries to fight it, but it's nearly impossible. Something is calling to him. Something is gripping his heart, and tugging it, pulling him toward the boy with an unknown force. ~§~ It's not easy being different from everyone else, or something your parents, and the rest of the world doesn’t want you to be. It's not easy when you love someone everyone says you shouldn't. Diving into the world of homelessness at the age of seventeen was hard. The streets weren't easy, but somehow the young 19-year-old still smiles. The man takes an interest in him. He takes him under his wings, and gives him a place to live. He's different from everyone. He doesn't look down on him. Things become complicated... More complicated than either could have imagined. A life altering news is devastating, and the boy struggles to come to terms with it. It wasn't easy, but he made his pace with it. But will the man make peace with it? Can he let him go? Can he learn how to breathe without him?